Lifting and Transporting Devices

This invention relates to devices for lifting and transporting heavy objects and is particularly concerned with such devices of the kind described in British Pat. Nos. 1297382 and 2069454 and comprising a base frame having around wheels, an upper frame slidable vertically on said base frame and provided with means for clamping an object thereto, a manually operable lever pivotally mounted on said base frame for movement about a horizontal axis to raise said upper frame and releasable means for locking said upper frame in its raised position.

The releasable locking means usually comprises a catch rotatably mounted on the upper frame and an abutment mounted on the base frame and operable, in response to upward movement of the upper frame relative to the base frame, to rotate the catch into locking engagement with a shoulder on the base frame.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a device of the kind described which is capable of weighing a container carried thereby and to this end, according to the invention, the upper and base frame are provided with cooperating means which operate automatically in response to upward movement of the upper frame into a first or transport position to retain the upper frame in that position with the weight of the container transmitted directly to the base frame and which operate automatically in response to further upward movement of the upper frame beyond said first position into a second or weighing position, to divert the entire weight of the container through weighing mechanism mounted on said upper frame.

One embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings which show a wheeled device for lifting, transporting and weighing oil drums and like rimmed containers and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the device showing the upper frame in its transport position with a drum gripped thereby;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the device of FIG. 1 with a part of the base frame and wheels omitted;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrammatic plan views on an enlarged scale of a catch with its cover removed to show its two positions of adjustment; and

FIGS. 5 to 7 are diagrammatic side views showing three positions of the lower drum-engaging members and the pivotal support flap.

As shown in the drawings, a base frame 1, mounted on two fixed front wheels 2 and a steerable rear wheel 3 is provided with upright members 4 connected together at their upper ends by a cross-member 5. Slidably mounted on the members 4, through the medium of upper and lower bearings 6 to minimise friction, are tubular members 7 of an upper frame 8. The members 7 are connected, intermediate their ends, by a cross-member 9 which supports a clamping device 10 of the kind described in British Patent Specification No. 2069454 for gripping the rim of a drum. The cross-member 9 also carries weighing mechanism in the form of a weight sensing bar 11 mechanically linked to a strain gauge which is adapted to transmit a signal equivalent to the weight sensed by the bar 11 to an electronic read-out unit 12.

Raising and lowering of the frame 8 on the base frame members 4 is effected by pivotal movement of a hand-lever 13 in the manner described in Patent Specification No. 2069454.

In order to retain the upper frame 8 in its raised position a catch assembly, shown generally at 14, is mounted on the upper end of a fixed column 15 extending upwardly from the base frame 1. The catch assembly 14 comprises a catch member 16 rotatable about a vertical axis 17 and connected by a tension spring 18 to a manually operable knob 19 rotatable about the axis 17 between fixed stops 20 and 21 to provide over-centre adjustment of the spring between the positions shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In the position of the knob 19 shown in FIG. 3, the spring 18 biasses the catch member 16 in a clockwise direction away from a support bar 22 carried by the cross-member 9, whereas in the position of the knob shown in FIG. 4, the spring biasses the catch member in an anti-clockwise direction towards the support bar 22 and the weight sensing bar 11.

Below the cross-member 9 the frame members 7 are bridged by a further cross-member 23 which carries guides 24 for a pair of push-rods 25 which are biassed in rearward direction by springs 26 and provided at their forward and rear ends with pads 27 and rollers 28 respectively for engagement with a drum 29 to be transported and a pair of cams 30 fixed to the base frame respectively. A flap 31, is pivotally mounted at 32 in blocks 33 carried by a cross-member 34 bridging the push rods 25 and the free end of the flap rests on the upper ends of two supporting bars 35 fixed to the base frame 1.

With the frame 8 in its lowermost position and the knob 19 of the catch assembly in the position shown in FIG. 3, the device is wheeled towards a drum 29 until the clamping device 10 engages over the rim of the drum. The knob 19 of the catch assembly is then moved into the position shown in FIG. 4 in which the catch member 16 engages one side of the support bar 22 and the frame 8 with the drum is then lifted by operation of the hand lever 13 until the lower end of the bar 22 passes beyond the catch member which is thereupon moved by the spring 18 into the position shown in broken lines in FIG. 4, where it engages beneath the bar. During this upward movement of the frame 8 the rollers 28 on the push rods 25 ride up the cams 30 causing the push rods to move forward into a drum transporting position in which the pads 27 thereon firmly engage the drum and the angle between the flap 31 and the axes of the push rods has been greatly reduced. In this drum-transporting position the weight of the drum is transmitted through the push rods 25 and the cams 30 to the base frame 1. The hand-lever can then be returned to its starting position and the device wheeled with the aid of a steering handle 36, to the point at which the drum is to be unloaded. Whenever it is required to weigh the drum carried by the device, the hand-lever 13 merely has to be moved further in the lifting direction to continue raising the frame 8 until the catch member 16 engages beneath the weight-sensing bar 11. During this additional upward movement of the frame 8 the rollers 28 on the push rods 25 ride past the widest portions of the cams 30 and the flap 31 assumes a horizontal position in which its free end engages the cross-member 23 and prevents rearward movement of the push rods and thus continuing engagement of the cams by the rollers. The weight of the drum is then borne entirely by the frame 8 which acts on the catch through the sensing bar 11. The weight of the drum 29 and its contents are indicated by the read-out unit 12 and the lever 13 is again operated to return the upper frame 8 and the push rods 25 and the flap 31 to the transport position so that the weight of the drum is once more supported by the base frame 1 while being wheeled to the unloading point. Upon reaching the unloading point, the hand-lever 13 is again operated to lift the upper frame 8 off the catch 14 which is then rotated to its other extreme position in which the catch member 16 is out of the path of the upper frame member 22. The hand-lever 13 is then moved in the opposite direction to lower the upper frame 8 and disengage the push rods 25 from the drum 29 to enable the latter to be lowered to the ground, where the pressure on the claws of the clamping device 10 is relieved to release the rim of the drum.