Handling: hand and hoist-line implements – Hand bars and hand barrows
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2002-11-12
Cherry, Johnny D. (Department: 3652)
Handling: hand and hoist-line implements
Hand bars and hand barrows
C294S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06478352
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to manually operable devices which facilitate the processes of lifting, carrying, or otherwise moving of such articles as appliances, boxes, cartons, building materials, construction materials, gardening products, furniture, landscaping supplies, lumber, and metal or nonmetal piping, etc. The aforementioned reference to specific types of articles to be lifted, carried, or otherwise moved is not to be construed as limiting the invention to those articles. On the contrary, the present invention can be utilized to lift, carry, or otherwise move a great variety of different types and sizes of articles and objects other than those referenced above.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The lifting, carrying, or otherwise moving of objects of varying sizes, weights, and configurations are fundamental aspects of normal human existence. Many who are not able to perform these functions adequately are severely restricted in their personal and professional lives. Unfortunately, the human body is often not well adapted to withstand, without injury, pain, or discomfort, many forces, strains, and pressures that are often a fundamental and inescapable part of the lifting, carrying, and other moving processes.
For this primary reason, the improper lifting, carrying, and other moving of even relatively lightweight, conventionally shaped, or awkwardly shaped articles or objects can and often does result in severe back and other bodily injuries and lifetime problems with lower back pain, etc. for the affected party. Heavy objects may pose even greater risks and problems. While some of these injuries, and their effects, can be healed or otherwise mitigated in their preliminary effects and ultimate consequences, many result in irreversible physical and emotional damage. Often those who cannot adequately perform functions related to the normal ability to lift, carry, or otherwise move articles or objects may be classified as temporarily or permanently disabled.
Whether such injuries that accrue, or are suffered, from the improper lifting and carrying or movement of articles or objects are temporary or permanent, the collective results are reflected in tremendous, and often unnecessary, economic, individual and societal costs.
On a personal level such injuries may result in temporary or permanent disabilities that preclude, or seriously limit, the injured party from engaging in activities that are a normal and meaningful part of human activities. The physical limitation imposed by these injuries can, and quite often does, have serious emotional consequences as well.
Within a work environment such injuries may result in temporary or permanent disabilities or limitations which preclude, or seriously limit, the ability of the affected party to fully or partially engage in those activities that are a normal part of the affected party's job description.
These limitations often result in decreased workplace productivity and flexibility and tremendous Workers' compensation costs. The aggregate nationwide costs associated with decreased worker productivity and Workers' compensation claims are enormous. According to recent figures from the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission the costs of medical treatments (payments relating to workers injured on the job) to doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, dentists, occupational therapists, hospitals, and others totaled nearly 963.9 million dollars in 1998 alone. This figure does not include other significant costs (such as disability payments to the injured party) which result from workplace injuries. While not all these costs are the result of injuries resulting from the lifting, carrying, or other moving of articles or objects, assuming that a significant portion of these costs is attributable to injuries performed during the performance of those activities is logical.
Within a societal context the consequences of such injuries can be staggering. Limited resources may be diverted to the rehabilitation and treatment of those who have suffered, or are suffering, the consequences of injuries incurred while lifting, carrying, or otherwise moving articles or objects.
There are millions of disabled and other Americans who are excludable, or excluded, from jobs because they are unable to satisfactorily meet the physical requirements that may be involved in many lifting, carrying, and moving processes. When fully and correctly utilized, the present invention can mitigate existing physical limitations, more fully utilize physical abilities to accomplish assigned tasks, and minimize the likelihood of future injuries that will limit a vocational and vocational activities.
An extremely important aspect of the present invention is that it helps maximize the use of available strength relative to the accomplishment of desired tasks. By doing this the present invention opens employment and recreational opportunities for millions of Americans who are too weak to lift, carry or otherwise move articles or objects in traditional manners.
The widespread use of the present invention can enhance workplace productivity by making a higher and more efficient utilization of the work force possible. This may be accomplished in substantial part by facilitating the integration of many injured individuals, individuals susceptible to injury, or disabled individuals, into their previous or other jobs by substantially lessening the physical demands, and attendant risks, of many employment tasks that include lifting, carrying or moving elements.
The use of the present invention can also enable single parent families and the increasing millions of older Americans to be more fully integrated into independent living lifestyles. Independent living can be characterized by the ability to do, and engage in, those activities that are a normal part of human existence without assistance. The lifting, carrying, and otherwise moving of different articles or objects are fundamentally related to those activities. Because the present invention makes it easier to lift, carry, and otherwise move articles and objects such as furniture and groceries within the home, and to and from the home, senior citizens and single mothers can be less dependent on others. By using the present invention, often hard to find helpers may be dispensed with while accomplishing the desired task(s). This increases independence and decreases dependence.
The widespread use of the present invention may also make enormous contributions to the cause of integrating disabled and physically limited Americans into normal personal and professional activities, lifestyles, and jobs that may involve the lifting, carrying, or moving of articles or objects.
For many reasons it is eminently more sensible to prevent injuries than to attempt, often without success, to cure or mitigate them. This is best done by accomplishing the objective of enabling the assigned task or tasks to be completed while simultaneously removing the need to engage in the types of lifting, carrying, and moving behavior that commonly results in injuries. This use of the present invention greatly facilitates the accomplishment of that objective by fundamentally changing the way in which articles and objects can be lifted, carried, or otherwise moved.
It is hoped that an increased awareness of the principals demonstrated in the present invention will result in the widespread use of this device and that such use will fundamentally change the way articles and objects are handled and packaged as well as the way that such articles and objects are subsequently lifted, carried, or otherwise moved.
It is also hoped that there will be fundamental and widespread changes in the manner that lifting, carrying, and other moving are commonly performed in order to take advantage of the value of this device and minimize much of the pain, suffering, and human misery that so often accompany avoidable, and unnecessarily incurred, workplace and non work place injuries.
If articles and objects are manufactured in such a manner as
Cherry Johnny D.
Merek & Voorhees
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