Material or article handling – Vertically swinging load support
Patent
1996-08-22
1998-06-09
Underwood, Donald W.
Material or article handling
Vertically swinging load support
248129, 254124, B66F 1900
Patent
active
057624666
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a dolly, and particularly although not exclusively to a dolly for carrying cinematographic or video cameras.
A conventional dolly has a wheeled base and a boom arm which can be raised or lowered by the camera operator, the camera being mounted on the end of the boom arm. Such dollies are normally quite large and heavy, to the extent that four people are normally needed if a dolly has to be lifted up a flight of stairs. Conventional dollies are also relatively inflexible, and a film maker would normally use one type of dolly on an open film set, and another, smaller dolly in enclosed spaces or places which are difficult of access.
It is an object of the present invention at least to alleviate the above problems of the prior art.
According to the present invention there is provided a dolly having a wheeled or tracked body, a base unit carried by the body to which a boom arm is attached, the base unit containing arm actuation means for raising or lowering the arm, and the base unit being removable as a unit from the body.
The invention may be carried into practice in a number of ways and one specific embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a dolly embodying the present invention, from the front, with the boom arm facing forwardly and in a lowered position;
FIG. 2 shows the dolly of FIG. 1 from the side;
FIG. 3 shows the dolly of FIG. 1 with the boom arm raised, and in a lateral position;
FIG. 4 shows the dolly of FIG. 1 with the boom arm in a lateral horizontal position; and
FIG. 5 shows how the base unit can rotate within the body when the boom arm is raised.
FIG. 6 shows the dolly of FIG. 1 from the side as being supported by either wheels or tracks.
A dolly embodying the present invention is shown schematically in FIGS. 1 to 6. For simplicity, the operator's controls and/or seat are omitted, as is the camera and the camera mounting.
The dolly comprises a wheeled attacked body 10 of generally box shape, having front 12, side 14,16, rear 18 and top 20 surfaces. Within the body is a generally cylindrical recess, which opens into the top surface 20 via an aperture 22. Within the recess is a base unit or turret 24 which contains a hydraulic mechanism (not shown) for raising and lowering a boom arm 26 by means of one or more hydraulic rams 28. In the drawings, two hydraulic rams are shown, but it is envisaged that in practice a single ram will be preferable.
The base unit 24 has an upper circular plate 36 which, when the base unit is in position as shown in the drawings, sits substantially flush with the top surface 20 of the body. The base unit 24 also has a lower circular plate 38, which is received within a corresponding circular mounting 40 at the bottom of the recess within the body.
When the boom arm 26 is in its raised position, as shown in FIG. 5, the base unit 24 can be rotated within the recess. In this way, the boom arm can be moved from its forwardly facing position (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) to a transverse position (shown in FIGS. 3 and 4). It may also, of course, be moved to the opposite transverse position.
In the embodiment shown, it is necessary to raise the arm before rotating the base unit, since otherwise the hydraulic rams 28 would foul the body 10. However, it is envisaged that in other embodiments, that disadvantage might be avoided, either by repositioning the rams, by a mechanism which allows the boom arm to be raised and lowered without the use of rams, or alternatively by raising the base unit above the general plane of the body.
The front and side surfaces 12,14,16 of the body have respective apertures 30,32,34 therein within which the boom arm may be received. These apertures are slightly wider than the width of the arm, so that there is a small amount of clearance. The depth of the apertures may be sufficiently great so that the boom arm may be lowered to a position below the horizontal, as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
There may (but need not be) latching means (not shown)
REFERENCES:
patent: 2224901 (1940-12-01), Cunningham
patent: 2719471 (1955-10-01), Aspden et al.
patent: 3281118 (1966-10-01), Krilanovich
patent: 5037068 (1991-08-01), Grottesi
patent: 5423654 (1995-06-01), Rohrbaugh
Grip House Limited
Underwood Donald W.
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