Land vehicles – Wheeled – Body with bracketed-type or nonsuspended axles
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-07
2001-06-26
Mar, Michael (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Body with bracketed-type or nonsuspended axles
C280S079400, C280S047180, C280S652000, C414S011000, C414S590000, C414S546000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250655
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to implements and apparatus for manually transporting and manipulating relatively large, heavy, and generally flat articles such as tables and construction materials in the form of large flat sheets of plywood, plasterboard, or the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a transport system for articles of the character described, comprising a leveraging dolly for lifting and transporting individual tables or other such articles, and a racking cart which functions in combination with the leveraging dolly to receive and transport a quantity of tables or tabular construction materials.
B. Description of Background Art
Tables provided with folding legs are widely used during conferences, seminars and similar events held at schools, banquet halls, hotels, churches and a wide variety of other such venues. Since the location, layout and number of such tables required for a particular event are all variable, it is customary to transport such tables with the legs folded-up from a storage area to a hall or other event site, unfold the legs and place the tables at desired locations of the site. Upon completion of an event, the tables must be folded up, lifted onto a cart, and transported to a storage area or other location.
The tasks of transporting, unfolding, deploying, and re-folding or “knocking down” tables described above are generally performed by humans without the assistance of machines, and thus require a substantial expenditure of physical labor. Typical tables of the type used at conferences, churches and other such venues are six to eight feet long, 24 to 36 inches wide, and may weight 40 to 90 pounds or more. Round tables for similar applications may be five feet or more in diameter and are similarly heavy. Thus, it can be readily appreciated that such tables are ergonomically awkward for a person to handle, and that lifting, folding and unfolding such tables can and does frequently result in muscle or back strain, or more serious injuries. In many churches, in particular, older volunteer persons are frequently called upon to undertake the task of transporting, setting up and taking down folding tables, with even greater risk of straining muscles in the back or other parts of the body. In fact, the amount of force which must be exerted by an individual to tilt a folding table into an upright position preparatory to folding the table legs parallel to the table top for convenient transporting of the table frequently requires the exertion of physical strength beyond that which an elderly person may be reasonably expected to be capable of.
In addition to the ergonomic problems in manipulating tables alluded to above, present methods of manipulating and transporting tables often result in damage to the table; caused for example, by impact of a table corner with a floor or wall, or misuse of a table appendage as an unintended handle.
The handling of certain building materials widely used in the construction industry is beset with problems similar to those associated with the deployment of folding tables, as described above. Thus, many residential, commercial and industrial building construction projects utilize a variety of large, flat heavy structural or ornamental materials such as plywood panels, plasterboard sheets referred to as “dry wall” or “sheetrock,” and the like. Such tabular construction materials are typically delivered to a construction site and deposited there in a flat stack. From there, individual sheets are carried to an installation location such as on a wall or floor, and secured in place. Typical construction sheet material is manufactured and supplied as 4 ft. by 8 ft. sheets weighing up to 100 pounds or more. Therefore, moving such sheets requires a great deal of expended energy, and at present is usually assisted only by such contrivances as a simple wheeled cart.
In view of the foregoing problems associated with the transportation and disposition or relatively heavy and cumbersome articles such as folding conference tables and tabular construction materials such as plywood sheets, plasterboard sheets, and the like, the present invention was conceived of.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a leveraging dolly for engaging a heavy article such as a table or tabular sheet of construction material, tilting the article from a horizontally disposed use or stacked orientation to a vertical transport orientation, and transporting to article to another location by a human operator with minimal exertion of physical force.
Another object of the invention is to provide a leveraging dolly for lifting rectangular and round tables of various sizes from a horizontally deployed use position to a vertical transporting position, and for manually transporting the upright table to a desired location.
Another object of the invention is to provide a racking cart for transporting varying numbers of upright rectangular or round tables or tabular sheets of construction material, the cart being so designed as to accommodate relatively heavy loads, and being of relatively light weight, while being stable against inadvertent tipping.
Another object of the invention is to provide a transport system for tables, plasterboard sheets and similar tabular articles which comprises in combination a leveraging dolly for tilting a table or other such flat article from a horizontal position to an upright position and transporting the article, and a racking cart for engageably receiving the dolly, offloading the article from the dolly, and holding and transporting a plurality of articles thus received.
Various other objects and advantages of the present invention, and its most novel features, will become apparent to those skilled in the art by perusing the accompanying specification, drawings and claims.
It is to be understood that although the invention disclosed herein is fully capable of achieving the objects and providing the advantages described, the characteristics of the invention described herein are merely illustrative of the preferred embodiments. Accordingly, I do not intend that the scope of my exclusive rights and privileges in the invention be limited to details of the embodiments described. I do intend that equivalents, adaptations and modifications of the invention reasonably inferable from the description contained herein be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, the present invention comprises a transport system for manipulating and transporting by human power relatively large, heavy and flat objects such as rectangular and round tables with folding legs, and tabular building materials such as plywood or plasterboard sheets. A transport system according to the present invention includes a leveraging dolly for receiving, manipulating and transporting a single table, one or more sheets of construction material or similar article, and a racking cart engageable with the dolly for receiving and transporting a plurality of tables or other such tabular articles individually transported to the cart, and for unloading individual articles onto the dolly for transport to various locations.
A leveraging dolly according to the present invention includes a base rollably supported by a pair of laterally spaced apart casters, one having a horizontally disposed axle fixed with respect to the base, and the other having a horizontally disposed axle rotatable in a horizontal plane on a vertically disposed swivel attached to the base. The base has protruding from the upper flat surface thereof a longitudinally elongated lower article support channel having a U-shaped cross section, the channel having an upwardly depending opening for receiving an end wall of a flat table or other tabular article, the channel being located laterally between the two casters and parallel to the rolling direction of the fixed caster.
An elongated handle protruding perpendicularly upward from the upper surface o
Chapin William L.
Mar Michael
Phan Hau
LandOfFree
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