Traversing hoists – Having means facilitating assembly or disassembly – Of traversing hoist from support
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-12
2004-09-07
Kramer, Dean J. (Department: 3652)
Traversing hoists
Having means facilitating assembly or disassembly
Of traversing hoist from support
C212S166000, C414S684300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06786343
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to field installation and removal of movement objects/components from equipment fixtures and the like. These applications are typically within industrial environments where the movement objects are large, heavy, and difficult to manipulate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the removal and/or installation of equipment from a wide variety of locations. It provides the necessary support mechanism, lifting mechanism and temporary storage of the equipment to be removed and/or installed. In addition, the invention is portable in nature and can be moved from location to location as needed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Overview
Generally, power plants, co-generation power plants, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, refineries, dairies, tank farms, gas storage facilities, liquid natural gas storage facilities, manufacturing facilities and/or any facility that has tanks, vessels, piping, heat exchangers and/or equipment of any kind have had the need to install and/or remove (temporally or permanently) various components from the site or from the location that the component is installed, for a wide variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include but are not limited to:
1. maintenance of equipment and/or components,
2. replacement of equipment and/or components,
3. inspection of equipment or components, and/or
4. installation of equipment or components.
Current methods for temporary and/or permanent removal and/or installation of equipment and/or components rely on a number of options including:
1. Utilizing forklift trucks to lift the: item to be removed and/or installed (movement object).
2. Utilizing lifting tables to lift the movement object.
3. Utilizing a crane to lift the movement object.
4. Locating a structural member of the facility, near the movement object, securing some kind of a fixture to the structure and attaching a “chain pull” or other device to the fixture to support and remove and/or install the item.
Each of these methods has limitations and deficiencies.
Forklifts and lifting tables are suitable for use only from the floor. Items to be removed and/or installed, that are located beyond the reach of the forklift and/or lifting table or that are located in an area that is congested with other equipment such that the forklift or lifting table cannot be brought into reasonable proximity to the equipment to be removed and/or installed cannot reasonably be handled with these devices. In addition, not all facilities have forklift trucks and/or lifting tables.
Cranes have the ability to support, remove and/or install items from overhead. Items that are not within the range of the crane cannot be handled by the crane. Items that are in a congested and/or confined area may not be accessible to a crane. Not all facilities have a crane.
Suitable structural members may not be in reasonable proximity of the movement object thereby negating the possibility of installing a fixture on which to attach a “chain pull” or other device.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the size and weight of many of the components (such as manway covers and the like) make these normal operational and maintenance functions quite hazardous. Typical manway covers may weigh on the order of 50-2000 pounds or more and may be as much as 6-inches thick. As such, the potential that this equipment could fall and injure a worker is significant, and thus manipulating these objects should be considered a hazardous activity.
Permanent Installation/Removal Equipment (Davits)
During the manufacture and/or fabrication of equipment, permanent devices have been used to provide a method of removal of components. These devices are permanent in nature in that they are affixed to the specific equipment and are used to facilitate removal of a specific item on the equipment only.
These devices are uniformly not portable and cannot be moved from location to location as needed. The actual design of these devices differs from the invention described herein. An example of one of these permanent structures (termed a “davit”) is illustrated in FIG.
1
. This exemplary structure will now be described in detail.
Referencing
FIG. 1
, the prior art davit (
100
) is illustrated from a top view (
110
) and an end-view (
120
). The davit (
100
) is attached to the outer ring of a manway flange (
111
) on which a manway cover (
122
) is fastened with bolts or other fastening means. The manway cover (
122
) is supported by a support rod (
123
) that is typically a threaded member approximately 0.75-inch in diameter. This support rod (
123
) is retained by one or more hexagonal nuts (
124
) or other fastening means that fix the support rod to a swingarm (
125
) that rotates within a pipe sleeve (
127
) that is permanently fixed to the manway flange (
111
) or some other support via a support plate (
128
).
To give some perspective on the unwieldiness of a conventional permanently attached davit system, the support rod (
123
) is typically 0.75-inch in diameter and is fixed by two 0.75-inch nuts (
124
) to a 2-inch diameter swingarm (
125
) that fits into a large pipe sleeve (
127
).
While the davit system is effective in removing a given manway cover, it suffers from the following disadvantages:
1. To be of use, the davit must be permanently installed on the manway flange. This is often not practical, as many times access to a manway cover occurs as an afterthought in plant maintenance.
2. There is added cost for fabrication/installation of the davit on each manway cover, regardless of whether the manway cover is accessed on a regular basis. This may be cost prohibitive in a large industrial plant.
3. There are safety concerns regarding the threaded member (
123
) and/or the fastening means (
124
) that may fail during installation/removal of the manway cover (
122
). The davit currently supports no failsafe mechanisms to prevent injury to maintenance personnel. Current equipment movement techniques that utilize lifting lugs/devices typically provide no failsafe method to prevent injury should the lifting lug/device fail or become compromised.
While one skilled in the art may find other deficiencies in the conventional davit construction and use, the above mentioned items are sufficient to indicate that any system and/or method that has the potential of eliminating any of these deficiencies would be welcome in the marketplace.
Prior Art Patents
With respect to the present invention, the following non-exhaustive list of patents is relevant:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,958 issued to Evald Dunkelis on May 30, 1972 for VENT CLOSURE DEVICE.
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,072 issued to Siddharth A. Shah, Sidney J. Woodcock, and Robert D. Fagan. on Oct. 27, 1981 for MANWAY HANDLING APPARATUS.
3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,649 issued to Thomas V. Labbe on Aug. 16, 1983 for PRIMARY MANWAY COVER REMOVAL.
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,519 issued to Robert E. Meuschke, Donald G. Sherwood, and Bernard L. Silverblatt on May 28, 1985 for FUEL TRANSFER TUBE QUICK OPENING HATCH.
5. U.S Pat. No. 4,669,628 issued to Keizo Hatta on Jun. 2, 1987 for SAFETY DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENABLE AND CLOSABLE LID.
6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,513 issued to John J. Norris on Sep. 12, 1989 for PORTABLE MANWAY COVER HANDLING APPARATUS.
7. U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,520 issued to Franklyn J. Amorese, Robert R. Loomis, and Douglas H. Rigerman on Aug. 13, 1991 for MANWAY LIFT ASSIST.
8. U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,628 issued to Ian Ripley and Anthony H. Needham on Sep. 24, 1991 for TANK ENTRY PROCEDURE AND APPARATUS.
9. U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,963 issued to Richard J. Barker, Frank A. DiGiacomo, James M. Hardy, Robert F. Lamm, and Allen S. Malsbury on Mar. 3, 1992 for AUTOMATED TOP HEAD AND STEM GUIDE ASSEMBLY FOR COKING DRUMS.
10. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,422 issued to William W. Wade and Vincent W. Eshnaur on Feb. 9, 1993 for SWING AWAY MANWAY ASSEMBLY.
11. U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,650 issued to Robert H. Dean on Mar.
DePietro Edward Allen
Porebski James Joseph
Kramer Dean J.
Lowe Michael
Mesmer & Deleault, PLLC
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