Patent Application
20100320709
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to manually powered wheeled conveyances, and particularly to a hand truck that is particularly adapted for the carriage of large, heavy buckets of material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Innumerable manually powered, wheeled contrivances have been developed in the past to facilitate the carriage of various large and/or heavy articles. Conventional wheelbarrows and hand trucks are both well-known examples of such devices.
While the above conveyances are reasonably adaptable, they have their limitations when it comes to carrying certain materials or articles that may have less than optimum stability. An example of such is the carriage of a conventional multi-gallon container of liquid or fluid material, e.g., wallboard “mud” or compound, paint, mortar or grout, etc. These containers are nearly universally in a generally cylindrical form, albeit generally slightly tapered. Such containers may have a volume of five gallons or more, with the material carried therein having a density greater than water. The typical weight of such a loaded five-gallon bucket is on the order of fifty pounds, or perhaps considerably more.
Accordingly, such buckets are provided with handles or bales to allow a person to carry them more readily by hand. Nonetheless, the lifting and carriage of even one such container is extremely wearing for even a very fit person, particularly when it must be carried over some distance. Yet, the conventional hand truck is ill suited for the carriage of such buckets of material, as they are not equipped to secure such cylindrically shaped articles in place. Additional components, such as bungee cords, ropes, etc., must be gathered and used to secure the bucket(s) to the hand truck. Even so, the bucket(s) may tend to roll laterally due to their cylindrical shape and the lack of positive engagement provided by a cord or the like wrapped around the bucket(s) and the generally wider span of the handles of the truck, thereby seriously reducing the lateral stability of the loaded hand truck.
Thus, a hand truck solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The hand truck is configured for carrying one or more large, generally cylindrical buckets of material, such as five-gallon buckets of wallboard compound, paint, mortar or grout, etc. The hand truck includes a lower platform having a pair of laterally spaced handlebars extending upwardly therefrom, normal to the plane of the platform. A single wheel extends rearwardly from the rear of the platform and is captured between a pair of cantilever arms. The bottom of the wheel is coplanar with the bottom of the platform. One or more latch bars extend across the handlebars. A bale latch extends upwardly and rearwardly from each latch bar.
A bucket is placed upon the platform when the truck is in the upright position, and the handle or bale of the bucket is swung upwardly and rearwardly to pass over the corresponding bale latch. The latch bar and bale latch are positioned to allow the bale of the bucket to clear the bale latch when the bottom of the bucket is coplanar with the upper surface of the platform. However, when the handlebars of the truck are tilted rearwardly to transport the load, the bucket tends to tilt forwardly from the relatively narrow platform. As the top of the bucket tilts forwardly and away from the handlebars, the bale also pulls forward, catching on the bale latch to secure the bucket in place and prevent it from falling from the truck. When the load has been delivered to the desired location, the truck is once again tilted upright, with the handlebars again approaching the top of the bucket. This results in some slack between the bale latch of the hand truck and the bale of the bucket, allowing the bale to clear the bale latch as it is swung forwardly for removal of the bucket from the hand truck.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The present invention relates to a hand truck particularly configured or adapted for the carriage of relatively large and heavy multi-gallon containers of fluids, such as wallboard compound, paint, and the like. The hand truck includes means for automatically securing the handle or bail of the bucket(s) to the truck when the truck is tilted back for transport of such a bucket(s), and automatically releasing the bale when the truck is returned to an upright position with its platform resting upon the underlying surface.
A first and a second wheel strut, respectively 28a and 28b, are cantilevered rearwardly from the rear edge 16 of the platform 12, or more specifically from the upwardly oriented flange of the angle iron 26. The two wheel struts 28a, 28b may be formed of reasonably rigid sheet stock or other suitable material, and are parallel to one another and define a wheel capture span therebetween. The spaced apart distal ends 30a, 30b of the two struts 28a, 28b capture a single wheel 32 therebetween. It will be seen that the wheel 32 may be supported by a single strut or by other means if so desired, and/or additional wheels may be added for additional stability if so desired. However, the use of a single wheel serves adequately and reduces the weight of the hand truck 10 to facilitate transport.
The two wheel struts 28a, 28b will be seen in
Left and right handlebars, respectively 36a and 36b, extend upwardly from the left and right sides of the platform 12, adjacent the rear edge 16 thereof. The handlebars 36a, 36b are preferably substantially normal to the plane of the platform 12 and terminate in distal handle ends, respectively 38a and 38b. At least one, and preferably two, latch bars, respectively 40a and 40b, extend laterally across or between the two handlebars 36a, 36b and are permanently affixed (e.g., welded, etc.) thereto. Each of the latch bars 40a, 40b serves to support a bale latch, respectively 42a and 42b, extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom. Each of the bale latches 42a, 42b comprises a rigid metal tab welded or otherwise permanently affixed to its respective latch bar 40a, 40b, with a distal extremity, respectively 44a, 44b, bent upwardly and rearwardly from the respective latch bar 40a, 40b.
In
When the hand truck 10 is once again tilted forwardly to allow the platform 12 to rest upon the underlying surface S, the forward portion of the lower container C2 also contacts the surface, which results in the container C2 (and an upper container C1, if placed atop the lower container C2) moving back toward the handlebars 36a, 36b. This results in some slack or space between the container handles H1 and H2 relative to their bale latch extremities 44a and 44b, generally as shown in
It will be seen that the hand truck 10 is particularly configured to facilitate the carriage of large buckets of material without need for additional bungees, ropes, cords, etc. to secure the buckets to the truck. However, it will be noted that the hand truck 10 may be used to carry and transport other articles as well, by means of appropriate tiedowns or other attachments. Accordingly, the versatility of the hand truck will prove to be of great value in many areas, particularly in the warehousing and construction industries where the carriage of such large buckets of material is routinely required.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
