Patent Application
20210394348
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The disclosure relates to plank lifting device and more particularly pertains to a new plank lifting device having a unique structure allowing for the removal of planks either utilizing an adjacent plank or a joist.
The prior art relates to plank lifting devices that typically include wrecking bar type structure having a rounded heel with a terminal end which forms a chiseled edge and may include a notch for engaging and removing nails. Such devices do not provide enough leverage to prevent planks, such as flooring panels or deck planking, from splitting and are limited in their usefulness once some of the planks have been removed.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a plate that has a front side, a rear side, an upper end, a lower end, a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge. A pair of legs is attached to the lower end such that the legs extend forward of the plate. The legs are spaced from each other and one of the legs extends downwardly from the first lateral edge and one of the legs extends downwardly from the second lateral edge. Each of the legs has a distal end with respect to the plate. A pair of biasing ridges is attached to the rear side of the plate and extends to and beyond a juncture of the plate and the legs such that each of the legs has a downwardly extending one of the biasing ridges. The biasing ridges each have an outer surface extending away from the plate and an associated one of the legs. The outer surfaces at the junctures are convexly arcuate to facilitate a lever action of the distal ends being lifted upwardly as the plate is tilted rearwardly. A panel is attached to and extends downwardly from the lower end of the plate. The panel is positioned between the legs and has a free edge positioned distal to the lower end. The panel extends downwardly from the lower end a distance less than the biasing ridges extend downwardly from the free edge when the plate is vertically oriented. The plate engages a handle such that the handle extends upwardly from the upper end.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each of the legs 28 includes an attached section 32 attached directly to the plate 14 and extends downwardly therefrom. An outer section 34 includes the distal end 30 and an intermediate section 36 is positioned between the attached 32 and outer 34 sections. After the attached section 32 extends downwardly from the plate 14, it then bends such that it extends forwardly of the plate 14. The intermediate section 36 may be angled slightly downwardly from the plate 14 when the plate 14 is vertically oriented as can be seen in the Figures while the outer section 34 may be bent upwardly from the intermediate section 36 such that the outer section 34 extends horizontally away from the plate 14 when the plate 14 is vertically oriented. As can be seen in the Figures, this creates a greater space between a top side 38 of the intermediate section 36 and a horizontal plane compared to the top side 38 of the outer section 34.
The top side 38 of the outer section 34, adjacent to the distal end 30, tapers downwardly toward a bottom side 40 of side of the outer section 34 such that the distal end 30 forms a wedge or chisel. This wedge facilitates the penetration of the distal end 40 between two objects mechanically attached together. The distal end 30 has a notch 42 extending therein configured to engage a nail wherein the notch 42 may be V-shaped. It should be understood that only one of the legs 28 may include the notch 42.
A pair of biasing ridges 44 is attached to the rear side 18 of the plate 14 and extends to and beyond a juncture of the plate 14 and the legs 28 such that each of the legs 28 has a downwardly extending one of the biasing ridges 44. The biasing ridges 44 each have an outer surface 46 extending away from the plate 14 and an associated one of the legs 28. The outer surfaces 46 at the junctures of the legs 28 and plate 14 are convexly arcuate to facilitate a lever action of the distal ends 30 being lifted upwardly as the plate 14 is tilted rearwardly as is shown in
A panel 48 is attached to and extends downwardly from the lower end 22 of the plate 14. The panel 48 is positioned between the legs 28 and has a free edge 50 positioned distal to the lower end 22. The panel 48 extends downwardly from the lower end 22 a distance less than the biasing ridges 44 extend downwardly from the free edge 50 when the plate 14 is vertically oriented. That is, a distance from the free edge 50 to the lower end 22 is less than a distance from the outer edges 44 to the lower end 22 measured vertically when the plate is vertically oriented for purposes which will be described below. The panel 48 is curved forwardly adjacent to the free edge 50. The term “curved” is herein used to indicate that a lowermost surface of the free edge 50 is convexly arcuate and therefore may be curved rearwardly as well. This may be achieved by curving the free edge 50 forwardly or, in some instances, rearwardly, but in both cases the curvature allows the free edge 50 to be useful as a leveraging point without its driving into a surface against which it is abutted.
The panel 48 may have an aperture 52 extending therethrough which is used for engaging and pulling nails 54 from planks 56 and other surfaces. The aperture 52 therefore will typically have a pointed end that is directed toward the free edge 50, the aperture is configured to engage a nail. The aperture 52 may extend upwardly beyond the lower end 22 and into the plate 14.
As shown in
The upper end 20 of the plate 14, or other portions of the plate 14 above the nail pull piece 64, may be configured in a conventional manner to engage a handle 66 such that the handle 66 extends upwardly from the upper end 20. Thus a receiver 68, for example, may be attached to or be integral with the plate 14 and used to engage a handle 66. The handle 66 may be of fixed length or may be telescopic. The length 66 of the handle may vary depending on usage and be less than 12.0 inches but will typically have length greater than 48.0 inches such that the assembly 10 is used while standing.
The head 12 will be comprises of a rigid, metallic material that will typically be a steel alloy. The head 12 may be provided in any required size, however, there will be useful sizes dictated depending on the particular utilization of the head. In one embodiment the head 12 may have dimensions useful for removing planks 56 from wooden pallet, planking from a floor subsurface, ceramic tiles from a floor surface, and tack board from subflooring. In this embodiment, the plate 14 has a height between 5.0 inches and 9.0 inches, and a width from the first lateral edge 24 to the second lateral edge 26 between 4.0 inches and 9.0 inches. The legs 28 extend forwardly from the plate a distance between 5.0 inches and 9.0 inches, while a lowermost surface of the bottom side 40 of the legs 28 or biasing ridges 44 relative to the lower end 22 is vertically spaced from that lowermost surface of the free edge a distance of between 0.40 inches and 1.0 inches. The rearwardly extending surfaces of the biasing ridges 44 extend equal to or more than a distance the prying piece 64 extends rearwardly from the plate 14. Thus, the prying piece 64 and the free edge 50 of the panel 48 are positioned within the trough formed by the biasing ridges 44. Typically the plate 14 will lie in a plane that is oriented perpendicular to a bottom of the biasing ridges 44 positioned on the intermediate sections 36 (i.e. same plane as bottom side of outer sections) but this angle may be larger than 90° and will usually be less than 110°.
In use, the assembly 10 is utilized for the deconstruction of a plurality of constructions and in particular those related to flooring and decking constructions, a number of examples of which will now be explained.
For the removal of a first plank 56 of decking, the distal ends 30 are directed downwardly and between two planks 56, 57. The head 12 is then tilted backwardly such that the distal ends 30 engage the first plank 56 and the legs 28 abut an adjacent plank 57 to lift the distal ends 30 and the first plank 56 upwardly. Once the first plank 56 has cleared the adjacent plank 57, the legs 28 are extended under the first plank 56 and the biasing ridge 44 used on the adjacent plank 57 to completely dislodge the first plank 56 from a joist 55 or subflooring.
In the same example as immediately above, the next plank or the adjacent plank 57 can then be removed using the joist 55 as a pivot base. The legs 28 are extended under the adjacent plank 57 and the free edge 50 abutted against the joist 55. Because the free edge 50 does not extend downwardly away from the plate 14 as far as the legs 28 and biasing ridges 44, the biasing ridges 44 will be positioned on either side of the joist 55 but not engage it. The plate 14 is then tilted rearward and the adjacent plank 57 lifted by engagement of the free edge 50 and the joist 55. Because the biasing ridges 44 are positioned on either side of the joist 55, the biasing ridges 44 serve as a saddle to prevent the head 12 from sliding off of the joist 55.
If any nails 54 remain in the subflooring or joist 55, the notches 42 in the distal edge 30 can be used to engage the nail head and remove it from the joist 55. Alternatively, the free edge 50 may be placed on the joist 55 such that the nail 54 is engaged with the aperture 52 in the panel 48 while the plate 14 is tilted rearward. Once the nail 54 is engaged, the plate 14 is tilted forward to pull the nail 54 upwardly from the joist 55. Finally, the nail 54 may be engaged with the opening 65 in the nail pull piece 64 by rearwardly tilting the plate 14 to such an extent that the opening 65 can receive the nail 54 head. The nail pull piece 65 shape allows for engagement of nails 65 that are effectively “countersunk” between two planks.
For flooring and tile, usually one of the flooring panels (or tiles) is removed by wedging the distal ends 30 under the same. However, adjacent flooring panels are removed thereafter usually by having the legs 28 and biasing ridges 44 lying flat on the subfloor with the plate 14 vertically oriented and the distal ends 30 abutting the flooring panel to be removed. The distal ends 30 can wedged under the flooring panels by kicking or otherwise striking the rear side 18 of the panel 14 such that the distal ends 30 are driven under the flooring panel or tile. Once the distal edges 30 are under the flooring panel, the biasing ridges 44 are used to lift the flooring panel upwardly. Tack strip removal is accomplished in a similar manner.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
