Patent Application
20250108990
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The disclosure relates to rolling devices and more particularly pertains to a new rolling device for rolling a trap into a roll for storage. The device includes a pair of ratcheting spools and a handle bracket that is attachable to the ratcheting spools. Each of the ratcheting spools includes a plurality of rods that extend partially across a tarp. The handle bracket is alternatively pivoted upwardly and downwardly to facilitate the ratcheting spools to roll the tarp around the rods.
The prior art relates to rolling devices including a variety of tarp rolling devices that are each attached to a cargo trailer to facilitate a tarp to be either rolled for storage or unrolled to cover the cargo trailer. In no instance does the prior art disclose a portable tarp roller that can roll a tarp which is lying on the ground into a roll for storage.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a handle bracket which includes a first section slidably engaging a second section such that the handle bracket has an adjustable width. A pair of ratcheting spools is removably mountable to the handle bracket and each of the ratcheting spools includes a plurality of rods which extend across a tarp to facilitate the tarp to be rolled into a roll when the pair of ratcheting spools are rotated. The handle bracket is urged to swing downwardly thereby facilitating the handle bracket to be rotated on each of the ratcheting spools. Continuing, the handle bracket is urged to swing upwardly subsequent to being urged downwardly thereby rotating each of the ratcheting spools to wrap the tarp around the plurality of rods.
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
A screw 22 is provided which has a shank 24 that is threadable through a nut 26 which is mounted to the first tube 18 of the first section 14. The shank 24 compresses against the first tube 18 of the second section 16 when the screw 22 is tightened for retaining the second section 16 at a desired position with respect to the first section 14. Conversely, the shank 24 is displaced from the first tube 18 of the second section 16 when the screw 22 is loosened to facilitate the second section 16 to be adjusted in the first section 14. The screw 22 may include a handle 27 that is perpendicularly oriented with the shank 24 for gripping and rotating the screw 22.
A pair of ratcheting spools 28 is provided and each of the pair of ratcheting spools 28 is removably mountable to the handle bracket 12 such that the pair of ratcheting spools 28 are oriented to face each other. Each of the pair of ratcheting spools 28 includes a wheel 30 which is rotated when the ratcheting spool 28 to which the wheel 30 is attached is rotated. Additionally, each of the ratcheting spools 28 includes a plurality of rods 32 each disposed on the wheel 30 of a respective ratcheting spool 28. The plurality of rods 32 of each of the ratcheting spools 28 extends partially across a tarp 34 to facilitate the tarp 34 to be rolled into a roll when the pair of ratcheting spools 28 are rotated. The tarp 34 may be a tarp of any conventional size or design that is commonly employed in the trucking industry for covering or securing a load.
Each of the ratcheting spools 28 comprises a spool bracket 36 that has a central panel 38 extending between a pair of outward panels 40 having the pair of outward panels 40 being spaced apart from each other and being oriented parallel to each other. Each of the ratcheting spools 28 includes a member 42 that has an outer surface 44 which is attached to a leading edge 46 of a respective one of the pair of outward panels 40 of the spool bracket 36. The member 42 extends upwardly beyond the central panel 38 such that an upper end 48 of the member 42 is spaced from the central panel 38. The second tube 20 the first section 14 and the secondary tube 17 of the second section 16 of the handle bracket 12 insertably receives the member 42 of a respective one of the ratcheting spools 28.
Each of the ratcheting spools 28 includes a shaft 50 that extends through each of the outward panels 40 such that the shaft 50 is freely rotatable in the spool bracket 36. The shaft 50 has a first end 52 that is spaced from a first one of the outward panels 54 and the shaft 50 has a second end 56 is spaced from a second one of the outward panels 58. The wheel 30 has a rear surface 60 that is attached to the second end 56 of the shaft 50 and the wheel 30 has a perimeter edge 62 which alternatively curves toward and away from a center of the wheel 30 to define a plurality of lobes 64 which are evenly spaced apart from each other and distributed around the wheel 30.
Each of the plurality of rods 32 has a coupled end 66 that is coupled to a front surface 68 of the wheel 30 and each of the rods 32 is located proximate a distal end 70 of a respective one of the lobes 64 defined on the wheel 30. Each of the rods 32 on the wheel 30 of each of the pair of ratcheting spools 28 is directed toward each other when the pair of ratcheting spools 28 is mounted to the handle bracket 12. Additionally, the plurality of rods 32 includes a set of first rods 72 and a set of second rods 74 and each of the first rods 72 has a length that is greater than a length of the second rods 74.
Each of the ratcheting spools 28 includes a gear 76 that is positioned around the shaft 50. The gear 76 is positioned between the first outward panel 54 and the first end 52 of the shaft 50 and the gear 76 has a plurality of teeth 78 distributed around the gear 76. Each of the plurality of teeth 78 has a first edge 80 that is perpendicularly oriented with respect to an outer surface 81 of the shaft 50. Additionally, each of the plurality of teeth 78 has a second edge 82 that is sloped with respect to the first edge 80.
Each of the ratcheting spools 28 includes a ratchet 84 that is pivotally coupled to an outwardly facing surface 86 of the first outward panel 54. The ratchet 84 is biased into a locking position having a finger 88 of the ratchet 84 engaging the gear 76. The finger 88 slides over the second edge 82 of each of the teeth 78 when the spool bracket 36 is rotated about the shaft 50 in a first direction. The finger 88 abuts the first edge 80 of a respective one of the teeth 78 when the finger 88 is in the locked position and the spool bracket 36 is urged to rotate about the shaft 50 in a second direction. In this way the spool bracket 36 is inhibited from rotating about the shaft 50 in the second direction such that the shaft 50 rotates with the spool bracket 36. The ratchet 84 is urgeable into an unlocked position having the finger 88 being displaced from the gear 76 thereby facilitating the spool bracket 36 to be rotated about the shaft 50 in either the first direction or the second direction.
The first tube 18 of the first section 14 and the first tube 18 of the second section 16 of the handle bracket 12 is urged to swing downwardly thereby rotating the spool bracket 36 of each of the ratcheting spools 28 to rotated about the shaft 50 in the first direction. The finger 88 of the ratchet 84 slides over the second edge 82 of each of the plurality of teeth 78 on the gear 76 thereby inhibiting the shaft 50 from being rotated with the spool bracket 36. The first tube 18 of the first section 14 and the first tube 18 of the second section 16 is urged to swing upwardly subsequent to being urged downwardly thereby rotating the spool bracket 36 of each of the ratcheting spools 28 to be rotated in the second direction about the shaft 50. Furthermore, the finger 88 of the ratchet 84 engages the first edge 80 of a respective tooth 78 on the gear 76 thereby facilitating the shaft 50 to be rotated with the spool bracket 36. In this way each of the ratcheting spools 28 can wrap the tarp 34 around the plurality of rods 32 each time the spool bracket 36 of each of the ratcheting spools 28 is urged to rotate in the second direction.
In use, the first tube 18 of the second section 16 of the handle bracket 12 is inserted into the first tube 18 of the first section 14 of and the member 42 of each of the ratcheting spools 28 is inserted into the second tube 20 of a respective first section 14 and second section 16. The tarp 34 is stretched out onto the ground, the tarp 34 is folded if necessary and the tarp 34 is positioned to facilitate the rods 32 on each of the ratcheting spools 28 to extend partially across the tarp 34. The first tube 18 of the first second and the first tube 18 of the second section 16 are repeatedly urged toward the ground and subsequently back up again in order to rotate the wheel 30 on each of the ratcheting spools 28 to roll the tarp 34 around the rods 32 until the tarp 34 is fully rolled up around the rods 32. In this way a tarp 34 of any size can be easily rolled up by a single individual while the tarp 34 is laying on the ground. The second tube 20 of the first section 14 and the secondary tube 17 of the second section 16 are each lifted from the member 42 on the respective ratcheting spool 28 and each of the ratcheting spools 28 are pulled away from the tarp 34 to pull the rods 32 out from the rolled up tarp 34. Finally, bungee cords or the like are wrapped around the rolled up tarp 34 to facilitate the tarp 34 to be stored and the pair of ratcheting spools 28 and each of the first section 14 and second section 16 are stored.
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, device 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.
