Patent ID: 8925987
Filing Date: 2015-01-06
Classification: B66C

Abstract:
1. A ring lift device for lifting and moving large hollow ring structures having large inner diameters and handled during manufacturing, transport and shipping of said ring structures, said ring lift device comprising: an upper frame defining a front inverted L-shaped member, a rear inverted L-shaped member, and two outer upper suspension supports maintaining said front and rear inverted L-shaped members in parallel alignment and providing a suspension point from which said upper frame is suspended from overhead, and a drive system platform on a top of a central frame bar supporting a portable battery power supply and a hydraulic drive mechanism; a pair of lateral depending ring clamp structures slidably engaging said front and rear L-shaped members, which expand and contract from one another, each lateral depending ring clamp structure defining an upper slide frame including a pair of support beams containing an outer C-channel attached by at least two support struts maintaining said pair of support beams in secure parallel alignment, each outer C-channel engaging at least two inwardly directed slide rollers rotatably attaching to an inner surface of each parallel aligned inverted L-shaped member at a respective outer end and further providing an independent sliding engagement between each lateral ring clamp structure and said upper frame; a lower vertical frame plate defining an upper margin attached to each respective upper slide frame and an inner flat surface upon which a set of at least three broad inner grab wheels are rotatably mounted, each set of grab wheels directed towards one another and distributed in a symmetrically identical upwardly arced curvature; and a central pivot bar and a pair of push rods, empowered by said hydraulic drive mechanism, expanding and contracting said two lateral depending ring clamp structures away from and towards each other, by the central pivot bar rotated around a central axis in a horizontal plane, said central pivot bar having uniformly spaced outer ends pivotally attaching to each push rod expanding and retracting said upper slide frames along said upper frame to insert said facing inner grab wheels within said inner diameter of each end of a ring structure wherein said ring structure can be elevated and moved without significant deformation to said subject ring structure.