Patent ID: 6688566
Filing Date: 2004-02-10
Classification: F16M,G01C

Abstract:
A portable support for use in supporting equipment above a surface, the support comprising a head for holding the equipment, legs connected to the head for supporting the head above the surface, each leg comprising a first leg member and a second leg member connected to the first leg member for sliding motion relative thereto between a fully extended position and a fully retracted position, the first leg member having a pair of rods disposed on opposite sides of the second leg member and biased outwardly from the second leg member to facilitate free sliding motion between the first and second leg members and having free ends, the second leg member having a first end located generally between the rods and a second end located outward from between the rods and a second end located outward from between the rods, a clamp having a locked position for squeezing the rods of the first leg member against the second leg member to secure the first leg member and the a selected relative position, and an unlocked position in which the first leg member and the second leg member are movable relative to one another, the clamp being mounted on the second leg member at a location closer to the first end of the second leg member than the second end, the first leg member and the second leg member of at least one of the legs each including a generally wedge-shaped engagement formation interengageable with the wedge-shaped engagement formation of the other under the clamping force of the clamp in the locked position to hold the first leg member and the second leg member in a fixed relative position, the wedge-shaped formations being sized and shaped to prevent the formations from bottoming out in the locked position of the clamp.