Lockable leveling structure

A lockable leveling structure has a vertical stand with a base at one end. The stand has legs pivotally attached and can be locked in a stable manner by a slide collar and thumb screw. The slide collar is movable about the vertical stand and makes a solid contact against the end of the legs causing the outer end of the legs to move up or down respective to one another to compensate for an unlevel support surface. This provides a solid motionless structure that can carry a load bearing fixture in desired degree of levelness in a safe, stable, novel manner without the use of shims, or altering the surface while on unlevel surfaces. The slide collar is unlocked and raised up the stand member allowing the bottom of the legs to rotate up toward the vertical stand member causing the structure to be in a compact package for storage or transport.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Heretofore lockable leveling structures had to be shimmed to make a solid, 
stable structure, and no known structure exists that holds the load 
perpendicular to the base when placed on uneven surfaces. Those skilled in 
the art can appreciate the unique difference, safety, and versatility of 
this invention, when viewing Henson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,332; Shapiro, 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,502; Ina, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,103 and Hoffman, U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,482,118. In Henson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,332, the toggle 
assembly is similar, but offers no positive way of leveling on uneven 
surfaces. In Shapiro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,502, the load is not transmitted 
in a stable fashion and will cause the horse to fall over. In Ina, U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,533,103, the difference is that the leveling is limited to only 
two directions and it would not survive heavy loads. In Hoffman, U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,482,118, the entire mechanism is too time consuming, and the load is 
not perpendicular to the main base when on uneven surfaces. 
The present invention differs from the known prior art, by the provision of 
a base that can be easily folded into a compact package and upon unfolding 
can provide a stable angle for a load bearing fixture, while being on an 
uneven support surface, such as the ground. This invention therefore 
relates to a novel way of leveling a load carrying fixture. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A leveling structure by which a load can be supported from a surface in a 
level altitude. The structure comprises a base, a stand member attached to 
said base and upwardly extending therefrom for carrying a load thereon, 
and an annular slide collar having a central passageway and an outer cam 
surface. The stand member is slidably received in captured relationship 
through the annular slide collar passageway, and fastener means are 
provided by which the collar is fixed respective to said stand member and 
base. Support legs are affixed to the base. 
Said base has a radial slot formed therein within which one of a plurality 
of said legs is pivotally received, with each leg being placed 
circumferentially about said base. Each leg has a near end opposed to a 
far end, with the far end of said legs extending radially from said base. 
Means pivotally mount the marginal near end of each said leg within said 
slot to transfer loads from the legs into the stand and also to enable 
said legs to pivot from a lowermost position (where the legs downwardly 
extend at an angle) into an uppermost position (where the legs are 
substantially parallel to said stand). The near end of each leg terminates 
in a cam face which abuttingly engages the slide collar, while the far end 
of the leg terminates in a foot for engaging the ground. 
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is the provision of 
a leveling structure that provides a safe, sturdy, stable means of support 
for a load while setting on uneven surfaces. 
Another object of the invention is to provide the user with a structure 
that has legs or appendages that can be folded onto itself to make a small 
package without the necessity of removing any of the parts from the 
structure. 
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a 
leveling structure that provides a stable means of support for a load 
while setting on uneven surfaces by the provision of a base having a stand 
affixed thereto that telescopingly receives an annular locking collar 
slidably positioned thereon to engage the curved end of a plurality of 
legs and lock the legs into a selected position that results in the stand 
being oriented in a selected position respective to the supporting 
surface. 
A further object of this invention is to provide the user with a durable, 
uncomplicated, light weight, speedy, nonstrenuous, ecology unaltering 
leveling device wherein the terrain does not have to be disturbed in order 
to achieve a desired angle of levelness. 
These and various other objects and advantages of the invention will become 
readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following 
detailed description and claims and by referring to the accompanying 
drawings. 
The above objects are attained in accordance with the present invention by 
the provision of a combination of elements which are fabricated as 
described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The figures of the drawings disclose a lockable leveling structure made in 
accordance with the present invention. As seen in FIG. 1, the structure 
has a stand member 1 which preferably is a piece of round tubing. A base 5 
and lockable slide collar mechanism 2 is attached to the lower end of 
stand member 1. As seen in FIG. 2, the base member 5 provides a means of 
support for stand member 1 and radially extending leg members 6. The base 
5 can be of various shape, size, and material as long as it is suitable to 
carry the anticipated loads. 
A slide collar 2 has a hole formed axially therethrough for telescopingly 
receiving stand member 1 therein. The axial hole is substantially larger 
than the outside diameter of the stand member in order to provide adequate 
clearance for sufficient movement about member 1; i.e.: the slide collar 2 
can wobble and oscillate respective to the stand member 1. The slide 
collar 2 is preferably an annular member and has means of being locked 
into a preferred or selected position by means of a locking device 3, 
shown herein as thumb screws. The number of thumb screws preferably is 
three, but any reasonable number can be employed so long as it can 
stabilize the slide collar 2 in relation to stand member 1. 
The base 5 provides a means by which the near ends of legs or appendages 6 
are pivotally mounted by a pin 4 or other suitable means. A dog 8 is 
formed on each of the legs 6 in the illustrated manner of FIG. 5 to 
provide a means of holding each of the legs 6 folded while in transport. 
The dog 8 makes contact with the bottom side of the slide collar 2 as 
shown in FIG. 7, and this can be an optional feature. The dog notch 9 of 
FIG. 5 contacts the bottom side of the slide collar 2 when the leg 6 is in 
the operational position set forth in FIGS. 1 and 3 if the entire 
structure is raised off the support surface for relocation. The dog notch 
9 limits the downward movement of the lower end or foot of the leg 6. This 
provides a means of limiting the downward movement, which can also be 
accomplished by positioning the dog 8 on the side of the leg 6, hence the 
dog notch 9 is an optional means of achieving this result. 
The base 5 of FIGS. 2 and 4 has a slot formed therein for pivotally 
receiving the near marginal end of the legs 6. The slot is preferably made 
deep enough to allow the near marginal end of the leg to pass therethrough 
and into the position set forth in FIG. 7. Hence, when the apparatus is 
moved into and out of the folded position, the slide collar 2 is raised to 
allow passage of the near end of the leg as noted in FIGS. 6 and 7. 
OPERATION 
In operation, the lockable leveling structure of FIGS. 1 and 3 are 
conveniently transported in the folded configuration of FIG. 7 to the 
location where needed. The load bearing fixture can be mounted to member 1 
before or after arrival. The structure is placed on the selected support 
surface, (i.e., the ground or the floor), the safety pin 7 of FIG. 7 is 
removed to allow the slide collar 2 FIG. 6 to be raised or telescoped up 
member 1. This allows the dogs 8 of FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 and member 9 to 
release the legs 6 letting them pass through the radial slot 5 in the base 
as seen in FIG. 6. This releases the collar 2 which is allowed to rest on 
the upper edge of the legs 6. The structure is raised vertically while the 
far end of the legs 6 remain in contact with the surface during this 
pivotal action, whereupon the near ends of the legs rotate about the pin 
and raise up through the radial slots 12 in the base 5. This widens the 
distance from the legs 6 and stand member 1 as the legs move apart, 
allowing the slide collar 2 to rest upon the base 5. The structure is then 
released and allowed to stand upright, then the safety pin 7 is 
reinstalled to make sure the slide collar 2 cannot raise off the base 5. 
Then the user can attain the desired angle of levelness by pushing the 
stand member 1 to desired angle, which results in a lateral movement of 
the slide collar 2 respective to the stand member 1; i.e., the vertical 
axis of the stand member moves laterally respective the vertical axis of 
the collar hole. The unlevelness of the surface the structure sets on is 
therefore compensated by the upward and downward movement of the upper and 
lower ends of the legs 6 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The slide collar 2 
resists the compressive load generated by the abutting cam or near end of 
the legs 6 as the slide collar 2 makes full contact with the upper end of 
each of the legs 6. Then the locking devices are forced against stand 
member 1. This locks the slide collar 2 to stand member 1 which allows no 
movement of any part of the structure. This is better understood while 
viewing FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. 
The amount of leg 6 compensation of an unlevel surface is directly related 
to the amount of clearance allowed between the slide collar 2 and the 
stand member 1. FIG. 4 shows the slide collar 2 against stand member 1, 
and this indicates the amount of compensation of an unlevel surface being 
at the maximum for that legs 6. 
In order to store and transport the lockable leveling structure, simply 
pull safety pin 7, withdraw the locking devices 3 from contact with stand 
member 1, raise slide collar 2, set the structure on a suitable surface, 
fold the legs 6 inwardly toward member 1, let the slide collar 2 rest on 
the base 5, reinstall the safety pin 7, and the structure is ready for 
storage or transport. 
Those skilled in the art, having digested this disclosure, will appreciate 
while the above description contains many specifications which should not 
be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as 
an exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Many other 
variations are possible. For example, this invention can be made in 
various sizes and capacities to accommodate the anticipated loads that it 
may be required to handle. 
This invention has a small number of parts, and each part can be made in 
correlation with any engineering requirement to attain the same results, 
size, shape, weight, materials, number of components, method of 
manufacture, and above all safety and ecology compatibility.