# Patent

## Title
Multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack for use with a trailer

## Abstract

A mechanical jack that is used with trailers that has a functional combination of several working gears as well as a drop leg feature is disclosed. The mechanical jack has a gearbox having gears that not only have the capacity to handle a relatively heavy load, but also have the ability to handle small and midsize loads while maintaining sufficient and commercially acceptable cranking speeds without excessive force required. The jack includes a crank or handle for use with the mechanical jack that assists in both effective raising and lowering of the jack, as well as efficient transition from one working gear to another. The jack may also utilize an electric motor as the source of input power to the jack.

## Background
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part application claiming the benefit of priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/368,519 filed on Feb. 18, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,006.


FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack, and more particularly, to a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack for use with a trailer.
In the mechanical jack industry, and specifically where mechanical jacks are used with trailers, there is a continuing need to have user-friendly jacks that provide a commercially valuable balance of jack speed, lifting and lowering capabilities, ease of cranking and overall performance for both loaded and unloaded trailers. In mechanical jacks these variables are best overcome by selecting the appropriate gears by which the mechanical jack will operate, as well as anticipating the type of trailer that will be used with the jack.
In many instances, it is desirable for mechanical jacks to have multiple gear ratios that not only have the capacity to handle relatively heavy loads, but also have the ability to handle small and midsize loads while maintaining sufficient and commercially acceptable cranking speeds without excessive force required.
In addition, it is oftentimes desirable to be able to quickly provide elongation of the mechanical jack, such as in a drop leg, where there is not any mechanical cranking required in order to have a significant amount of jack elongation or contraction in a short amount of time, such as at the beginning or completion of the lifting process.
Moreover, it is also desirable to provide an efficient way to change from one operating gear of the jack to another. To the extent that the operator of the jack can better use the crank of the jack to facilitate faster and smoother changes of operating gears, the crank will be considered to be advantageous. It is a continuing design goal to have a crank that facilitates operator use of the mechanical jack to which it is connected, in order to provide improved cranking and improved changing from one operating gear to another.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a mechanical jack typically used with trailers that has a functional combination of several working gears as well as a drop leg feature. It would be particularly desirable if the drop leg feature was considered when selecting the working gears of the jack. It would also be advantageous to have a crank or handle for use with a mechanical jack that assists in both effective raising and lowering of the jack, as well as efficient transition from one working gear to another.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Disclosed herein is a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack for use with a trailer. The jack generally comprises at least two working gears and a drop leg. More particularly, the jack comprises an outer tubular housing; a inner tubular housing in mechanical engagement with the outer tubular housing, a drop leg in non-geared sliding engagement with the inner tubular housing; a gearbox mounted to the outer tubular housing, the gearbox comprising: a gear housing having an inner surface defined by gear housing teeth; a plurality of planet gears, each of the plurality of planet gears having teeth, the teeth in meshing engagement with the gear housing teeth; a planetary carrier connected to the plurality of planet gears, the carrier having an inner surface defined by planetary carrier teeth; and a sun gear having sun gear teeth, the sun gear axially slideable between a working high gear in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the planetary carrier teeth and a working low gear in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the teeth of the plurality of planetary gears.
In another embodiment, a gearbox for use as part of a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack for use with a trailer is disclosed. The gearbox comprises: a gear housing having an inner surface defined by gear housing teeth; a plurality of planet gears, each of the plurality of planet gears having teeth, the teeth in meshing engagement with the gear housing teeth; a planetary carrier connected to the plurality of planet gears, the carrier having an inner surface defined by planetary carrier teeth; and a sun gear having sun gear teeth, the sun gear axially slideable between a working high gear in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the planetary carrier teeth and a working low gear in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the teeth of the plurality of planetary gears; wherein the working high gear and the working low gear each have a turns per inch (TPI) parameter and each of the TPI parameters are selected at least in part to complement the drop leg.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack having a gearbox in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;
FIG. 1a is an exploded perspective view of the multi-speed jack gearbox;
FIG. 2 is a partial enlarged view of a handle for use with the multi-speed jack;
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack showing the jack in a working high gear position;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a gearbox of the multi-speed jack taken along line 4-4 of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack showing the jack in a working low gear position;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a gearbox of the multi-speed jack taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the gearbox taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5; and
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 5.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the present invention utilizing a motor to provide input power to the jack, where the jack is engaged by the motor in high gear.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the jack of FIG. 9 where the jack is engaged by the motor in low gear.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic illustration of a multi-speed drop leg mechanical jack 10 having a gearbox 12 in accordance with one aspect of the present invention is shown. The jack 10 can be used with a trailer 14, partially shown FIG. 1. Trailers that are contemplated for use with the present invention include, but are not limited to, horse trailers, livestock trailers, large flatbed trailers, and construction equipment trailers.
The jack 10, in the embodiment shown, is generally a multi-speed mechanical jack incorporating a drop leg or “through the air” speed, and two geared working speeds, namely a working low gear speed that facilitates lifting of relatively higher loads, and a working high gear speed for faster lifting of relatively lower and medium-sized loads or lowering relatively high loads. As shown, gearbox 12 is connected, preferably so as to be flush mounted, to tubular housing 16 of jack 10. Alternatively, gearbox 12 may be mounted within tubular housing 16 so as to have an internal gearbox arrangement. Tubular housing 16 can generally be referred to as a “concentric” tubular style, and in a preferred embodiment, a concentric, triple tubular style housing can be used. Tubular housing includes telescoping tubular sections 18a and 18b. Jack 10 further includes drop leg 20. Drop leg 20 is in sliding, telescoping relationship tubular section 18b. Telescoping tubular sections 18a, 18b and 20 are supported by jack base 22. Tubular section 18b includes pin assembly 24 having pin 26. Pin 26 is used to fix drop leg 20 in position relative to tubular section 18b. Gearbox 12 is connected to shaft 28. Rotation of shaft 28 translates into linear movement of jack 10, and more particular, tubular section 18b relative to tubular section 18a, in order to raise and lower trailer 14. In one embodiment, jack 10 is fixedly connected to trailer 14, for example, via mounting tabs 27 (schematically shown in phantom) which can be secured to trailer channel 29 in a known fashion. The drop leg is used to move quickly between a retracted position and an extended position in which the jack base is in close proximity to the ground. The drop leg movement helps provide the necessary clearance for the trailer, to which the jack is attached.
Still referring to FIG. 1, crank 30, also termed a leveraging actuator (e.g., a handle), is used to impart rotation as well as translation to the shaft. Crank 30 includes two grips or handles 32, 34, which are separated by a contoured crank bar 36. The grips are used to facilitate the imparting of a balanced translational and/or rotation force (i.e., torque) to shaft 28 as needed. Contoured crank bar 36 is shown in a preferred “L”-type configuration, however, any suitable shape or contoured configurations are contemplated. For example, contoured crank bar 36 can be bent or otherwise shaped to facilitate an end user's use of crank 30.
FIG. 1a is an exploded perspective view of multi-speed jack gearbox 12. Gearbox 12 provides for the necessary engagement of the gears so as to impart motion of the shaft in two geared positions. Planetary carrier 38 carries planet gears 39a-d, having teeth 40a-d respectively, via connecting pins 42a-d, carrier 38, planet gears 39a-d and connecting pins 42a-d are positioned within gear housing 46, and more particularly, positioned such that teeth 40a-d are in meshing engagement with interior teeth 48 of the housing. Shaft 28 connects to planetary carrier 38 via pin 44. Sun gear 50 includes teeth 52 and, via the teeth, meshingly engages either teeth 440a-d of planet gears 39a-d, or alternatively, interior teeth 54 of planetary carrier 38, with these meshing engagements defining the two geared positions of gearbox 12. Rotation of sun gear 50 via crank 50 (FIGS. 1 and 2) imparts rotation and force transfer to shaft 28. Gearbox 12 further includes input bushing 56 and output bushing 58 and is enclosed by endplates or cover portions 60a-b. Securing means 62 (e.g., a carriage bolt) and 64 are to fasten (typically from inside) the 10 gearbox together.
Referring to FIGS. 1-2, in a preferred embodiment, crank 30 is removable, as indicated by the phantom illustration (FIG. 1). Crank 30 includes connecting portion 65, which extends from crank bar 36, and slideably engages hollow sun gear shaft portion 28a. Pin 68 is secured to crank bar 36, and more particularly, to slideable crank bar portion 70. Both torque and translation forces are transmitted via pin 68 and holes 72a and 72b in connecting portion 65 and shaft portion 28a respectively. When it is desired to remove crank 30 from shaft 28, for example, during transport of trailer 14 (FIG. 1), the following is performed: a) raising slideable crank bar portion 70 of crank 30 in a direction indicated by arrow 66, which in turn raises pin 68 by clearing the pin from holes 72a and 72b, respectively; and b) sliding connecting portion 65 out of shaft portion 28a, or sungear 50, in a direction indicated by arrow 74 (i.e., axially along the shaft), thereby disengaging crank 30 from shaft 28 or sungear 50. To engage the crank with the shaft, the above procedure is reversed. In one embodiment, the jack includes a connecting device to connect the crank to the shaft or may be connected directly to sungear 50. The connecting device may include a spring-loaded detent (not shown) or other type of catch mechanism to secure the connecting device into position. In operation, when pin 68 is engaged, the detent emerges to lock or prevent movement of slideable crank bar portion 70, and the detent retreats inside slideable crank bar portion 70 when pin 68 is disengaged to permit movement of the slideable crank bar portion.
Turning to FIGS. 3-4, a side sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack showing the jack in a working high gear position, and a sectional view of a gearbox of the multi-speed jack taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 are shown, respectively. In the working high gear position, sun gear teeth 52 of sun gear 50 are in meshing engagement with planetary carrier teeth 54 of planetary carrier 38. Planetary carrier teeth 54 are formed to match the sun gear tooth form. In the working high gear position, sun gear 50 and planetary carrier 38 are disposed within gear housing 46. Sun gear 50 is driven by crank 30 to rotate, for example in a direction indicated by arrow 76, to drive planetary carrier 38, for example in a direction indicated by arrow 78. Planetary carrier 38, in turn, causes rotation of shaft 28, for example, in a direction indicated by arrow 80.
Turning to FIGS. 5-6, a side sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack showing the jack in a working low gear position, and a sectional view of a gearbox of the multi-speed jack taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5 are shown, respectively. In the working low gear position, sun gear teeth 52 of sun gear 50 are in meshing engagement with planet gear teeth 40a-d of planet gears 39a-d. In the working low gear position, sun gear 50, planetary gears 39a-d, and planetary carrier 38 are disposed within gear housing 46. Sun gear 50 is again driven by crank 30 to rotate, for example in a direction indicated by arrow 88, and drive planet gears 39a-d, for example in a direction indicated by arrow 90. In addition, planet gear teeth 40a-d of planet gears 39a-d meshingly engage housing interior teeth 48 of housing 46, and thus, as planet gears 39a-d rotate in the direction indicated by arrow 90, the planet gears also revolve in a direction indicated by arrow 92. Planet gears 39a-d are connected, for example via pin 94 as shown, to planetary carrier 38. Thus, as planet gears 39a-d rotate and revolve, planetary carrier 38 is itself carried in the direction indicated by arrow 92. Planetary carrier 38 causes rotation of shaft 28, for example, in a direction indicated by arrow 80. It is noted that this gearing arrangement rotates shaft 28 in the same direction as crank 30 in both geared positions. Such an arrangement may tend to decrease novice operator confusion and directional errors when switching gears.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, crank 30 is used to shift between the working high gear position and the working low gear position. More particularly, a jack user can push or pull on crank 30 to move the crank in directions indicated by arrows 96 and 98. Since crank 30 is connected, for example via pin 68 (FIG. 2) to shaft 28 or sun gear 50, the sun gear axially slides between the working high gear position (FIG. 4), in which sun gear teeth 52 are in meshing engagement with planetary carrier teeth 54 and the working low gear position (FIG. 6), in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with planet gear teeth 40a-d of planet gears 39a-d. As will be further described below, other types of actuators can be used, including a motor that can be shifted between high gear and low gear to operate the jack without user cranking.
Turning to FIG. 1, crank 30 can be termed a “low friction” crank in that it minimizes frictional losses when shifting between the working high gear position and the working low gear position by providing, via handles 32, 34, balanced exertion forces on shaft 28.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the gearbox taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5. As shown, connector 44, for example a pin connector, connects planetary carrier 38 with shaft 28. In the working low gear position shown, sun gear 50 (shown in phantom) causes, via planet gears 39a-d, rotation of carrier 38, in turn rotating shaft 28.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a portion of the multi-speed jack taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 5. As shown, gear 82 is connected to shaft 28 and is in meshing engagement with crown gear 84, with the crown gear in turn connected to jack shaft 86. In a known manner, rotation of shaft 28 causes linear displacement of jack shaft 86, via crown gear 84, to raise and lower jack 10.
In the working high gear, preferably between about 7 turns and 11 turns, and more preferably about 9 turns, of sun gear 50 (FIGS. 3-4) results in about one inch of linear displacement of jack shaft 86 (FIGS. 3-4, 8), with this relationship generally referred to as “turns per inch” or TPI. In one preferred embodiment, the working high gear raises loads that range from about 2,500 lbs to about 4,500 lbs and lowers loads that range from about 4,200 lbs to about 7,500 lbs. In the working high gear, one (1) revolution of sun gear 50 results in one (1) revolution of planetary carrier 38 (FIGS. 3-4).
The working low gear, preferably results in between about 24 and 30, and more preferably about 27.75 TPI. In one preferred embodiment, the working low gear raises loads that range from about 4,500 lbs to about 10,000 lbs and lowers loads from about 7,500 lbs and above. In the working low gear position, three (3) revolutions of sun gear 50 results in one (1) revolution of planetary carrier 38 (FIGS. 5-6).
Accordingly, the ratio of the working low gear to the working high gear, termed the “working low gear-to-working high gear ratio” is preferably between about 2.4 to 1 and 5 to 1, more preferably about 3 to 1, and even more preferably about 3.1 to 1. In one preferred embodiment, the gear ratio is 3.0833 to 1.
Typically the working low gear ratio (or mechanical advantage) is chosen based on a maximum lifting load. The working high gear ratio, in contrast, is chosen based on speed. In the present invention, both the working low gear and working high ratios are selected for use specifically with the jack drop leg feature. Because the drop leg provides the through-the-air function, the typical speed consideration becomes unimportant; therefore the working high gear ratio can be chosen based on raising or lowering significant but less than maximum loads. The user is therefore not confined to lift and lower all loads with only the working low gear, especially important when the size of the load is very small.
The design of the gear ratios can take into account the fact that the drop leg is available, and as part of the design criterion, the working high gear and the gear ratios can be selected to carry a significant load. As a result, designing the working gears with the drop leg in mind eliminates high working gears that have to carry no load. Also, the gears can be operator selected to lift various loaded trailers with as much speed as possible. The overall efficiency is increased by reducing the time to raise and lower the jack in the loading conditions for which it is made. The two working gears plus drop leg design model is particularly desired when the loads change from fully loaded to unloaded, and where loading and unloading occurs frequently, such as in vehicle or animal trailers. The working high gear and the working low gear each have a turns per inch (TPI) parameter and each of the TPI parameters are selected at least in part to complement the drop leg. By “complement” it is mean that the TPI parameters are selected based on the anticipation of the availability of the drop leg.
Another embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, utilizes an actuator comprising an electric motor to input power to the jack rather than a hand crank. The motor 100 eliminates the need for human effort to input power to the jack. Such an improvement retains the “shift ability” of the gearbox but does not require manual cranking. Other than the motorized actuator 100, the construction of the jack is substantially identical that the previous embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 9, a motor assembly 102 comprises a gear motor 100, a motor gearbox 110, and a sungear 112. The motor 100 provides power through the motor gearbox 110 to supply torque to the sungear 112. As shown in FIG. 9, the sungear 112 engages the planetary gear carrier 50 to provide input power in a high gear. Therefore, the operation of the jack performs as described above relative to power input at a high gear. As shown in FIG. 10, the motor assembly 100 can pulled outwardly so as to move the sungear 12 out of engagement with the planetary gear carrier 50 and into engagement with the planetary gears 39 so as to provide input power in a low gear. Therefore, the operation of the jack performs as described above relative to power input in a low gear. With regard to the selection of gear speed, it is anticipated that the shifting mechanism of the motor assembly could be done manually or automatically without further description herein.
The present invention has been described with respect to several embodiments. Equivalents, alternatives, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated herein, are possible and should be understood to be within the scope of the appending claims.

## Claims

1. A multi-speed jack for raising and lowering an object, said jack comprising:
first and second housing sections telescopically moveable relative to each other, said first housing section connected to said object to be raised or lowered;
a drop leg in non-geared sliding engagement with said second housing section, said drop leg telescopically moveable relative to said second housing section and selectively engagable therewith along a range of telescopic positions, said drop leg capable of engagement with the ground;
a drive mechanism for causing telescopic movement between said first and second housing sections to raise or lower said object relative to the ground;
a gearing that engages said drive mechanism, said gearing selectable between at least two working gear ratios that can support loads encountered during the raising or lowering of said object; and
an actuator for providing input power to said gearing that is translated into telescopic movement of said first and second housing sections, said actuator moveable between engagement with said first working gear and said second working gear to provide said at least two working gears ratios.

2. The multi-speed jack of claim 1 wherein said at least two working gear ratios comprise a working low gear ratio and a working high gear ratio.

3. The multi-speed jack of claim 2 wherein said gearing comprises a planetary gear set.

4. The multi-speed jack of claim 3 wherein said planetary gear set comprises:
a gear housing having an inner surface defined by gear housing teeth;
a plurality of planet gears, each of said plurality of planet gears having teeth, the teeth in meshing engagement with the gear housing teeth; and
a planetary carrier connected to the plurality of planet gears, the carrier having an inner surface defined by planetary carrier teeth.

5. The multi-speed jack of claim 4 wherein said actuator includes a sun gear having gear teeth, said sun gear axially slideable between a working high gear ratio in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the planetary carrier teeth and a working low gear ratio in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the teeth of the plurality of planetary gears.

6. The multi-speed jack of claim 5 wherein the planetary carrier is connected to a shaft, and the shaft is in geared relationship with said threaded screw for raising or lowering said object.

7. The multi-speed jack of claim 6 wherein said actuator comprises a crank for manually rotating said sun gear.

8. The multi-speed jack of claim 6 wherein said actuator comprises an electric motor for rotating said sun gear.

9. A multi-speed jack for raising and lowering an object, said jack comprising:
first and second housing sections telescopically moveable relative to each other, said first housing section connected to said object to be raised or lowered;
a drop leg in non-geared sliding engagement with said second housing section, said drop leg telescopically moveable relative to said second housing section and selectively engagable therewith along a range of telescopic positions so as to be engagable with the ground;
a drive mechanism for causing telescopic movement between said first and second housing sections so as to raise or lower said object relative to the ground;
a gearing that engages said drive mechanism, said gearing selectable between at least two working gear ratios that can support loads encountered during the raising or lowering of said object; and
an electric motor having a shaft with a gear for providing input power from said gear to said gearing that is translated into telescopic movement of said first and second housing sections, said gear moveable between engagement with said first working gear and said second working gear to provide said at least two working gears ratios.

10. The multi-speed jack of claim 9 wherein said gearing comprises a planetary gear set.

11. The multi-speed jack of claim 10 wherein said planetary gear set comprises:
a gear housing having an inner surface defined by gear housing teeth;
a plurality of planet gears, each of said plurality of planet gears having teeth, the teeth in meshing engagement with the gear housing teeth; and
a planetary carrier connected to the plurality of planet gears, the carrier having an inner surface defined by planetary carrier teeth.

12. The multi-speed jack of claim 11 wherein the gear of said electric motor comprises a sun gear having gear teeth, said sun gear axially slideable between a working high gear ratio in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the planetary carrier teeth and a working low gear ratio in which the sun gear teeth are in meshing engagement with the teeth of the plurality of planetary gears.