Abstract:
A work piece support of the present invention has at least one self-locking bracket. The self-locking bracket has a locking portion that engages the step of a ladder and a support portion that secures a work piece. The locking portion and support portion are joined together to create a self-contained unitary member. The at least one self-locking bracket may be used in conjunction with another to provide an optimal work piece support.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 USC § 119 to provisional application U.S. Ser. No. 60/868,874, Entitled Work Piece Support Apparatus. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention is directed to a work piece support and more particularly a self-locking, ladder mounted support having a narrow profile. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Technicians and ladders are an almost inescapable combination. Much of the work performed by technicians requires a ladder and the technicians must make multiple trips up and down the ladder to get the work pieces necessary for the task at hand. This process can be tiring and also reduce the technician&#39;s productivity as much of his time is spent climbing up and down the ladder. Additionally, it is often required to cut a work piece to an appropriate size. This may be accomplished by the technician using his leg as a brace for the work piece, however there are many obvious dangers inherent in this practice. This process can easily harm the technician and also result in an inaccurate cut if the work piece is not securely locked in place. Therefore, many different supports for work pieces have been developed to allow a technician to place a variety of work pieces on the support in close proximity to where the technician is working and that can serve as a brace when cutting a work piece. Some of these supports are ladder mounted. 
         [0006]    Work piece supports mounted on the side upwardly extending supports of a ladder are well known in the art. These supports often allow the technician to mount the supports in almost any desired location on the ladder. However, these supports require the technician to fasten the mounts often by bolting them to the side supports of a ladder or by clamping them to the side supports of a ladder. This step adds additional time to the technician&#39;s job and it also reduces the reliability of these particular work piece supports. Once the support is loaded with a particularly heavy work piece, if the technician failed to adequately clamp it, the support could slip, allowing the work piece to fall out, causing damage to the property, technician, and possibly others. Furthermore, these work piece supports have multiple parts, which makes the support cumbersome, costly to produce, and reduces its portability, as pieces could be lost in transit. 
         [0007]    Other work piece supports have been designed for mounting on the steps of a ladder. One such support has a portion designed to fit the profile of a ladder step and has a large section hanging down between the ladder supports to serve as a work piece support. Although this type of work piece support does not require a complicated process in order to mount it on the ladder there are many other inherent disadvantages. Namely, many of these work piece supports are rather large, inherently limiting portability, a critical objective. These supports have a wide profile and therefore take up a great deal of space between the ladder supports and can hang down over many steps. This prevents use of the ladder above the support mounting location. Overall, because of their relatively large size these supports cannot be stored in a toolbox, a pocket, or on a belt. 
         [0008]    What is needed in the art is a self-locking work piece support that is easy to transport, preferably in a toolbox, a pocket, or on a belt, readily mountable to a ladder, and does not compromise use of the ladder by it&#39;s mounting thereon. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    According to the present invention the foregoing and other objects and advantages are obtained by a work piece support having at least one self-locking bracket. The self-locking bracket has a locking portion that engages the step of a ladder and a support portion that secures a work piece. The locking portion and support portion are joined together to create a self-contained unitary member. The at least one self-locking bracket may be used in conjunction with another to provide an optimal work piece support. Furthermore, in order to not inhibit full use of the ladder, the work piece support is preferably less than half the width of the step. More preferably, it is less than one quarter the width of the step. Most preferably, it is less than one eighth the width of the step. 
         [0010]    According to one aspect of the embodiment, the support portion may be formed to have a v-shape cross-section. This design allows the support portion to accommodate work pieces of varying dimensions; specifically the v-shaped support portion can accommodate work pieces of varying diameters. This support portion may also be formed to have a step shaped profile to accommodate dimensional lumber. 
         [0011]    According to another aspect of the embodiment, the self-locking portion is formed to generally correspond to the profile of a ladder step. Further, this self-locking portion may be formed to have a backside wall with a bottom portion. A lip extends from the bottom portion towards the support portion. Therefore, when the work piece support is mounted on a ladder step the lip extends under the step of the ladder and serves to lock the work piece support in place. The work piece support may also be formed to have sidewalls that engage the upright supports of the ladder, which are generally orthogonal to the steps. These features provide added stability to the work piece support. 
         [0012]    The work piece support can take on a variety of shapes and sizes. All that is required is that it has at least a means for mounting and locking the support to the ladder and a means for supporting a work piece. These two sections are then unitarily formed to embody a work piece support of the present invention. Furthermore, the invention is preferably made from a polyethylene with at least some elasticity. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0013]    The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the following figures, wherein like numerals designate like elements, and wherein: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mounted work piece support apparatus according to one preferred embodiment; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a side elevation cross-sectional view of a work piece support mounted on a step according to one preferred embodiment; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a front elevation view of a mounted work piece support apparatus according to one preferred embodiment; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a side elevational view of a work piece support having an alternate shape; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the work piece support of  FIG. 4 ; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the work piece support of  FIG. 4 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    A work piece support apparatus  10  constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . The work piece support apparatus  10  preferably has two identical self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  mounted on opposite sides of the same ladder step  16  mounted to opposed upwardly extending supports  34 ,  36  of the ladder, as best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 3 . Since the self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  are identical it is understood that by describing one self-locking bracket  12  the other self-locking bracket is sufficiently described. 
         [0021]    As best seen in  FIG. 2 , the self-locking bracket  12  has two main portions, a support portion  18  and a locking portion  20 . The support portion  18  preferably has a substantially v-shaped channel  22 , which can accommodate a variety of work piece dimensions. Preferably, the v-shaped channel  22  is dimensioned such that it can accommodate conduits of varying diameters. 
         [0022]    The locking portion  20  of the self-locking bracket  12  has a front wall  24 , a top wall  26 , a rear wall  28 , and a lip  30 . When engaging a step  16 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , these four parts of the locking portion  20  encase a significant portion of the step  16 . 
         [0023]    To mount the self-locking bracket  12  the step  16  must be slid in between the front wall  24  and the distal end of the lip  30 . However, the front wall  24  and the distal end of the lip  30  are preferably distanced such that the gap  25  between them is narrower than a common ladder step  16 . Therefore, the self-mounting bracket  12  is preferably, though not necessarily, formed from a polyethylene with at least some elasticity, which allows the locking portion  20  to momentarily expand when being mounted on a ladder step  16 . Once the step  16  has passed through this gap the locking portion  20  will spring back to its original dimensions if it had expanded. Notably, locking portion  20  will not likely expand if the gap  25  between front wall  24  and distal end of lip  30  is designed to be at least slightly larger than the height of step  16 , allowing bracket  12  to be readily “worked” around step  16 . As best seen in  FIG. 1 , the lip  30  then slides under the bottom of the step  16  and the front  24 , top  26 , and rear  28  walls all preferably rest on or near their respective portions of the step  16 . Thus, the locking portion  20  preferably encloses a majority of the step  16  and serves as a locking mechanism for the self-locking bracket  12 . Optionally, lip  30  may be formed with an extension  31  that extends into the interior of step  16  for further bracket stability and locking. 
         [0024]    The self-locking bracket  12  also incorporates a substantial sidewall. The sidewall  32  is best seen on self-locking bracket  14  in  FIGS. 1 and 3 . This sidewall  32  preferably serves as a support in contact with the ladder support  34 , which is generally orthogonal to the step  16 . This feature adds stability to the work piece support. 
         [0025]    Additionally, the width W of the self-locking bracket  12  is another important feature. As best seen in  FIG. 3 , the width W is preferably significantly less than the width of the step  16 . Therefore, even when two self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  are used for a work piece support  10  they claim a relatively small portion of the step  16  (e.g., less than one-half the width of the step, and more preferably less than one-quarter) and allow the technician to still use all the steps and workable space of the ladder  36 . Moreover, the width of brackets  10 ,  12  is preferably substantially the same along the length of brackets  10 ,  12  from the outside edges of support and locking portions  18 ,  20 , respectively. 
         [0026]    In use, the v-shaped channels  22 ,  38  receive the work pieces. When these work pieces are resting in either or both of the v-shaped channels  22 ,  38  they will exert a downward force on the support portions  18 ,  40 . Again since the self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  are identical it is only necessary to describe the forces in one self-locking bracket  12  in order to understand the forces in both. This downward force on the support portion  18  creates an overall rotational force in the self-locking bracket  12  pivoting on the corner at the intersection of the top wall  26  and front wall  24  of the locking portion  20 . Looking at the self-locking bracket  12  in  FIG. 2 , the entire piece experiences a counterclockwise force. The lip  30  is crucial in preventing the self-locking bracket  12  from rotating off of the step  16 . When properly mounted, as in  FIG. 1 , the lip  30  will preferably press against the bottom of the step  16  in the event of this force and keep the self-locking bracket  12  in place. Therefore, in the present embodiment the two self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  form a work piece support  10  that can safely hold various work pieces and preferably conduits of varying diameters. 
         [0027]    More particularly, the work piece support  10  preferably also serves as a brace when a technician needs to cut a work piece. First, the work piece is securely placed in the work piece supports  10 , as described previously. Then the technician will slide the work piece in the work piece support  10  until the excess length of the work piece is entirely on the outside of one of the self-locking brackets  12 ,  14 , and preferably a corresponding one of ladder supports  34 ,  36 . Then the technician may remove the excess length of the work piece using any standard tool, commonly a saw. When using a saw to remove the excess length of a work piece a multitude of forces will propagate through the work piece and exert various forces on the work piece support  10 . Preferably, both of the self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  fit snugly around the step  16  and thus prevent these forces from jarring either self-locking bracket  12 ,  14  loose during this high load application. The work piece support also prevents excessive movement of the work piece when the excessive length is being removed. The preferably two self-locking brackets  12 ,  14  keep the work piece in a generally static state thus ensuring an accurate and safe cut of the work piece. 
         [0028]    Overall, work piece support apparatus  10  allows the technician to readily secure a work piece to a support such as a ladder for further manipulation, e.g., cutting. Apparatus  10  requires no separate locking mechanism and is readily transportable, over, for example, on a tool belt of the technician. A range of work pieces are contemplated. 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , according to an alternate embodiment, a work piece support  41  having a step shaped profile is provided to support a variety of different types of correspondingly-shaped work pieces. A work piece support  41  is configured to ideally accommodate several sizes of dimensional lumber. Work piece support  41  includes a bracket  42 , preferably self-locking, having a support portion  44  and a locking portion  46 . Support portion  44  preferably has a substantially v-shaped channel similar to the previously described embodiment, but with legs  48 ,  50  of the “v-shape” being stepped to securely retain square shaped work pieces. By stepping legs  48 ,  50  in this fashion, square shaped work pieces of varying dimensions such as dimensional lumber can be accommodated. 
         [0030]    Referring next to  FIG. 6 , locking portion  46  of self-locking bracket  42  has a front wall  52 , a rear wall  54  and a lip portion  56  adapted to engage a step of the ladder as described previously. Locking portion  46  is essentially the same as locking portion  20  of the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . Optionally, lip portion  56  can be formed with an extension, such as that shown in  FIG. 2 , that extends into the interior of a step of the ladder for improved retention of bracket  42  on the ladder. In use, stepped channel  44  receives and supports the work piece for manipulation by the user, e.g., cutting, etc. Apparatus  41  can be used either one bracket at a time or as shown with the previously described embodiment in pairs to provide further stability of the work piece. Moreover, though v-shaped channels have been shown, and in this case a stepped v-shaped channel for accommodating square shaped work pieces, channel  44  may be shaped to accommodate the corresponding shape of any desired work piece to be operated on. 
         [0031]    While this invention has been described with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, various features of the embodiments are interchangeable with various similar features of other disclosed embodiments. Thus, all of the features disclosed with respect to each embodiment can be applied to the other embodiments to achieve desirable results. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.