Patent Publication Number: US-11046520-B2

Title: Log lifting device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to lifting devices and more particularly pertains to a new lifting device for raising a log into a cutting position. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The prior art relates to lifting devices. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a cylinder, a handle, and a wedge. The handle is coupled to and extends from the cylinder equally distant from opposing ends of the cylinder. The wedge is coupled to and extends from the cylinder proximate to the handle. The wedge is substantially perpendicular to the handle. The wedge is configured to be positioned beneath a felled log, positioning a user to grasp and pull on the handle to rotate the cylinder to apply a lifting force to the log so that the log is supported upon the handle above a surface. The log thus is positioned to be safely cut by the user using a chain saw, or other log cutting implement. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric perspective view of a log lifting device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a detail view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new lifting device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 6 , the log lifting device  10  generally comprises a cylinder  12 , a handle  14 , and a wedge  16 . The handle  14  is coupled to and extends from the cylinder  12  equally distant from opposing ends  18  of the cylinder  12 . The wedge  16  is coupled to and extends from the cylinder  12  proximate to the handle  14 . The wedge  16  is substantially perpendicular to the handle  14 . The wedge  16  is configured to be positioned beneath a felled log, positioning a user to grasp and pull on the handle  14  to rotate the cylinder  12  to apply a lifting force to the log so that the log is supported upon the handle  14  above a surface, as shown in  FIG. 6 . The log thus is positioned to be safely cut by the user using a chain saw, or other log cutting implement. The lifting of the log for cutting is safer for the user than cutting the log while it is on the ground. 
     The cylinder  12  may be hollow so as to reduce the overall mass of the device  10 . The opposing ends  18  of the cylinder  12  may be separated by from 40.0 to 80.0 centimeters. The opposing ends  18  are separated by 61.0 centimeters. The handle  14  may have a length of from 100.0 to 200.0 centimeters. The handle  14  has a length of 152.4 centimeters. The handle  14  may be circularly shaped when viewed longitudinally. 
     The handle  14  comprises a plurality sections  20 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , which are selectively couplable so that the handle  14  is selectively length selectable. The plurality of sections  20  may comprise a first section  22  that is coupled to the cylinder  12  and a second section  24  that is selectively couplable to the first section  22 . The plurality of sections  20  also may comprise more than two sections  20 . The first section  22  and the second section  24  may be of substantially equally length. The handle  14  may be tubular so as to reduce the overall mass of the device  10 . The second section  24  has a terminal segment  26  that is circumferentially smaller than the first section  22 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , so that the terminal segment  26  is selectively insertable into the first section  22 . 
     A set of first fasteners  28  is coupled to the first section  22  distal from the cylinder  12 . A set of second fasteners  30  is coupled to the second section  24  so that each second fastener  30  is positioned to couple to a respective first fastener  28  to couple the second section  24  of the handle  14  to the first section  22  of the handle  14 . The second fastener  30  may comprise a pin  32  that is spring loaded, as shown in  FIG. 3 . The first fastener  28  may comprise a hole  34  that is positioned to insert the pin  32  to couple the second section  24  to the first section  22 . The device  10  may comprise other fastening means for coupling the first section  22  of the handle  14  to the second section  24  of the handle  14 , such as, but not limited to, quick connects, clamp connectors, and the like. 
     The wedge  16 , the handle  14 , and the cylinder  12  comprise metal. The wedge  16 , the handle  14 , and the cylinder  12  may comprise at least one of steel and aluminum, or other metal, such as, but not limited to, titanium and the like. 
     The wedge  16  may comprise a set of wedges  16 . Each wedge  16  comprises a first segment  36  and a second segment  38 . The first segment  36  is shaped complementarily to an orifice  40  that is positioned in the cylinder  12 . The orifice  40  is positioned to selectively insert the first segment  36  of a respective wedge  16  to removably couple the respective wedge  16  to the cylinder  12 . 
     Each second segment  38  has a respective length so that the set of wedges  16  comprises wedges  16  that have second segments  38  that comprise a variety of lengths. The set of wedges  16  comprises a first wedge  16 , which has a second segment  38  that has a length of 25.4 centimeters, and a second wedge  16 , which has a second segment  38  that has a length of 38.1 centimeters. The set of wedges  16  also may comprise additional wedges  16  having additional lengths. 
     In use, the wedge  16  is positioned beneath a felled log. The user then grasps and pulls on the handle  14  to rotate the cylinder  12  to lift the log so that the log is supported upon the handle  14  above a surface. The log thus is positioned to be safely cut by the user using a chain saw, or other log cutting implement. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the elements is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.