Patent Publication Number: US-2020290175-A1

Title: Secure gripper for moving appliances

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to harness belts and more specifically to a harness belt with a handle to move appliances. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Anyone who has moved white goods or a large piece of furniture without hand holds can probably attest to how much safer and easier it would be with conveniently placed handles, especially when stairs are involved. Many technologies have been solicited to assist in this process. 
     Some inventions can easily be employed but lack in stability and safety. These types of straps are great for lifting but do not attached themselves directly to the object being moved and therefore can be unsafe to manipulate on stairs or other uneven terrain. Some have good stability and safety features but require excessive installation time and become inconvenient for the end user which requires tools and screws to install. 
     In addition, tarping these objects using these aforementioned devices becomes cumbersome when waterproofing is required as there is no convenient way to keep the tarp in place. Much of the prior art is both safe and convenient but lack multi-functional flexibility such as those designed for water heaters, crib mattresses and frame transportation. 
     A device is needed that is both ergonomical and easy to install yet can be safely secured to the object to be moved. The intention of the present invention is to overcome some of the shortcomings of the aforementioned prior art by seeking to make the moving and lifting task both convenient through simple installation and safe, through semi-permanent attachment of the object being moved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a view of an exemplary gripper belt for moving appliances. 
         FIG. 2  is an example of the use of the exemplary gripper belt. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. All terms in the plural shall also be taken as singular and vice-versa. Further, any reference to he shall also be applicable to she and vice-versa. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary gripper device  100  is shown. The gripper device  100  is useful for moving large appliances, such as a refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, stove, dishwasher, etc. The gripper device  100  may also be useful for moving furniture such as dressers, couches, etc. 
     The gripper device  100  has a belt  110 . The belt  110  is preferably made of a strong material such as nylon, polyester, cotton blends, etc. The belt  110  should also be elastic and be able to be form fitted to the appliance that requires a gripper device  100 . 
     The belt  110  may be adjustable. The belt  110  may have an adjustable coupling  116  which is useful in adjusting the length of the gripper device  100  when securely fitting the gripper device  100  around an appliance, other white good, furniture, etc. The adjustable coupling  116  is also useful in releasing the tautness of the belt  110  such that the gripper device  100  may be extended to fit around an appliance or to be removed from the appliance after moving the appliance. 
     The belt  110  of the gripper device  100  has a first end  112  and a second end  114 . A receiver end  120  is coupled to the first end  112  of the belt  110 . The receiver end  120  is useful for receiving a coupling from the second end  114  of the belt  110 . The receiver end  120  may be made of a strong material, such as metal, hard plastic, Velcro, or be holes substantially near the second end  114  of the belt  110 . 
     The second end  114  of the belt  110  is coupled to a connector end  130 . The connector end  130  may be made of a strong material such as metal, hard plastic, Velcro. 
     The connector end  130  coupled to the second end  114  of the belt  110  may be a hook, a buckle, a Velcro end, an adjustable closure, etc. The type of connector end  130  coupled to the second end  114  of the belt  110  must be compatible with the receiver end  120  coupled to the first end  112  of the belt  110 . 
     The belt  110  of the gripper device  100  may also have a plurality of handles  140 ,  142 . The plurality of handles  140 ,  142  may be made of a hard, durable material, such as metal, hard plastic, formed plastic, nylon, etc. The handles  140 ,  142  are useful for providing a gripping position for a person moving an appliance, white good, furniture, etc. 
     The plurality of handles  140 ,  142  may be positioned anywhere along the belt  110 . For example, the handles  140 ,  142  are placed in the example  180  degrees from each other, but the plurality of handles may be offset, may be evenly spaced, etc. The plurality of handles  140 ,  142  may be positioned to be on the side of the appliance to be moved or may be placed to align to the back and/or front of the appliance to be moved, etc. 
     Moving now to  FIG. 2 , an example use of the gripper device  100  of  FIG. 1  is shown. The gripper device  100  is to be used to move a refrigerator  400  up stairs in an attempt to reposition the location of the refrigerator. 
     The refrigerator  400  has a front side  410 , a rear side  420 , a first side  430  and a second side  440 . 
     The belt  100  is first adjusted to fit around the refrigerator  400  by placing more slack in the belt utilizing the adjustable coupling  116 . The gripper device  100  is then placed around the refrigerator  400 . 
     Once the gripper device  100  is placed around the refrigerator. The receiver  120  coupled to the first end  112  of the belt  100  is placed to receive the connector  130  coupled to the second end  114  of the belt  110 . 
     The connector  130  coupled to the second end  114  of the belt  110  is the coupled to the receiver  120  coupled to the first end  112  of the belt  110 . The handles  140 ,  142  are shown and positioned on the first side  430  and the second side  440  for the users to have easy access to the handles  140 ,  142 . 
     The belt  110  may have a pad or blanket to help avoid damage to the appliance and it may be placed in several places such as between the belt  110  and the rear side  420  of the refrigerator  400 , the belt  110  and the front side  410  of the refrigerator, or on any side or corner of the refrigerator  400 . 
     The user would then adjust the length of the gripper device  100  by shortening the belt  110  by adjusting the adjustable coupling  116 , removing the slack and making the belt  110  fit snuggly around the refrigerator  400 . 
     The user or users, usually at least two people would work together to move an appliance such as a refrigerator, use the handles  140 ,  142 , to pick up the refrigerator  400  and move up the stairs. 
     One user would use handle  140  on the first side  430  of the refrigerator and a second user would use handle  142  on the second side  440  of the refrigerator. Thus, trying to balance the weight of the refrigerator  400  to help in moving the refrigerator  400 . 
     Once the refrigerator  400  is moved up the stairs and set into the desire location, the adjustable coupling  116  is adjusted to add slack into the belt  110 . The connector  130  is then uncoupled from the receiver  120  and the gripper device  100  is removed from around the refrigerator  400 . 
     The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features of other embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
     Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.