Improvements in Devices applicable for Lifting and Taking Down Boxes in Stores and analogous places.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices applicable for Lifting and Taking Down
Boxes in Stores and analogous places.
A communication from abroad by HUGO BESSEL PLATEN and WILLIAM WESLEY
BENNETT, both of Savannah, County of Chatham, State of Georgia, - United
States of America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool & 6 Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, & 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what mannor
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to provide convenient means for taking down and
putting up boxes in stores and analogous situations without requiring a step-ladder.
It is intended more especially for paste-board boxes of considerable depth and
containing light material, as ruffles, laces, and the like; but it may be used with
success for handling boxes relatively shallow and heavily loaded. Experiments have
been made mainly with deep boxes containing shoes. It is important that the boxes
have covers which overlap the bodies and extend down a little after the usual fashion
of paste-board boxes.
A rod is provided of wood or other material of sufficient length and thickness, and
having one end flattened and adapted to be thrust upward from below into the space
between the box and cover. Such rod is equipped with a flat horizontal spur or
bracket a sufficient distance below the upper end. Supposing the box of shoes or
other articles to lie with its front end or side flush with the edge of a high shelf on
which it rests, or, as is usually practised, somewhat overhanging such shelf, the
operator desiring to take it down reaches up the device and engages the flat upper
end between the cover and the body, and engages the horizontal spur under the
bottom of the body. Now the rod being lifted and drawn forward brings the box,
and it may be lowered and disengaged without difficulty, and when ready it may be
returned by a reversion of the operation. To disengage the device after the box is
again in place on the shelf, the lower end of the rod is moved forward or away from
the tier of shelves, or is moved to one side, or both these movements are combined,
and the upper end being by one or both these movements disengaged from its hold
under the edge of the cover, the device is free.
If the box is thus liberated with its front too much overhanging beyond the front
edge of the shelf, the device may be turned, its edge or back applied against the box,
and sufficient force applied to push the box back. So if, when the box is to be
taken down, it is found to rest too far inward or back upon the shelf, the device may
be applied in the reversed position with its spur projecting idly forward so as to be of
no effect, and in this position, the tip may be engaged under the overhanging edge of
the cover, and the device drawn forward bringing the box forward with it. The
device being then reversed, the spur is brought to bear under the bottom and, in
concert with the engagement of the tip under the cover, lifts the box and allows it to
be lowered or transported to any other shelf as required."
In the preferred form of the invention, means are provided for easily shifting the
position of what has been here called the "spur," that is, a short thin shelf extending
out at about right angles to the rod, shifting it upward to adapt it to serve with
shallow boxes, and downward to adapt it to serve with deep boxes.
It is proposed sometimes to make the upper end of the device and the spur entirely
of metal, while the main rod is simply a square-sectioned rod of wood. If desired,
the metal parts may be furnished ready to be applied on wooden rods of square or
other sections

page_text: Figure 3 an edge view of the upper end of the lifter.
Figure 4 is a face view.
Figure 5 an edge view of a modification.
Figure 6 is a face view, Figure 7 an edge view, and Figure 8 a section on
line a, Figure 7, of a further modification, hereinafter described.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where
they appear.
Referring first more particularly to Figures 1, 2 & 3.
A is a flat rod preferably of steel, having a row of holes a a, and a socket A', the
Jatter adapted to receive a rod of wood A³ to which it may be securely attached by
screws in the obvious manner.
B is a slide of iron or other strong material, having lips B¹ which loosely embrace
the edges of the rod A with liberty to be moved up and down thereon. D is a bell-
crank lever hinged to the slide B, its lower arm D₁ having a tip which is turned
squarely inward and adapted to engage in any one of the holes in the series a. The
upper arm of this lever, marked D, serves as the "spur" above referred to, being by
its form and position when adjusted for use adapted to be thrust under the body of a
box M and to support it vertically while the top of the rod A stands just within the
.cover and holds the box against being tilted. The two together hold the box stiffly
by one edge and allow it to be lifted and drawn out from its place on a shelf and
lowered and raised as required.
To engage the device with a box, the top is thrust up into the narrow space
between the hanging rim of the cover and the top of the box body. If the joint is
'not sufficiently open, the material of the body or of the cover or of both can always
yield to make room for the thin flat top of the rod A, and the spur D2 is thrust under
the box body between such body and the shelf on which it rests. In case the box
overhangs beyond the front edge of the shelf, this spur is set in position without
effort, in any case it is not difficult. Now the box is lifted, disengaged, opened and
used as required, and when it is to be replaced, it is returned to the shelf by a
.reversion of the movements.
To adapt the device to handle deeper boxes, it is important to lower the spur D²
relatively to the rod A; this is done at pleasure by simply turning the bell-crank
lever D, by raising the spur D² so much as will detach the arm D' from its hole a;
then the slide B and its attached lever D may be lowered and the bent end of the
arm D is engaged in the next lower hole a, or in any of the holes a which may be
preferred, correspondingly changing the height at which the spur D stands adjusted
on the rod A. The adjustment is easy and rapid.
Figs. 4 and 5 show a modification, in which the spur is a portion of the slide B,
and is raised and lowered therewith after slacking a thumb screw E, and when in
position it is set by tightening such screw.
Figures 6, 7 and 8 show a modification in which there is less metal. In this, a rod
of ash or other suitable wood is provided of sufficient length, with its upper end
tapered wedgewise. One of the faces of this wedge part is faced with a preferably iron
plate which is wider than the rod and projects on each side. This plate is folded
upon itself, and extends over the top and down the back, and is secured by screws.
The front part being wider than the rod presents its edges to serve as means for
engaging with the slide. The slide may be held by a set-screw E, as in Figures 4
and 5, or by a levor engaging in holes, as in Figures 1 and 2, or by any other
.efficient means.
The box to be lifted by the device is marked M. The shelf is marked G, and the
box-cover M'.

page_text: Further modifications may be made without departing from the principle or
sacrificing the advantages of the invention. It is proposed to prepare the metal
parts as an article of trade adapted for convenient shipment, and allow the purchaser
to add as long or short a pole or rod A2 as may be required for the special situation
in which it is to be used. Obviously, the rod A' may be made in lengths applied
together like the sections of a fishing-pole, and thus shipped with the metal parts, if
preferred.
It is well to locate the holes a a to exactly match the several depths of the usual
sizes of boxes, but this is not material.
Two or more lying one upon another may be taken down or put up together by
applying this device to the lowest.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The thin-ended rod A, combined with a slide B sleeved on said rod, and a bell-
crank lever D carried by the said slide with its lower end constructed to engage
holding means of the rod, substantially as specified.
2. The thin-ended rod A apertured as shown, combined with the slide B sleeved on
said rod, and a bell-crank lever fulcrumed at its elbow on said slide with the end of
its lower arm bent square inward and constructed to engage the apertures in the
rod A, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 21st day of July 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & CO.,
Agents for the Applicant.