Improvements in Hand Trucks.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Hand Trucks.
I, JOHN MEANEY, formerly of 3rd Street, Ridgefield Park, in the County of
Bergen and State of New Jersey, and at present of Livermore Falls, in the
County of Androscoggin and State of Maine, United States of America, Paper
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relates to hand trucks, for use in moving heavy freight, barrels,
boxes and other packages, and the object of the invention is to provide improved
means for holding a truck of this class in an upright position.
The invention is hereinafter described with reference to an ordinary hand
truck comprising sides provided with handles and connected by cross bars.
The sides are preferably wider at one end than at the other, and secured
to the wider end thereof, is an axle on the ends of which the wheels are mounted,
all these features of construction being the same as those usually employed in
devices of this class.
Mounted rearwardly of the said axle is a supplemental axle or shaft to the centre
of which is secured and transversely thereof, a metal strip provided with a back-
wardly curved angular arm and a forwardly directed extension, the end of which
is provided with a weight.
Secured to the ends of the supplemental axle or shaft, are arms each of which
is provided with a wedge shaped shoe, and the supplemental axle or shaft is adapted
to be turned in its supports so as to throw the wedge shaped shoes under the
wheels of the truck.
The said supplemental axle or shaft is provided adjacent to each end with
bearings .composed of separate parts which are held in place by keepers bolted
or screwed to the bottom of the axle and the side bars of the truck and said axle
or shaft is angular in cross section, but other forms of construction may. be
adapted, and said axle or shaft may be of any desired form, and may be supported
in any preferred manner.
The brake shoes are preferably pivotally connected with the said arms and in
the operation of the device the supplemental shaft or axle and the arms are
normally held in a raised position by the weight and whenever it is desired to
hold the truck in an upright position, the supplemental shaft or axle is turned by
the backwardly directed angular arm of the strip secured to the supplemental
axle, the foot being applied to said arm for this purpose, and the arms of said
supplemental shaft or axle are thrown downwardly and the said brake shoes pass
beneath the wheels of the truck and hold the truck in an upright position.
The supplemental shaft or axle is provided at each end with a head formed
integrally therewith, and between these heads and the body portion of the supple-
mental shaft or axle are cylindrical portions to which the bearings of the said
supplemental axle are applied, and the said bearings are held in place by the
said keepers which consist of angular metal strips bolted to the said shaft or
axle and to the bottom of the said side pieces of the truck frame.
The form of the metal strip of the plate which is secured to the said axle and

page_text: with which the said weight is connected, and the position of said weight is such
that the latter normally operates to hold the said arms in a raised position when
said arms are not in use, and also to hold said arms in the lowered position when
said arms are turned downwardly as herein before described.
My improvement is applicable to any style or construction of trucks of the class
described and changes in and modifications of the construction of my improvement
as herein described may be made without departing from the spirit of our
invention, or sacrificing its advantages.
Dated this 11th day of September 1899
тартомещения ти дани ТИСАР
I, JOHN MEANEY, formerly of 3rd Street, Ridgefield Park, in the County of
Bergen, State of New Jersey, and at present or Livermore Falls, in the County
of Androscoggin and State of Maine, United States of America, Paper Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The purpose of this invention is to provide means for preventing a truck from
moving backward as the user tilts the load backward on the truck. It is well
known that in the use of the usual wheeled hand trucks, the truck is first moved
up to the object to be carried and then the object is tilted back upon the truck,
atter which the truck itself is thrown downward so as to completely bear the
load. When the operator moves the load back on the truck preparatory to
throwing the truck down, the truck most invariably will jump or move back-
ward, thus defeating the purpose of the operator. Now it is the intent of my
invention to provide an attachment for the truck which will prevent this dis-
advantageous action.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in both views.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the invention on the line 1-1 of Figure 2;
and
Figure 2 is a rear elevation thereof.
The truck to which my invention is here shown as applied has the usual body a,
axle and wheels c. Carried preferably at the end portions of the axle b are
bearings e, in which is mounted a rock shaft f. The end portions of the rock
shaft project respectively outward beyond the bearings e, and each end portion
of the rock shaft carries an arm g on which is mounted a chock h, such chocks
being respectively in line with the treads of the wheels c, and being capable of
moving downward between the rear portions of the wheels on which the truck is
mounted and the ground, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1 so as to
chock the wheels and prevent the backward movement of the truck.
The arms g
with the attached chocks h are also capable of standing in the upper position
shown by full lines in Figure 1, in which case the chocks will be inactive, and
further they will be placed well under the truck and out of the way of the person
handling the same.
The rock shaft f is provided with a weight i, which is suitably attached thereto
and situated at one side of the axis of the rock shaft. When the rock shaft is

page_text: thrown as indicated by full lines in Figure 1, the weight i will extend forward
of the rock shaft and will hold the same in such position, in; which the arms g
will
be raised so as to hold the chocks inactive. When however, the rock shatt f is
thrown back so as to move the arms g and chocks h to the position indicated by
dotted lines in Figure 1, the heft of the weight will be exerted at the opposite
or rear side of the rock shaft, and will then serve to hold the shaft in the second
position. It will therefore be seen that the rock shaft may be held in either
one of its two possible positions, and that when once placed in these positions
the rock shaft will not move out of them except when the weight is overcome by
a superior force. For operating the rock shaft to overcome the weight i an arm k
is attached to the rock shaft and projects transversely therefrom opposite to the
weight. As here shown, the arm k forms an integral part of the shank or piece
which connects the weight with the rock shaft, but it is clear that this arrange-
ment is not essential. A spring may be used as an equivalent of the weight 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In a hand truck, the rock shaft (f) carrying the wheel chock (h) and actuated
to stay either in the active or the inactive position, by a weight (such as i) or
equivalent means, such as a spring, substantially as described.
2. In a hand truck, the arm (k) attached to the rock shaft, to turn the same,
substantially as described.
UITS
7444
May
ՄԱԼԵ Του.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.