Patent ID: 7207612

Claim:
A suspended lifting apparatus for grasping, raising, lowering and releasing unwieldy objects comprising; (a) a suspending means descending through a yoke and affixed to a hinged pair of hoist members articulating in a scissoring movement; (b) each hoist member pivotally connected to the bottom of the vertical section of a pair, respectively, of mirror-image articulating elbow or “L” shaped lever arms; (c) each lever arm consisting of and attached so as to comprise an outside oriented vertical section and a top oriented horizontal portion, wherein the terminal end of the top horizontal portion opposite the outside vertical section is pivotally hinged to the yoke of the apparatus; (d) each lever arm further comprising an adjustable raising and lowering lockable extension member along its vertical section wherein two mirror-image hinged, swinging, lockable, inwardly facing scooping means attached to the bottom terminus of each lockable extension member with a hinge; (e) further comprising an offset mechanism means for opening and preserving in an open position the lever arms, comprising; (i) a vertical hinged offset member attached at its bottom end to a bottom portion of the suspending means that descends below the yoke and at its top end to an articulating handle beam; (ii) the articulating handle beam affixed at one terminal end to a handle and at the other terminal end, to a bracket attached to the yoke; (iii) the vertical hinged offset member connected to the articulating handle beam at a point serving to open the lever arms when the handle is lowered; (iv) the vertical hinged offset member connected to the articulating handle beam at a point serving to keep it in a lowered position under the weight of the opened lever arms when the handle is lowered; and (v) a locking or ratcheting mechanism attached to the articulating handle beam to hold it in an up or down position for holding the lever arms in an open or closed position.