Patent ID: 7819448

Claim:
A plate lifting clamp to lift a plate, comprising: a body with a slot sized to receive the plate; a contact member positioned at a first side of the slot; a lifting member pivotally attached to the body and including a handle; a cam rotationally attached to the body and positioned at a second side of the slot across from the contact member, the cam including a contact section that extends along a first peripheral edge that faces towards the contact member to contact the plate, the cam also including a second peripheral edge that includes teeth; wherein the cam further includes an aperture to receive a pin to attach the cam to the body, the aperture positioned in closer proximity to the first peripheral edge than to the second peripheral edge; a link mechanism operatively attaching the lifting member and the cam, the link mechanism including first and second links, the first link pivotally attached to the lifting member at a first connector and pivotally attached to the second link at a second connector, wherein the first link is pivotally mounted to the body at a fixed pivot point disposed between the first and second connectors; a pawl pivotally attached to the body to contact the teeth on the cam; the teeth and the pawl configured to allow rotation of the cam in a first direction when the pawl is in contact with the teeth, and prevent rotation of the cam in an opposite second direction when the pawl is in contact with the teeth.