Patent ID: 7798384

Claim:
In an apparatus for driving and removing a probe into and out of the ground, the probe having an anvil attached to the upper end; and, a slide hammer having a tube sized to slidably receive the anvil and probe for axial movement therein and a cap closing the upper end of the tube, the cap adapted to strike the anvil in response to axial downward driving movement of the slide hammer along the pin; an improved release and probe removing arrangement comprising: a lifter housing attached to the lower end of the tube, the lifter housing having an open interior defining an axial through passage sized to permit the probe to slide axially therein, and an anvil stop at the upper end of the passage sized to engage the anvil and limit upward movement of the housing with respect to the pin; an intermediate hinge arrangement including a lever bracket fixed at an upper end to the tube and pivotally attached at a lower bracket end to the lifter housing for pivotal movement of the bracket and tube on a horizontal axis; a biasing arrangement in the lifter housing interior including a spring captured between a shoulder in the bottom of the housing interior and the underside of the anvil stop, the spring being operative to bias the anvil upwardly into the lower end of the slide hammer tube to lock the tube to the housing, the anvil and probe adapted to move downwardly within the housing and against the spring bias in response to a manual upward lifting force applied to the housing and the tube to cause withdrawal of the anvil from the tube to permit the lever bracket and tube to pivot out of alignment with the housing, and to release the housing to drop with the lever bracket and tube along the probe to the ground; the biasing arrangement further including a pin-engaging clutch comprising a bottom washer surrounding the probe and captured between the lifter housing shoulder and the spring, the washer held in a non-engaging position permitting the probe to move axially within the housing interior, the washer being movable against the spring bias to a cocked pin-engaging position; the lever bracket having a washer-engaging tooth adapted to pass into the housing interior in response to pivotal downward movement of the bracket to engage an edge of the washer to move the washer to the pin-engaging position such that continued downward rotation of the bracket lifts the probe axially from the ground with respect to the housing and release of the bracket from downward rotation permits the spring bias to cause reverse rotation of the bracket and to return the washer to the non-engaging position.