Load transporter

A load transporter comprising

• a wheel unit including a first wheel, a second wheel, and an axle extending between and interconnecting the first and second wheels, and
• a load support including a support frame, a handle coupled to an upper end of the support frame, and a toe plate coupled to a lower end of the support frame, the load support is mounted to the wheel unit for pivotable motion relative to the wheel unit about a load-assist axis from an upright orientation, in which the toe plate is arranged generally parallel with a surface underlying the wheel unit and the load support, to a first-stage, laid back orientation, in which a front end of the toe plate is lifted away from the surface while a rear end of the toe plate remains planted on the surface, and for pivotable motion about a wheel axis defined by the axle and spaced apart from the load-assist axis from the first-stage, laid-back orientation to a second-stage, laid-back orientation, in a load-assist mode, and
• a mode changer configured to selectively block movement of the load support relative to the wheel unit from the upright orientation to the first-stage, laid back orientation so that the load support pivots only about the wheel axis during tilting of the load support from the upright orientation to a laid-back, unassisted orientation, in which the toe plate is lifted away from the surface so that the wheels can roll across the surface in a normal-lift mode,
• wherein the support frame includes a frame foundation coupled to the toe plate and the handle, a first load-support bracket coupled to at least one of the toe plate and the frame foundation and formed to include a first arcuate guide slot, and a second load-support bracket coupled to at least one of the toe plate and the frame foundation and formed to include a second arcuate guide slot, and wherein the axle is received in the first and second arcuate guide slots and is configured to travel through the first and second arcuate guide slots as the load transporter pivots about the load-assist axis from the upright orientation to the first-stage, laid-back orientation, and
• wherein the mode changer includes an axle retainer coupled to the support frame and an axle-gripping surface, and a load-assist activation pedal coupled to the axle retainer, the axle retainer coupled to the load support for pivotable movement about an axle-retainer pivot axis between an engaged position in which the axle-gripping surface is aligned with at least one of the first and second guide slots to block the axle from moving though the first and second arcuate guide slots, and a disengaged position, in which the axle-gripping surface is offset from at least one of the first and second guide slots so that the axle is free to move through the first and second arcuate guide slots, the load-assist activation pedal coupled to the axle retainer for movement between the engaged position and the disengaged position with the axle retainer and a load-assist release pedal coupled to the load support and configured to block movement of the axle retainer from the disengaged position to the engaged position.

A load transporter comprising

• a load carrier including:
• (i) a wheel unit including a first wheel, a second wheel, and an axle extending between and interconnecting the first and second wheels, and (ii) a load support including a support frame and a toe plate coupled to a lower end of the support frame,
• means for shifting the load support relative to the wheel axle of the wheel unit to cause a first distance defined between a load-support reference plane aligned with an underside of the support frame and a spaced-apart first wheel-axle reference plane aligned with the axle and arranged parallel with the load-support reference plane to decrease, and to simultaneously cause a second distance defined between a toe-plate shelf reference axis that is aligned with an upper surface of the toe plate and a spaced-apart second wheel-axle reference plane that is aligned with the axle and arranged parallel with the toe-plate shelf reference axis to increase during a first-stage pivot motion of the load support from an upright orientation to a first-stage, laid-back orientation, in which a front end of the toe plate is lifted away from a surface underlying the load carrier while a rear end of the toe plate remains planted on the surface after placement of a load to be transported on the upper surface of the toe plate so that a center of gravity of the load to be transported shifts from an initial position relative to the wheel axis of the axle to a different, shifted position closer to the wheel axis to reduce a force required to lift the object using the toe plate from the first-stage, laid-back configuration to a second-stage, laid back configuration in which the rear end of the toe plate is lifted away from the surface so that the wheels can roll across the surface, and
• a mode changer configured to selectively block movement of the load support relative to the wheel unit from the upright orientation to the first-stage, laid back orientation so that the load support pivots only about the wheel axis during tilting of the load support from the upright orientation to a laid-back, unassisted orientation, in which the toe plate is lifted away from the surface so that the wheels can roll across the surface in a normal-lift mode, the mode changer including an axle retainer coupled to the support frame and a load-assist release pedal coupled to the load support, the axle retainer configured to block the load transporter from changing from the normal-use mode to a load-assist mode, a load-assist activation pedal coupled to the axle retainer and configured to change the load transporter from the normal-use mode to the load-assist mode upon receipt of a load-assist activation force, the load-assist release pedal configured to block the load transporter from moving from the load-assist mode to the normal-use mode until receipt of a load-assist release force.

A load transporter comprising

• a wheel unit including a first wheel, a second wheel, and an axle extending between and interconnecting the first and second wheels,
• a load support including a support frame, a handle coupled to an upper end of the support frame, a toe plate coupled to a lower end of the support frame, a frame foundation coupled to the toe plate and the handle, and a first load-support bracket coupled to at least one of the toe plate and the frame foundation and formed to include a first arcuate guide slot, the axle received in the first arcuate guide slot, the load support is mounted to the wheel unit for pivotable motion relative to the wheel unit about a load-assist axis from an upright orientation, in which the toe plate is arranged generally parallel with a surface underlying the wheel unit and the load support, to a first-stage, laid back orientation, in which a front end of the toe plate is lifted away from the surface while a rear end of the toe plate remains planted on the surface, and for pivotable motion about a wheel axis defined by the axle and spaced apart from the load-assist axis from the first-stage, laid-back orientation to a second-stage, laid-back orientation, in a load-assist mode, and
• a mode changer configured to selectively block movement of the load support relative to the wheel unit from the upright orientation to the first-stage, laid back orientation so that the load support pivots only about the wheel axis during tilting of the load support from the upright orientation to a laid-back, unassisted orientation, in which the toe plate is lifted away from the surface so that the wheels can roll across the surface in a normal-lift mode, the mode changer including an axle retainer coupled to the support frame, a first axle motion-blocker with a return motion-blocking surface coupled to the axle retainer, a load-assist activation pedal coupled to the axle retainer, and a pedal motion-transfer link coupled to the first axle motion-blocker and the load-assist activation pedal to cause pivoting motion of the first axle motion-blocker and the pedal motion-transfer link about an axle-retainer pivot axis upon receipt of a load-assist activation force on the load-assist activation pedal to move the axle retainer from an engaged position to a disengaged position,
• wherein the axle is configured to travel through the first arcuate guide slot as the load transporter moves from the upright orientation to the first-stage, laid-back orientation in the load-assist mode, the return motion-blocking surface configured to block the axle retainer from returning to the engaged position until the load transporter reaches the upright orientation, the return motion-blocking surface having a curved profile tracking a curve of the first arcuate guide slot.