US 4,576,096 AGranted

Wheeled locking carrier

OwnerEllis I. Toderinventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A locking wheeled locking carrier including a pair of identical molded half carriage parts each of which carries a pair of canted wheels to support the carrier within a track, and a pendulum part pivoted between the carriage halves and extending downward through the bottom slot in the ceiling track for suspending a desired article. The two carriage halves are slidably interfitted with one another for lateral movement toward and away from one another within the ceiling track, and the pendulum pivot extends slidably through both carriage halves. In the vertical pendulum position a camming action exerted by the pendulum on the two carriage halves forces the carriage halves laterally apart from one another so that their outside surfaces engage the ceiling track slot walls and frictionally lock the carriage in position. When the pendulum is pivoted longitudinally in either direction relative to the carriage halves and the running length of the ceiling track the lateral camming action exerted by the pendulum on the carriage halves is released so that the outer surfaces of the carriage halves disengage from the ceiling track slot wall side surfaces and the carriage is free to travel through the track, it being relockable in its new position by again moving the pendulum to its vertical position.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A locking wheeled carrier for use in conjunction with a suspended hollow track, said track being of the type having a top, sides and a pair of bottom walls turned inward toward one another from the bottoms of the sides and terminating in parallel spaced apart slot defining sidewalls which define a continuous longitudinally extending slot, said carrier comprising in combination,

(a) a wheeled carriage in which the wheels are seatable upon the track bottom walls for movement of the carriage through the track,
(b) a pair of spaced apart locking blocks carried by said carriage and extending downward between the track slot defining sidewalls, said locking blocks
(1) being free to move within limits toward and away from one another widthwise of the track,
(2) carrying camming elements, and
(3) having locking surfaces facing the track slot defining sidewalls, and
(c) a shiftable carrier element depending from said wheeled carriage, said carrier element carrying camming elements adapted to coact with the said camming elements of said locking blocks so that movement of said carrier element in a first way relatively to said locking blocks causes said coacting camming elements to engage and move said locking blocks into engagement with the track slot defining sidewalls to thereby lock the carriage in the track, and movement of said carrier element in a second way relatively to said locking blocks causes said coacting camming elements to disengage sufficiently to release said locking blocks from engagement with the track slot defining sidewalls to thereby release the carriage for movement in the track.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.