Locking cylinder hydraulic work support

Abstract

A hydraulic work support apparatus includes a plunger that is axially movable between a loaded position and an unloaded position and that is adapted to support a compressive load at one axial end thereof. The apparatus also is provided with structure for retaining the plunger in the loaded position, the plunger retaining structure including a tubular sleeve provided with a plunger-engaging segment having a first end adjacent the one axial end of the plunger and a second end remote from the first end. The plunger-engaging segment may be forced radially inward into pressing contact with the plunger to exert a friction force on the plunger which prevents the plunger from moving while in the loaded position. The friction force experienced by the sleeve when pressing contact exists between the sleeve and the plunger has a minimum magnitude at the first end of the plunger-engaging segment and a progressively larger magnitude toward the second end of the segment. The tubular sleeve includes a wall having a thickness which increases between a minimum thickness at the first end of the segment and a maximum thickness at the second end of the segment, the increase in the thickness of the sleeve being representative of the increase in the magnitude of the friction force experienced by the sleeve between the first and second ends of the plunger-engaging segment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.