Movie equipment dolly

A movie equipment dolly comprising:

• (a) a chassis;
• (b) a lifting arm connected to said chassis;
• (c) a hydraulic system for lifting said lifting arm upon actuation thereof, connected to said lifting arm, and having a hydraulic actuator;
• (d) at least one steerable wheel connected to said chassis for moving said dolly;
• (e) a transmission connected to said wheel for orienting said wheel in selected steering modes, upon actuation thereof;
• and
• (f) a control handle having:
• (1) a rotatable steering tube connected to said wheel and said transmission by drive means, for steering said wheel,
• (2) at least one twistable grip portion connected to said steering tube, for rotating said steering tube, eccentric means connected to said grip portion, a reciprocable tube nested within said steering tube, and a shift actuator connected to said tube and said transmission, such that twisting said grip portion rotates said eccentric means and in turn reciprocates said tube, recipricating said shift actuator and in turn actuating said transmission, and
• (3) lever means connected to said control handle, a crank having a rotational axis connected to said control handle and first and second arms projecting therefrom, said first arm being connected to said lever means and said second arm being connected to a reciprocal inner member nested in said tube, said inner member being connected to said hydraulic actuator;
• whereby said steering, steering mode selection and arm lifting operations are all effectuable on a common control handle by a dolly operator without the need for the operator to remove his hands from said control handle to effectuate any of such operations.

A movie equipment dolly comprising:

• (a) a chassis;
• (b) a lifting arm connected to said chassis;
• and
• (c) a levelling head connected to said lifting arm having:
• (1) a platform for mounting of movie equipment thereon,
• (2) pivoting means having at least two degrees of rotational freedom, coupled to said lifting arm and said platform,
• (3) a pair of reciprocable adjusters, each coupled to said lifting arm and said platform for simultaneous orientation of the levelling head roll and pitch axes having:
• (i) a male threaded portion,
• (ii) a female threaded portion connectable to said male threaded portion,
• (iii) an adjuster wheel for rotation of said male and female threaded portions relative to each other, and
• (iv) a ball and socket joint for alignment of said platform relative to said lifting arm.

A movie equipment dolly comprising:

• (a) a chassis;
• (b) a lifting arm connected to said chassis;
• and
• (c) a levelling head connected to said lifting arm having:
• (1) a platform for mounting of movie equipment thereon,
• (2) pivoting means having at least two degrees of rotational freedom, coupled to said lifting arm and said platform,
• (3) a pair of reciprocable adjusters, each coupled to said lifting arm and said platform for simultaneous orientation of the levelling head roll and pitch axes having:
• (i) a male threaded portion,
• (ii) a female threaded portion connectable to said male threaded portion,
• (iii) an adjuster wheel for rotation of said male and female threaded portions relative to each other, and
• (iv) a universal joint for alignment of said platform relative to said lifting arm.