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US 6,671,933 B1Granted
Safety coupler with release mechanism
OwnerRoxane Friend, James R. Friendinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety coupler includes a ring member, a hook member, and an annular member. The hook member includes a rod portion and a hook, with the rod portion including a pin and a pair of stops. The pin extends through a transverse opening provided in the ring member. The rod portion includes a releasable connection whereby the hook member and the second member decouple when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of the ring member and the hook member along the axis.
Claims19
A safety coupler comprising:
- a first member forming a closed loop for coupling to a first item, said first member having a transverse opening extending through a portion thereof;
- and
- a second member having a hook and being coupled to said first member and being rotatably mounted to said first member in said transverse opening about an axis, said hook for coupling to a second item whereby the first item couples to the second item by said safety coupler, said second member further including a releasable connection whereby said first member and said second member release when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of said first member and said second member generally along said axis thereby uncoupling the first and second items, and said second member including a latch for closing said hook.
A safety coupler comprising:
- a first member forming a closed loop for coupling to a first item, said first member having a transverse opening extending through a portion thereof;
- and
- a second member having a rod portion, a hook portion, and an end portion comprising a pin and a pair of stops, said pin extending through said transverse opening and rotatably coupling said rod portion and said hook portion to said first member about an axis, said stops axially restraining said pin in said transverse opening, said hook portion for coupling to a second item whereby the first item is coupled to the second item by said safety coupler, said end portion releasing from said rod portion when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of said first member and said second member generally alone said axis thereby uncoupling the first and second items, and said end portion including a snap-fit connection with said rod portion to form a releasable connection between said end portion and said rod portion.
A safety coupler comprising:
- a first member forming a closed loop for counting to a first item, said first member having a transverse opening extending through a portion thereof;
- and
- a second member having a hook and being coupled to said first member and being rotatably mounted to said first member in said transverse opening about an axis, said hook for coupling to a second item whereby the first item couples to the second item by said safety coupler, said second member further including a releasable connection whereby said first member and said second member release when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of said first member and said second member generally along said axis thereby uncoupling the first and second items, said second member including a pin and first and second stops, said pin extending through said transverse opening, said first and second stops being positioned on opposite sides of said transverse opening for abutting said first member to limit axial movement of said pin through said transverse opening, said transverse stop comprising an enlarged distal end, and said second stop comprises a shoulder formed in said second member.
A safety coupler comprising:
- a first member forming a closed loop for coupling to a first item, said first member having a transverse opening extending through a portion thereof;
- and
- a second member having a hook and being coupled to said first member and being rotatably mounted to said first member in said transverse opening about an axis, said hook for coupling to a second item whereby the first item couples to the second item by said safety coupler, said second member further including a releasable connection whereby said first member and said second member release when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of said first member and said second member generally along said axis thereby uncoupling the first and second items, said second member including an end portion and a base portion, said end portion rotatably coupling said second member to said first member, said releasable connection being between said end portion and said base portion, said end portion including a pin portion and first and second stops, said pin portion being rotatably coupled to said first member in said transverse opening and being axially restrained in said transverse opening by said first and second stops, and one of said end portion and said base portion including a socket, the other of said end portion and said base portion including a pin, said pin releasably journaled in said socket and forming said releasable connection.
A safety coupler comprising:
- a first member forming a closed loop for coupling to first item, said first member having a transverse opening extending through a portion thereof;
- and
- a second member having a rod portion, a hook portion, and an end portion comprising a pin portion and a pair of stops, said pin portion extending through said transverse opening and rotatably coupling said rod portion and said hook portion to said first member about an axis, said stops axially restraining said pin portion in said transverse opening, said hook portion for coupling to a second item whereby the first item is coupled to the second item by said safety coupler, said end portion releasing from said rod portion when a force having a selected magnitude is applied to one of said first member and said second member generally along said axis thereby uncoupling the first and second items, said end portion including a socket, said rod portion including a pin, said pin releasably mounted in said socket to thereby releasably couple said end portion to said rod portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.