Safety mechanism for materials handling system
AssigneeinTEST Corporation
InventorsRobert E. Matthiessen, Christopher L. West
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety lock comprises a locking member (26, 28) which engages a support. An inner lock shaft (30a) actuates the locking member, the inner lock shaft having a first coupling face (35a) at one end thereof. An outer lock shaft (30b) has a second coupling face (35b) which engages the first coupling face when the inner lock shaft and the outer lock shaft are in respective engagement positions relative to each other. A coupling structure (18) moves to prevent engagement of said first coupling face with said second coupling face.
Claims15
A safety lock comprising:
- a locking member which engages a support;
- an inner lock shaft for actuating said locking member, said inner lock shaft having a first coupling face at one end thereof;
- an outer lock shaft having a second coupling face which is engagable with said first coupling face when said outer lock shaft is in an engagement position relative to said inner lock shaft;
- a coupling structure which moves to prevent engagement of said first coupling face with said second coupling face by moving said outer lock shaft away from said engagement position relative to said inner lock shaft.
A method of locking a load, said method comprising the steps of:
- operating an outer lock shaft and thus causing an inner lock shaft to cause a locking member to engage a support when respective first and second coupling faces of said inner lock shaft and said outer lock shaft are positioned for being engagable with each other;
- and
- operating said outer lock shaft without causing said inner lock shaft to disengage said locking member from said support so that said load remains locked when said respective first and second coupling faces of said inner lock shaft and said outer lock shaft are positioned away from being engagable with each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.