Rotating Supporting Head for Sheet Material Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for lifting and transporting sheet materials, such as glass panes and timber boards, often require manual handling due to limitations in supporting mechanisms, posing health and safety risks, especially with heavy or large sheets.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a pivot coupling with a pin and tube arrangement, allowing the supporting head to rotate about a vertical axis and tilt, combined with a telescoping mast and adjustable boom, along with a lifting mechanism using a winch and cable, enables efficient and stable lifting and transportation of sheet materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If manual handling of sheet materials is used, then device complexity is reduced, but health and safety risks increase due to heavy lifting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical handling with a gas-powered lifting device that uses a boom and supporting head mechanism. The gas engine provides automated lifting power, substituting human physical effort with mechanical automation to eliminate health and safety risks associated with manual handling of heavy sheet materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a supporting head with sheet material contact elements as an intermediary between the boom and the sheet material. This intermediary component enables stable support and controlled handling of sheet materials, facilitating safe and efficient operation without direct manual contact.
2Device complexity
If the supporting head is fixed in position, then structural simplicity is maintained, but maneuverability through narrow openings is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the supporting head dynamic by enabling it to rotate about a vertical pivot axis and tilt relative to the boom. This dynamic capability allows the supporting head to adapt its position and orientation, enabling maneuverability through narrow openings and flexible positioning during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the supporting head mechanism into multiple independently movable components: the boom, the supporting head, and the sheet material contact elements. This segmentation allows each component to move and adjust independently, facilitating complex maneuvers through narrow spaces while maintaining overall structural coherence.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the boom is fixed in orientation, then structural stability is maintained, but adaptability to different loading positions is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces controlled dynamics to the boom by allowing it to tilt relative to the mast while maintaining overall structural stability. The boom can adjust its orientation to accommodate different loading positions and sheet material configurations, providing adaptability without compromising the fundamental stability of the lifting device.
Data Source
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AI summary
A device for lifting and transporting sheet material includes a base portion; wheels on which the base portion is supported; a mast that extends upwardly from the base portion; a boom that extends from a first end outwardly from the mast to a second end; a supporting head that is configured to support sheet material; and a pivot coupling at the second end of the boom. The pivot coupling is arranged to couple the supporting head to the boom, and enable the supporting head to be rotated about a pivot axis between a first position in which sheet material supported by the supporting head is in a generally transverse orientation relative to the boom, and a second position in which the angle between sheet material supported by the supporting head and the boom is reduced.