Motor vehicle lubricating facility

• US 4,284,173 A
• Filed: 11/13/1979
• Issued: 08/18/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Pennzoil Products Co. (Shell Plc)
• Original Assignee: Pennzoil Co. (Devon Energy Corporation)
• Inventors: Patterson, Paul C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weakley, Harold W.
• Application Number:
  US06/093,750
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 137/234.6, 137/242, 184/1.5, 141/98, 182/179, 182/119, 52/33, 52/236.3, 52/173, 52/174, 52/175
• US Class Current: 184/1.5
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 5/06 Pits or building structures for inspection or services
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 11/04 Filling or draining lubricant of or from machines or engines
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 11/0458 Lubricant filling and draining
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/3802 With vehicle guide or support, e.g., service station
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/6633 With fluid system support for workman or non-system material

Abstract

A motor vehicle lubricating facility for enabling a workman to perform lubricating functions on an automobile rapidly and efficiently with a minimum of waste time and effort. The facility comprises a building structure with a basement floor and a ground floor supported on columns above the basement floor. In the ground floor are a plurality of rectangular longitudinal openings in parallel relation, each adapted to be straddled by an automobile driven over the ground floor through door openings at the front and back of the building structure. Adjustably supported at a selected one of several heights on the columns between the ground and basement floor and substantially coinciding in area with each of the openings in the ground floor, is a "catwalk" or grilled metal platform, on which a workman may stand to perform lubricating functions with respect to parts of the automobile accessible only from beneath the automobile. The I-beams supporting the ground floor at each side of the openings in the ground floor provide tracks on which runs a mobile dolly of the type carrying a power jack as fully disclosed and claimed in my copending application concurrently filed herewith. A mobile tank operating on the same tracks as the dolly, is provided into which oil may be drained directly from the crank case, differential or transmission of an automobile. A metered hose line is provided by which oil or other lubricants supplied therethrough to the work area is automatically measured. A work shelf is suspended from the columns at one side of the catwalk for holding tools and the like used by the workman.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle lubricating facility comprising a building structure having a plurality of superposed floors, one of said floors having a substantially rectangular opening therein over which an automobile may be driven in straddling relation thereto, a platform generally conforming in area to that of said rectangular opening, a plurality of supporting columns extending between said floors, a pair of horizontal channels disposed in opposed parallel spaced relation supporting opposite edges of said platform and means for attaching said channels to said columns at different levels whereby to support said platform adjustably at different levels beneath said opening on which a workman may stand to perform lubricating functions on an automobile, standing over said opening, from beneath the automobile.

2. A motor vehicle lubricating facility according to claim 1, wherein said platform comprises a plurality of separate contiguous rectangular sections of metal grid supported on the lower flanges of said pair of opposed parallel channel members.

3. A motor vehicle lubricating facility comprising a building structure having a plurality of superposed floors, one of said floors being supported in part by a plurality of vertical columns, said one floor having a substantially rectangular opening surrounded peripherally by said columns, a platform conforming generally in area to that of said rectangular opening, a pair of horizontal channels disposed in opposed spaced relation in which the opposite edges of said platform are supported, vertically disposed plate members attached to said vertical columns each having a plurality of vertically spaced holes, and detachable means engageable with said holes for attaching said channels to said plate members thereby to support said platform adjustably on said columns at varying levels beneath said opening on which a workman may stand to perform lubricating functions on an automobile standing over said opening from beneath the automobile.

4. A motor vehicle lubricating facility according to claim 3, wherein a workshelf is located between said floors in substantial parallel relation to and alongside said platform, for convenient accessibility by a workman on said platform, and means attached to said columns that supports said shelf in position.

5. A motor vehicle lubricating facility according to claim 3, wherein a workshelf is supported alongside a portion of said platform, said workshelf comprising a T-bar extending between a pair of said columns and attached thereto, and a metal plate attached to the horizontal flanges of said T-bar.

6. A motor vehicle lubricating facility comprising a generally rectangular building structure having a ground floor, a basement floor below said ground floor, and vertical columns therebetween, aligned doorways in the front and rear walls at ground level for travel of automobiles through the building from front to back on the ground floor, a plurality of parallel extending generally rectangular openings in the ground floor each so aligned with doorways in the front and rear walls of the building as to enable an automobile entering the building through a doorway in a front wall and exiting through a doorway in the rear wall to straddle the corresponding said rectangular opening, wherein the improvement comprises a platform generally conforming in area to that of said openings located between the ground floor and the basement floor on which a workman may stand to perform lubricating functions from beneath an automobile straddling the rectangular opening in said ground floor, a pair of horizontal channels in parallel spaced relation in which the opposite edges of said platforms are retained, and means for detachably securing said channels to said vertical columns in different positions to adjustably support said platforms at different levels.

7. A motor vehicle lubricating facility comprising a generally rectangular building structure having a ground floor and a basement floor, said ground floor having rectangular openings therein and access to and egress from the ground floor for automobiles to pass in straddling relation to said openings, said ground floor having supporting I-beams at each side of the rectangular openings, said I-beams having a vertical web and upper and lower flanges, a platform below said rectangular openings on which a workman may stand, to perform lubricating functions from beneath an automobile, means for adjusting the level of said platform relative to said ground floor and a tank for holding waste oil and lubricant drained from the automobile, said tank having wheels on opposite ends thereof that roll on the lower flanges of the said I-beams, whereby to allow the workman on said platform to move said tank longitudinally relative to said rectangular openings.