Apparatus for applying pulling force to vehicle body

• US 4,455,859 A
• Filed: 03/29/1982
• Issued: 06/26/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/1982
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ichinen Maeda Co., Ltd. (ICHINEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.), Tatsuzo Yamada
• Original Assignee: Ichinen Maeda Co., Ltd. (ICHINEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.), Tatsuzo Yamada
• Inventors: Yamada, Tatsuzo
• Primary Examiner(s): Larson, Lowell A.
• Application Number:
  US06/362,840
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 72/308, 72/446, 72/447, 72/705, 254/228, 254/242
• US Class Current: 72/447
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 1/14 Straightening frame structures
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 72/705 Vehicle body or frame straightener

Abstract

An apparatus for applying separate pulling forces to a structure such as a damaged vehicle body includes a post member formed of a back wall and a pair of side walls. The back wall is fastened to the ground by a supporting chain. A vehicle body is pulled by plural towing chains extending around respective first and second sprocket wheels and fixed to a swingable holding member upon extension of a hydraulic cylinder, each of which is mounted on the post member. The side walls of the post member have a plurality of apertures for receiving shafts of the first and second sprocket wheels, of ratchet wheels, of pawls and of the swingable holding member. The pawls are engaged with teeth of the ratchet wheels which are fixed to the first sprocket wheels for preventing return movement of the towing chains.

Claims

1. An apparatus for applying plural independent pulling forces to a structure, said apparatus comprising:

a post member formed of a pair of spaced generally L-shaped side walls including respective vertical portions and respective horizontal portions extending forwardly from lower ends of said vertical portions, and a back wall joining said vertical portions;

said back wall having therein a plurality of vertically spaced supporting chain receiving apertures, each said aperture including a larger hole of a size to allow passage therethrough of a supporting chain and a smaller hole joining said larger hole and of a size to retain a supporting chain;

said vertical portions of said side walls having therein a plurality of vertically spaced shaft supporting apertures arranged in laterally aligned pairs;

a pair of wheels rotatably mounted laterally outwardly of respective said lower ends of said vertical portions of said side walls;

a swingable holding member formed of spaced side plates, and first and second vertically spaced holding brackets integral with and extending between said side plates, each said holding bracket having therein a plurality of upwardly facing towing chain holding notches;

a substantially rounded front wheel;

a first shaft rotatably supporting said front wheel between said side plates of said holding member and extending through apertures in lower ends of said side plates and apertures in forward ends of said horizontal portions of said side walls, said first shaft thereby pivotally mounting said holding member between said side walls;

a hydraulic cylinder unit having a first end mounted between said horizontal portions of said side walls and a second end pivotally connected to said holding member at a level above said first shaft, such that extension and contraction of said hydraulic cylinder unit pivots said holding member forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, about said first shaft;

a plurality, equal to said plurality of notches in said holding brackets, of first sprocket wheels, each said first sprocket wheel having coaxially fixed thereto a respective ratchet wheel;

a second shaft extending through a selected pair of said apertures in said vertical portions of said side walls and rotatably supporting said first sprocket wheels and respective said ratchet wheels at a level above said first shaft;

a plurality, equal to said plurality of first sprocket wheels, of second sprocket wheels rotatably mounted between said vertical portions of said side walls at selectively changeable positions above the level of said second shaft;

a supporting chain retainable in a selected said aperture in said back wall and adapted to be connected to a floor;

a plurality of towing chains, each said towing chain being retainable adjacent a first end thereof in a respective said notch in a selected one of said first and second holding brackets, each said towing chain extending along an independent path in a first direction from the respective first end thereof to and passing around a respective said first sprocket wheel and then to and passing around a respective said second sprocket wheel and then forwardly, with a second end of each said towing chain adapted to be connected to a structure to which a force is to be applied;

whereby extension of said hydraulic cylinder unit will pivot said holding member forwardly about said first shaft, thereby pulling each said towing chain along an independent path in a second direction opposite to said first direction and causing each said towing chain to apply to the structure an independent pulling force; and

means for, upon contraction of said hydraulic cylinder unit and pivoting of said holding member rearwardly, preventing said towing chains from moving in directions opposite to respective said pulling directions thereof, said means comprising a plurality, equal to said plurality of ratchet wheels, of pawls, each said pawl being fixed to a first end of a respective third shaft rotatably supported in a said aperture in a respective said vertical portion of one of said side walls, and a plurality of weight means fixed to second ends of respective said third shafts for urging said third shafts to rotate in respective directions to urge said pawls into engagement with respective said ratchet wheels, thereby to enable rotation of said ratchet wheels and said first sprocket wheels in said pulling directions but to prevent rotation thereof in the reverse directions.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pair of wheels are rotatably mounted on respective arms extending laterally outwardly from said respective lower ends of said vertical portions of said side walls.