US2708097A - Flooring jack - Google Patents

Description

May 10, v1955 w. E. HINGER 2,708,097

FLOORING JACK Filed July 1a. 1952 k` 2 sheets-sheet 1 Immun- 'l El Sq 3\ 3o 52 A 50 5C INVENToR. f l WILLIAM EHINGEQ.

\ n zaf \3q @Y AY IOQNEYS May 10, 1955 w. E. HINGER 2,708,097

FLOORING JACK Filed July 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i{\\v A INVENTOR.

/ 5c; WILL E. Hmaen United States Patent l ice FLOORING JACK y William E. Hinger, Jamestown, N. Dak.

Application July 18, 1952, Serial No. 299,600

2 Claims. (Cl. 254--12) This invention relates to a jack adapted to facilitate the laying of a board iloor. More particularly, the invention has reference to a device adapted to engage a supporting surface on which a floor is to be laid, said device being so formed as to engage a floor board and force the same against an adjacent floor board to close the joint therebetween.

It is well appreciated among those skilled in the art that it is difficult to force a floor board against a board which has already been nailed to the sub-floor or joists, in a manner effective to make a tight joint between the two boards. tudinal curve 'in the floor board, and although an experienced worker is skilled in straightening out the floor board during the actual operation of nailing the same, it is not unusual for the oor board to have such a spring in it as to make it difficult to close the joint mentioned.

Heretofore, devices have been conceived for forcing each board to be laid against an adjacent board which has already been nailed down, to make a tight joint therebetween. However, to my knowledge, those devices have not found wide spread commercial favor, because some of them, I have found, require an excessive amount of time so far as setting the same up for use is concerned. In other instances, it has been found that the flooring jacks previously devised have operating characteristics which reduce their facility of operation, and which, additionally, prevent their manufacture at a cost sufficiently low to permit quantity production.

The broad object of the present invention is to provide a ooring jack which will have none of the disadvantages noted above. More specific objects of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a flooring jack which will include a base provided with an improved base anchoring means adapted to be engaged with a supporting surface on which a floor is to be laid, and further adapted to position the base properly relative to said oor;

Second, to provide a device as stated wherein the anchoring means referred to will be disposed at one end of the base, the base having a guideway at its other end on which a movable assembly is mounted, said assembly being provided with means adapted for engaging a oor board in a manner effective to force the floor board against an adjacent tloor board to close the joint therebetween, when the assembly is adjusted in one direction upon the base;

Third, to provide a device as described wherein the movable assembly is adapted to be adjusted to selected positions by a gear and lever unit, said gear and lever unit being operatively associated with a pair of pawls of diiferent lengths respectively arranged for retaining the movable assembly in positions of both major and tne adjustment, said pawls being simultaneously shifted to assembly-releasing positions by a single pawl release mechanism; and

Fourth, to provide a ooring jack of the character referred to which can be easily set up for use or removed In many instances, there is a slight longi when it is not to be used, will be rugged, simply formed, and capable of manufacture at relatively low cost.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a flooring jack formed in accordance with the present invention, a floor Figure 6 is a sectional view substantially on line l6 6 of Figure 5; and

'Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional View taken Online4 7-7 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the device constituting the present invention can be properly considered as including four main assemblies operatively relatedto complete the jack. These assemblies includeva base designated generally by the reference numeral 10, a base anchoring means designated generally at 12, a movable floor board engaging assembly 14, and means 16 adapted for adjusting said movable assembly 14.

Considering rst the construction of the base 10, the

base includes a pair of transversely spaced side plates 1S, said side plates being generally elongated, and being disposed substantially horizontally. The side plates are provided with upstanding side walls, said side walls being vertically disposed and being arranged in parallelism with one another, and being integrally formed, along their lower edges, with longitudinal, inwardly extended guide anges 20.

The provision of the guide flanges 20 and the upstanding side walls of the base denes a guideway at one end of the base, on which the movable assembly 14 is mountted for adjustment longitudinally of said base.

Considering now the construction of the base anchoring means 12, said means includes a vertically disposed channeled member 22 secured xedly to the respective side plates 18, at one end of said side plates. The chan-- neled member 22 extends between the side walls of thel side plates, so as to fixedly connect the side plates in transversely spacedrelation, at one end of the base.

The upper end of the channeled member 22 projects a substantial distance above the upper edges of the side plates 18, and welded or otherwise xedly mounted in said upper end of the channeled member 22 is a plug 24 constituting an anvil. Thus, if it is desired to drive the base anchoring means into engagement with a oor joistk l or other supporting surface on which the base is to be mounted, the user can hammer downwardly upon the anvil 24. In this connection, the channeled member 22 is provided at its lower end with supporting surfaceengaging prongs. Thus, I provide a nail stop 26 disposed transversely of the web of the member 22, adjacent the lower end of said member, said nail stop being Welded or otherwise iixedly secured to the channeled member.' The nail stop is adapted to engage the heads of a pair of nails 28, said nails being clamped against the web" of the channeled member by means of a nail-clamping' plate 30 having a center opening 32 of smooth walled, formation. A stud 33 is welded at one end to the web of the channeled member 22, between the nails 28,

and extends through said smooth walled opening of the,

Patented May 10, 1955l stud, against the plate 30, so as to force the nails against the web of the channeled member, thus to prevent movement of the nails relative to said channeled member. lt will be readily appreciated that when the channeled member is forced downwardly against the H oor joist I, the pointed ends of the nails, which project below the lower end of the channeled member, will be driven into the floor joist.

Constituting a part of the base is a channeled spacer 36, said spacer being disposed at that end of the base remote from the base anchoring means 12, and having upstanding side walls secured to the inner edges of the flanges (Figure 4) by welding or equivalent fastening means. The spacer 36 supports the base 10 in elevated position above the oor boards B to bc laid, when the base anchoring means is driven downwardly into engagement with the floor joist J or sub-oor.

If desired, the base anchoring means can be forced into engagement with the oor joist I by a lever handle, said lever handle being particularly well shown in Figures 2 and 6 and including a single piece of hat bar material folded upon itself to provide a handle 38 at one end, said handle merging into diverging fork arms 40, said fork arms being pvotally mounted by means of a pin 42 upon the upper end of the channeled member 22, and being disposed in embracing relation to said channeled member.

Carried by the fork arms is a handle stop 44, said handle 'stop being formed as a U-shaped member having its legs secured to the respective fork arms, and having its bight extending transversely between and underlying the fork arms. Thus, when the handle 38 is swung to the horizontal position thereof shown in Figure l, the stop 44 will be engaged against the channeled member 22.

In use of the handle 38, one would simply place the nails 28 against the floor joist I, and would then rock the handle 38 downwardly, while holding the base 10 downwardly against the floor. When the handle 38 is adjusted to its horizontal position, the stop 44 would engage the channeled member 22, and thereafter, the pointed ends of the nails 28 would be forced into the floor joist I.

Referring to the movable assembly 14, this includes a slide 46 of rectangular cross section, said slide being seated in the channeled spacer 36, and being shiftable longitudinally of the base 10. The slide 46 underlies and is rigidly secured to a toothed plate 48 having a series of rack teeth formed on its upper surface. The toothed plate 48 is wider than the slide 46, as best shown in Figure 6, the longitudinal edge portions of the toothed plate being slidably mounted in and Abeing guided by the anges 20 of the side plates 18 of base 10.

Integral or otherwise made rigid with the inner end of the slide 46 is a depending tongue 50, said tongue eX- tending into a recess 52 formed in a clamping block` 54. The clamping block 54, as shown in Figure l, is provided at opposite sides thereof with grooves complementary 'to the tongues of lthe oor boards B. The clamping block is extended transversely of the base 10 (Figure 2), so as to engage the tongue of a floor board B when the device is positioned operatively and is ready for use.

For the purpose of securing the tongue 5i) to the clamping block 54, I provide a screw 56 (Figure 7), said screw extending through a smooth walled opening in the tongue A and being engaged in a threaded recess formed in the clamping block 54.

The means 16 for adjusting the movable assembly 14 includes a gear 58 in mesh with the rack teeth ofthe toothed plate 48.

The gear 58 is rigid with fa lever 60, said -lever being formed, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, from a single piece of lat bar material folded upon itself to -provide a handle at one end and fork arms 62 at the other end, said fork arms embracing and 'being welded or otherwise made rigid with the gear wheel l58.

A pin 64 is extended between the side walls of the plates 18, and the gear wheel 58 is rotatably mounted upon said pin. In this connection, it is preferred that the pin 64 be held against rotation, and to this end, one of the side walls is formed with a non-circular opening receiving a complementary portion of the pin 64.

ln mounting the means 16 upon the pin 64, a washer 66 is interposed between the lever and one of the side plates 18 (Figure 4). Thereafter, at the other side of the lever, there is mounted upon the pin 64 a short pawl 68 (Figure 7), and adjacent the short pawl, there is mounted upon the pin 64 a long pawl 70. The pawls are swingably mounted upon the pin 64, and at their other ends, are provided with pointed fingers 72, 74 respectively, said tingers being disposed side by side.

A pawl release pin 76 is interposed between the pawl 7i? and the other side plate 18, and is also swingable upon the pin 64. The pawl release pin 76, in this connection, is provided at one end with a lateral extension 78, which, in one position of the pawl release pin, is engaged with the upper edge of the adjacent side plate 18.

In another position of the pawl release pin, a lateral projection 8), formed upon the pin 76 intermediate the ends of said pin 76, is adapted to engage the lingers 72, 74 simultaneously, so as to elevate the pawls 68, 70 to the dotted line positions thereof shown in Figure 7.

Normally, the pawls 68, 70 will gravitate to the full line position thereof shown in Figure 7, and when the toothed plate 48 is being shifted to the right in Figure 7 by operation of the lever 60, the pawls will ratchet over the teeth of said toothed plate. As a result, the clamp block 54 will be forced against the iloor board B adjacent thereto, and will urge said tloor board into tight engagement with the floor board adjacent thereto. When the joint between the adjacent floor board is completely closed, the pawls 68 or 70, as the case may be, will retain the toothed plate in the selected position of adjustment.

lt will be apparent that the longer pawl 70 permits major adjustments of the toothed plate, with the shorter pawl 68 permitting ner adjustments.

ln any event, at such time as the oor board has been nailed down, one need only swing the pawl release pin 76 to the dotted line position thereof shown in Figure 7, as a result of which the pawls 68. 70 will be shifted out of engagement with the toothed plate.

lt is believed to be an important characteristic of the invention that the device can be set up for use in u minimum time. One need only position the device as desired, and swing the handle 38 downwardly. As aV i and this has the effect of shifting the clamping block 54 to the left in Figure l, so as to close the joint between the oor board B engaged thereby, and that floor board adjacent to the engaged board. The engaged board will, of course, be retained automatically in tight engagement with the adjacent floor board, by reason of the pawls 68, 70. The oor board can then be nailed down, after which the pawl release pin 76 is swung to its dotted line position, and the lever is swung downwardly. Thereafter, the device is removed from engagement with the oor joist I, and is shifted to another position,

so as to be ready for further use.

Of course, the movable assembly and the base can be of any desired length, so as to permit the device to be anchored in one position, in an arrangement that will allow more than one board B to be acted upon Without requiring repositioning of the apparatus.

Additionally, it is believed sutliciently obvious as not to require special illustration that the clamping block 54 can be of any desired proportion, so as to engage the tongues of various types and sizes of tloor boards B.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a jack for board flooring, a base; means for anchoring the base to a supporting surface on which a Hoor is to be laid, said means including a substantially vertical member rigid with the base, an anvil at the upper end of said member, a nail stop rigid with and extending transversely of the lower end portion of said member, nails having their heads engaged under said stop and having their pointed ends projecting below the lower end of said member so as to penetrate an underlying surface on striking of said anvil, and a clamp on said member releasably engaging said nails in position below the nail stop; a board-engaging assembly mounted movably upon the base for adjustment against a floor board and adapted for forcing said floor board against an adjacent board to close the joint therebetween; and means on the base arranged for effecting said adjustment of the movable assembly.

2. In a jack for board ooring, a base; means for anchoring the base to a supporting surface on which a oor is to be laid, said means including a substantially vertical member rigid with the base, an anvil at the upper end of said member, a substantially horizontal nail stopv disposed transversely of the lower end portion of said member, said nail stop being xedly secured to the,

member, a plurality of nails having their heads under-` lying and engaged against the nail stop at locations spaced transversely of said member, a stud projecting outwardly from the lower end portion of said member between the nails, a nail clamp plate mounted upon said stud to shift References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 310,152 Schofield et al. Dec. 30, 1884 737,691 Adams Sept. 1, 1903 796,968 Herr Aug. 8, 1905 977,471 Pickering Dec. 6, 1910 1,132,724 Koonce Mar. 23, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS 29,198 Great Britain of 1909

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