WO1997032501A1 - Multi-purpose tool - Google Patents

Abstract

A multi-purpose tool particularly suitable for attaching objects to a support, lashing the objects together or holding them in a container. The tool consists of a housing comprising a lashing point and a windable and unwindable rope. The rope may be clamped at a desired length. Hooks are slidably mounted along the rope. A release system prevents excessive tension in the rope.

Description

Multi-purpose tool.

The present invention relates to a multi-use tool, more particularly a tool for fixing objects to a support, making them integral with one another, or for holding them in a container. The invention will be advantageously applied to the transport of bulky objects on vehicles, more particularly on a luggage rack or in a vehicle trunk.

Several possibilities of reversible retention of one or more objects are already known on a support. These are simple rope systems with knots, or elastic bands with hooks. The ropes are impractical and require mastery of the knots, and do not allow a stable stowage to be reconciled with a variability of the situations over time and at the location of the fixing points. The length of the rope cannot vary, which complicates the lashing operation, e.g. by having to accommodate an excess of rope.

The elastic bands move back and forth and generate shocks which can damage the contents and the container. In addition, when they are released, their release often causes a danger for the person who operates them and more particularly for the eyes in the case of automobile luggage racks. The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks by proposing a portable, compact and practical tool capable of replacing the cords and elastic bands for retaining or hanging loads, on supports or between them, more particularly in the context of transport by vehicles. The proposed tool can also be used for many other uses such as handling or processing objects, eg lifting an object, consolidating the whole, planting or fixing shrubs and doing DIY work requiring to have your hands free while ensuring a stable position of the work object.

The tool is particularly suitable for transporting objects, in particular rigid objects, when the normal closure of the container, eg a trunk of a motor vehicle, is made impossible by the dimensions of the content.

The binding is firm, precise and adaptable to multiple situations. The tension on the load to be fixed is easily controlled by the user and can be gradually released.

The present invention relates in fact to a tool for fixing and / or handling various objects comprising on the one hand a housing forming an element for receiving a flexible filiform element such as a wire, a rope or a strap, preferably by winding , the housing comprising a means of extraction, eg by unwinding, blocking at a variable length, and retraction or withdrawal of said wire, rope or strap; and on the other hand at least two hooking elements, one of the hooking elements being secured to the housing and the other hooking element being located at the opposite end of the filiform element. Advantageously, according to the invention other hooking elements are threaded by said wire, rope or strap, these latter hooking elements being able to slide freely and being able to constitute a reversible retaining means for said rope or strap wire, thus allowing formation and maintaining loops around fixing or support points which may or may not be part of said miscellaneous objects. Preferably, the wire, rope or strap has at its free end a fixed element, which can be a hooking element, capable of holding out of the housing, during maximum retraction, said end of said wire, rope or strap. hanging.

This end element, which may be removable, can therefore also be fixed to a securing member of the transport vehicle or to one of the above-mentioned hooking elements, thus creating a "slip knot", which can possibly be closed on a load to be transported. .

The hooking or fixing elements which can slide freely can be carabiners but are preferably hooks pierced at their bases to be threaded along the filiform element. These hooks will preferably be made of particularly resistant plastic. One can also also provide fastening elements threaded by two adjacent openings provided therein, the cord being capable of forming a loop whose base is the fastening element. The loop can be closed on a fixing support or a load.

The housing is preferably of injection molded plastic and is modular, the plastic can be a polycarbonate, with or without fiberglass, a polyoxymethylene or a plastic of the ABS type, at least one face can advantageously be assembled and disassembled by screwing or elastic interlocking for easy access to the internal mechanism.

The housing comprises, according to a preferred embodiment, a winding and unwinding means integral with and actuating the flexible filiform element of great length. This threadlike element passes through an opening provided in the housing, one end being attached to a central drum. This opening is of such size that it does not allow the sliding hooking or fixing elements to pass. The external end of the filiform element preferably comprises a means for retaining said end outside the housing, one or more hooking means being provided, free to slide along the filiform element, between said retaining means and The box.

The filiform element is a thread, a cord, eg nylon, a cable, a strap or even, for certain applications, a chain, a ribbon or an elastic band. The filiform element which can be rolled up in the housing can have a variable length, for example between 2 meters and 25 meters. This length can however be decreased or increased as required, depending on the capacity of the housing and according to the diameter or size of the filiform element.

According to one aspect of the invention, the tension applied at any location has repercussions on the whole of the filiform element, the various fixing points obtained for the fixing elements leaving the rope free to slide and / or to transmit the voltage.

The number of sliding fasteners is variable. It will generally be between 1 and 12, preferably from 3 to 8.

The housing advantageously comprises a handle integrated by molding allowing its easy transport, either with the filiform element wound therein or, in certain cases, with the latter at least partially unwound and hung on a support or supporting a load attached to its end.

The attachment element integral with the housing can be integrated therein in the form of a hook. Preferably it will be located at the end of a relatively short flexible element, preferably a strap of 5 to 25 cm in length, attached to the housing, preferably in a non-removable manner. An attachment slot will then be provided on an element of the housing, eg projecting, preferably from injection molding. The winding and unwinding means is preferably a crank and drum means. The drum can be provided with two lateral circular discs forming edges, perpendicular to the axis of the drum, and thus constituting a magazine for the wound filiform element.

According to one embodiment, the magazine is easily removable, allowing its replacement, e.g. to work with a different type of threadlike element (strap instead of rope, or rope of different diameters and lengths).

According to one embodiment, the crank is eccentric on one face of the housing and connected, by means of a gear, e.g. of nylon, reduction gear (for example comprising three toothed wheels), to a shaft or pinion actuating the drum.

The drum will be driven by the pinion while nevertheless allowing, in the event of excessively high resistance, a declutching, eg in the form of a notch to notch exhaust by elastic friction. Therefore, in case of high resistance to winding, greater than a predetermined value, the drum will slide on a grooved element of the compressed gear and under elastic tension allowing a relative rotation of at least one notch. This will prevent excessive and damaging force from being exerted on the corresponding lever or on the gear.

According to another particular aspect of the invention, provision is made for a subsidiary means for non-sliding attachment of the filiform element just before entering the housing. This attachment means can be secured to an independent support to take the tension applied to the rope when this tension is high. It is thus possible, in certain cases, to prevent the tension of the cord from being reflected in a damaging manner in the housing, more particularly at the level of the drum, of the gear or of the pawl, or of causing an untimely disengagement.

The means for blocking the unwinding mechanism may be constituted by a ratchet device preventing rotation of the drum in the direction of unwinding.

This device consists for example of asymmetrical radial ribs forming locking edges in a direction of rotation (ratchet), provided on one of the lateral external faces (discs) of the aforementioned magazine, or on a disc integral with and perpendicular provided at the end of the pinion, which can be the toothed drive wheel thereof. A blocking brake of complementary shape, provided on the housing and mounted perpendicular to this face, eg on a spring with two insertion positions, is actuated by a button. This button allows the user to block the rotation of the drum of the device of the invention in the direction of unwinding.

According to one embodiment, by pressing in at a determined level and partial rotation of 90 ° of the locking button, a button retaining element, eg in the form of a lug, is inserted in a fixed fixed housing of the housing. A locking position of the brake element on the face of the aforementioned magazine can thus be obtained.

The invention is explained below in more detail using schematic drawings provided by way of example only.

Fig. l is a general perspective view illustrating an example of a tool according to the invention. This fig. 1 illustrates a housing 1 integrating a handle 2, from which a cord 3 emerges through an opening 4. The housing 1 comprises a fastening element 5 projecting from a flexible connection element 6 provided at its end with a hook 7. The end of the rope is provided with a holding element 8 outside the housing 1. Several hooks 9 are threaded into the rope 3, free to slide. There is an eccentric crank 10 and a button for blocking the unwinding of the rope.

Fig. 2 shows different elevational views of another embodiment of the housing according to the invention, with or without certain elements of the winding-unwinding mechanism of the rope.

Fig 2a shows the housing, the outer flange removed and without rope. We distinguish at 21 the screw attachments of the outer flange, at 22 a circular edge of the magazine, at 24 the drum winding body with the release ribs in elastic material 25, and at 26 the rope outlet opening . Fig. 2b corresponds to fig. 2a with the rope 3, hooks 9 and at the end a hook 8 ', as well as a strap 6 for attachment with a hook 7, secured to the housing 1.

Fig. 2c schematically shows in elevation the housing of FIGS. 2a and 2b, seen from the opposite side, where an eccentric crank 10 is provided with an axis 11 and a location 12 for the ratchet locking button 11 capable of preventing the unwinding of the rope.

Fig. 2d is a view of the housing on the outer flange side in which there are the three reduction gear elements 30, 31, 32.

Fig. 3 is a view of the drum from the side of the gear and the crank. An element of the ratchet locking system is shown with the radial edges, with asymmetrical flank, 33 of locking extending on a more or less peripheral annular surface 34 of an edge disc 37 of the drum. According to a variant, this zone acting as a ratchet may be present on the disc or the end wheel 39 of the pinion (shaft). The internal surface of the drum comprises elastic elements 25 in the form of bulges or parallel ribs capable of being elastically deformed and allowing notch to notch declutching in the event of excessive tension.

Fig. 4 shows in section the button 40 to be snapped into a blocking element 45, the lower edges 44 of which are provided to cooperate with the edges blocking 33 to prevent rotation in the direction of unwinding. The perforated disc 41 allows the body of the button to slide and is designed to be fixed in an opening in the housing. The plate 42 serves as a stop relative to the height. The spring is not shown.

Figs. 5 show the elements of the drum and of the drive pinion.

Fig. 5a shows in section the drum without the ribs 25. There are two end discs 37, 38 of different diameters which form the magazine for the rope, itself not shown. At 51, there is shown a hole provided in a small radial fin 52, for attaching the inner end of the rope 3. There is a zone 34 forming a ratchet, located more on the periphery than in FIG. 3.

Fig. 5b shows the pinion with the toothed wheel 40 actuated, via the reduction gear, by the crank. A segment of the pinion axis is provided with ribs 50 intended to cooperate with the ribs 25 for driving and, if necessary, declutching by notches.

Fig. 5c represents the elements of FIG. 5a and 5b arranged to cooperate in the housing.

Fig. 6 shows two variants of hooks 9, the base of which is pierced with an opening 60a or 60b to allow the threading of a rope or a strap respectively. Figs. 7a-c illustrate very schematically some possibilities of using the tool according to the invention other than the securing of objects on vehicles.

In 7a, the tool serves as a clothesline for the laundry 70, the rope being stretched between two trees.

7b illustrates the possibility of hooking and lifting a load 80, the housing being in the upper (a) or lower (b) position. A distinction is made between the end hook, the intermediate sliding hooks 9 and the housing hook 7.

Fig 7c shows a user carrying an elongated load 75 with the tool of the present invention. The end hook can be fixed to the hook 7 of the housing.

The intermediate hooks 9 can be used to clamp the load over its entire length.

Claims

1. Tool for fixing and / or retaining and / or handling various objects comprising on the one hand a housing forming an element for receiving a flexible filiform element, _the housing comprising a means of extraction and retraction, means for blocking extraction at a variable length, and means for holding one end of said filiform element outside the housing, and on the other hand at least two hooking elements; one of the hooking elements being integral with the housing and the other hooking element being located at the free end of the filiform element and which can constitute, with the opening provided in the housing for the filiform element, said means for holding out of the housing. 2. Tool according to claim 1 further comprising other hooking elements threaded by said threadlike element, the latter hooking elements being able to slide freely and independently and being each constituted by a means capable of reversibly retaining said element filiform allowing the formation, the maintenance and the tightening of loops around fixing, lashing or support points which may or may not be part of said various objects. 3. Tool according to claim 1 wherein said extraction and retraction means is a winding and unwinding means. 4. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the winding and unwinding means is a crank means actuating, via a reduction gear, a drum forming a magazine for the filiform element. 5. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flexible filiform element is a cord. 6. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flexible filiform element is a strap, a cable, a chain or an elastic. 7. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sliding hooking elements comprise sliding holes and the retaining means are hooks, preferably plastic hooks. 8. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing comprises a handle. 9. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it constitutes a means for lifting or lowering a load. 10. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it constitutes a means of transporting a load for a user moving on foot. 11. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the winding and unwinding system comprises a pinion driven by a reduction gear and driving a coaxial drum. 12. Tool according to the preceding claim characterized in that there is provided a passive declutching system between the drum and the pinion when the tension on the rope exceeds a determined value. 13. Tool according to claim 11 or 12 characterized in that there is provided a ratchet locking system actuated by a button provided on the housing, capable of preventing the unwinding of the filiform element.