Winch having adjustable initial mechanical advantage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9586794-B2
Application number	US-201414221461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2014
Priority date	May 3, 2013
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a winch having a user-adjustable or variable initial mechanical advantage. In one embodiment, the winch of the present disclosure has an outer drum diameter adjustable between a minimum outer drum diameter, which is associated with a maximum initial mechanical advantage provided by the winch, and a maximum outer drum diameter, which is associated with a minimum initial mechanical advantage provided by the winch. This provides a user with the flexibility to adjust or vary the mechanical advantage of the winch to the user's preference.

First claim

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A winch having an adjustable initial mechanical advantage, said winch comprising:
a frame including a center shaft;
a front adjustment plate rotatably mounted to the center shaft;
a rear adjustment plate rotatably mounted to the center shaft; and
a drum rotatably mounted to the frame, wherein the drum is, while rotatably mounted to the frame, adjustable between a first outer diameter associated with a first mechanical advantage and a second different outer diameter associated with a second mechanical advantage different from the first mechanical advantage to adjust an initial mechanical advantage of the winch via relative movement of the front adjustment plate and the rear adjustment plate towards one another and rotation of the front adjustment plate and the rear adjustment plate.

2. The winch of claim 1 , wherein the first outer diameter is greater than the second outer diameter, and the first mechanical advantage is less than the second mechanical advantage.

3. The winch of claim 1 , wherein the first outer diameter is a maximum outer diameter and the second outer diameter is a minimum outer diameter, and the first mechanical advantage is a minimum mechanical advantage and the second mechanical advantage is a maximum mechanical advantage.

4. The winch of claim 1 , wherein the drum includes a plurality of adjustment pins.

5. The winch of claim 4 , which includes a center sleeve rotatably mounted to the center shaft.

6. The winch of claim 5 , which includes a front plate fixedly mounted to a first end of the center sleeve, the front plate including a plurality of adjustment slots having a first orientation.

7. The winch of claim 6 , wherein each of the front adjustment plate and the rear adjustment plate is rotatably and slidably mounted to the center shaft, each adjustment plate including a plurality of adjustment slots having a second orientation different than the first orientation of the plurality of adjustment slots of the front plate, each of the adjustment pins in one of the adjustment slots of the front plate and a corresponding one of the adjustment slots of each adjustment plate, wherein a distance of each of the adjustment pins from a center of the center shaft is based on a rotational orientation of the adjustment plates relative to the front plate.

8. The winch of claim 7 , wherein, for each adjustment pin, an axis along the length of said adjustment pin is substantially parallel to an axis along the length of the center sleeve.

9. A winch having an adjustable initial mechanical advantage, said winch comprising:
a frame;
a center shaft fixedly mounted to the frame;
a center sleeve rotatably mounted to the center shaft;
a front plate fixedly mounted to a first end of the center sleeve, the front plate including a plurality of adjustment slots having a first orientation;
a drum including a plurality of adjustment pins; and
an adjustment plate rotatably and slidably mounted to the center shaft, the adjustment plate including a plurality of adjustment slots having a second orientation different from the first orientation, each adjustment pin in one of the adjustment slots of the front plate and a corresponding one of the adjustment slots of the second plate, wherein a radial distance of each adjustment pin from a longitudinal axis of the center shaft is based on a rotational orientation of the adjustment plate relative to the front plate such that the radial distance is a first radial distance when the rotational orientation is a first rotational orientation and the radial distance is a second radial distance different from the first radial distance when the rotational orientation is a second rotational orientation different from the first rotational orientation,
wherein the drum is adjustable between a first outer diameter and a second different outer diameter, the first outer diameter associated with a first mechanical advantage and the second outer diameter associated with a second different mechanical advantage.

10. The winch of claim 9 , wherein, for each adjustment pin, a longitudinal axis of that adjustment pin is substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the center sleeve.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Chung Brian Hyuk Joon
• Zhu Zhengzhong

Classifications

• B66D1/04

  manually operated · CPC title

• B66D1/30 Primary

  Rope, cable, or chain drums or barrels · CPC title