A movable object such as a vertical bucket has four downwardly extending supports disposed at the vertices of a square on its bottom surface. Each support has a downwardly extending recess in the form of a section of a sphere which is somewhat more than the upper hemisphere. The recess has a horizontal annular groove cut into the surface thereof. A sphere is held inside each recess by a ball bearing ring that surrounds the sphere and fits into the groove. The sphere is freely rotatable in the ri...

A suitcase having wheels as a rolling support, the suitcase having at one end two compartments spaced apart and separated from the main compartment of the suitcase, the compartments each having an access opening out through the suitcase wall for a complete wheel assembly housed within each one of the compartments, and being extensible and retractable, the shafts of the wheels being connected through a linkage to the walls of the compartments, and in the other end of the suitcase there is provide...

A straddle type mobile crane includes a steering system which allows two-wheel or four-wheel steering. A first steering cylinder is associated with each wheel for four-wheel operation and an additional cylinder is associated with each of a first pair of wheels for two-wheel steering. An interlock system has a first mode for four-wheel drive wherein each wheel is coupled to its associated first steering cylinder and a second mode wherein each wheel is uncoupled from each first cylinder and each o...

A mobile structure is provided which comprises flexible joint assemblies with increased flexibility in a vertical direction and increased rigidity in the horizontal direction to facilitate towing over uneven terrain and further comprising free wheeling dish-like castor assemblies supporting the structure.

A mobile crane intended for carrying heavy loads has a slewable upper chassis which is rotatably mounted on a carriage by a conventional rotatable connection and in order to transmit loads greater than the connection can withstand, there is an additional rotary mounting. The additional mounting comprises an inner frame with cantilever arms between the upper chassis and the carriage. The upper chassis is detachably bolted to the arms and the arms have rollers which run in a circular rail fixed to...

A boom support and raising and lowering mechanism for pivoting the boom to swing in a generally vertical plane to raise and lower the same which includes a boom pivotally mounted on a saddle-type support for straddling a vehicle and being detachably connectable to the same. The raising and lowering mechanism consists of a power actuated articulated link assembly including a first rigid member pivotally connected at one end to the boom support and at the opposite end to an hydraulic extendible an...

Fixed housing contains a cam and rotatably supports a display shaft carrier. A motor rotates the shaft carrier, and a cam follower on each shaft oscillationally rotates each shaft on its own axis as the shaft carrier rotates on the housing axis. Displays are mounted on each shaft so that the displays rotate on the housing axis and oscillate on the shaft axis. In the preferred embodiment, the housing is mounted over a crib, and the motor for driving the shaft carrier is mountable on the side of t...

A mobile trackway comprises a plurality of interconnected carriages adapted for rolling on an existing trackway, and having mounted on upper surfaces thereof two side-by-side trackways. Ramp cars (which form part of the mobile trackway) and switching sections on the carriages permit load-transporting cars to be moved to either of the two trackways from the existing trackway. When used in conjunction with tunneling machinery, a string of muck cars is positioned on one of the trackways and may be ...

A mobile heater for aerospace ground equipment includes a diesel engine for continuously driving a centrifugal blower for introducing air into a plenum chamber so that the air is not contaminated by the diesel engine. The diesel fuel is utilized with a unique burner arrangement, which enables burning within a burner body or can without build up of carbon, having a portion of the air supplied to the plenum chamber supplied thereto. The hot products of combustion from the burner arrangement flow i...

A stable hoist for loading and unloading articles (10) onto and from shelves (11) includes a base housing (12) from which extends a cruciform-shaped standard (13). A slide arrangement (14) mounted on the standard and driven by a power source (46 and 47) mounted in the housing moves a boom (16) up and down. The boom comprises a slide (20) and a trolley (21) from which depends a clamp (22) to grip the article. Inverted L-shaped arm structures (28 and 29) extend from the crossarms (26 and 27) of th...