Description:
THE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Previously collapsible or knockdown sawhorses have required especially designed legs and/or boards or beam members to which they were connected making them expensive and often unstable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The knockdown sawhorse of this invention comprises two pairs of diverging tubular legs mounted on hinges screwed according to an instruction template or pattern sheet to the underside of a standard 2× 6 inch board 42 inches long together with a bracket for attaching struts to each pair of legs. One leaf of each hinge is screwed to the board and each end of the other leaf is pivotally attached to the upper end of a tubular leg to form one pair of legs. Between the ends of each pair of legs there is detachably connected a cross-brace, and one end of this cross-brace is connected to one end of a diagonal brace, the other end of which diagonal brace is pivotally connected to the hinge with the other leg of that pair. Thus when these diagonal braces are connected they prevent the legs from pivoting about their ends that are connected to the hinges. The struts pivotally connected at one of their ends to the bracket between the hinges, have their other ends detachably connected to the center of the cross-braces to prevent the pairs of legs from folding about their hinges.
Thus the sawhorse of this invention may be readily assembled by a user, and may be knocked down or collapsed in two stages. One stage may comprise removing the attachment of the struts to the leg pairs, so they may be pivoted about their hinges and lie flush against one side of the board together with the centrally pivoted struts. The other and next stage comprises detaching the one end of the cross brace attached to the diagonal brace of each pair of legs, so the legs and braces may be collapsed within the longest sides of the board.
If desired each of the legs may be provided with rubber feet at their lower ends, and/or also may have telescopic lower sections detachedly connected together by transverse pins or bolts in aligned holes for adjusting the height of the board or top of the sawhorse so that a pair thereof may be used for legs of a table top.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to produce a space saving, economic, compact, rigid, strong, and readily portable knockdown type of sawhorse from a few parts which can be assembled by purchasing separately the leg parts thereof and a standard 2× 6 inch board 42 inches long.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above-mentioned and other features, objects and advantages and a manner of attaining them are described more specifically below by reference to embodiments of this invention shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the underside of an assembled knockdown sawhorse according to one embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the underside of the sawhorse shown in FIG. 1 partially collapsed;
FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the underside of the fully collapsed sawhorse shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a view of the template or pattern with instructions thereon which is supplied with each kit of legs, hinges, bolts, and nuts for mounting the sawhorse on a standard 2× 6 inch board 42 inches long; and
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a pair of knockdown sawhorses according to another embodiment of this invention having extensible legs used as legs for a picnic table or the like.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1 the beam member 10 may comprise a 2× 6× 42 inch standard board which if desired may be varnished or finished. Connected to one side of this board 10, herein the underside 11 for the sawhorse, and spaced inwardly preferably an equal distance from each end thereof, are two standard 6 inch hinges 12 having leaves 13 and 14 pivoted along their adjacent edges by a pivot pin 15. The leaf 13 may be provided with two or more apertures through which a plurality of wood screws 16 anchor it to the underside 11 of the board 10. The other leaf 14 of the hinge 12 may also have at least two spaced apertures, preferably at its ends, into which machine screws and nuts 17 pivotally attach the upper ends of the tubular legs 20, which may be made of a rigid material or metal, such as galvanized steel or aluminum 3/4 inch diameter tubing.
Each of these four tubular legs 20 have their upper ends 21 flattened and pierced for pivotal connection to the leaf 14 by the bolts 17. The other, lower, or outer ends of the legs 20 may be provided with feet members 22 which may comprise resilient rubber caps. Intermediate the ends of each leg 20 and preferably nearer the flattened ends 21, there are provided apertures or holes 23 (see FIG. 4) through which bolts 24 with wing nuts 25 may be removably inserted for attaching the two tubular cross braces 30 which also are of rigid material or metal, such as 1/2 inch diameter tubing. These cross braces 30 are longer than the length of the leaves 14 of the hinge 12, to provide divergent stability for the legs 20 of each pair in the assembled position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Each end of these cross braces 30 may be flattened and apertured with holes 31 (see FIG. 4) for attachment to the legs at the holes 23 by the bolts 24 and wing nuts 25. Intermediate the ends of each cross brace 30 there is provided an aperture 32 for another bolt 33 with wing nut 34 for removably attaching one end of the tubular struts 60 described later.
Diagonally between one of the bolt connections 17 for one of the legs 20 with the hinge leaf 14 and the center of the other leg of the pair at its connection with the cross bracket by bolt 24 and wing nut 25, there is provided a diagonal tubular brace 40 which transforms each leg pair into a pair of triangular members that prevents any pivoting of the legs 20 around their connections 17 and 24, 25. This diagonal brace 40 may also be made of a rigid material or metal tubing of 1/2 inch diameter similar to that of the cross brace 30, and preferably also has both of its ends flattened at 41 and apertured at 42 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.
Halfway between the two hinges 12 on the surface 11 of the board or beam member 10 and preferably in the center thereof, is provided a pivot bracket 50 which may have a pair of downwardly extending spaced parallel sides apertured for receiving a pivot bolt 51. The base portion 52 of this bracket 50 may have a pair of apertures for receiving a pair of wood screws 53 (see FIG. 2) for anchoring it to the beam or board 10.
The struts 60 previously referred to also may be made of 1/2 inch metal tubing but they each have their opposite ends 61 and 62 flattened in planes at right angles to each other (see FIGS. 2 and 4) so that one flattened end 61 of each strut 60 may be connected by the pivot bolt 51 to the bracket 50 and the other end may be detachably connected by the bolt 33 and wing nut 34 to the center of the cross braces 30 as shown in FIG. 1.
Specifically the parts required and employed for the assembly of the knockdown sawhorse of this invention include: a 2× 6× 42 inch board 10, two 6 inch hinges 12, four tubular legs 20, two cross braces 30, two diagonal braces 40, a pivot bracket 50, two struts 60, four rubber feet 22 for the legs, eight wood screws 16 and 53, five machine nuts and bolts 17 and 51, and six bolts 24 and 33 with wing nuts 25 and 34.
Thus by removing the two wing nuts 34 and the bolts 30, the two pairs of legs may be collapsed together with the two struts 60 into the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 for materially reducing the space required for the sawhorse; and if a still further reduction in space is required for storage, the wing nuts 25 and bolts 24 connected to the diagonal braces 40 may be removed for collapsing the legs of each pair as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
In FIG. 6 there is shown an instruction sheet pattern or template combination 70 which may be sold in a box with the hinges, bolts, and braces for easy assembly of the sawhorse of this invention. Thus by placing this template 70 which corresponds in size to surface 11 of the board 10, on a longer two by six board, its proper length can be cut off at the ends of the template. Also this template 70 has imprinted thereon the proper locations 71 for the two hinges 12 and the holes 72 for the screws therefor, as well as the location 73 for center pivot bracket 50 with a pair of holes 74 for the screws 53 therefor.
FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the sawhorse of this invention with tubular leg extensions 26 having swedged ends 27 for telescoping into the outer ends of the legs 20, and having apertures through the interfitting parts for insertion of the cross bolts 28 and wing nuts 29 so that the height of the pair of sawhorses when assembled may be extended sufficiently to support a table top 80.
While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific structure, it is to be understood that these descriptions are made by way of examples, and not as a limitation to the scope of this invention.