US2876020A - Bed dolly - Google Patents

Description

March 3, 1959 R. B. MURCHIE 6,

BED DOLLY Filed April 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ZaZe 77 ,3 #2176126 March'3, 1959 HIE 2,876,020

I BED DOLLY Filed April 2'7, 195s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. %Z77 ,5. Mara-g2 l2 BY w 02% 7 7742 4150 BED DOLLY Robert B. Murchie, Traverse City, Mich. Application April 27, 1956, Serial No. 581,216

1 Claim. (Cl. 280-179) This invention relates to improved dollies and more particularly to improved dollies especially adapted for transporting hotel beds and the like.

For their guests comfort and convenience, hostelries generally prefer to provide standard beds in their guest rooms even though such rooms may be of the convertible type, used as sitting rooms or conference rooms at times, and at other times as sleeping rooms. Beds in such rooms generally must be readily removable therefrom, as must also extra beds such as are commonly used to accommodate extra guests beyond the normal complements of the room s For theguestsboinfort and convenience, it

is preferable to provide standard beds for all these purposes. In the past, however, standard beds havev been relatively difficult to move, and substantial use has been made of folding beds, which generally include fiat springs and foldable mattresses, and are inferior in their comfort characteristics to standard box spring and inner spring mattress beds.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an'improved dolly particularly adapted for holding and supporting a standard type bed including an angle iron frame, a box spring and an inner spring mattress.

Another object is to provide such an improved dolly especially suited for use by hotels and the like for moving completely made up nonfoldable, standard beds from room to room.

These and other objects are accomplished by the instant invention which provides an improved dolly for holding and supporting a bed of the type having a rigid, angle iron supporting frame, a rigid spring structure, such as a box spring supported upon the frame, and a mattress supported upon the spring. The dolly comprises a generally rectangular frame having side and end members rigidly secured together and supported upon wheels which may be swiveled and castered to provide ready maneuverability. A plurality of hooks are pivoted upon one of the side frame members and shaped to engage a bed frame angle iron. A plurality of straps is attached to the other one of the side frame members, and an angle iron engaging hook is attached at the free end of each of the straps. The dolly frame is of a width approximately equal to the combined thicknesses of an inner spring mattress, and a box spring, and may be attached by means of-the hooks and straps rigidly and firmly along the side of a standard bed. The bed may then be tipped up on edge upon the dolly and conveniently moved to any desired location without unmaking or disassembling it. i

The invention will be described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawings of which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bed dolly according to the present invention; I

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of engagement between the dolly shown in Fig. 1 and a standard angle iron bed frame;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the dolly attached to a fully made up bed; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a standard size bed 2,876,020 Patented Mar. 3, 1959 supported upon a dolly according to the invention in position for travel.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a bed dolly, generally designated 10, of generally rectangular shape and including side and end frame members 12 and 14, and 16 and 18, respectively. The frame members may be of tubular steel, as shown, or of any desired metal, all rigidly welded together at the corners of the frame. The shape of the frame members 12, 14, 16 and 18 is not critical in the practice of the invention, and any other rigid structural shapes may be substituted for the tubular members shown. The frame also includes a pair of rigid, intermediate, transverse members 20 and 22 securely fastened to the side frame members 12 and 14. Two pairs of supporting rails 24 and 26, which may be of relatively thin flat steel strips, are fastened longitudinally between the intermediate members 20 and 22 and the end frame members 16 and 18 to provide continuous support for a bed along the full length of the dolly.

The frame is supported upon two, centrally located, rigidly fixed wheels 28 and 30 and upon two, end, swiveled wheels 32 and 34. The fixed wheels 28 and 30 .are securely mounted as upon pivots fixed in brackets 36, welded or otherwise secured to the intermediate transverse members 20 and 22 at opposite sides of the frame. The swiveled wheels 32 and 34 are castered for ready tracking and are mounted upon pipestem brackets 38 depending from the end frame members 16 and 18. Thus, the dolly 10 is readily maneuverable for smooth rolling travel through hotel corridors, doorways, and the like.

The dolly 10 is especially adapted to be secured to the edge of a bed of the type having an angle iron frame.

Three hooks 42, 44 and 46 are spaced along one side member 12 of the dolly frame.

These hooks may be made of steel straps bent into an S shape, one loop of the 8 being sprung over the tubular side member 12 so that each of the hooks is pivoted and freely swingable about the axis of the side member 12. The hooks are joined together by a longitudinal plate member 48 so that they pivot in unison and are retained in alignment one with another. The opposite side frame member 14 is provided with a pair of spaced retaining loops 50 and 52,

which may be of metal welded to the frame member, and which are preferably disposed on the inner side of the frame member facing the opposite side of the dolly, i. e., facing the first frame member 12. Straps 54 are passed through the loops 52, and around the member 14 and retained by the loops 52 against longitudinal travel along the length of the frame member 14. The straps 54 may be of any desired material such as canvas or leather, and are provided with adjustable, sliding buckles 56. The straps 54 are looped around the frame member 14, their ends being returned to the buckles 56, thereby forming closed loops encircling the frame member 14, the size of the closed loops being adjustable to vary the over-all alongside a bed of the type shown, including a frame genside frame members 62. The straps 54 are then drawn up over the mattress 70and down on the far side of the bed to engage the horizontal leg portion 66 of the opposite bed frame member 64. The dolly 10 is swung upwardly against the edge of the bed, pivoting about the side frame member 12, and the straps are tightened by adjusting the buckles 56 to fasten the dolly firmly against the edge of the bed. The bed, together with the dolly it), may then be tilted up to stand the bed on edge upon the dolly, as shown in Fig. 4, for ready transportation.

If desired, in order to increase clearance for moving the bed through relatively narrow passageways and door ways, the supporting legs of the bed may be mounted on rotatable, transverse members 76 so that they may be folded flat against the spring 72, or otherwise retracted during transport. If the bed is provided with such fol able, or retractable legs, it is also advisable to provide locking means to releasably lock the legs in their extended position when the bed is in use to prevent inadvertent collapse. In the structure illustrated, such locking is accomplished by spring biased plungers 78 mounted in the end frame members 82 of the bed frame 60 and adapted to engage apertures 80 in the rotatable member 76 when the legs are extended.

If the bed is to be stored in a relatively confined space,

' such as a narrow closet, the dolly may be left fastened to the bed, and the bed may be stored in its on-edge position without detaching the dolly. If, on the other hand, the bed is moved to a storage area where it may be laid flat, the dolly may be readily disengaged and used to transport other'beds.

It will be apparent that the dolly according to the invention is equally advantageous for use in transporting beds of all widths, adjustment to accommodate single, twin, three quarter and double beds being accomplished by varying the lengths of the straps 54.

There has thus been described an improved dolly for holding and supporting a standard type bed for readily able to and detachable from such beds that are supported upon angle iron frames, Without removing the bed clothes or disassembling the bed.

What is claimed is:

In a dolly for moving beds having supporting frames which include side frame members, a wheeled frame consisting of substantially coplanar connected frame members, a plurality of connected bracket members pivotally mounted on one side of said wheeled frame for up and down pivotal movement of the bracket members relative to the wheeled frame, each of said bracket members being of. a size such that in all moved positions thereof it is substantially Within the plane of said wheeled frame, each bracket member terminating at its free end in a reversely bent hook-shape portion adapted to extend partially about an adjacent side frame member on a bed frame to be moved, and flexible strap members connected at one of their ends to the opposite side of said wheeled frame, each strap member being of a length to extend across the top side of a bed to be moved and be attached at its opposite end to the other side frame member on said bed for mounting the dolly on the bed in a position in which the wheeled frame is in an upright position against one side of the bed when the bed is horizontally disposed, and bracket members on said opposite ends of said strap members releasably engageable with said other bed side frame member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 955,014 Tandy Apr. 12, 1910 1,927,710 Lindsay Sept. 19, 1933 2,174,870 Daniels Oct. 3, 1939 2,344,272 Sestan Mar. 14, 1944 2,469,547 Carter May 10, 1949 2,733,929 Edixon Feb. 7, 1956 2,745,673 Koepke et al. May 15, 1956

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