On Jul 30, 9:49 am, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
"Bob La Londe" fired this volley :

The concept has been nagging in the back of my mind for a couple weeks
now, but I just can't seem to come up with and visualize an easy to
use and affordable to build mechanism that would allow you to keep the
forks level or even close to level when raising and lowering your
load.

Bob, just imagine a big question-mark hung upside down. Now, make the
bottom of the 'loop' flat, and you have a crane fork. The lift loop is
where the 'dot' on the question mark would be. Therefore, the center of
lift is directly over the center of the load.

If you need to see a working example, go take a peek at a drywall or
shingle-pallet delivery truck. They all have this sort of fork. The
forks go under the load; the frame loops up and around to the top-center
of the load.

LLoyd

LLoyd



These things, as Lloyd described them, are commercially known as
'pallet hooks'. As the name says, they are used to lift pallets with
a crane. Pallet hooks are a catalogue item, at least here in S-W
Ontario.

If you know what you're doing you can fabricate one yourself. Use
your best judgement and simply test it with a load 5X as heavy as the
intended load rating of the hook. Check for cracks, and if all is OK
you're good to go. In my jurisdiction lifting equipment needs to be
checked once a year. This probably only applies to commercially
utilized equipment.

Wolfgang