Apparatus for carrying cables winding drums

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus for carrying cables winding drums The invention refers to devices for carrying winding drums for signal cables in audio systems and relative sound generating equipment, including, for example, but not limited to. the equipment used by music and theatre groups

Background Art

In the field of audio equipment, in particular of the kind employed in tours and itinerant shows, there is a large need of equipment with limited dimensions, safe and easy to operate, which, at the same time, have a satisfactory degree of protection against possible mechanical damages due to bumps, entanglments. and/or cuts, deriving from repeated transportation, loading, unlodmg and stocking operations In order to meet these requirements, a reticular frame is generally known, whose structural elements are inter-connected to form a geometrical solid, within which the winding drum revolves around a horizontal axis, completely contained within the frame itself

Such frames show a high degree of protection for the cables housed inside and, furthermore, are totally without parts sticking out. which may be dangerous elements even for the people assigned to their operation, also taking under consideration the fact that ususallv. the storage of the above equipment for

example within trucks or monitor rooms takes place in narrow places Such frame, although granting a satisfactory solution for the above mentioned problems, is not without disadvantages

Starting from the assumption that signal cables for audio equipment are, in most 5 of the cases, intπnsecally heavy, the main disadvantage is represented by its own weight that, when added to the cable weight, results in a load which is in general not easy to carry by a person alone Therefore, for the operation of winding devices of the above mentioned type, two people are generally required This factor, beside increasing staffing costs, lengthens and makes more difficult

10 the operations for loading, unloading, positioning and storing in trucks, especially when we consider the narrow places where these people move The puφose of this invention is to provide a device for carrying cables winding drums, especially signal cables employed in sound generating equipment, which allows to eliminate the above described disadvantages

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Disclosure of the Invention

According to the invention, such problems are solved by means of at least one wheel mounted on the reticular frame, with its rotation spin parallel to the axis o n of rotation of the winding drum for cables, and contained within the overall dimensions of the solid delimited bv the reticular frame The mam advantage of the invention is represented by the possibility of translation insted of picking it up. thus requiring just one person This largely decreases physical effort, costs and oprational times of the staff assigned to the device operation Also, the operations when working or storing in narrow

places are easier and faster

In particular, the wheel, or each one of them, is fastened to the frame in acorner formed by the intersection between a base and a lateral side of the frame Furthermore, the wheel is supported by two elements forming one enveloping body, that are rigidly fastened to two frame elements

Because of the position and rigidity of the support, the wheel has the advantage of having a spin axis with a small diameter, thus allowing the wheel diamter itself to be accordingly small, without taking useful space, the wheel is on the other hand able to support large weights One further advantage of the invention is therefore represented by dimensional compactness, low cost and high reliability

An extensible handle, on the side of the wheels, makes it easy to translate the device, with the advantage of reducing physical effort and helping the assigned person to position or store it for transport The handle too, when not needed, may be housed withm the frame dimensions The invention, therefore, has no part sticking out of the reticular frame Besides keeping unchanged the characteπstic degree of safety and protection of the known frames, it allows the device to be piled up and gives it a pleasant aspect Further technical characteristics of the invention, according to the abovementioned purposes, are clearly stated in the claims below mentioned, and its advantages will be clearly outlined in the following detailed description This invention will be now described with reference to the attached drawings, which show, without limitation, an example of use, where - Figure 1 and Figure 2 are comprehensive perspective views of the device, represented as a whole, both in operational and non-operational condition

- Figures 3 and 4 show, respectively, the device in condition of use different from the previous pictures, and a construction feature of the above device Referring to the enclosed herewith figures, with 1 it is indicated, as a whole, an apparatus used to transport cable-winding drums 2, in particular cables for audio Z signal conduction in sound generation systems

The apparatus 1 includes a reticular frame 3 constituted of structural elements 21 spatially oriented and interconnected between them to generate a geometrical solid which contains and carries the winding drum 2 enabling, at the same time, a rotation of the drum 2 around its horizontal axis

10 The winding drum 2 is completely contained within the reticular frame 3 which, in this manner, acts as a mechanical shock protection for the cable in addition to its function of structural support for the winding drum 2 The reticular frame 3 is provided, in its lower part, with two small diameter little thickness wheels 5, beared, substantially, in correspondence of a corner which

_^ 5 is rounded in the figures defined by the ideal intersection of the base plane 9 with the lateral face plane 10 of the reticular frame 3

Each of the two wheels 5 is beared in correspondence of the opposite ends of its spin axis 6 by the supports 12,13 realized as a whole support-body 14 that, with its shape, acts as an envelope for the wheels 5. This support-body 14 hides the

20 wheel from the inside of the reticular frame 3 and. most importantly, has the function of a safety screen for the operators, as well as avoiding any interference of the cable with the wheels 5, preventing cable damaging As it can be seen from the figures 1.2 and 3. the suppoπ-body 14 is rigidly connected, through welding, with two structure elements 21 subtantially concurrent to a point corresponding to one of the corners 8 of the geometrical

solid defined by the reticular frame 3

This support-body 14 arrangement gives an elevate πgidness to the support itself, enabling the mounting of small diameter and little thickness wheels 5 supported by a very thin axle 22, although the wheel 5 has to carry the high weight of the winding drum 2 with the cable rolled up around it This support- body 14 also gives the advantage of letting the use of the trasversal encumbrance referred to the rotation axis 4 of the winding drum 2 of the corners 8 defined by the structure elements 21 to mount the wheel 5, avoiding any withdrawing of space useful for the cable movement inside the overall volume 7 occupied by the reticular frame 3

The apparatus 1 mcludes also a handle for an ease of movement of the reticular frame 3

The slmding handle 11 is fitted on a guide bar 17, composed of a tubolar element 18 contained on a face 9 or 10 of the reticular frame 3 The abovementioned handle 11 has an 'operative' stable position where is completely extracted from the guide bar 17, outside from the reticular frame 3, and a second, 'non-operative ^' , position where is completely contained inside the overall volume 7 of the reticular frame 3 itself

The handle 11 is provided with a well shaped end 15 which is going to be completely contained in the lateral surface 16 of the reticular frame 3 once the handle 11 is in its non-operative position

The apparatus 1 includes also some relevant means to allow the rigid connection of the guide 17 to the handle 11 which are activated in the operative position of the apparatus 1 This means (Fig 4) include, in particular, a peg 19 pushed bv an elastic

antagonist action from the handle 11 into a corresponding hole 20 realized on the tubolar element 18 which implements the guide bar 17 The function of this peg is to make the handle 11 and the guide bar 17 mutually solid To avoid the possibility of a complete extraction from the guide bar 17, it is possible to relahze a slit 23, of adequate lenght, along the tubolar element 18. this slit 20, coupled with a pin fixed on the handle 11, limits the extension of the handle 11 when pulled outwards from the reticular frame 3 Referring to the Figure 3 it is evident that the apparatus 1, using the handle 11, can be moved and loaded with very little space needed, rapidly and easily by one single operator

The invention described above is susceptible of many modifications without changing the Original concept In addition, any particular can be substituted with a technically equivalent one