Background to the invention Handymen and tradespeople, particularly those who work alone, frequently have difficulty carrying out their required tasks because of the necessity of holding manually onto whatever material is being worked with. For example a person may need to use a hammer and a chisel on an object at the same time as they are supporting the object.

Installation of any kind of panel material is difficult without assistance as is the hanging of a door. In the latter case assistance is usually needed to support the door for hinge alignment and the like. Likewise jobs such as in line planing and routing also require the use of both a worker's hands.

It is customary in these situations for people to make do with and wedges and chocks and such like however these are only of limited assistance, as can be seen with the example of the door, as these devices may raise the door to a desired height but do not support it in the vertical.

In addition there are many instances where a person working on site may require the use of a clamp device, such as a vise, however these are not generally portable items which can be carried by a worker to a site.

Outline of the invention It is an object of this invention to provide a multiple purpose clamp device which is able to be portable while providing sufficient strength and stability to enable it to hold and/or support objects being handled by a workman as described above.

The invention is a portable clamp device having a base plate upon which a first clamp member is mounted, said clamp device also includes a second opposing clamp member the movement of which is actuated by movement of a lever arm such that once pressure on the lever is released a returning force which is both compressive and directed towards the base of the clamp device is applied to any object placed between the clamp members.

It is preferred that as the clamp members are moved apart, the second clamp member moves both away from and ramps upwardly from the first clamp member so that, when the lever arm is released the compressive and downwards directed force is effected.

It is preferred that the base plate be sufficiently stable that the clamp device can be operated without being attached to a surface although it is preferred that it be provided with means for attachment to a surface.

It is further preferred that the lever arm be operable either by hand or by foot and that movement of the second clamp member be actuated by depression of the lever arm.

It is also preferred that the returning force acting on the moveable clamp member be provided by spring means.

In order that the invention be more readily understood we will describe by way of non limiting example a specific embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawing Figures Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the clamp of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a side view of the components of the invention; Description of an Embodiment of the Invention The clamp of the invention 10 can be used to hold large items such as doors or panels both for support and alignment without the need for a person to assist in such support.

By this means it is a simple matter to carry out tasks such as hinge alignment and the like while the clamp can also be used for any task, such as pipe cutting, which would otherwise involve the use of a vise.

The clamp is strong enough for the above applications but is sufficiently light to be portable and easily carried to a work site The clamp is preferably of metal and includes an elongate relatively broad base plate 20 which is adapted to be either bolted to a permanent surface or which can be located on any surface desired at a work place.

A first clamp member 30 is mounted fixedly to the base plate and supported at its rear by a strut 31 passing from the rear of the clamp member 30 to the base plate.

When the clamp is in its fully closed position a second moveable clamp member 40 abuts the first such clamp member. The clamp members may be of any desired shape but in this embodiment of the invention they are substantially vertically oriented relative to the base and at their upper extremities arch away from one and other both for ease of insertion of objects between the clamp members and to minimise any damage to such objects.

The clamp members of this embodiment of the invention are also provided with lined inner faces 32 and 42 which lining can be used both to improve grip and to protect an object being clamped from damage. It is preferred that this lining be of rubber and that the part of the base which contacts clamped objects is also provided with a rubber coating although any appropriate lining material may be used if a liner is required.

An elongate longitudinal support plate 50 is located centrally along the base plate rearward of the moveable clamp member 40 and adjacent to its location when the clamp is fully open, in this embodiment of the invention this distance is of the order of 90mm and accordingly the clamp can accommodate quite large objects.

The support plate 50 is connected to a cover plate 60 welded to moveable clamp member 40 by means of two parallel arms 51 and 52 pivotally connected between both plates. These arms pivotally connect to plate 50 at 53 and 54 and to cover 60 at 55 and 56.

The rearmost of these arms 51 is fixedly connected to an orthogonally oriented lever arm 70 terminating in a lever pedal 71 which in this embodiment is provided with a rubber grip coating. A heavy duty tensioned spring 80 is positioned between the front 81 of the longitudinal support plate 50 and a connection point on the moveable clamp member cover plate 60 at 82.

The arrangement described above means that when the lever arm is depressed the moveable clamp member 40 is forced to move both upwards and backwards thereby extending the spring and causing it to apply a restoring force to the moveable clamp member 40 which force is directed both towards the fixed clamp member 30 and towards the base of the clamp.

This causes the clamp 10 to be able to hold any object having any part of it located at or near the base of the clamp very firmly. This is quite distinct from previous clamps which provide a compressive force only directed horizontally between clamp jaws.

The clamp as described has the pre-tensioned spring 80 for greater efficiency however, provided that the spring can restore the clamp faces 32 and 42 to abutment this is not an essential feature of the invention.

The clamp as previously stated is able to hold relatively large objects ranging from pipes to panels and doors and to hold them firmly while a person is carrying out some action which requires both hands such as using power or other tools. The clamp therefore provides the assistance that would otherwise require the presence of an additional person to aid in the activity being carried out. For this reason it is ideally suited to handymen and tradespeople who customarily work alone such as builders, plumbers and electricians while being ideal for reducing the number of people required for carrying out activities on building sites.

While we have described herein one particular preferred embodiment of the invention, it is envisaged that other embodiments of the invention would exhibit any number of and combination of the features previously described and it is to be understood that variations and modifications in this can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.