The invention relates to handles for carrying batteries, and more particularly to a rope-type battery carrying handle that has an end of the rope removably attached to an end of a grip.
Starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) batteries are typically used in automotive, recreational, and other applications, are heavy, cumbersome, and usually require two hands, or often two people, for carrying. The desirability of providing such batteries with attachable/detachable handles for facilitating carrying, placement, and retrieval of such batteries has long been known. Such handles are a particular convenience in batteries designed for use in boats or in uninterrupted power supply (UPS) applications which must be frequently moved for storage, service, or recharging.
Bail-type handles, which are known in the art, typically comprise a U-shaped or C-shaped member attached to opposing sides of a battery casing, either on its container or cover. With such handles, the battery may be carried in much the same fashion as a picnic basket or bail.
Substantially rigid bail-type handles are known in the art. A variety of such handle designs have been proposed for carrying batteries. Detachable, substantially rigid bail handles are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,093,515 to Rector, U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,022 to Fox, U.S. Pat. No.4,029,248 to Lee, U.S. Patent No. 4,673,625 to McCartney et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,232,796 to Baumgartner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,769 to Cole et al., and U.S. Pat. Des. No. 292,696 to Sahli.
Rope-type handles are likewise known in the art. Rope-type handles typically have one or more injection molded plastic part coupled by flexible rope sections and, accordingly, are physically highly flexible. The rope sections are generally a braided synthetic material such as polypropylene.
According to one type of rope handle design, the ends of the rope handle are manually fed into two holes and coupled to the battery container. In the battery disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,520 to Buskirk et al., the rope handle is coupled to the battery container by cementing the ends of the rope in recesses in projections on the sides of the battery container. Alternately, the ends of the rope handle may include an enlarged molded plastic portion and may be pressed into slots underneath the handle bracket area as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,876 to Gummelt and U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,819 to Grabb. According to other designs, the ends of the rope may be enlarged as shown for example in British Patent 869,329, or the ends coupled or welded together as shown for example in British Patent 869,329 and British Patent 1,453,977.
In another type of rope handle design, looped rope portions extend from the ends of a molded plastic grip portion as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 971,876 to Apple, U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,702 to McVey, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,769 to Cole et al. The looped rope portions are then coupled to the battery container via dedicated protrusions extending from the walls of the battery by looping the rope around the protrusion and then securing it into a recess or the like.
Another such rope handle design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,719 to Arthur. The Arthur patent discloses a xe2x80x9cU-shapedxe2x80x9d handle having one end of the rope embedded in one depending leg of the handle. The opposite end of the rope includes an enlarged head, which may be fed through lugs on the battery. The enlarged head and the adjacent length of rope are then laid into a tri-part vertical slot on the other depending leg of the handle, the head being disposed in the upper portion of the slot, the adjacent rope extending through the lower two portions of the slot. Significantly, however, the head and adjacent rope section are not secured to the handle. As may be seen in the illustrations of the reference, there is sufficient clearance between the head and the slot, as well as the adjacent rope section and the slot such that the head and rope section may become easily dislodged from the handle leg unless a constant vertical force is maintained on the handle. Accordingly, the Arthur handle does not provide an attachment mechanism which is reliable. Moreover, the intricate coupling design requires the user to have a high level of manual dexterity and a working knowledge of the defailed structure of the complex attachment.
Installation of these rope handle designs may be labor intensive. Properly securing the ends of the rope to the battery container or securing the loop ends around a protrusion and into a recess can be quite time consuming and may require manual dexterity. These difficulties in installing the battery handles can lead to improper installation, which can result in an unreliable battery handle.
Additionally, these designs generally require specialized handle brackets to be molded into specific containers. Complicated grip and/or rope end configurations may also be required. These requirements can result in increased costs in the form of mold and tooling costs, as well as increased labor and downtime costs during changeover. Further, storage and floor space costs increase because the battery manufacturer must maintain larger inventories.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a rope handle that may be reliably and easily assembled onto a battery container and which remains securely coupled to the battery until purposely removed by the user.
A related object of the invention is to provide a rope handle arrangement that has a relatively simple design, and does not require high manual dexterity to assembly for a secure, reliable handle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a rope handle that may be utilized with a battery that produces an acceptable appearance.
It is another object of the invention to provide a rope handle that contributes to the production of an economical battery. A related object of the invention is to provide a rope handle design that minimizes manufacturing and inventory costs.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following summary and detailed description and upon reference to the drawings.
In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, there is provided a battery that includes rope handles each of which engages a handle bracket on an end wall of a conventional battery container. Each rope handle includes a grip with a retaining recess at one end of the grip and a rope secured to the other end of the grip by molding or the like. The rope has an enlarged distal end or a cylindrical plug molded for engaging the retaining recess of the grip. The retaining recess includes a generally keyhole-shaped slot which extends through the grip from a first surface to a second surface and which has a hole portion and a channel portion projecting radially from the hole portion and terminating at an end. The retaining recess also includes a counterbore located on the first surface of the grip and encompassing the hole portion of the slot. To secure the rope to the grip, the rope is slid through the slot and the plug is subsequently drawn towards the grip and is retained within the counterbore, thus securing the handle to the battery container. In other words, the retaining recess includes a counterbore with a subjacent retaining surface for receiving and supporting the plug, and radially extending slot. The rope is laterally advanced through the slot to move the plug into position above the counterbore. The plug is then pushed down into position in the counterbore and/or a downward force is exerted on the rope to position the plug and secure the rope handle.