Lifting and transportation of loads from one place to another is a regular routine in various industries including textile, mechanical, civil, cargo, automotive, the plastic industry, the woodworking industry, the foodstuffs industry and the drinks industry. Load lifting ventures involves transporting loads manually or with the help of load lifting devices. The task of carrying loads of various shapes, sizes and weights manually by laborers is a physically challenging and time consuming process.
There are various assemblies available in the prior art for lifting purposes like an assembly having clamping jaws connected by a rod and moving on a column, the lower jaw carries the load and the upper jaw is connected through a lever to an operating lever which is reciprocated to cause the load to climb the column, the jaws gripping the column alternately. Springs urge the jaws to the clamping position. The load may be raised either by inserting a lever between the jaws or for heavier loads a lever is pivoted to the lower jaw and contacts a roller on the upper jaw. Another assembly concerns a linear sliding guide comprising a shaped rail which extends in the longitudinal direction having sliding surfaces, and a slider which is axially displaceable on the sliding surfaces of the shaped rail and has sliding bearings which bear against the sliding surfaces.
The assemblies available in the prior art have a fixed load carrying capacity and their overall structure utilizes a lot of workspace. Another drawback is that these assemblies are difficult to assemble, mount and require a lot of maintenance. Also, they lack the flexibility in terms of lifting the loads of various sizes and are expensive to manufacture. Further, they exhibit a lot of friction which hampers their performance.
Thus, there is a need for a new assembly for lifting and transporting the loads which are easy to assemble, to mount, is flexible, inexpensive to manufacture and that can be used in a variety of operations depending upon the type of loads being lifted.