Stenotype tripod

Claim 1

A detachable stand for supporting a machine such as a stenotype, which comprises a socket formed with a central through hole disposed vertically therein, a rod carrying at its upper end means for securing said machine and adapted to be slidably guided in said hole, means locking said rod in any desired axial position in said hole, three legs pivotally connected at their upper ends to said socket about three axes disposed in the transverse plane of said socket and forming the sides of an equilateral triangle, whereby the legs are shiftable between an inoperative position parallel to one another and perpendicular to said plane and an operative position inclined to said plane, each leg comprising a pair of sections including an upper section and a lower section both consisting of channel elements having their openings facing inwardly and being pivotally interconnected for folding movement, in said operative position of the legs, between an unfolded position wherein each pair of sections are in alignment whereby the stand may be placed on a floor and the machine is at a proper level for an operator sitting on a chair and a folded position in which the lower section of each leg is folded into the upper section of such leg whereby the stand may be placed on a table, said sections in their unfolded position being disposed so that the outer face of the backwall of the upper end of the lower section overlies and presses against the inner face of the backwall of the lower end of the upper section for structural rigidity so as to prevent movement of the sections beyond their alignment position, lock washers disposed between the upper and lower sections at their pivotal connection to inhibit free-swinging movement therebetween, and lock means carried by the sections of each leg to selectively retain the sections in their unfolded position, said lock means including an L-shaped spring blade having one arm thereof fixed to the backwall of the lower end of the upper section and having the other arm thereof spanning a sidewall of the upper section, with the free tip of the blade protruding into the channel of the upper section in part through a notch in said sidewall, said free tip having an inward bend and an outward bend, the lower section adjacent said pivotal connection having an outward bulge in its sidewall, said bulge projecting toward the sidewall of the upper section with the notch therein and said bulge including a wall portion tapering outwardly from the backwall of the inner section towards the free edge of the sidewall of the inner section, said tapering wall portion of the bulge engaging the outward bend of the tip of the spring blade and urging the spring blade continually outwardly as the lower section pivots from its folded to unfolded position until a point at which the backwall of the lower section is flush against the backwall of the upper section, at which point the inward bend of the spring blade clears the free edge of the sidewall of the inner section and overlies and urges the same toward the backwall of the upper section to retain the lower section in its unfolded position, and the free edge of the sidewall engaging the inward bend of the tip of the spring blade and urging and moving said blade outwardly as the lower section pivots from its unfolded position to its folded position.