Weight lifting eye and socket

Claim 1

A weight lifting eye and socket for coupling to a hoist to enable heavy weights to be moved, including, in combination: (a) an eye having a lower threaded shaft terminating in a transverse notch; (b) a mandrel having an upper threaded opening threadedly receiving said threaded shaft and including a first transverse bore adjacent to and intersecting the lower end of said opening in alignment with said notch, said mandrel further including a second transverse bore adjacent to its lower end; (c) a turning handle receivable through said first transverse bore and received in said notch to thereby prevent unthreading of said eye from said mandrel; (d) an elongated lug member of length greater than the diameter of said mandrel receivable through said second bore such that its opposite ends project from the entrance and exit openings of said second bore to define diametrically opposite lifting lugs; (e) an indexing collar coaxially surrounding said mandrel at a first given distance above said lifting lugs slidable along said mandrel in an upward direction, said mandrel having stop means preventing downward movement of said collar to a position less than first given distance from said lifting lugs; (f) biasing means coupled to said mandrel in a position to urge said collar downwardly against said stop means, said collar being capable of upward movement against said biasing means through a second given distance relative to said mandrel; (g) a socket member having a central bore with diametrically opposite passages passing axially a third given distance through said socket member, the underside of said socket member having a diametric channel running transversely to the diametric positions of said passages; and (h) means for securing said socket member in the top surface of a weight to be lifted so that the top of said socket member is flush with said top surface whereby said mandrel may be lowered into said socket with said lifting lugs passing along said passages until said collar seats on the periphery of said bore on the top surface of said socket member, said first given distance being less than said third given distance by an amount less than said second given distance so that downward force on said mandrel moves said collar upwardly against said biasing means through said second given distance to thereby position said lugs beyond the lower end of said socket, rotation of said mandrel through 90° by said handle means positioning said lugs in alignment with said channel so that release of downward force on said mandrel results in said biasing means urging said mandrel upwardly to seat said lifting lugs in said channel so that a hoist hook can then be passed through said eye and said weight lifted.