Manual winch with safety clutch, especially as a power source in nursing for lifting patients

Claim 1

A winch for raising and lowering a load comprising: a winding reel for winding and unwinding a flexible load-supporting member, said reel including a barrel and two circular end walls connected to the barrel and an axially projecting shaft extension; an internally cylindrical housing surrounding said reel; means mounting the circumferences of said circular end walls for rotation against the inside of said housing; means locking said reel against axial displacement within said housing; a sleeve rotatable on said shaft extension, said sleeve having a circular flange portion provided with an axially facing annular abutment surface and said sleeve having an externally threaded portion; a hub having an internal thread engaged with the external thread on said sleeve and rotatable in either direction relative to said sleeve and said hub having an annular abutment surface facing said annular abutment surface on said sleeve; an annular friction collar rotatably mounted between said annular abutment surfaces and having opposite axially facing surfaces facing the respective abutment surface on said sleeve and on said hub; a helical torsion tension spring connected between said circular flange portion and said respective circular end wall for producing engagement of said annular abutment surfaces with said opposite axially facing surfaces of said friction collar with a predetermined amount of friction; a holding catch cooperating with said friction collar to prevent rotation of said reel in an unwinding direction and to permit rotation of said reel in the opposite direction; clutch means for connecting and disconnecting said circular flange portion with one of said circular end walls of said reel in a manner such that when said reel is unloaded and non-rotating said hub and said friction collar, clamped together by said spring, and said sleeve can rotate in the unwinding direction; whereby when rotation in a winding direction is imparted to said hub, the latter threads on to said shaft extension in a direction toward said reel, so that said hub will press said friction collar harder between said abutment surfaces and thereby provide transmission of torque due to friction to the reel via the collar, the latter thereby turning freely in relation to said catch; and whereby rotation imparted to said hub in the opposite direction results in a momentary easing of the pressure on said friction collar and consequently permits rotation of said reel under the action of the load on the flexible load-supporting member until the relative screwing movement caused thereby between said reel and said hub has returned said abutment surfaces into engagement against said collar with such pressure that said collar once again participates in the power transmission, and brakes or terminates rotation of said reel in the unwinding direction, the collar being subjected to such alternating pressures as long as said hub is rotated in the unwinding direction and the load-supporting member is loaded.