Patent attributes
A safety guard 10 has a guard body 12 shaped such that it will fit over the yoke 18 of a power take off shaft. The yoke 18 includes a groove 24 formed in an outer surface near the end 22. Safety guard bearing 26 is mounted to groove 24. Safety guard bearing 26 also has a groove 28 formed in an outer surface. Two levers 30 are pivotally mounted to the safety guard body 12 by pivot pins that extend through apertures 36 in the levers 30. One end of levers 30 has a camming member that includes a lobe 38. Due to the relative position of the pivot aperture 36 and the lobe 38, the lobe 38 acts as an over center cam. When lever 30 is in the locked position, lobe 38 extends into groove 28. Lever 30 also includes a locking tongue 46. When the lever 30 is moved to the locking position, locking tongue 46 also extends into groove 28 on safety guard bearing 26. Thus, locking tongue 46 provides a secondary locking mechanism to assist in maintaining the safety guard 10 on the safety guard bearing 26. Further, shoulder 48 abuts on the wall 52 of aperture 50 to thereby hold the lever in the locking position. Removal of the safety guard involves a simple hand-operated opening of levers 30, which then allows the guard to be slid away from the yoke of the power take off.
