Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates -to new and useful improve~
ments in wheel chair lift assemblies ~or vehicles. Con-
ventionally, such vehicles, in the form of vans or the
like, require means whereby the wheel chair can be enter-
ed or removed from the vehicle and while it is easy to
; 15 manipulate it without the patient~being in the wheel chair,
nevertheless it is extremely difficult when the patient is
unable to leave the wheel chair conveniently.
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Various forms of lifts have been provided which
elevates the wheel chair and patient level with the floor
whereupon the patient can wheel the chair from the plat-
form, through the doorway and onto the floor o~ the vehicle.
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However, these tend to be somewhat unsafe and
~; care has to be taken to ensure that the platform is pre-
cisely level with the floor before the wheel chair can be
moved either from the floor of the vehicle to the platform
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or alternatively, from the platform to the floor o the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes disadvantages inherent
with conventional lift mechanisms and in accordance with the in~
vention there is provided in a vehicle which includes a floor
and a doorway providing access to the interior of said vehicle; :~
a wheel chair lift assembly, said assembly including mounting
structure secured to the 100r of the vehicle adjacent the door- :;~
- way thereof, support structure and means mounting said supportstructure to said mounting structure for movement between a ve-
hicle interior position and a vehicle exterior position through ;
said doorway, a wheel chàir support plat~orm on sai.d support
structure and means to raise and lower said support struature
when said support structure is in the vehicle exterior position,
said wheel chair support structure including a platform, said
means mounting said wheel chair support structure for raising
and lowering same including a pair of standards secured to and .
extending upwardly from said support structure, and means mount- .
ing said platform upon said structure for vertical movement re-
lative thereto, said last mentioned means including a pair of
vertical members extending upwardly one rom each side of said ~
platform in spaced and parallel relationship with one another ~.: `
and each co-operatively engaging one of said vertical standards
: for guiding and supporting movement relative thereto, said sup~
porting platform extending below the~lower ends of said standards
when in the lowermost position and at least level with the lower :~
ends of said standards, when in the uppermost position, a wheel
: chair retaining side extending upwardly from each side of said
platform rearwardly of said vertical members, and a platform sup- .: .
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port member extending from adjacent the outer ends of said plat-
form up to said vertical members, said platform being secured -~
between said vertical members intermediate the front and rear
ends of said platform. .
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. 5 Another aspect of the invention consists of a winch ~
, assembly which can be operated electrically, manually, hydrau- : :
lically or pneumatically, as desired. .
Another advantage of the present invention is to pro-
~ vide a device of the character herewith described in which the
.~, 10 wheel chair support platform can be moved inwardly and outwardly :
of the vehicle so that exact levelling is not nec~ asary.
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A still further advantage of the invention is
to provide a device of the character herewithin described
which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture
and otherwise well suited to the purpose! for which it is
designed.
~ith the foregoing in view, and other advantages
as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which
this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my
invention consists essentially in the arrangement and con~
struction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly
described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings
in which:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic view of part of a vehi-
cle showing the device in the extended position and with
the wheel chair platform partially lowered.
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device per
se. ;~
Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric
view of one of the support standards. ;~
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Figure 4 is an end elevation taken from the
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left hand end of Figure 1. ; .~
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E~igure 5 is a schematic diagram of an electric ;~
circuit for the winch. . ~ ~ .
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In the drawings like characters of reference in- :
dicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
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DET~ILED DESCRIPTION
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Proceeding therefore to describe the invention
in detail, reference character 10 shows part of the body ~ ;
of a vehicle with 11 indicating one side of the doorway
10and 12, the ~loor of the vehicle in the interior of the
body. ~;
The invention collectively designated 13 con~
sists of mounting structure generally designated 14 which,
in this embodiment, includes a pair of spaced and parallel
15U-shaped channels 15 which c~re secured to the floor by any
conventional means such as straps 16. -
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The channels 15 are secured so that the open
sides 17 face one another inwardly thereby forming rails ~,~
for the mounting of support structure collec-tively designa- - :
ted 18. ::
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This support structure includes a pair of mem-
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bers 19 slidably engageable within the channels lS and
capable of being moved inwardly and outwardly. In this
connection, a plurali-ty o~ rollers 20 is preferably jour~
nalled for rotation upon the members 19 and engage the
flanges of the channels 15 to facilita-te the inward and
outward sliding movement of the members 19.
The channels 15 are situated upon the floor 12 -~
adjacent the doorway 11 so that the members 19 can extend
through the doorway when in the extended position and can ;-
retract within the doorway when in the innermost position.
In one or more of the claims, the innermost position is
reerred to as the "vehicle interior position" and the out-
ermost position as the "vehicle exterior position".
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The support structure 18 also includes vertical
members 20 extending upwardly rom inboard o the members
19, and diagonal braces 21 extending rearwardly rom the ;
upper ends o members 20 to be connected to the inner aces
o~ the members 19. Further members 22 extend forwardly ;
rom the members 20 and are secured to vertical standards `
23 which extend upwardly rom the extremities 24 o the
members 19. These vertical standards 23 are also U-shaped
channels with the open sides acing inwardly and are situa-
ted in spaced apart parallel relationship as clearly shown.
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The support structure also includes -the wheel ` ;
chair support platorm collectively designated 24A which ;
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is secured to the lower end of members 25 which in turn
are each mounted for vertical movement within the channel
standards 23, being retained therein by one or more cross ;~
straps 26 spanning the open ends of these channels. The
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; 5 support platform includes the planar panel 27 which extends - .
forwardly and rearwardly of the members 25 with diayonals -~
28 supporting the front end and extending upwardly and rear~
wardly to the members 25 as clearly shown in Figure 1.
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Retainer sides 29 extend upwardly from each side ;
edge of the panel 27 rearwardly of the members 25 as clearly
shown.
r~embers 25 include anchors 30 upon the upper ends
thereo~ within the channel standards 23 and wire cables or
the like 31 extend upwardly from these anchors and over
sheaves 32 situated at the upper ends of the channel stan~
dards 23 and then extend to a winch assembly 33 which may
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be secured to the side of one of the channel standards 33.
This winch may be actuated either manually, electrically,
hydraulically or pneumatica:Lly, but is preferably electric~
ally operated from the battery 34 of the vehicle.
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Under these circumstances, the winch is operated
- by an electric motor 35 which is a reversible DC motor and
controlled by means of a forward and reverse switch 36 in
the usual way.
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In operation, it will be assumed that the wheel
- chair support structure 24A is in the uppermost position
; and that the entire assembly has been moved inwardly upon
the rails 15 so that it is situated internally of the vehi- ~ i
S cle adjacent the doorway 11. ~- ;
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The assembly is first manually extended to the
, exterior position of the vehicle so that the wheel chair
support assembly ~4A is supported cantilever wise upon
the ends of the member 19, whereupon the winch 33 is opera-
ted to lower the wheel chair platform downwardly until it
; engages the ground surace. A wheel chair together with a
~/ patient (not illustrated) is then wheeled upon the platPorm
and secured by saPety straps 37 to steady the wheel chair
on the platPorm. The winch is then reversed so that the
platform is moved upwardly between the members 19 so that
the underside of the platform is slightly above the floor
12 of the vehicle whereupon the entire assembly is pushed "
inwardly along rails rails 15 so that the assembly together
with the wheel chair and patient are completely within the ~;
vehicle whereupon, if necessary, the platform can be lower~
ed to the floor 12 of the vehicle and the wheel chair can
be moved off the platform and into the vehicle at which
time the safety straps 37 may be used to detachably se~ure ~ ~ -
the wheel chair to the floor of the vehicle in a conventional
manner.
When it is desired to unload the patient and
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wheel chair, the reverse procedure is undertaken so that ~:~
the wheel chair can then be wheeled off the platform and
onto the ground surface.
It should also be noted that one set of safety
straps 37 may be provided to fasten in front of the patient
to act as a lap seat belt, if desired.
Since various modifications can be made in my ~
invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently `:~ :
widely diferenk embodiments of same made within the
spirit and scope oE the claims without departing from
such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter
contained in the accompanying specification shall be ;
interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting
sense. ~ `
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