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US 12,673,856 B2Granted
Material handling lift
AssigneeSouthworth International Group, Inc.
InventorsKim Decato, Randall Dickinson, Dave Roberts
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A material handling lift including safety features for reducing the risk of injury to a user. The features may include one or more of: a roller shade for covering components of a mast, a scanner for detecting people in a protected area of the lift, a fan for preventing accumulation of dust on the scanner, spacers between a lift platform and a side guard panel, perforated side guard panels to allow viewing of a space under the lift, entrance guards to keep people away from the side and front of the lift, a power unit with dual redundant locking valves, and tamper-resistant fasteners for fastening a rear panel to a mast.
Claims25
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- and
- a roller shade having a first end coupled to a top of the mast and a second end coupled to the platform, the roller shade being configured to extend along a length of the mast when the platform is lowered to the lowered position and to retract toward the top of the mast when the platform is raised to the raised position, wherein the roller shade is positioned to be drawn downward from the top of the mast by movement of the platform to extend along a front surface of the mast between the mast and the platform.
2 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- an entrance guard positioned at an entry to the material handling lift;
- and
- a scanner disposed within the entrance guard and positioned to scan a protected area adjacent the material handling lift and provide a scanner output indicating whether a person is in the protected area, the power unit being responsive to disable lowering of the platform to the lowered position in response to the scanner output when the scanner output indicates the person is in the protected area, wherein the protected area is defined forward of the entry to the material handling lift,
- wherein the scanner is disposed in a housing and the material handling lift further comprises a fan disposed in the housing adjacent the scanner to force air toward the scanner.
4 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- an entrance guard positioned at an entry to the material handling lift;
- and
- a scanner disposed within the entrance guard and positioned to scan a protected area adjacent the material handling lift and provide a scanner output indicating whether a person is in the protected area, the power unit being responsive to disable lowering of the platform to the lowered position in response to the scanner output when the scanner output indicates the person is in the protected area, wherein the protected area is defined forward of the entry to the material handling lift, wherein the power unit comprises:
- a hydraulic cylinder, a first locking valve for releasing fluid from the hydraulic cylinder in response to a first control signal, and a second locking valve for releasing fluid from the hydraulic cylinder in response to a second control signal.
4 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- at least one guard panel positioned adjacent a side of the platform, the at least one guard panel being stationary relative to the mast;
- a spacer coupled to the side of the platform and at least partially disposed between the side of the platform and the at least one guard panel;
- and
- a spring coupled to the platform and configured to bias the spacer toward the at least one guard panel, the spacer configured to slide along the at least one guard panel as the platform moves vertically.
4 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- and
- a roller shade having a first end coupled to a top of the mast and a second end coupled to the platform, the roller shade being configured to extend along a length of the mast when the platform is lowered to the lowered position and to retract toward the top of the mast when the platform is raised to the raised position, wherein the roller shade further comprises:
- a first end coupled to a roller that is rotatably mounted inside a roller shade housing;
- a spring to bias the roller shade to roll around the roller and into the roller shade housing;
- and
- an opposite end of the roller shade coupled to the platform, wherein:
- when the platform is in a raised position, the roller shade is substantially retracted within the roller shade housing;
- and
- as the platform is lowered to a lowered position, the roller shade is drawn from the roller shade housing by downward movement of the platform and is positioned between the platform and a front surface of the mast.
9 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- a roller shade having a first end coupled to a top of the mast and a second end coupled to the platform, the roller shade being configured to extend along a length of the mast when the platform is lowered to the lowered position and to retract toward the top of the mast when the platform is raised to the raised position;
- and
- one or more roller shade guides coupled to opposite sides adjacent to respective sides of the roller shade and extending along a height of the mast;
- wherein:
- the one or more roller shade guides define associated guide slots extending along the height of the mast for guiding one or more ends of the roller shade as it is extracted from the roller shade housing and retracted into the roller shade housing with movement of the platform between a lowered position and a raised position.
5 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- a roller shade having a first end coupled to a top of the mast and a second end coupled to the platform, the roller shade being configured to extend along a length of the mast when the platform is lowered to the lowered position and to retract toward the top of the mast when the platform is raised to the raised position;
- at least one guard panel positioned adjacent to a side of the platform;
- and
- an entrance guard coupled to an end of the guard panel or an end of the mast, the entrance guard being shaped to force a user away from the side and front of an entry to the material handling lift.
4 more elements
A material handling lift comprising:
- a mast;
- a platform coupled to the mast;
- a power unit configured to drive the platform along the mast to a raised position and lower the platform to a lowered position;
- a roller shade having a first end coupled to a top of the mast and a second end coupled to the platform, the roller shade being configured to extend along a length of the mast when the platform is lowered to the lowered position and to retract toward the top of the mast when the platform is raised to the raised position;
- at least one guard panel positioned adjacent a side of the platform;
- and
- a viewing panel disposed in the at least one guard panel, the viewing panel comprising a rigid member with perforations therethrough for allowing viewing of a space under the platform when the platform is in the raised position.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.