Rail and carriage for stairlifts

5) A rail as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further including a drive rack mounted thereon.

6) A rail for a stairlift when constructed arranged and operable substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

13) A method of forming a stairlift rail substantially as herein described with reference to FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

14) A stairlift carriage having at least one first roller positioned to contact a first side of a stairlift rail;

• and at least two rollers positioned to contact a side of said rail substantially opposite to said first side, relative displacement between said at least one first roller on the one hand, and said at least two rollers on the other hand, being achievable to accommodate the need for variation in roller spacing as said carriage encounters a bend in said rail.

28) A stairlift carriage including a pair of centre rollers rotatable about fixed axes and positioned to contact upper and lower points on a stairlift rail;

• and at least one outer roller arranged on either side of one of said centre rollers, said outer rollers being capable of movement with respect to said centre rollers, in orthogonal planes, to allow said carriage to negotiate transition bends and inside/outside bends in said rail.

35) A stairlift carriage having a single roller positioned to contact a first side of a stairlift rail, and three rollers positioned to contact spaced points along a side of said rail substantially opposite to said first side, the axes of said single roller and the centre of said three rollers being fixed in a plane through the contact points of those two rollers and said rail when in use, the outer two of said three rollers being constrained to swivel, in a mirror fashion to one another, in a plane perpendicular to said first mentioned plane, to allow said carriage to negotiate inside/outside bends in said rail.

45) A stairlift carriage having a plurality of rollers configured and arranged to support said roller on a srairlift rail, said carriage being characterised in that at least one of said rollers is contoured to correspond substantially to the curvature of said rail and is mounted for movement along its axis as said carriage negotiates a bend in said rail.

47) A stairlift carriage when constructed arranged and operable substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, FIGS. 4 to 11, or 12 to 18, or 19 to 21 of the accompanying drawings.