Stair-climbing wheelchair carrier

A stair-climbing wheelchair carrier comprising:

• a crawler drive unit having a crawler belt that can run on stairs and drive means for driving the crawler belt;
• a wheelchair carrying unit including a wheelchair carrying floor and a retaining handle standing upright at one end for retaining a wheelchair carried thereon, the wheelchair carrying unit being pivoted at the one end by a shaft to the crawler drive unit;
• and
• inclining means for inclining the wheelchair carrying unit at a preset angle relative to the crawler drive unit such that the wheelchair carried on the wheelchair carrying floor is slightly tilted backward from the vertical during ascent or descent of the stairs, wherein
• the inclining means stops or starts tilting the wheelchair carrying unit based on a detection signal from an inclination sensor provided in the crawler drive unit;
• when the crawler drive unit is detected to be not tilted, the inclining means stops tilting the wheelchair carrying unit at an intermediate angle of the preset angle;
• when the crawler drive unit is detected to be tilted, the inclining means tilts the wheelchair carrying unit up to the preset angle;
• and
• as soon as the crawler drive unit is detected not to be tilted after the ascent or the descent of stairs, the inclining means drives the wheelchair carrying unit to decrease its inclination angle relative to the crawler drive unit.