Passenger vehicle access stair and elevator apparatus

In a passenger vehicle having a passenger deck therein accessible through an entryway including a passenger access stairway having a step intermediate in height between the deck and ground level, vehicle-mounted passenger elevator apparatus mounted in physical association with said entryway comprising a passenger platform member, guiding support means supporting said platform member normally in a retracted position disposed substantially horizontally retracted at least part of its width into said stairway at a level beneath said deck, said guiding support means being operable to guide said platform member for extension generally horizontally outward in said entryway and while extended to guide the platform member for movement upward and downward from said level between a raised position substantially flush with and adjacent to said deck and a lowered position while maintaining said platform member substantially horizontal, and operator controlled means operable to raise said platform member from said lowered position to said raised position and to lower the platform member back to said lowered position, and further operable to move the platform member between its retracted normal position and said raised and lowered positions, said platform member in retracted position projecting freely outward part of its width from beneath said deck to form a stairstep in said entryway and wherein said platform member carries adjacent at least one side of the entryway upright post means upstanding from the part of the platform member that projects to form the stairstep, and hand grab means on said post means.

In a passenger bus and the like having an interior passenger deck accessible through an exteriorly opening stairwell, the combination comprising movably mounted horizontal platform means having an upper tread surface including contiguous inner and outer portions extending across substantially the full width of the stairwell, platform support means operable to maintain said platform means in a normal retracted position wherein the tread surface outer portion projects in the stairwell and thereby forms a stairstep in said stairwell by which foot passengers may step down from and up to the passenger deck with the inner portion of said tread surface extending inwardly below said deck, said platform support means being operable to move said platform means horizontally outward from normal position to an outwardly displaced position in relation to the stairwell so as to present accessibly a wheelchair platform, and thereupon to elevate and depress said platform means above and below the level of its normal position between an elevated position at deck level with said inner portion of said platform means abutting the deck, and any of different depressed positions below said normal position so as to receive and discharge wheelchair passengers at different adjacent ground levels, said platform support means comprising elongated guide members stationarily mounted in the bus substantially horizontally at the level of the platform means in normal position on respectively opposite sides thereof and extending inwardly from the stairwell beneath the passenger deck, and platform carriage means supportively connect to the platform means and in turn movably supported by said guide members to permit movement of said carriage means and thereby of said platform means inwardly and outwardly in relation to the stairwell with the platform means at the level of its normal position, said carriage means including vertically movable members that support the platform means and that are disposed substantially at the horizontal level of said guide members and platform means in normal position, said vertically movable members being operable to raise and lower the platform means throughout the range between said elevated position and said different depressed positions, and actuating means operable to move the carriage means and thereby the platform means inwardly and outwardly along said guide members and further operable to move said vertically movable members up and down with the platform means in its outwardly displaced position.