Car top carrier for wheelchair

A car top wheelchair carrier for storing a wheelchair on top of a car and for raising and lowering the chair to and from the car top, said carrier including:

• a carrier case mounted on a car top and open to one side of the car, said carrier case including a floor, a side wall extending upwardly from the floor at a side opposite the open side, and a roof;
• a moving platform movably mounted with respect to the carrier case floor to be movable between a loaded position entirely within the case and an unloading position extending partially outside of the open side of the case;
• means for moving the platform between said loaded and unloading positions;
• a wheelchair cage adapted to temporarily encompass and retain a wheelchair;
• winch means mounted inside of the case;
• cable means extending between said winch means and said wheelchair cage;
• said winch means being operable when said platform is in its unloading position to permit the cable means to unwind from the winch means to allow said wheelchair cage to move from retracted position on said platform to unloaded position adjacent the ground and to wind the cable means onto the winch means to move the cage from unloaded position to retracted position;
• and
• the moving platform having a downwardly hinged outer edge portion adjacent the open side of said case, said hinged portion being so contructed and restricted as to fold downwardly to no more than an acute angle to the horizontal as said platform moves toward its unloading position and to fold up flat as it moves toward its loaded position.