Gantry having adjustable side supports

A gantry for straddling a load and for raising, supporting and lowering the same comprising:

• a pair of spaced apart support assemblies, each support assembly comprising a stationary base portion and three vertically disposed independently extendable/retractable hydraulic rams mounted on said base portion in triangular relationship to one another;
• a pair of tiltable sole plates, each tiltable sole plate being mounted on the upper ends of the three rams of a support assembly and including upwardly projecting beam engaging means;
• means for connecting the upper end of each ram to its associated sole plate and including universal joint means and releasable attachment means, said universal joint means including a ball and socket connection and wherein said releasable attachment means includes a hole in a sole plate for receiving a ram end and means for engaging said ram end to prevent its withdrawal;
• a load-supporting gantry beam extending between said spaced apart support assemblies and comprising a pair of beams arranged in spaced apart side-by-side relationship supported on said pair of sole plates between said upwardly projecting beam engaging means;
• a load lifting link assembly mounted on said gantry beam and comprising link support means mounted on said pair of spaced apart beams, said link support means including a member spanning the space between said spaced apart beams, and link means connected to said member of said link support means and extending downwardly between said pair of spaced apart beams;
• said spaced apart beams being maintained in spaced apart side-by-side relationship with each other by means of said sole plates and said lifting link assembly;
• and selectively operable control means operatively connected to said hydraulic rams and operable to effect extension/retraction of all of said hydraulic rams in unison to raise and lower said gantry beam and to effect extension/retraction of individual or predetermined combinations of said hydraulic rams to level said gantry beam.