Wheelchair elevator and docking system
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorGeorge H. Muller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wheelchair elevator system for installation on the inner side of a passenger vehicle door including a docking member for lockingly receiving a docking prong fixed to the wheelchair to permit lifting of the wheelchair to a position wherein it is securely carried on the door.
Claims8
A system for lifting a wheelchair from a position on the ground adjacent an automobile and retaining the wheelchair in place within the automobile, the automobile including a front door hinged for movement about its front face and the wheelchair being of the type having a foldable frame, a pair of large directionally fixed rear wheels and a pair of smaller front dirigible wheels, the system comprising an elevator mechanism carried on the inside of the door and positioned adjacent the door forward edge and having a linear actuator selectively movable along a generally vertical axis canted forwardly with respect to the door front face;
- a docking member carried with the actuator and having a rearwardly facing frusto-conical aperture formed therein;
- a means carried with a portion of the wheelchair frame and engageable with the docking member aperture;
- and
- locking means carried on the docking member for selectively locking the engageable means in the docking member for carrying the wheelchair in cantilever fashion for movement with the elevator actuator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.