Wheelchair lift for vehicles

A wheelchair lift for a van adapted to be installed into, and operate within, a recess formed into the rear end of the horizontal van floor, said recess having opposing side and front margins and being open at the rear thereof, said lift comprising:

• a pair of parallel spaced apart elongated guide rails, each said guide rail securely connected against one said recess side;
• each said guide rail lying in a vertical, longitudinally disposed plane and disposed diagonally downward toward the rear of the van;
• a platform having a horizontally disposed bed and upwardly extending side structure and adapted to receive a wheelchair or the like atop said bed;
• said platform having an upper position wherein said bed is aligned with the van floor and a lower position wherein said bed is atop the ground;
• said platform also having a main transverse axis horizontally disposed above said bed and passing through the rotational axis of a sprocket coaxially mounted for rotation on each said side structure;
• a pair of spaced apart rollers mounted for rotation on each said side structure adjacent each said sprocket, each said roller adapted to rollably translate within the corresponding said guide rail;
• each said roller pair adapted to interengage within the corresponding said guide rail to maintain said bed horizontal as said platform is raised and lowered between its upper and lower positions;
• a length of drive chain fixed at its first end adjacent the upper end of said guide rail, each said drive chain extending from said fixed end downwardly along each said guide rail around said sprocket and back upwardly along each said guide rail to engage a drive means connected to the van floor and operably connected to each said drive chain;
• each said drive means for controlledly extending and retracting each said drive chain adjacent its second end whereby the corresponding said sprocket is lowered and raised, respectively, along the corresponding said guide rail.