Dock leveler with automatic vehicle barrier

A dock leveler assembly comprising

• an undercarriage frame mountable within a pit formed in the platform surface of a loading dock;
• a loading ramp pivotally connected at a rear edge to a rear portion of said undercarriage frame and adapted to normally assume a stored position wherein an exposed upper surface of said loading ramp is adapted to be substantially level with the dock platform surface, said ramp being moveable to a selected non-stored position;
• a header section depending from a front edge of said loading ramp;
• a barrier means including a slidable first means, and a lip operatively connected to said header section and first means for relative pivotal movement between a depending first position wherein said first means extends above the ramp upper surface when said ramp is in the stored position, a depending second position wherein the first means does not extend above the ramp upper surface when said ramp is in a non-stored position, and an extended cantilevered third position wherein said first means does not extend above the ramp upper surface and the lip forms an extension of said loading ramp when the latter is in a selected non-stored position;
• keeper bracket means fixedly mounted on a front end portion of said frame for supporting said lip when in said depending first position;
• and
• an attaching means slidably engaged by said first means for effecting the operative interconnection between said header section and said lip.