Movable platform for storing freight and automobiles

An apparatus for storing freight and wheeled vehicles inside containers, said containers having a substantially rectangular floor plan including a floor, a roof, two side walls, an inner end wall, four top frame members and four corner container posts thereby defining outer and inner ends of said containers, comprising:

• chassis means comprising a platform member having two long lateral sides and first and second short end sides, a pair of front post means, a pair of rear post means, and base means, said chassis means extending substantially the entire length of said containers and having innermost and outermost ends, and said innermost end including said pair of front post means, the platform member being pivotally mounted to each of said front post means at the first short side of said platform member substantially adjacent to the innermost end of said chassis means for movement about a horizontal axis;
• said platform member having four corners extending substantially the entire length and width of said containers so that said platform member can be housed therein, and the second short end side of said platform being pivotally and slidably mounted to said pair of rear post means for vertical movement therealong;
• wherein said platform member includes a plurality of wheel wells for cooperatively receiving the wheels of said vehicles and further including wheel well covers hingedly mounted to said platform member and cooperatively positioned to be movable between a vertical position and a horizontal position which substantially covers said wheel wells;
• said rear post means extending from said floor to said roof of said containers;
• locking means for keeping said platform member in a predetermined fixed spaced apart relationship with respect to said floor and wherein said locking means includes means for adjusting the separation of the second short end of the platform member with respect to said floor;
• and
• wherein said platform member can be pivotally moved with respect to said front post means and vertically moved with respect to said rear post means so as to provide a substantially horizontal elevated surface for the storage of freight on and below said platform member.