US 5,299,386 AGranted

Safety gate assembly

AssigneeRite-Hite Corporation

InventorsRobert W. Naegelli, Norbert Hahn

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Abstract

A safety gate assembly is provided for use at a loading dock to prevent accidental or inadvertent movement of a loading dock vehicle through an access passageway provided on the loading dock. The assembly includes a pair of laterally spaced, upright, stationary support members positioned on opposite sides of the passageway and a housing removably mounted on one support member. An elongate gate segment is hingedly connected to the housing for movement between operative passageway-blocking and inoperative passageway-unblocking modes. When in the operative mode, the gate segment spans the distance between the support members. Movement of the gate segment is effected by a motor driven element connected to the segment and disposed within the housing. A stop is mounted for engaging the gate segment only when the latter is in the operative mode. A safety device is operatively connected to the element drive motor and is mounted on the segment and effects interruption of the movement of the elongate element if an external object obstructs the movement of the segment between the modes.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A safety gate assembly mountable for use as an impact barrier at a loading dock station provided with an access passageway, said assembly comprising a pair of stationary, laterally spaced, upright support members positionable on opposite sides of the passageway;

shield means selectively mounted on one of the support members;
hingedly mounted gate means proximate said one support member and shield means and including at least one hingedly mounted elongate segment selectively movable between an operative passage-blocking mode and an inoperative non-blocking mode, the movement of said one segment being in a path defining a substantially vertical plane, when in the operative mode, said elongate segment being substantially horizontally disposed and spanning the distance between said support members;
drive means disposed proximate said one support member and shield means and having an actuatable element drivable between a retracted position and an extended position and operatively connected to said one segment for effecting controlled movement of said one segment between said modes;
drive-assist means operatively connected to said actuatable element and continually biasing said actuatable element toward a position such that the drive-assist means enhances the force applied by the actuable element to the one segment to effect movement of the one segment from the operative mode to the inoperative mode;
and stop means mounted for engaging said one segment only when said one segment assumes the operative mode.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.