Locking wheelchair lift
AssigneeRicon Corporation
InventorsStanton D. Saucier, Pierre Savaria, Jules Tremblay, Nelson Tremblay
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wheelchair lift, as for use with a vehicle, includes a platform for receiving a wheelchair carried as a pivot mechanism including two pairs of cooperating parallelogram structures adopted to be affixed to a vehicle for moving the platform between loading, entry and stowed positions by hydraulic actuation. A bridge plate structure is actuated by the pivot mechanism to be positioned as a bridge into the vehicle in the entry position, as a roll stop when a wheelchair is being carried and as a latch unit in the stowed position. A cam-cable mechanism actuates the bridge plate and the parallelogram structures of each pair are interlocked in moving between the stowed and entry positions.
Claims9
A wheelchair lift for transporting a passenger in relation to a vehicle and including motion patterns between a loading position, an entry position and a stowed position, said lift comprising:
- a platform structure for carrying a passenger;
- and
- a pivotal mechanism including at least two pairs of parallelogram structures linked for distinct pivotal motion patterns, said parallelogram structures being affixed to said platform structure and adapted to be affixed to said vehicle for moving said platform structure between said loading position, said entry position and said stowed position, each of said pairs of parallelogram structures comprising an upper parallelogram structure and a lower parallelogram structure, each of said upper and lower parallelogram structures comprising two elongated structures, said upper and said lower parallelogram structures being releasably interlocked in sliding engagement while said platform structure moves between selected of said positions.
A wheelchair lift for transporting a passenger in relation to a vehicle and including motion patterns between a loading position, an entry position and a stowed position, said lift comprising:
- a platform structure for carrying a passenger;
- and
- a pivotal mechanism including at least two pairs of parallelogram structures linked for distinct pivotal motion patterns, said parallelogram structures being affixed to said platform structure and adapted to be affixed to said vehicle for moving said platform structure between said loading position, said entry position and said stowed position, each of said pairs of parallelogram structures comprising an upper parallelogram structure and a lower parallelogram structure, each of said upper and lower parallelogram structures comprising two elongated structures, wherein said upper and said lower parallelogram structures are in releasably interlocking sliding engagement while said platform structure moves between said entry and said stowed positions.
A wheelchair lift for transporting a passenger in relation to a vehicle and including motion patterns between a loading position, an entry position and a stowed position, said lift comprising:
- a platform structure for carrying a passenger;
- and
- a pivotal mechanism including at least two pairs of parallelogram structures linked for distinct pivotal motion patterns, said parallelogram structures being affixed to said platform structure and adapted to be affixed to said vehicle for moving said platform structure between said loading position, said entry position and said stowed position, each of said pairs of parallelogram structures comprising an upper parallelogram structure and a lower parallelogram structure, each of said upper and lower parallelogram structures comprising two elongated structures, said upper and said lower parallelogram structures being releasably interlocked in alignment while said platform structure moves between selected of said positions, wherein a stud affixed to said lower parallelogram structure releasably interlocks a slot defined in said upper parallelogram structure.
A wheelchair lift for transporting a passenger to ingress and egress in relation to a vehicle substantially in a direction and including motion patterns between a loading position, an entry position and a stowed position, said lift comprising:
- a platform structure for carrying a passenger;
- a pivotal mechanism attached to said platform structure and adapted to be affixed to said vehicle for moving said platform structure between said loading position, said entry position and said stowed position, said pivotal mechanism comprising at least one parallelogram structure defining a plane substantially parallel with said direction of ingress and egress;
- a plate pivotally affixed to said platform structure contiguous to said vehicle;
- and
- cam mechanism actuated by said pivotal mechanism to variously raise and lower said plate in accordance with the position of said platform structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.