Self-leveling hoist for wheel chairs

Claim 2

A wheel chair hoist comprising a mobile frame, elongated support means mounted on the frame and upwardly extended therefrom, bracket means mounted on the support means for elevational adjustment, means for securing the bracket means in adjusted position on the support means, a wheel chair platform having oppositely disposed open ends and a path of wheel chair travel between the open ends, substantially parallel arms pivotally connected to the bracket means and to the platform on opposite sides of the path mounting the platform on the frame at one side of the support means for concurrent longitudinal reciprocal movement and adjustable elevational movement in parallelism, powered means interconnecting the bracket means and the arms to raise and to lower the platform on the frame, and a counterbalance mounted on the bracket means on the opposite side of the support means from the platform for integral elevational adjustment with the bracket means.

Claim 3

A wheel chair hoist comprising a mobile support frame having predetermined forward and rearward end portions; a pair of spaced support members rigidly mounted on the support frame adjacent to the forward end portion aNd upwardly extended therefrom; brackets mounted on the support members for corresponding adjustable elevational movement; a pair of elevationally spaced substantially parallel arms pivotally mounted on each bracket and rearwardly extended therefrom for pivotal elevational movement as well as adjustable elevational movement with their respective bracket; an elongated platform having opposite ends both adapted to receive and to discharge a wheel chair for rolling movement longitudinally across the platform pivotally mounted between the rearward ends of the arms for elevational movement therewith in horizontal parallelism; powered means connected to the arms for controlled raising of the arms to move the platform upwardly and forwardly for juxtaposition with an elevated surface to and from which a wheel chair can be rolled and controlled lowering of the arms to move the platform downwardly and rearwardly from the elevated surface to a lower surface to and from which a wheel chair can be rolled; and a counterbalance interconnecting the brackets for corresponding elevational movement therewith at the side thereof opposite to the direction of arm extension from the brackets.

Claim 4

A wheel chair hoist comprising a mobile support frame having predetermined forward and rearward end portions; a pair of spaced support members rigidly mounted on the support frame adjacent to the forward end portion aNd upwardly extended therefrom; brackets mounted on the support members for corresponding adjustable elevational movement; a pair of elevationally spaced substantially parallel arms pivotally mounted on each bracket and rearwardly extended therefrom for pivotal elevational movement as well as adjustable elevational movement with their respective bracket; an elongated platform having opposite ends both adapted to receive and to discharge a wheel chair for rolling movement longitudinally across the platform pivotally mounted between the rearward ends of the arms for elevational movement therewith in horizontal parallelism; powered means connected to the arms for controlled raising of the arms to move the platform upwardly and forwardly for juxtaposition with an elevated surface to and from which a wheel chair can be rolled and controlled lowering of the arms to move the platform downwardly and rearwardly from the elevated surface to a lower surface to and from which a wheel chair can be rolled; and a counterbalance interconnecting the brackets for corresponding elevational movement therewith at the side thereof opposite to the direction of arm extension from the brackets.

Claim 5

The hoist of claim 2 in which the counterbalance has a substantially flat upwardly disposed surface intermediate the raised and lowered positions of the platform.

Claim 6

The hoist of claim 2 in which the powered means includes hydraulic rams connected to the brackets and having position controlling connection to the arms and in which the counterbalance includes a container containing an hydraulic system connected to the rams, an electric motor having powering connection to the hydraulic system, and a battery having powering connection to the motor whereby the hoist is self contained and the powered means is elevationally adjustable with the arms in response to elevational adjustment of the brackets on the support members.