Lift for attachment to vehicles

摘要

A lift for attachment to a vehicle is described. The lift includes a hitch assembly with a hitch receiver insert, a first support member, and a second support member. Each of the two support members may include an upper portion and a lower portion, the upper portion oriented at an angle with respect to the associated lower portion. The support members may be mounted to the hitch assembly, at locations separated by a first offset, and may be mounted to a platform assembly, at locations separated by an equivalent second offset. As a lifting mechanism mounted to the hitch assembly provides a lifting force to one of the support members, the platform assembly is raised from a lowered position to a raised position, with a platform included in the platform assembly being maintained, by way of the two equivalent offsets, in a substantially horizontal orientation over the course of travel.

主权项

1. A lift for attachment to a vehicle with a hitch receiver, the lift comprising:
a hitch assembly including a hitch receiver insert; a first support member including a first upper section and a first lower section, wherein the first upper section is rotatably mounted to the hitch assembly at a first mounting location and a portion of the first upper section is oriented at an angle with respect to a portion of the first lower section; a second support member including a second upper section and a second lower section, wherein the second upper section is rotatably mounted to the hitch assembly at a second mounting location separated from the first mounting section by a first offset and a portion of the second upper section is oriented at an angle with respect to a portion of the second lower section; a lifting mechanism mounted to the hitch assembly and having a load bearing connection to the first support member, whereby when activated the lifting mechanism transmits lifting force to the first support member; a platform assembly including an upper load-bearing surface with a front edge, wherein the first lower section of the first support member is rotatably mounted to a third mounting location on a lower portion of the platform assembly and the second lower section of the second support member is rotatably mounted to a fourth mounting location on the lower portion of the platform assembly, the third mounting location being separated from the fourth mounting location by a second offset equal to the first offset; a forward stabilizer rigidly mounted to one or more of the first lower section of the first support member, the second lower section of the second support member, and a location on the platform assembly that is forward of at least one of the third and fourth mounting locations; wherein, when the hitch receiver insert is secured in the hitch receiver and the lifting mechanism is activated, the platform assembly is moved over a course of travel from a lowered, platform-loading position to a raised, vehicle-loading position, with the upper load-bearing surface of the platform assembly being maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation, with respect to the vehicle, over a majority portion of the course of travel, via the first and the second offsets; wherein, as the platform assembly approaches the platform-loading position from the vehicle-loading position, the forward stabilizer one or more of:
if mounted to the platform assembly, contacts one or more of the first lower section of the first support member and the second lower section of the second support member; andif mounted to one or more of the first lower section of the first support member and the second lower section of the second support member, contacts the lower portion of the platform assembly forward of at least one of the third and fourth mounting locations; and wherein, the contact of the forward stabilizer with the one or more of the first lower section of the first support member, the second lower section of the second support member, and the lower portion of the platform assembly causes at least part of the upper load-bearing surface of the platform assembly to tilt upward, from a back-to-front perspective.