DESCRIPTION

of the invention having the TITLE "Lift for motor vehicles"

to Linea A S.r.l.

The present finding concerns a lift for motor vehicles, comprising two parallel platforms for supporting the vehicle wheels, each platform being provided with devices for lifting the platform itself.

In current lifts for vehicles, when it is wished to obtain the maximum operating space below the platforms, essentially lifting systems are used having four columns, consisting of pairs of support beams, each pair being articulated to a corresponding pair of columns and on the beams of which, at the ends, a pair of parallel lifting platforms rests.

This embodiment, although it ensures a substantial free space below the platforms, has the drawback of having the two support beams connected to the columns, which constitutes a particularly substantial impediment when the platforms of the lift are not completely raised; a further drawback consists of the fact that it has the bulk of the four columns even when the platforms are completely lowered.

In the state of the art it is also common to use lifts, provided with a pair of parallel platforms, which use a lifting system consisting of a so-called "fork" mechanism, consisting of two pairs of levers (single fork) or of many pairs of levers (pantograph), where the levers of each pair are articulated together at an intermediate section thereof.

This second embodiment, due to the presence of the lifting mechanisms, has the drawback of not allowing the possibility of operating with sufficient freedom beneath the platforms. Again in the state of the art, lifts are known that are provided with a pair of parallel platforms, which have a lifting system consisting of a plurality of mutually hinged shafts, so as to form an articulated parallelogram structure, on which a fluid-dynamic actuator acts, which regulates the extension thereof, to carry out the lifting/lowering of the platforms.

This third embodiment, if on the one hand it makes it possible to access beneath the platforms, since the two articulated structures are arranged on the two end sides of the platform, on the other hand has the drawback that the articulated structure, when it is completely closed, has a fairly substantial bulk in height that is not always acceptable in work places.

As an example of the types of lifts described above, we cite the following patent documents: WO 2011/032872, US 8,286,944B2, WO 2012150770A2, US 2533980A, US 2471901A, CN 103058094A, US 2003/0178610A1, US 2009/0205907A1 and WOO 1/02281.

In particular, we cite patent documents US 8,286,944B2, US 2003/0178610A1 and US 2009/0205907A1, which use, as lifting system, a mechanism consisting of differently arranged levers, which are articulated above the platforms; on each pair of levers, hinges are foreseen provided with elements, which slide on guides formed in the structure of the platforms themselves; the structure of the fork mechanism foresees to have a lifting jack, which connects the intermediate hinges of the levers, like the diagonal of a quadrilateral and it is foreseen to insert an elastic element to compensate for the variation in geometry of the quadrilateral during the ascending and descending movements of the platforms of the lift.

The purpose of the present finding is to make a lift for motor vehicles, of the type comprising two parallel platforms for supporting the vehicle wheels, each platform being provided with lifting devices, which does not have the drawbacks of similar known products.

Specifically, a first purpose of the finding is to obtain a lift without bulk below the platforms, so as to allow maximum operativity; a further purpose of the finding is to make a lifting system provided with a linkage capable of absorbing imbalances of the loads, without generating overloads at the structures and without using elastic elements to compensate for possible size variations of the levers of the lifting system. The characteristics of the finding are highlighted by means of the description of a possible embodiment thereof, given as a non-limiting example, with the help of the attached tables of drawings, where:

- fig. 1 (Table I) represents a perspective view of the lift according to the finding;

- fig. 2 (Table II) represents an elevated view of the lift of fig.1 ;

- figs. 3 - 4 (Table III) represent two views of the lift closed, respectively, in plan and vertically, sectioned according to the lines IV-IV of fig. 3 and III-III of fig. 4.

As can be seen from the figures, the lift of the present finding is made up of at least one pair of platforms 1, which are lifted by means of one or more lifting devices, wholly indicated with reference numerals 100 and 200, consisting of a long lower lever arm 3, hinged at its lower end to the base 2, by means of a pin 10 and at its upper end to the upper lever arm 4, by means of the pin 13.

The lifting devices 100 and 200 are positioned below the vehicle bearing plane, in a mutually opposed manner.

A short lower lever arm 5 is hinged, by means of the pin 11 , at the lower end to the base 2, by means of a sliding device 9 and is further hinged to the long lower lever arm 3, by means of the pin 12; again on said short lower lever arm 5 there is the pin 14, which connects said short lower lever arm 5 to the rod 6 and the pin 16, on which the control actuator 21 is articulated.

The upper lever arm 4, located above the lever arms 3 and 5 and hinged at the end of the long lower lever arm 3, by means of the pin 13, is further hinged at the upper end to the platform 1, by means of the hinge pin 18.

Specifically, the rod 6 is hinged to the upper lever arm 4, by means of the pin 15 and is further hinged to the short lower lever arm 5, by means of a pin 14, so as to form an articulated parallelogram "K", formed by the pair of opposite sides, consisting of the rod 6 and the section of the long lower lever arm 3, comprised between the pins 12 and 13 and the pair of opposite sides, consisting of the section of the short lower lever arm 5, comprised between the pins 12 and 14 and the section of the upper lever arm 4, comprised between the pins 13 and 15.

The mechanism is also characterised in that the pin 12, to which the long lower lever 3 and the short lower lever 5 are hinged, constitutes the vertex of an articulated structure shaped as an isosceles triangle, where the two equal sides are constituted by the sections comprised between the pins (10 and 12, respectively on one side and 11 and 12, on the other side), while the base is defined by the pins 10 and 11 and wherein the mutual distance of said pins 10 and 11 takes variable lengths, depending on the height position taken by the platform.

Moreover, the control actuators 21 and 21.1 are positioned external to the corresponding parallelograms "K" and to the upper lever arm 4, by means of the corresponding pins 16 and 17, where an actuator is constrained to the lever arm 5 with the pin 16 and an actuator is constrained to the lever arm 4 with the pin 17. Operatively, the control actuators 21, mounted on the two opposite lifting devices 100 and 200, are actuated by hydraulic jacks connected in parallel by means of a suitably sized hydraulic circuit and their action must be synchronized, so as to keep the platform horizontal during the ascent/descent movement of the lift.

Alternatively, the pair of control actuators 21 consists of hydraulic jacks connected in series, so as to create a transfer hydraulic circuit.

The finding thus conceived can undergo modifications and variants and its details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements, provided that it is all covered by the inventive concept defined by the following claims.