The present invention rebates to a vehicle transporter and in particular to a motorised vehicle transporter onto which another vehicle can be ioaded to allow inspection, maintenance and repair of the other vehicle.

If a car has broken down or been involved in an accident on the road or on a race track, only limited inspection, maintenance and repair of the car can be earned out in the field, but often this is simply because the car cannot be safely raised off the ground to allow full access to its underside, It is possible to gain limited access to the underside of a car by partially lifting it off the ground on a mechanical or hydraulic jack, However, such limited access does not allow the full range of inspection, maintenance and repair to be carried out. In addition, great care must be exercised as there are safety implications in the use of such equipment. Usually, it will be necessary to transport the car to a garage where there is appropriate lifting equipment for the work to be carried out. This results in lost time and additional expense.

EP-A-1 ,371 ,543 discloses a trailer having a pair of spaced lifts for raising a vehicle from, and lowering a vehicle to, a deck. However, the trailer requires a towing vehicle and also requires an external source of power to operate the lifts.

In accordance with the present application, a motorised vehicle transporter comprises a chassis, a platform mounted on the chassis and vehicle lifting means engageable with a vehicle carried by the transporter and being operable to raise the vehicle away from/lower the vehicle towards the platform.

The present invention thus provides a self-contained, self-powered vehicle transporter which can be used for the inspection, maintenance and repair of the undersurface of a vehicle.

Preferably, the motorised vehicle transporter comprises vehicle lifting means engageable with a vehicle on the platform and being operable to raise the vehicle completely from/lower the vehicle to the platform, Preferably the vehicle transporter further comprises safety barrier means located on the platform. The platform is likely to be a considerable distance above ground level and the safety barrier means minimises the likelihood of falling off the platform.

Preferably, the vehicle transporter comprises safety barrier means a long an edge of the platform. In one embodiment, the platform is rectangular and the safety barrier means is located along three sides of the platform. The safety barrier means may comprise, for example, a rope or cable.

In one embodiment, the platform is displaceable. The platform may be displaceable linearly, for example it may be displaceable rearwardly. Preferably, the platform is also tiltable.

In another embodiment, the platform is fixed with respect to the chassis.

The vehicle lifting means may be extensible through aperture means in the platform, Preferably, the vehicle lifting means is retractable below the level of the undersurface of the platform. This allows easy access onto and off the platform. In addition, if the platform is displaceable, it allows the platform to be displaced without fouling on the lifting means. There may be cover means for the aperture means.

Preferably, the vehicle lifting means comprises means for engaging the undersurface of a vehicle located on the platform, For example, the vehicle lifting means may comprise plate means for engaging the sill of a vehicle located on the platform. As another example, the vehicle lifting means may comprise means for engaging the undersurface of a boat.

Conveniently, the vehicle lifting means may be mounted on the chassis. The vehicle lifting means may comprise a plurality of spaced-apart lifts. For example, the vehicle lifting means may comprise a plurality of spaced-apart scissor lifts.

The upper face of the platform may comprises a reflective surface. The reflective surface may partially or wholly cover the upper face of the platform. This facilitates inspection of the undersurface of a vehicle located on the platform, either in a vehicle maintenance/servicing capacity or in a security inspection capacity.

The motorised vehicle transporter may comprise one or more accessories mounted on the platform, e.g. a rolling road and/or wheel alignment means. This allows realtime diagnostic tests to be carried out on the vehicle white it is located on the platform.

The vehicle transporter may conveniently comprise a flat bed truck.

By way of example only, a specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view from the front and one side of a first embodiment of vehicle in accordance with the present invention, shown in an operative condition;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view from the rear and one side of the vehicle of Fig. 1 , shown in a loading condition; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view from the front and one side of a second embodiment of the vehicle in accordance with the present invention, being a modification of the first embodiment, shown in an operative condition.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a "tilt and slide" motorised flat bed recovery truck 10. The truck 10 comprises a driver's cab 12 and a rectangular flat bed or platform 14 located behind the cab 12, both mounted on a truck chassis 15 supported by four wheels W. The flat bed 14 is a so-called "tilt and slide" flat bed, namely it can be displaced from an operative, horizontal orientation shown in Fig, 1 to a loading position shown in Fig. 2 in which the flat bed is displaced and tilted downwardly so that its rearmost edge is in contact with the ground, to allow a further vehicle 18 to be loaded onto the flat bed. The movement of the flat bed 14 is conventional and is typically achieved by use of hydraulic rams, hydraulic motors and the like. The vehicle may optionally be provided with jacks J (shown schematically in chain dot in Fig. 1 , for example, hydraulic, pneumatic, manual or other jacks) mounted on the chassis, if desired, to provide a firm support.

The flat bed 14 has a winch 17 (e.g. electrically or hydraulically operated) mounted at its front end to facilitate loading of a vehicle 16 onto the bed. The planar wall 18 extends across the front end of the flat bed and an arched frame 20 above the wall 18 carries warning lights 22. Four identical evenly spaced posts 24 are mounted along each of the long edges of the flat bed 14 and extend perpendicularly to the fiat bed 14. A wire cable 26 extends between, and is secured to, the posts 24 along each edge of the bed, acting in combination with the end wall 18, as a safety barrier along three sides of the flat bed 14 for anyone on the flat bed 14. The posts are hingediy mounted on the flat bed and can hinge through 90° to lie flat on the bed when not in use and to project perpendiculariy to the bed (as illustrated in the Figures) when desired. The posts can be locked in the upright position. Mounted on the chassis 15 beneath the flat bed 14 are two identical hydraulically- actuated scissor lifts 28, 30. The scissor lifts 28, 30 are each mounted beneath a respective elongate rectangular aperture 32, 34 when the flat bed is in the horizontal operative position shown in Fig. 1. The apertures 32, 34 can be closed off by means of removable covers 36, 38 when desired, for example when loading a further vehicle 16 onto the flat bed 14 (in which position the upper faces of the covers are level with the upper surface of the flat bed), and removed to allow the scissor lifts 28, 30 to operate.

The scissor lifts 28, 30 are each provided with a sill-engaging plate 40, 42 and are displaceable by means of a respective hydraulic ram 44, 48 between a withdrawn position, in which the sill-engaging plates 40, 42 are withdrawn through the apertures 32, 34 below the level of the undersurface of the flat bed 14 to allow the flat bed to be displaced, and an extended position in which the scissor lifts 28, 30 and the sill- engaging plates 40, 42 are displaced through the apertures 32, 34, as shown in Fig, 1. Limit switches (not shown) are provided to form an interlock to ensure that the scissor lifts 28, 30 can only be extended when the flat bed 14 is in the fully withdrawn, horizontal, operative position shown in Fig. 1 and to prevent displacement of the flat bed 14 if the scissor lifts are not in the fully withdrawn position in which the sill-engaging plates are located below the level of the undersurface of the flat bed 14,

In use, the recovery truck 10 is driven to the location of the vehicle 16 to be loaded onto it. The jack J, if fitted, may be extended to contact the ground, if desired. The jacks J, if fitted, are preferably self-levelling and are preferably provided with an interlock to prevent the scissor lifts from being extended if the Jacks are not satisfactorily deployed. The fiat bed is slid rearwardly and is tilted, into the position shown in Fig. 2, to allow the vehicle 16 to be loaded onto the flat bed 14. The vehicle 16 can be driven onto the flat bed under its own power or it can be winched onto the flat bed by means of the hydraulic winch 17. The flat bed 14 is then tilted into a horizontal orientation and is slid forwardly, into the position shown in Fig. 1. When the flat bed 14 is in its forwardrnost position, the covers 36, 38 are removed from their apertures 32, 34, which allows the scissor lifts 28, 30 to be operated to bring the sill-engaging plates 40, 42 into contact with the undersurface of the loaded vehicle 16 and to lift the vehicle 16 off the surface of the flat bed 14. Preferably, operation of the lifts 28, 30 triggers an audio/visual alert. The underside of the vehicle can then be inspected, maintained or repaired as appropriate.

The present invention allows inspections of the underside of a car to be made, and allows work to be carried out, on the underside of a car, without the car having to be transported to a garage. The invention is therefore extremely useful in many circumstances, including use by breakdown services, rally drivers, racing car enthusiasts and like, to allow repairs to be carried out at the roadside without having to return the car to a garage, if the car cannot be repaired by the roadside, it can be lowered back onto the flat bed 14 and transported to a garage.

In a variation of the embodiment described above, the "tilt and slide" flat bed as described above could be replaced with a fixed flat bed which was not displaceable with respect to the chassis. The scissor lifts 28, 30, the apertures 32, 34 and the winch 17 would be identical to those described above. However, the covers would not be required as the sill-engaging plates 40, 42 could simply be withdrawn flush with the flat bed 14 and it would not be necessary to have limit switches to prevent the flat bed and scissor lifts interfering with each other. Access to and from the flat bed 14 would be gained by means of two removable ramps 48, 50 shown schematically in chain dot in Fig. 1 , which can be removably attached to the rear edge of the flat bed.

In a further variant, the flat bed of the above-described variation could be tiltable (but not slidable) in order to reduce the gradient of the removable ramps 48, 50.

Fig. 3 illustrates a modification of the first embodiment. It is very similar to the first embodiment and the same features are identified by the same reference numerals and letters.

The first modification is that the rectangular flat bed or platform 14 is provided with a "rolling road" in the form of four pairs of rollers 52 arranged transversely to the longitudinal direction of the platform 14, each pair of rollers being adapted to receive a wheel of a vehicle positioned on the trailer. In this way, real-time diagnostic tests can be carried out on the vehicle 18 while it is located on the platform 14.

Another modification is that the upper face of the platform 14 is provided with a reflective portion 54. In the embodiment illustrated, the reflective portion is in the form of a T-shaped mirror having an elongate portion 54' extending along the centre line of the platform 14, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the platform, and having a transverse head portion 54" located towards the front end of the platform. However, any available part of the upper face of the platform may be provided with a reflective surface. The provision of a reflective surface on the upper face of the platform 14 facilitates inspection of the undersurface of a vehicle 16 located on the platform 14, either in a vehicle maintenance/servicing capacity or in a security inspection capacity. The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiments. For example, although two scissor lifts have been described, it would be possible to use a single scissor lift. Furthermore, although scissor lifts have been described, other types of lift, e.g. a telescopic hydraulic lift, could be used Instead of the or each scissor lift.

In the foregoing embodiments, the lifts engage with the underside of a vehicle by means of sill-engaging plates. The references to "sill-engaging" are also Intended to include engagement with any part of the undersurface of the vehicle including, but not limited to, engagement with designated lifting or jacking points.

Moreover, it would be possible Instead for the lift or lifts to engage with the wheels of the carried vehicle to raise the vehicle away from/lower the vehicle towards the flat bed.

Moreover, the foregoing embodiments describe lifts having sill-engaging plates which engage with the undersurface of a car. However, the present invention is not restricted to lifting cars but can also lift other vehicles. For example, by having appropriately-shaped surfaces to replace the sill-engaging plates 40 as described, if would be possible to raise a boat from the platform 14, in order to facilitate inspection, maintenance and repair of the boat hull.

In addition, although a planar flat bed has been described, it would be possible to use a so-called "beavertail" bed instead, which has a main, larger, horizontal portion towards its front and a shorter, downwardly inclined portion at the rear, behind the rear wheels of the truck, to facilitate loading of a vehicle onto the bed.

Moreover, although the support posts 24 are described as being hingedly mounted to the flat bed 14, the posts instead could be removably locatable into fixed sockets along the edges of the flat bed. In addition, the wire cable 26 could be replaced with a rigid member.

The scissor lifts 28, 30 could be powered from the vehicle or from a separate power source, e.g. a battery, a generator, etc. The scissor lifts are described as being hydraulically-actuated. However, they may instead be actuated by a different power source, e.g. they may be pneumatically or electrically actuated.

The vehicle transporter could be powered by any prime mover, for example a diesel or petrol engine, an electric engine, a hybrid engine, etc.

The flat bed can, if desired, be enclosed, for example by means of a removable weatherproof cover. Alternatively, the vehicle transporter may form a high-sided or enclosed vehicle which enables work to be carried out on the raised vehicle under cover. When the vehicle transporter is a high-sided or enclosed vehicle, it may be fitted with a retractable or opening roof to allow sufficient room for a vehicle to be raised on the lift or lifts.

It would also be possible to provide other accessories on the flat bed, for example attachments to accommodate 4-wheel alignment equipment, a compressor, a generator, a tool cabinet and the like.