Vehicle safety stop for platform of vertical rising lift

Claim 1

In a vertical lift for transporting wheeled vehicles from one horizontal surface to another, said lift comprising a platform, a device connected to the platform to move the platform vertically, a loading ramp extending from one side of the platform, and a safety device on the lift for preventing a vehicle on the platform from accidentally moving off said side of the platform, the improvement wherein said device comprises: said ramp having an opening therein immediately adjacent said side of the platform, said opening having a first boundary adjacent said side and a second boundary spaced from the first boundary and said side, said second boundary being straight and approximately parallel to said side; a stop plate the size of said opening and positioned therein; means including a hinge connecting the ramp at said second side with the adjacent side of the stop plate and permitting the stop plate to move with respect to the ramp from a first position at which It is flush with the ramp in an upwardly direction to a second position at which it is sufficiently above the ramp to block the movement of the vehicle onto the ramp, said means limiting the movement of the plate in said direction, and actuating means for raising said plate after said ramp has moved a given distance from said surface and to contact said surface as said ramp moves down toward the surface to automatically retract the plate to said flush position upon the ramp reaching the floor, said actuating means including a counterweight on an arm fixedly attached to the plate and positioning the counterweight below said ramp at the opposite side of said second boundary from said plate.