Dock leveler
First Claim
1. A dock leveler for forming a bridge between a floor of a loading dock and a trailer bed, the trailer bed being adapted to support a load and rise when that load is removed, said dock leveler comprising:
- a deck assembly with a first hinged end, a second outer end and a deck with a lip, said deck being movable through a range of inclined positions between raised and lowered positions;
a lift assembly including a lift member and a biasing mechanism, said lift member releasably supporting said deck assembly and being upwardly and downwardly movable through a range of positions between upper and lower positions, said biasing mechanism biasing said lift member upwardly toward its said upper position and said deck toward its said raised position;
a hold down mechanism joined to said lift member, said hold down mechanism being operable to selectively prevent said lift member from moving upwardly toward its said upper extended position, said lift assembly and hold down mechanism combining to operably raise and lower said deck while said lift member remains in supporting engagement with said deck assembly to position said lip on the trailer bed; and
, wherein said deck assembly releases from its said supporting engagement with said lift member when the load is removed and the trailer bed rises, said deck and lip being supported by and rising with the trailer bed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention pertains to a mechanically actuated dock leveler with a mounting frame secured in a pit of a loading dock, and a deck assembly with a deck and extendable lip. A deck lift assembly biases the deck to move from a parked position to a raised position to activate a lip extension assembly. As the deck is “walked down”, the lip is extended and the lip extension assembly is deactivated in a controlled manner so that the deck and lip reach an engaged position against the trailer and are kept in place by a hold down mechanism. The deck assembly has a float housing with a slot for releasably engaging the lift assembly to achieve a range of float positions where the deck and lip rest on and float with the trailer as it is loaded and unloaded. The deck assembly has a durable combined lip lug and header plate hinge construction.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A dock leveler for forming a bridge between a floor of a loading dock and a trailer bed, the trailer bed being adapted to support a load and rise when that load is removed, said dock leveler comprising:
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a deck assembly with a first hinged end, a second outer end and a deck with a lip, said deck being movable through a range of inclined positions between raised and lowered positions;
a lift assembly including a lift member and a biasing mechanism, said lift member releasably supporting said deck assembly and being upwardly and downwardly movable through a range of positions between upper and lower positions, said biasing mechanism biasing said lift member upwardly toward its said upper position and said deck toward its said raised position;
a hold down mechanism joined to said lift member, said hold down mechanism being operable to selectively prevent said lift member from moving upwardly toward its said upper extended position, said lift assembly and hold down mechanism combining to operably raise and lower said deck while said lift member remains in supporting engagement with said deck assembly to position said lip on the trailer bed; and
,wherein said deck assembly releases from its said supporting engagement with said lift member when the load is removed and the trailer bed rises, said deck and lip being supported by and rising with the trailer bed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A dock leveler for forming a bridge between a floor of a loading dock and a trailer bed, said dock leveler comprising:
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a deck assembly including a deck with first and second ends, said deck being movable through a range of inclined positions between raised and lowered inclined positions;
a lip assembly including a lip plate with inner and outer ends, said lip plate being operably movable between pendant and extended positions, said lip plate being biased toward said pendant position, and said lip plate being substantially flush with said deck when in said extended position;
a lip extension assembly having a series of linked components including a drive member and a drive link, said lip extension assembly being movable between engaged and disengaged positions, said drive member having a load bearing end offset from said deck assembly, said drive member and said drive link being in driving communication with said lip plat when in said engaged position, and one of said series of linked components being released from pushing engagement with an other of said linked components when in said disengaged position, said lip plate being movable between its said extended and pendent positions when said lip extension assembly is in its said disengaged position, said lip extension assembly being biased into said engaged position when said deck is in said raised position and biased into said disengaged position when said deck is below an intermediate inclined position, and said lip extension assembly driving said lip plate toward its said extended position as said deck is lowered toward said intermediate inclined position and said lip extension assembly is in its said engaged position. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A dock leveler comprising:
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a deck assembly including a deck and a support frame, said deck having upper and lower surfaces, inner and outer longitudinal ends and first and second lateral sides, said support frame having a plurality of spaced apart, substantially parallel support beams including two outermost beams, each of said beams being supportably positioned beneath said lower surface of said deck, and each beam having an outer longitudinal end substantially aligned with said outer longitudinal end of said deck, and said outermost beams extending along said lateral sides of said deck;
a header plate having inner and outer surfaces and upper, lower and lateral edges, said upper edge of said header plate being flushly aligned with and rigidly secured to said lower surface of said deck proximal its said outer longitudinal end and said inner, surface being rigidly secured proximal said outer end of each of said beams, said outermost beams being rigidly secured to said lateral edges of said header plate, said header plate extending from one side of said deck to said other side of said deck, and said header plate being substantially perpendicular to said lower surface of said deck and substantially perpendicularly to said beams;
a set of header lugs rigidly secured to and extending outwardly from said outer surface of said header plate along its said upper edge, each header lug being substantially linearly aligned with one of said beams of said support frame;
a lip plate having upper and lower surfaces and inner, outer and lateral edges, said lateral edges of said lip plate being in substantial registry with said lateral edges of said header plate;
a set of lip lugs rigidly secured to and extending from said lower surface of said lip plate along its said inner edge, each of said lip lugs hingably joining one corresponding lug of said set of header lugs, and said lip plate is hingably movable between pendant and extended positions relative to said deck, said upper surface of said lip plate being substantially flushly aligned with said upper surface of said deck when in said extended position. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification