Patent ID: 7077617
Filing Date: 2006-07-18
Classification: A62C,B66B

Abstract:
1. A vehicle equipped for transporting a ladder on its upper surface, said ladder being transported on the vehicle while positioned along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and on top of a lifting device used for raising and lowering the ladder from a top of the vehicle rearwardly to the ground behind the vehicle, said lifting device comprising: an elongated carrier for bearing objects mounted horizontally on a top surface of the vehicle and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, said carrier serving to carry a ladder which can be removably transported; a horizontal rotary shaft mounted on a top surface of the vehicle and transverse to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle; a pair of telescoping swing arms mounted along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and having one end that is fixed to said rotary shaft and another end that is rotatably coupled to one end section of said carrier, said pair of swing arms being positioned on the vehicle forward of the rotary shaft when the ladder is at rest and horizontal on top of the lifting device; and a single drive unit mounted on a top surface of the vehicle for turning the swing arm around said rotary shaft, so that actuation of the drive unit causes rotation of the rotary shaft, a corresponding turning movement of the pair of swing arms fixed to the rotary shaft, and unloading and loading of a ladder attached to the swing arms, said ladder being moved along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and unloaded at the back of the vehicle, said carrier being lowered from the top of the vehicle at an inclination such that the side on which said swing arm is joined to said carrier is raised, said telescoping swing arms comprising a pair of first arms fixed to each end of said rotary shaft at both ends of said rotary shaft and a pair of second arms provided so as to be mobile along the longitudinal axis of said first arms and coupled to one end of said carrier on both sides of the carrier, the lift device comprising telescoping means used during loading and unloading operations for displacing said second arms along the longitudinal axis of said first arms during rotation of said pair of swing arms, so that the point at which said swing arms are joined to said carrier is retracted toward said rotary shaft when said swing arms are rotated from a horizontal position forward of the rotary shaft to an upright posture above the rotary shaft.