Patent ID: 8079798
Filing Date: 2011-12-20
Classification: A61G,B65G,B66F

Abstract:
1. A portable tiltable loading ramp for loading and unloading a first vehicle onto and from a second vehicle, the ramp comprising: two parallel spaced tracks provided by three ramp sections which are abuttable or substantially abuttable rectilinearly in an end-to-end fashion to form a foldable standalone ramp surface; a first support member forming a fulcrum for the ramp surface, the said first support member being provided partway between ends of the ramp surface and spacing the entire ramp surface away from a loading surface of the second vehicle; a spacer element operatively associated with the first support member for abutment against a lip of the second vehicle; and a secondary support member extending from an underside of a distal ramp section and positioning the distal ramp section parallel or substantially parallel to the loading surface of the second vehicle when the ramp is in a carrying position; wherein an intermediate one of the three ramp sections is foldable upwards relative to the distal ramp section of the three ramp sections, and a proximal one of the three ramp sections is foldable downwards to lie flat or substantially flat against an underside of the intermediate ramp section; wherein the ramp has an inclined position with at least the distal ramp section inclined with respect to the loading surface of the second vehicle for loading and unloading the first vehicle onto and from the second vehicle and a carrying position with at least the distal ramp section substantially parallel to the loading surface of the second vehicle for transporting the first vehicle with the second vehicle, wherein the secondary support member contacts the loading surface in the carrying position but does not contact the loading surface in the inclined position; wherein as the first vehicle passes the fulcrum toward the distal ramp section, the ramp surface tilts towards the loading surface of the second vehicle into the carrying position and as the first vehicle passes the fulcrum away from the distal ramp section, the ramp surface tilts away from the loading surface of the second vehicle into the inclined position; and wherein the ramp is attachable to and usable with a plurality of second vehicles, each of the plurality of second vehicles having a different loading surface.