Patent ID: 8720836
Filing Date: 2014-05-13
Classification: A01G,A47G,F21V

Abstract:
1. A system for raising and lowering objects on a vertical structure, said vertical structure having a length, a base, a top opposite the base, an upper portion and a lower portion, and said system comprising a carriage subsystem comprising a carriage body, the carriage body being supported by the vertical structure, and a means for controllably moving the carriage subsystem between a lowered position at the lower portion of the vertical structure to a raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure, and a locking mechanism configured to automatically lock the carriage body to the vertical support when the carriage subsystem is moved from the lower portion of the vertical structure to a raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure, and automatically release the carriage body from the vertical support when the carriage subsystem is moved above the raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure, said locking mechanism including a first locking component associated with the carriage subsystem and a second locking component associated with the upper portion of the vertical support, and a stationary releasing component associated with the upper portion of the vertical support, said second locking component being at the raised position and offset from said first locking component when the first locking component is at the raised position, at least one of the first and second locking components being movable from a locking to a releasing position and from a releasing to a locking position, movement of the movable locking component from a releasing to a locking position occurring automatically when the carriage subsystem is moved from the lower portion of the vertical structure to the raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure and movement from a locking to a leasing position occurring automatically when the carriage subsystem is moved above the raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure, said stationary releasing component being aligned with and positioned to contact the movable locking component as the carriage subsystem is moved above the raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure, and said stationary releasing component urging the movable locking component into a releasing position as the carriage subsystem is moved above the raised position at the upper portion of the vertical structure and the movable locking component contacts the stationary releasing component, and said movable locking component then remaining in the releasing position throughout downward motion of the carriage body, and said locking mechanism supporting the carriage subsystem when at least one of the first and second locking components is in the locking position.