Patent ID: 6923140

Claim:
A conveyance attachable to a pier for facilitating loading and unloading the manifest items of a boat, comprising: a landing including a first part adapted for rigid connection to said pier and including a floor, a second part pivotally connected to said first part on a first vertical pivot axis including a floor and a first power means interconnected between said first and second parts operable to pivot said second part relative to said first part about said first vertical axis, an elongated ramp having one of its longitudinal opposite ends pivotally connected to said second part of said landing on a first horizontal pivot axis transverse to the direction of elongation of said ramp, a barge boarding platform having a first segment pivotally connected to the other longitudinally opposite end of said ramp on a horizontal pivot axis parallel to said first horizontal pivot axis and including a floor, and a second segment pivotally connected to said first segment on a second vertical axis and including a floor, a lift linkage including a pair of laterally spaced parallel upper links having first correspondence ends pivotally connected, respectively, to said first part of said landing for horizontal swinging movement about a first pair of vertical axes and for vertical swinging about horizontal axes lying in a horizontal plane and having second corresponding ends pivotally connected, respectively, to said second segment of said platform for horizontal swinging movement about a second pair of vertical axes and for vertical swinging movement about horizontal axes lying in a horizontal plane, a pair of laterally spaced parallel lower links having first corresponding ends pivotally connected, respectively, to said first part of said landing for horizontal swinging movement about said first pair of vertical axes and for vertical swinging movement about horizontal pivot axes lying in a horizontal plane and having second corresponding ends pivotally connected, respectively, to said second segment for horizontal swinging movement about said second pair of vertical axes and for vertical swinging movement about horizontal axes lying in a horizontal plane, and second power means operatively associated with said lift linkage operable to raise and lower said platform to and from a boat disposed adjacent said pier, said upper and lower links maintaining said platform in the same orientation relative to said pier regardless of the pivot position of said second part of said landing relative to said first part of said landing.