Patent ID: 8393686

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a vehicle chassis; a load support body connected to the chassis and movable between a lowered position and a raised position; a hoist operable to forcibly move the load support body from the lowered position to the raised position, the hoist including: a cylinder including: a housing assembly defining first and second cylinder chambers separated by a center cap; and a shaft assembly slidably mounted in the housing assembly and including a shaft and first and second pistons affixed to the shaft at axially spaced apart locations along the shaft, wherein the first piston is disposed in the first cylinder chamber and the second piston is disposed in the second cylinder chamber; and a pressurized drive fluid supply system operable to supply a pressurized fluid into each of the first and second cylinder chambers to forcibly extend the shaft assembly relative to the housing assembly in an extension direction to forcibly move the load support body from the lowered position to the raised position; wherein the cylinder is configured such that, when the shaft assembly is fully extended, a volume of the pressurized drive fluid in the second cylinder chamber exerts an offset force on the center cap in a direction opposite the extension direction to offset axially expansive counter-forces on the cylinder housing.