Patent ID: 6916058

Claim:
A lifting apparatus adapted to pivot a component hingedly attached to a vehicle body, comprising: the component having first and second attachment means for hingedly and releasably attaching said component to the vehicle body; an extension member having first and second ends and being operable to move from a normally retracted position to an extended position, said first end of said extension member being pivotally attached to said component and said second end of said extension member being adapted to be pivotally attached to the vehicle body; and an actuator, attached to said extension member, for moving said extension member between the retracted position and the extended position, whereby when said component is hingedly attached to the vehicle body by said first and second attachment means in a closed position and said second end of said extension member is pivotally attached to the vehicle body, said extension member is in the retracted position, and when one of said first and second attachment means is released and said extension member is moved to the extended position by said actuator, said component is pivoted at the other one of said first and second attachment means to an associated one of two open positions.