Patent ID: 8137044

Claim:
A wheel handling apparatus, comprising: a wheel engaging arrangement for holding a wheel assembly that is to be removed from a vehicle, the wheel engaging arrangement including a first and a second wheel support arm, each wheel support arm being curved to follow the circumference of the wheel assembly, thereby defining a cradle in which the wheel assembly can rest as it is removed from the vehicle, a wheel pivoting arrangement, whereby wherein the wheel engaging arrangement can be moved is movable between a first orientation and a second orientation thus causing the wheel assembly held by the wheel engaging arrangement also to be moved between a first and second orientation, and an actuator for causing the wheel engaging arrangement to move from a rest position to a wheel engaging position, the actuator including a hydraulic jack movable between a retracted position causing the wheel engaging arrangement to be located in its rest position, and an extended position causing the wheel engaging arrangement to be located in its wheel engaging position, the hydraulic jack connected to a first and a second chain connector which in turn are connected to a linkage arrangement, the linkage arrangement including a first and a second crank which are respectively connected to said first and second chain connectors which, in turn, are respectively connected to first and second support columns.