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Wheelchair lift

Vehicular wheelchair lifts are widely utilized to assist persons in wheelchairs to get in and out of vehicles. The advent of the wheelchair lift some years ago has provided wheelchair users access to vehicles which increased their mobility and permitted them to take part in a more self-reliant, fully functional lifestyle. The wheelchair lifts typically have a platform for transporting an occupied wheelchair, where the platform can be raised and lowered between a loading position at the ground level outside a vehicle and an entry position at the floor level inside the vehicle, and a safety barrier connected to an outer end of the platform for preventing a wheelchair from inadvertently rolling off the platform during use of the wheelchair lift. Wheelchair lifts of the type installed in the stairwells of transit vehicles, such as city buses, are well-known. One type of wheelchair lift commonly referred to as a "step lift". Another type of wheelchair lift is commonly referred to as a "platform lift". Platform-type wheelchair lifts of various types are employed in vehicles, and typically include a rollstop or other safety barrier at the outboard edge of the platform, to prevent wheelchairs from accidentally rolling off the platform when the platform is out of contact with the ground, such as a "runaway" wheelchair. Such platform safety barriers may be employed with a wide variety of kinds of platform-type wheelchair lifts, such as parallelogram lifts, underfloor lifts, undervehicle lifts, floor-mounted header/telescoping arm lifts, hydraulic sidelifts, rotary wheelchair lifts, and dual lift-tube lifts. Both wheelchair step lifts and platform lifts typically include a wheelchair platform that is movable from a lowered position in which the wheelchair platform lies adjacent the sidewalk or ground to a raised position in which the wheelchair platform lies in the same plane as the aisle way of the bus, train, or other vehicle on which the lift is mounted. A number of wheelchair lifts incorporate outer and sometimes inner foldable barriers that help to maintain a wheelchair on the wheelchair platform. In addition, some wheelchair lifts include fixed side barriers to help maintain the wheelchair on the wheelchair platform.

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