a set of lip keepers 38 so that lip 26 can help support the weight of the deck at its cross traffic position in cases where the dock leveler does not include lip keepers a pedestal installed underneath the deck can be used for supporting the deck 39 s weight an example of such a pedestal is disclosed in u s pat no 3 530 488 next referring to fig2 deck 16 rises and lip 26 swings out to extend edge 34 of lip 26 out over the top of trailer bed 14 then in fig3 deck 16 descends to place the extended lip 26 upon trailer bed 14 the movement of lip 26 and deck 16 can be carried out in any of a wide variety of ways that are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art the movement for example can be powered manually driven or a combination of the two mechanisms for moving deck 16 or lip 26 include but are not limited to hydraulic cylinder or bladder pneumatic cylinder or bladder mechanical linkage drive screw rack and pinion winch mechanical spring gas spring and various combinations thereof once lip 26 is resting upon trailer bed 14 as shown in fig4 forklift 28 can readily travel between platform 30 and trailer bed 14 the actual inclination of deck 16 and the angle between the upper surfaces of bed 14 and lip 26 is partially determined based on the relative heights.