Difficulties are often encountered when lifting and transporting personal mobility devices from one location to another. Particularly in the case of personal mobility devices for wheelchair-bound persons, it is often quite difficult to lift these devices into and out of the wide variety of motor vehicles available today. Without specialized equipment, one or more persons are usually required to assist in lifting these devices into and out of vehicles, and the interiors of many vehicles are inappropriate for handling an average personal mobility device due to severe space constraints. Vehicle such as minivans and full-size vans with large cargo doors, pickup trucks with large access cabs or cargo boxes, and SUVs benefit from large wheelchair storage areas, however many vehicles do not offer such space appropriate to accommodate modern powered and non-powered personal mobility devices. However, for reasons of fuel economy, personal choice, and comfort, persons who use personal mobility devices will desire access to vehicles with severe space constraints. There have been some inventive efforts directed at alleviating the problems associated with transporting personal mobility devices from one location to another in vehicles with severe interior space constraints, primarily focused on mounting the lift apparatus outside the vehicle. These devices typically are located in the rear of the vehicle, and raise a wheeled or other personal mobility device from a position at ground level to a raised position appropriate for travel.
Although many lifts exist which allow a user to store a mobility device in the rear of the vehicle, the majority of those lifts are relatively heavy and have a deleterious effect on vehicle integrity and handling due to their external location often far rearward of the rear axle. The Bruno Outsider™ is one such lift. Weight is thus a significant factor and design parameter in the field of lifts which may be mounted externally on vehicles. Even larger vehicles with substantial payloads often have significant limitations in terms of available tongue weight that can be exerted directly on the hitch. The average weight of a personal mobility device or other load, plus the weight of the lifting device itself, often significantly exceeds available tongue weight capacity for many combinations of hitches and vehicles.
A significant problem posed by externally-mounted lifts for transporting personal mobility devices is the necessity for access to the trunk or rear cargo area of the vehicle. Often, the presence of a lifting apparatus in the rear of the vehicle blocks or significantly impairs access to these areas. One proposed solution to this approach has been to incorporate a swing-away feature. The Bruno Outsider™ has such a swing-away option. This feature allows the bulk of the lifting device to temporarily swing out of the way when access is needed to these areas. The problem posed by currently available solutions, however, is that they add significant weight, and the size of the mechanism often dramatically increases the distance between the load center of the personal mobility device and the vehicle. Increased weight and an excessive distance from the center of the load to the centerline of the rear wheels of the vehicle can dramatically increase sway and severely compromise vehicle handling.
It is a requirement for safe travel that the personal mobility device be securely fastened to the lift mechanism. In typical applications of many competitive products that have attempted to solve this problem, the user is required to manually secure the personal mobility device to a platform or other structure, a process which is both time-consuming and a limitation for certain users who are unable to bend and manipulate tie-down mechanisms. Other products which incorporate automatic lockdown mechanisms are convenient but often have either a significant weight disadvantage due to added mechanisms and structure required for automatic locking or require greater maneuvering skills and planning when attaching and lifting. For example, the Bruno Outsider™ has an automatic arm which clamps a mobility device, and Freedom Sciences™ has an automatic lockdown mechanism that fits under the wheelchair. Other proposed solutions, including the Tri-Lift™ described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,615, respond to many of the above criteria, but present difficulties when trying to attach a wheelchair to the mechanism due to the design of the docking device, which requires precise alignment of the mating parts of the lift and the personal mobility device.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a lifting and transferring apparatus for assisting persons when entering and exiting a vehicle which overcomes the above-described inadequacies and shortcomings, in a manner that entails minimal weight and structure, insures applicability for a wide range of sizes and styles of vehicles, minimizes the distance between the personal mobility device load center and the vehicle, and incorporates an integrated and easy-to-use automatic docking mechanism.