The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 02, 2013
Filed:
Aug. 24, 2010
Applicants:
Michael Story, Denton, TX (US);
Jeff Limbaugh, Allen, TX (US);
Richard K. Hoofard, Dallas, TX (US);
Inventors:
Assignee:
4Front Engineered Solutions, Inc., Carrollton, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
E01D 1/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Dock levelers, such as mechanical dock levelers, are described herein. In one embodiment, a mechanical dock leveler includes a ramp having a lip pivotally attached to a forward edge. A ramp lifting system is configured to assist upward rotation of the ramp as it is manually raised. In this embodiment, a lip lifting system is operably coupled to the ramp lifting system so that the ramp is initially 'downward biased' prior to being raised, and then becomes at least partially supported in a raised position by the lip lifting mechanism, once the lip lifting mechanism is engaged.