The present application concerns vehicle loading arrangements. In particular, embodiments of the present invention concern vehicle loading arrangements suitable for enabling wheelchairs to be loaded into vehicles for example ambulances.

If a wheelchair user and their wheelchair are to be carried in the back of a vehicle, it is necessary to provide means by which the wheelchair and wheelchair user can be raised from ground level to the level of the floor of the vehicle.

One of the simplest approaches to this problem is for a vehicle to be fitted with a ramp. It is, however, necessary to ensure that any ramp has a relatively shallow slope of approximately 10-15° so that a wheelchair does not over balance when it is being loaded into the vehicle. This means that in order to raise a wheelchair to the level of the floor of a vehicle, a relatively long ramp is necessary.

In view of the length of ramp necessary, often a ramp is provided which can be folded and then stowed in the back of a vehicle. However, a folding ramp can still cause problems because when stowed, the ramp can obscure the driver's rear view. To avoid this problem a window needs to be provided in the ramp increasing the complexity of the ramp assembly.

As an alternative to a folding ramp, some vehicles are provided with a sloping floor to which a smaller ramp is connected. By providing a sloping floor, the distance a wheelchair needs to be raised for loading onto a vehicle can be minimised and hence the length of ramp can be reduced. However, a disadvantage with such a system is however that when a wheelchair is loaded into the vehicle, the wheelchair rests on the slope and therefore anyone seated within the wheelchair is not level with the rest of the vehicle.

An alternative vehicle loading arrangement is therefore desirable.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle loading arrangement comprising:

a ramp; and a moveable floor operable to move between a stowed position in which the moveable floor is substantially level with the floor of a vehicle, and a deployed position in which the moveable floor is at an angle relative to the floor of the vehicle, inclined downwards towards the ramp.

By providing a loading arrangement including a moveable floor, a means is provided so that a shorter ramp can be used to enable a wheeled load to be loaded onto a vehicle. When the wheeled load has been loaded onto the vehicle, the floor can then be returned to the stowed position thus enable the load to be carried with the load level with the floor of a vehicle.

In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of converting a vehicle comprising the steps of:

removing a section of the flooring of a vehicle; and inserting a vehicle loading arrangement in place of the removed area of flooring wherein the vehicle loading arrangement includes a ramp; and a moveable floor portion, moveable between a stowed position in which the moveable floor portion is substantially level with the remainder of the floor of a vehicle and a deployed position in which the moveable floor portion forms an angle with the remainder of the floor of a vehicle, said ramp being movably connected to said moveable floor portion and operable to be positioned when said moveable floor portion is in said deployed position to form an extension of said moveable floor portion.

Preferably the ramp is hingedly connected to the movable floor portion, but a telescopic sliding connection is also possible.

Further aspects and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle incorporating a vehicle loading arrangement in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2A is a schematic perspective view of the vehicle loading arrangement of Figure 1 in a stowed position; Figure 2B is a schematic perspective view of the vehicle loading arrangement of Figure 1 in a deployed position; Figure 3A is a schematic cross sectional view of the vehicle loading arrangement of Figure 1 in a stowed position; Figure 3B is a schematic cross sectional view of the vehicle loading arrangement of Figure 1 in a deployed position; Figure 4A is a schematic cross sectional view of a vehicle loading arrangement in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention in a stowed position; Figure 4B is a schematic cross sectional view of the vehicle loading arrangement of Figure 4A in a deployed position; and Figure 5 is a schematic cross sectional view of a vehicle loading arrangement in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.

First Embodiment

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle 1 incorporating a vehicle loading arrangement 2 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, for facilitating the loading and unloading of a wheel chair onto the load bed within the vehicle.

The loading arrangement 2 is also illustrated in Figures 2A & 2B and 3A & 3B. Figures 2A & 2B comprise a pair of schematic perspective views of the vehicle loading arrangement 2 in a stowed and a deployed position and Figures 3A & 3B comprise a pair of corresponding schematic cross sectional views of the vehicle loading arrangement 2 in the same stowed and deployed positions.

In this embodiment, the vehicle loading arrangement 2 comprises a housing 3 having a bottom wall 4, front 5 and side walls 6a, 6b which together define an upwardly and rearwardly open cavity 7. A moveable floor portion 8 is attached by a first hinge 9 to the upper edge of the front wall 5 of the housing 3. A ramp 10 is attached by a second hinge 12 to the moveable floor portion 8 along an edge remote from, and in this embodiment opposite, the edge of the moveable floor portion 8 connected to the housing 3 by the first hinge 9.

Provided within the cavity 7 defined by the housing 3 and the underside of the moveable floor portion 8 are a pair of air bags 15, a control circuit 17, an air supply 18 and a compressor 19 (not seen in Figure 1) .

The air bags 15 are positioned within the cavity 7 remote from the front wall 5 so that when the air bags 15 are inflated the airbags support the edge of the moveable floor portion 8 remote from the first hinge 9. Conversely, when the airbags 15 are deflated, the moveable floor portion 8 is no longer supported by the air bags 15 and therefore rotates about the hinge 9 to come to the deployed position illustrated in Figure 1. Thus by inflating and deflating the air bags 15, the moveable floor portion can be made to rotate about the first hinge 9.

The air supply 18 is connected to the air bags 15 via the compressor 19 and a valve 20. The control circuit 17 is itself connected to a control panel 22 via a control lead 24 and to both the compressor 19 and the valve 20 which are responsive to signals received from the control panel 22 either to cause the valve 20 to be opened and closed or the compressor 19 to be activated so as to inflate the air bags 15 or to open the valve 20 without activating the compressor 19 to cause the air bags 15 to deflate. The compressor 19 and control circuit 17 and also connected to an electrical socket 25 which provided in the front wall 5 of the housing 3 which is arranged so as to connect the compressor 19 and control circuit 17 to the electricity supply of the vehicle 1.

In this embodiment, in which the loading arrangement 2 is a self contained unit, in order to accommodate the vehicle loading arrangement 2, part of the floor 30 of a conventional vehicle 1 is removed, and the housing 3 of the loading arrangement 2 is then fixed into the gap formed in the floor 30.

Referring to figure 2A, in order to provide the housing 3 with structural integrity, and also to ensure that when the housing 3 is fixed in place within the floor 30 of a vehicle 1 the vehicle 1 itself also maintains the structural integrity that it would have were a portion of the floor 30 not removed to enable insertion of the vehicle loading arrangement 2, reinforcing brackets 37 are provided on the exterior of the side walls 6a, 6b of the housing 3 and beneath the bottom wall 4 of the housing.

In this embodiment, the upper edges of side walls 6a, 6b of the housing 7 are turned out to form flanges in which a series of screw holes are provided. These flanges are offered up from below to contact the floor panel adjacent the removed portion of the floor, and bars 38 having corresponding holes are then attached to each of these flanges by means of screws which also pass through the floor 30 of the vehicle 1 thereby fixing the loading arrangement 2 in place relative to the floor 30. These bars 38 have a width such that when the bars 38 are fixed in place on the flanges via the screw holes, a portion of each bar 38 overhangs the interior of the sidewalls 6a, 6b of the housing 3. This overhang then prevents the moveable floor portion 8 from moving above the upper surface of the side walls 6a, 6b when the air bags 15 are inflated as is illustrated in Figures 2 A and 3A and hence in use prevents the moveable floor portion 8 from moving beyond a position level with the floor 30 of the vehicle.

Similarly, provided on the interior of the side walls 6a, 6b of the housing 3 extending within the cavity 7 defined by the housing 3 are a pair of guide rails 38. These guide rails 38 are provided at an oblique angle of approximately 10-15° relative to the surface of the moveable floor portion 8 in its stowed position.

In Figures 2B and 3B, the loading arrangement 2 is shown in its deployed position. As the airbags 15 are deflated, the moveable floor portion 5 rotates about the hinge 9 until it comes to rest against the oblique guide rails 38. Thus by inflating and deflating the airbags 15, the moveable floor portion 8 can be rotated about the hinge 9 between these stowed and deployed positions. In use when it is desired for a wheelchair 42 and user 44 to be loaded into the vehicle 1, after the vehicle 1 has been parked with the vehicle engine switched off and the brakes of the vehicle 1 applied, first of all the tailgate 46 of the vehicle 1 is opened.

Where the vehicle 1 is provided with variable air suspension, the control panel 22 is then operated to cause the suspension of a vehicle 1 to lower the vehicle suspension so as to reduce the height difference between floor 30 of the vehicle 1 and the ground.

A user then activates the control panel 22 which sends a signal to the control circuit 17. The control circuit 17 then generates a signal which causes the valve 20 to open and allow air within the air bags 15 to escape. As the airbags 15 beneath the moveable floor portion 8 deflate, the air bags 15 then cease to support the moveable floor portion 8. The moveable floor portion therefore rotates about the hinge 9 so as to move from its stowed position where the floor portion 8 is level with the floor 30 of the vehicle 1 to the deployed position in which the moveable floor portion 8 makes an angle of approximately 10-15° relative to the floor 30 of the vehicle 1. Once the moveable floor portion 8 is in its deployed position, the ramp 10 is then manually rotated about the second hinge 12 from a first position in which the ramp 10 extends perpendicularly upwardly the moveable floor portion 8 to the ramp's deployed position in which the surface of the ramp 10 acts as an extension of the moveable floor portion 8. The wheelchair 32 is then attached to a winch (not shown) and the winch is used to draw the wheelchair 42 up the ramp 10 and onto the moveable floor portion 8.

When the wheelchair 42 is resting on the moveable floor portion 8, the wheelchair 42 is then restrained in that position and the ramp 8 is then manually rotated about the second hinge 12 back to its first position. The control panel 22 is then activated which causes the control circuit 17 to send signals to the compressor 19 to cause compressed air to be passed via the valve 20 into the airbags 15 beneath the moveable floor portion 8. The air bags 15 then re-inflate which in turn causes the moveable floor portion 8 to return to its stowed position so that the wheelchair 42 rests on a surface level with the surface of the floor 11 of the vehicle 1, at which point the control circuit 17 sends a signal to the compressor 19 and the valve 20 to close the valve 20 and stop passing air into the air bags 15.

Finally the control panel 22 is used generate a signal to cause the suspension return to its normal ride height and the tailgate 46 is closed, after which the vehicle 1 can be driven away.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to Figures 4A and 4B which are schematic cross sectional views of a vehicle loading arrangement 2 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention in a stowed and deployed position respectively.

In the first embodiment a loading arrangement is described in which the movement of a moveable floor portion 8 is actuated by the inflation or deflation of a pair of air bags 15. Further in the first embodiment a loading arrangement is described in which a ramp 10 is manually rotated about a hinge 12 from a first position into its deployed position.

In this embodiment, an alternative loading arrangement is described in which movement of the moveable floor portion is not dependent upon the inflation and deflation of air bags 15 and in which a ramp is automatically moved into its deployed position as a result of the motion of the moveable floor portion from a stowed position to a deployed position.

Referring to Figures 4A and 4B instead of the valve 20 and air compressor arrangement 18, 19 provided within the cavity 7 defined by the walls 4, 5, 6a, 6b of the housing 3, in this embodiment and provided within the cavity 7 are an actuator 50 such as a solenoid or a pneumatic or hydraulic piston which is connected to the centre of a toggle 52 that extends between and is connected to the bottom wall 4 of the housing 3 and the underside of a modified moveable floor portion 55.

When the floor portion is in a stowed position shown in Figure 4A, the toggle 52 is in an over centre position where the centre of the toggle 52 abuts a bar 58 that extends across the width of the cavity 7. In this over centre position, the toggle 52 acts to support the movable floor portion 55 remote from the hinge 9 connecting the movable floor portion 55 to the back wall 5 of the housing. Further as the toggle 52 is in an over centre position and further movement of the toggle 52 is prevented by the bar 58, the modified floor portion 55 will remain in this stowed position until the toggle 52 is actively pulled from this over centre position.

In this embodiment in which a ramp is automatically deployed as the modified floor portion 55 rotates about the hinge 9, a telescopic ramp 60 is provided which when the modified floor portion 55 is in the stowed position of Figure 4A rests within a slot 62 provided within the modified floor portion 55. So that the telescopic ramp 60 is automatically deployed as the modified floor portion 55 rotates about the hinge 9, a rack and pinion 64, 65 is provided. In this embodiment the rack 64 comprises a curved rack following an arc concentric with the axis of the hinge 9 connecting the modified floor portion 55 to the front wall 5 of the housing 3. The pinion 65 is connected to the underside of the modified floor portion 55 and has an inner 68 and an outer 69 gear where the teeth of the inner gear are arranged to interact with teeth of the curved rack 64 and the teeth of the outer gear 69 are arranged to interact with teeth 70 provided on the underside of the telescopic ramp 60.

When an appropriate signal is received from the control panel 22 this causes the actuator 50 attached to the centre of the toggle 52 to contract which pulls the centre of the toggle 52 away from its position abutting the bar 58 towards the front wall 5 of the housing 3. The toggle 52 then initially passes through a centre position and then moves towards the retracted position shown in Figure 4B. As this occurs, the toggle 52 ceases to support the modified floor portion 55 remote from the hinge 9 and the modified floor portion 55 therefore rotates about the hinge 9 until the modified floor portion 55 rests on the upper surface of the bar 58 in the position shown in Figure 4B.

As the modified floor portion 55 rotates about the hinge 9 the inner gear 68 of the pinion 65 engages the teeth of the curved rack 64 which in turn causes the gear 68 to rotate anticlockwise as seen in the figure. The outer teeth of the pinion 65 engage the teeth 70 on the underside of the telescopic ramp 60 and the anticlockwise rotational movement of the pinion 65 causes the telescopic ramp 60 to be moved from a position within the slot 62 to a deployed position where the ramp extends beyond the edge of the modified floor portion 55 remote from the hinge 9. Conversely when the actuator is expanded causing the centre of the toggle 52 to move away from the front wall 5 of the housing 3 the modified moveable floor portion 55 rotates in the opposite direction about the hinge 9 which in turn causes the pinion 55 to move up the curved rack 64 and as a result the pinion 65 rotates clockwise and the teeth of the pinion engage the rack 70 to retract the telescopic ramp 60 back within the slot 62 as the modified floor portion 55 returns to the stowed position of Figure 4A.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment of the present invention will now be described. Whereas in the first embodiment of the present invention a system was described in which a ramp 10 was manually rotated about a hinge and in the second embodiment a telescopic ramp 60 was described as being automatically deployed, in this embodiment an alternative arrangement is described in which the motion of the moveable floor portion causes a ramp 10 to rotate automatically about a hinge between its stowed and deployed positions .

Referring to Figure 5 which is a schematic cross sectional diagram of a loading arrangement in accordance with this embodiment, this loading arrangement identical to that described in the first embodiment is provided except that in addition to those elements present in the first embodiment a swinging link 100 is also provided. One end of this swinging link 100 is attached to the ramp 5 and the other is arranged to pivot around a pivot point 101 fixed on the housing sidewall . The relative positions of the ramp 10, the swinging link 100, the pivot point 101, the moveable floor portion 8, hinges 9 and 12 and the housing 3 of the loading arrangement of this embodiment in a stowed position are shown by the solid lines in Figure 5.

When the moveable floor portion 8 moves from the stowed position shown by solid lines in Figure 5 to its deployed position 8' shown by a dotted line in Figure 5, the rotation of the moveable floor portion 8 also causes the swinging link 100 to move about the pivot point 101 so as to come to a position 100' shown by a dotted line. As a result of this movement the swinging link 100 acts to cause the ramp portion 10 to rotate about the hinge 12 so that as the same time as the moveable floor portion moves between position 8 and position 8' the ramp 10 is caused to be extended into position 10'.

Thus in this way by providing a swinging link 100 attached to a pivot point 101 and the ramp 10, a means is provided which causes the ramp 10 to automatically deploy as the moveable floor portion 8 moves between the stowed 8 and deployed positions 8' and then to automatically retract when the ramp moves back from the deployed position 8' into its stowed position 8. Thus for this embodiment of the present invention no manual interaction for moving the ramp 10 is necessary.

Further Modifications and Embodiments

Although in the first embodiment apparatus has been described in which a loading arrangement is provided to enable loading into the rear of the vehicle, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to loading arrangements for loading in the rear of a vehicle and similar arrangements could be provided where a ramp and a moveable floor portion are provided for enabling loading of a vehicle through a side door rather than from the rear of the vehicle.

Although in the above embodiments, specific loading arrangements have been described, it would be appreciated that the power system to cause a moveable floor portion to move between a stowed and deployed position could be of any type. Thus for example as an alternative to the pneumatic and electrical systems described in the first and second embodiment a hydraulic system could instead be used. Similarly it will be appreciated instead of the automatic ramp deployment system described in the second embodiment a telescopic ramp system could be provided which a user manually deploys a telescopic ramp.

In the first embodiment a loading arrangement is described in which the support of a moveable floor portion is dependent upon the inflation of air bags. In such a system, in order to maintain the level of a moveable floor portion in the event of an air bag failure, additional means could be provided to support the moveable floor portion in a stowed position. Thus for example, a latch arrangement could be provided which either manually or automatically is activated when the moveable floor portion is placed in the stowed position. Such a latching system might be automatically activated as a result of the closing of the tailgate 46 or alternatively upon the movement of the floor portion reaching its stowed position. The latching arrangement may be manually released by opening the tailgate or by operating a release mechanism within the vehicle. Alternatively the latching arrangement may be released by an actuator whose control is linked with the control arrangement for the floor so that the latch is released prior to lowering the floor.

In a further embodiment, the mechanical advantage achievable by the mechanism shown in Figure 5 may be used to raise and lower the movable floor by manually operating the ramp. The ramp and floor may thus be fitted at low cost in a vehicle, since no powered components would be required.