Tail-lifts for light goods vehicles
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by John Darker • Tail-board lifts for vehicles in the I5cwt /1-ton category are meeting a current need. Originally designed for hoisting wheel chairs carrying handicapped people into or Out of ambulances or mini-coaches, their cost-saving possibilities in public service and specialized consumer trades are fast being recognized.
Currys have recently ordered a number of Buttonwood Foldaway tail-lifts to speed up the collection and delivery of colour TV sets, etc. The North Thames Gas Board has specified Ratcliff tail-lifts on two Ford Transit 17 cwt vans used for carrying industrial gas meters weighing from 2 to 4 cwt and other gas appliances.
The Ratcliff tail-lift weighing under 3 cwts has a lifting capacity of 10 cwt. It is electro-hydraulically operated and can be installed with the barest minimum of alterations to the vehicle. The parallel link mechanism opens out when the platform of the tail-lift is unlatched and folded down ready for use, bringing the platform clear of the rear of the van for its raising and lowering motions which take place at a small angle to the vertical.
Lowering with the Ratcliff tail-lift is controlled by turning the release cock in the hydraulic system, conveniently installed at the left rear of the body. To raise the lift this cock is closed and a button brings the electric pump into operation. A limit switch breaks the electrical circuit when the platform reaches van floor level. Before driving away, the driver isolates the pump circuit through a switch on the facia The Buttonwood Foldaway has a capacity of 5 cwt and is designed to be as light as possible to minimize payload loss. The operation is electro-hydraulic with fixed controls, lowering and raising being by push button. A 3-cylinder raidal piston pump is directly coupled via an Oldham coupling to a 12 or 24 volt d.c. series wound electric motor. An integral relief valve safeguards the pump and an integral non-return valve is fitted. The platform of the Foldaway is moved by means of two *in. pitch chains attached to the runners and moving round sprockets on the end of the extension ram. The breaking load is 20001b.