AU2010100916A4 - Vehicle Ramp Extension - Google Patents

Description

1 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT " Vehicle Ramp Extension " The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 VEHICLE RAMP EXTENSION 5 Field of the Invention This invention relates to extensions for vehicle car ramps, and in particular extensions for vehicle car ramps that reduce the gradient of the ramp with respect to the ground for use with vehicles with low ground clearance. 10 Background of the Invention Over the years more vehicles are being produced, or existing vehicles are being modified, that have a lowered profile. By a lowered profile we mean that the vehicle sits lower on its wheels, thereby reducing the amount of clearance between the ground 15 and the body of the vehicle. Also many vehicles are either sold with factory fitted vehicle body accessories such as front air dams and side skirts etc, or these are fitted after sale by the vehicle owner. These types of body accessories can serve both a decorative and/or a practical purpose in improving the performance of the vehicle under certain use conditions, typically when the vehicle is driven at high speeds. 20 There is a significant segment of the motoring public that are performance vehicle enthusiasts. Many of these enthusiasts are also keen to perform their own maintenance on their vehicles to keep them in peak working condition. These enthusiasts enjoy doing as much of their own vehicle maintenance as possible. This 25 includes routine inspection, changing the vehicle's oil and other fluids, and greasing the many different joints that are commonly found on vehicles. Some of this maintenance requires access to the underside of the vehicle. In many home workshops and commercial garages and mechanical workshops, vehicle ramps 30 are used to elevate an end of a vehicle to be worked on and/or inspected.

3 Vehicle ramps have been around almost as long vehicles have been in existence. Ramps are typically used in mechanical workshops, vehicle service centres, garages and home workshops etc to enable easier access to the underside of a vehicle to be serviced or inspected. 5 The basic design of a vehicle ramp consists of a sloped section that angles up from the ground level to a desired height at which there is a plateau section upon which the wheel of the vehicle rests. Typically a pair of ramps are used to raise one end, or side, of a vehicle off the ground. To do this, the leading edge of each of the ramps is 10 placed in front of each of the wheels of the vehicle to be raised. The vehicle is then either driven under its own power, or towed or pushed onto the ramp, whereby the wheels ride up the slope section until they move onto the plateau section where the vehicle is then parked. 15 A problem with many conventional vehicle ramps is the slope of the gradient section is too great to accommodate a vehicle with a lowered profile, or that has additional body components such as air dams and side skirts etc. When the gradient is too large, at least some of the body sections of the vehicle will make destructive contact with the ramp before the vehicle's wheels do. This has the potential to significantly 20 damage these body components by the impact with the ramp. Therefore to use the conventional vehicle ramp, these body parts need to be removed prior to the vehicle being moved onto the ramp. This can be time consuming, and also the act of removal and subsequent re-attachment has the potential to also damage these body components. 25 It is an object of the present invention to overcome these aforementioned problems by providing a unique way to modify the gradient of the slope section of a typical vehicle ramp by using an extension that is attachable to a pre-existing conventional vehicle ramp to enable the combination of ramp and extension to present a gentler gradient to 30 the vehicle, thereby avoiding destructive contact with any of the various body components before the wheels of the vehicle have had a chance to engage with the ramp.

4 Disclosure of the Invention The present invention is an extension for a vehicle ramp including: 5 - a rectangular frame comprising a pair of side members and a plurality of cross members that are substantially evenly spaced along the length of the side members, - the said cross members each lay in a substantially orthogonal direction to the said side members. 10 Wherein one end of the said extension is adapted to lockingly engage with a corresponding cross member of a pre-existing vehicle ramp, and the opposite end of the said extension rests upon the ground. By attaching the extension, the gradient, with respect to the ground, which a vehicle must ride over in order for it to be positioned on the said pre-existing ramp, is reduced. This makes it possible for 15 modified, lowered and/or performance vehicles, that have reduced clearance, to be able to be driven onto the ramp without having the ramp come into destructive contact with any part of the body of the vehicle. Preferably the said frame includes a C shaped section that runs parallel to the said 20 plurality of cross members, and is located substantially at one end of the said frame. The C shaped section extends down below the said frame, and is capable of receiving a cross member of an existing vehicle ramp within it. Preferably the said frame has locking means extending substantially vertically below 25 the frame in a location in front of the opening of the said C shaped section, so that in order for the C shaped section to receive a cross member of an existing vehicle ramp within it, the extension needs to be angled upwards by lifting the ground engaging end to a sufficient angle where the locking means is swung out of the way to thereby permit the C shaped section to slide over a suitable cross member of the said existing 30 vehicle ramp. Then when the raised end of the said extension is lowered back onto the ground, the said extension pivots about the C shaped section, and the locking means swings down on the opposite side of the cross member of the vehicle ramp that 5 is inside the said C section, thereby locking the cross member of the said existing vehicle ramp inside the C section. Preferably the extension cannot be removed from the existing vehicle ramp when a 5 vehicle is parked on the ramp because the said ground engaging end of the said extension cannot be raised sufficiently high enough to swing the said locking means out of the way to allow the C shaped section to slip off the cross member of the vehicle ramp without abutting against the body of the vehicle. This thereby prevents the vehicle being damaged by destructive contact between the existing vehicle ramp, 10 if someone were to remove the extension while a car was supported by the existing vehicle ramp, and forgets to re-attach it prior to the removal of the car from the ramp. Preferably each said side member has at least one support member extending vertically down to the ground when the said extension is in its normal use position, 15 thereby giving the said extension additional load bearing capability. Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the present invention. 20 Figure 2 shows a side view of the present invention. Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the present invention in use with an existing vehicle ramp. Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the present invention being attached to a corresponding cross member of a pre-existing vehicle ramp. 25 Figures 5 to 7 show a cutaway side view illustrating how the present invention lockingly engages with a corresponding cross member of a pre-existing vehicle ramp. Integer List The various elements identified by numerals in the drawings are listed in the 30 following integer list. I Vehicle ramp extension 3 Elongate side members 6 5 Cross members 7 Ground Engaging End 9 Pre-existing vehicle ramp engaging end 11 Vertical support members 5 13 C-shaped section 15 Corresponding cross member of the pre-existing vehicle ramp 17 Locking means 19 Pre-existing vehicle ramp 10 Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Turning firstly to Figure 1, it can be seen from the perspective view that the present invention is a vehicle ramp extension 1 that comprises a pair of elongate side members 3 and a plurality of evenly spaced cross members 5. The ground engaging 15 end 7 is opposite to the pre-existing vehicle ramp engaging end 9. Optionally one or more vertical support members 11 can be attached which increase the load bearing capacity of the extension. As best seen in Figure 2, the pre-existing vehicle ramp engaging end 9 has a C-shaped 20 section 13 extending below the vehicle ramp extension 1 which is capable of receiving within it a corresponding cross member of the pre-existing vehicle ramp. The vehicle ramp extension attaches to a pre-existing car ramp by the interengagement between a corresponding cross member 15 and the C shaped 25 extension 13. A locking means 17 is positioned so that when the extension is attached to a ramp, and the extension is in its normal use position, the locking means 17 retains the corresponding cross member of the pre-existing vehicle ramp 15 within the C-shaped section 13. 30 Figure 3 shows the extension 1 attached to a pre-existing vehicle ramp 19.

7 Figure 4 illustrates how the extension 1 needs to be tilted in order for the locking means 17 to be swung out of the way in order for the C-shaped section to receive a corresponding cross member of the pre-existing vehicle ramp 19 within it. 5 More detail of this can be seen in Figures 5 to 7. In Figure 5, the vehicle ramp extension 1 is at maximum tilt, thereby swinging the locking means 17 out of the way so that C-shaped section 13 can receive the cross member 15 of the pre-existing ramp within it. Next, in Figure 6, the ground engaging end of the ramp extension 1 is swung down towards the ground, and this causes the locking means 17 to swing down 10 on the opposite side of the corresponding cross member 15 of the pre-existing car ramp. Finally in Figure 7, the extension 1 is in its normal use position, and the C shaped section 13 and the locking means 17 combine to lock the extension 1 onto the pre-existing car ramp 19 when in its normal use position. 15 It can be seen that the extension 1 cannot be removed from the pre-existing vehicle ramp 19 if, when a vehicle is on the pre-existing ramp 19, because to remove the extension 1, the extension needs to be tilt upwards, and the extension 1 would abut against the body of the vehicle being supported by the pre-existing vehicle ramp 19 before it could be swung sufficiently far to swing the locking means 17 out of the 20 way,

Claims (5)

1. An extension for a vehicle ramp including: - a rectangular frame comprising a pair of side members and a plurality of 5 cross members that are substantially evenly spaced along the length of the side members, - the said cross members each lay in a substantially orthogonal direction to the said side members, Wherein one end of the said extension is adapted to lockingly engage with a 10 corresponding cross member of a pre-existing vehicle ramp, and the opposite end of the said extension rests upon the ground, thereby reducing the gradient with respect to the ground that a vehicle must ride over in order for it to be positioned on the said pre-existing ramp. 15

2. An extension as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said frame includes a C shaped section that runs parallel to the said plurality of cross members and is located substantially at one end of the said frame, and extends down below the said frame, said C shaped section is capable of receiving a cross member of an existing vehicle ramp within it. 20

3. An extension as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said frame has locking means extending substantially vertically below the frame in a location in front of the opening of the said C shaped section so that in order for the C shaped section to receive a cross member of an existing vehicle ramp within it, the extension needs to be angled 25 upwards by lifting the ground engaging end to a sufficient angle where the locking means is swung out of the way to thereby permit the C shaped section to slide over a suitable cross member of the said existing vehicle ramp, then when the raised end of the said extension is lowered back onto the ground, the said extension pivots about the C shaped section, and the locking means swings down on the opposite side of the 30 cross member of the vehicle ramp that is inside the said C section, thereby locking the cross member of the said existing ramp inside the C section. 9

4. An extension as claimed in claim 3 wherein the extension cannot be removed from the existing vehicle ramp when a vehicle is parked on the ramp because the said ground engaging end of the said extension cannot be raised sufficiently high enough to swing the said locking means out of the way to allow the C shaped section to slip 5 off the cross member of the vehicle ramp without abutting against the body of the vehicle.

5. An extension as claimed in claim 4 wherein each said side member has at least one support member extending vertically down to the ground when the said extension 10 is in its normal use position, thereby giving the said extension additional load bearing capability. 15 Dated this 23rd day of August 2010 I & K SHEPHARD NOMINEES PTY LTD by their patent attorneys Morcom Pernat