Lift apparatus for pallets

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention comprises a lift apparatus for pallets which facilitates the loading and unloading thereof and includes a U-shaped enclosure having a rear portion and two adjacent side portions and a selectively movable lift cradle situated within the enclosure for holding a loading platform such as a pallet.
A lift actuating device vertically moves the lift cradle up or down so that the loading platform may be positioned at a convenient height for loading and unloading.
Thus the pallet may be positioned at approximately waist level so that materials may be stacked on the pallet without the need for the constant bending and stooping that has heretofore been necessary in order to load the pallet.
The walls of the enclosure may be made sufficiently high so that when the pallet is placed at a convenient height, enough of the interior wall remains above the top surface of the pallet to serve as a partial container for the stacked materials.
As the materials are stacked higher, the lift cradle may be lowered by depressing a switch which actuates a lift mechanism to provide continuous vertical movement in the desired direction until the switch is released.
Thus, as each layer of materials is stacked on the pallet, the height may be constantly adjusted so that the new loading surface is maintained at a height which enables the loader to stand upright when stacking materials.
Also the apparatus is heavy enough so that a loader may brace himself against its outer walls for leverage when loading materials toward the center of the pallet.
The lift mechanism may include a scissors lift driven by a hydraulic piston and may be enclosed between interior and exterior walls of the enclosure thereby shielding workers from the potential danger of limbs being caught in the mechanism.
The lift cradle is suspended from a carriage bar by four hangers.
Thus, the cradle, when lowered, may rest directly on the floor, permitting the pallet to be placed in the lift cradle by manually sliding it or by using a pallet jack to load and unload the cradle