Elevated parking/storage device (with no effect on existing ground parking/storage space)

A multi-level parking or storage device is designed to park/store goods to upper decks independently from the goods stored on the ground level. The device is designed in such a way that a platform can be moved up and down at left of the existing parking/storage space; and it can be moved left and right over the existing parking/storage space. When the platform is directly over the existing ground parking/storage space, there are only sets of additional posts grouped together and situated at the inner side of the back end of the existing parking/storage space. This design can multiply the efficiency of an existing parking/storage space without sacrificing or changing the current utility of the ground space.

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Description
(2) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] In big cities around the world, such as New York City, N.Y., parking space is in demand and expensive. Multi-deck parking is a way to increase the efficiency of a parking lot. Many multi-deck parking products are currently available and they sacrifice some existing ground parking space for maneuvering the car on to or off from the upper deck; or the car in the upper deck cannot be moved without moving the car underneath first and that is very inconvenient. In some cases, the parking structure makes it more difficult to maneuver the car in or out of the ground parking space than without the added parking structure. This invention allows parking or retrieving a car to or from the upper deck directly above the ground parking space by using the existing parking lot design and does not require additional space for car maneuvering; also, the car on the upper deck can be moved independently from the car underneath. It actually doubles or triples the capacity of a parking lot if a double deck or triple deck parking is used. More improvement is possible if numerous deck parking is chosen. The same device can also be used for multi-level storage.

[0002] Prior art includes:

[0003] Multi-floor parking facility—it would need space to built a ramp to reach the higher level. Valuable space is sacrificed to build the ramp.

[0004] Vertically movable platform—it can be used in the existing parking space to increase the parking capacity. However, during parking or retrieving the car from the upper deck, the car that is parked underneath needs to be removed first.

[0005] Rotational parking structure—it has multiple platforms in two levels and structured like a rectangle. Each platform can be moved up or down, and left or right if the space to be moved to is not occupied. In this design, an empty space is always required in order to move cars around. This reduces the space usage efficiency to less than double the existing capacity, and therefore it is not as effective as the invention disclosed here. In additional, the rotational parking structure has four posts, and it only allows parking or retrieving a car to or from the platform at the farthest right or left position. Those posts also make it difficult to drive a car in or out of a parking platform.

(3) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] This invention is described in FIG. 1. It has a platform (F) that can be moved vertically (up and down) above the driveway in the parking lot; and the platform can be moved horizontally (left and right) above the existing parking space. A car is parked to the upper position by driving it onto the platform located on the driveway, move the platform up until it reaches the position that is high enough to clear the car on the existing parking space, then move the platform horizontally to the position that is directly above the existing parking space.

[0007] FIG. 2 shows the platform being in the up position. When a car on the upper position is retrieved, the platform is moved horizontally from directly above the existing parking space to the space above the driveway, and then it is moved down to the ground and then the car can be driven away.

[0008] In this invention the platform (F) is attached to a frame (E). The platform moves up or down along the roller posts (RP), and the roller posts (RP) move left or right while carrying the platform with them.

(4) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is a sketch of the invention. F is the platform and it is attached to a frame (E). There are two roller posts (RP) connected by a turning axle (T1). The roller post has a “U” shaped cross section. The frame (E) is equipped with sets of rollers, as shown in the Front View of the roller post, and the rollers sit inside of the roller post. The “U” shaped roller posts serve as tracks for the platform to move up and down along the roller posts. In this sketch, the platform (F) is in the down position. When the platform is in the up position, as shown in FIG. 2, the platform and the frame are carried by the roller posts, which can be moved right and left while being guided by the two arms (A) that are supported by the two posts (P). This design allows the platform (F) to be moved up and down when it is at the left position and moved right and left when it is at the up position.

[0010] Description of the detailed design is discussed later.

(5) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] This invention is a parking or storage equipment that allows multiple levels of parking or storage without needing additional ground space. It actually can improve the parking capacity of any given parking facility by n times if the number of decks built on top of the ground level is n.

[0012] FIG. 1 describes this invention when only one deck is built on top of an existing parking space. In the following, parking application is used to describe the invention. The same idea applies to storage applications in different scales.

[0013] A platform (F) that is designed to carry the weight of a car is attached to a frame (E). There are two roller posts (RP) connected by a turning axle (T1). The roller posts have wheels at the bottom and can be moved left and right on the ground, as shown in the drawing at lower right corner of FIG. 1. The ground can be equipped with tracks for easy movement if desired. A beam can be used to connect the two roller posts at the top to strengthen the structure if desired.

[0014] The roller post has a “U” shaped cross section. At the two ends of the frame E, there are sets of rollers attached to E. These rollers sit inside of the “U” shaped roller post, as shown in the front view of the roller post at the lower left corner of FIG. 1, and they can be driven to travel up and down along the roller posts by a moving mechanism D1, which in turn allows the platform to travel up and down. The turning axle T1 assures the rollers in those roller posts travel at the same pace.

[0015] There are two horizontal arms (A) sticking out to the left from a two posts structure (P) above the ground. The arm is equipped with a moving mechanism D2, such as a motor and a sky rail car as described in the upper left corner of FIG. 1. The sky rail car can be moved left and right along the arm by the motor.

[0016] The distance between the sky rail car's left wheel and the sky rail car's left end is a little bit longer than the width of the roller post. Therefore, the sky rail car can travel beyond the left end of the arm by a distance a little bit longer than the width of the roller post. A turning axle T2 connects the two sky rail cars to move them at the same pace.

[0017] The roller post (RP) is connected to the left side of the sky rail car. When the motor drives the sky rail car traveling along the arm and carrying the roller post to the farthest position to the left, the roller post is situated right outside of the left margin of the ground parking space, while the left end of the arm remains inside the margin.

[0018] Due to the supporting of the roller post, the bending force on the “arm” incurred by the weight carried on the platform would not change with the position of the roller post.

[0019] When the sky rail car travel to the right, and reaches its farthest position on the right with the roller post, there is nothing sticking out beyond the left margin of the ground parking space. However, at this position, the right ends of the sky rail cars stick out to the right.

[0020] When a car is to be parked on the upper position, the car is driven onto the platform at ground position, then the platform is pulled up along the roller posts to the up position. The height of the up position is designed to clear the car parked on the ground level. The platform is then moved with the roller posts to the right until it is directly above the ground parking space as shown in FIG. 2.

[0021] When the car is to be retrieved from the upper deck, the platform is moved with the roller posts to the left until the right edge of the platform clears the left side of the ground parking space. The platform is then moved down along the roller posts until it reaches the ground. The car then can be driven away.

[0022] The benefit of this design is that there is no sacrifice of the ground space utility around the existing parking space.

[0023] This design can be used for parking application as described above. It can also be used for multi-level storage of other goods. The design can be used for storing very small items, where motor and sky rail car can be eliminated and other types of driving mechanism can be used. It can also be used for large storage with no limitation on the size, such as for furniture storage. The concept applies to different sizes of application. Proper engineering design needs to be done for each specific application.

[0024] The detailed designs for the platform, the roller post, the arm, the motor driven mechanisms and the safety measures are commonly known in the industry and will not be discussed here.

Claims

1. A parking or storage device that is composed of two major parts. One part is a platform that can be moved up and down along two roller posts. The other part is the two horizontal arms supported by a fixed structure on one end, and each connected to a roller post by a moving mechanism; the roller posts can be moved left and right along the horizontal arm. With this design, the bending force on the “arm” incurred by the weight carried on the platform would not change with the position of the roller post. When the car or goods is on the upper deck and directly over the ground parking/storage space, there will be only sets of posts sitting at one end and inside of the existing ground parking space. Nothing sticks out to the other end of the ground parking/storage space.

2. The said horizontal arm is equipped with a sky rail car driven by a motor.

3. The farthest position that the sky rail car can travel to the left is by a distance equal to the width of the roller post from the left end of the arm.

4. Each said roller post is connected to the sky rail car.

5. Other moving mechanism can also be used to move the platform and the roller posts.

Patent History
Publication number: 20040131450
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 7, 2003
Publication Date: Jul 8, 2004
Inventor: How Sen Yang (Medford, NJ)
Application Number: 10337199