Ramp Assembly Patented by Woods Fuller Client Masaba, Inc.

Our firm assisted one of our clients, Masaba, Inc. of Vermillion, SD in obtaining U.S. Patent No. 11,110,842 on an “UNLOADING APPARATUS HAVING RAMP ASSEMBLIES WITH ACTIVELY- AND PASSIVELY-DEPLOYING ELEMENTS.”  This patent protects aspects of a system which includes a conveyor apparatus designed to be driven over by a truck carrying aggregate so that the truck can dump the aggregate downwardly onto the conveyor apparatus.  A structure for supporting the truck as it moves over the conveyor includes a pair of side ramps and a grate over the conveyor through which the aggregate can pass.  The ramps are extendable for use and retractable to permit the system to be stored or towed on a road.  Masaba developed an improved structure for extending and retracting the folding portions of each side ramp using active elements, such as hydraulic actuators, and passive elements, such as cables, to provide a simplified and efficient structure to accomplish the extension and retraction.