Industry Patents

A lift assembly comprising an article to be raised and lowered, a cable coupled to the article and defining a longitudinal axis, a power mechanism coupled to the drive element, a drum powered by the power mechanism, a cable keeper biasing the drive element toward the drum, a keeper shaft providing lateral movement of the cable keeper, and an encoder mounted for rotation with the keeper shaft. The encoder provides information regarding the position of the article. The lift assembly can also include a load cell assembly including a load cell housing, a load cell member contacting the drive element and movable relative to the load cell housing, and a load cell sensor coupled to the load cell member and operative to provide an output corresponding with a load on the drive element. The load cell member can be mounted for movement laterally relative to the longitudinal axis.