the illustrated telescopic lifting assembly is provided with two antiparallel juxtaposed linear drives 2 , 3 functionally connected one behind the other in the direction of actuation ( arrow 1 ), whereby said linear drives are provided here with two respective hydraulic cylinder / piston arrangements 4 arranged parallel and juxtaposed . however , the linear drives 2 , 3 could also be designed in any other traditional known manner , e . g . in the form of electric screw spindle drives or the like — essential is only one inner component 6 ( the piston rod in this case ) extending outwardly relative from an outer component 5 ( the cylinder in this case ) during actuation , which makes possible a relative displacement between the outer end of the extending inner component and the outer component ( and especially its opposed end ). the inner components 6 of the linear drives 2 , 3 or the cylinder / piston arrangements 4 are interconnected through a coupling piece 7 to reach a relatively great height ( see fig2 ) of the extending lifting assembly ( namely double the original height in terms of measurement ) based on the relative low total height of the retracted lifting assembly as is can be conceived from the illustration in fig1 . as it can be seen in fig2 , the upwardly pointing end pieces of the inner components ( or the piston rods ) 6 of the lower linear drive 3 can be fastened by means of nuts 8 onto an upper support bracket 9 and the downwardly pointing end pieces of the inner components 6 ( or the piston rods ) of the upper linear drive 2 can be fastened by means of nuts 10 onto a support bracket 11 on the lower end of the coupling piece 7 . on the respective opposite side of the support brackets 9 , there are provided guide surfaces 14 on bearing blocks 12 , 13 , which can be adjusted relative to the coupling piece 7 , whereby the guide surfaces cooperated with the outer components 5 of the linear drives 2 , 3 or with the cylinders or the cylinder / piston arrangement 4 in the direction of actuation ( 1 ) and whereby the lifting assembly is guided along the entire lifting range not only along the piston rods and their guides and the seals in the cylinders but also , and above all , along the stable cylinders and the also along the stable bearing blocks of the coupling piece . this results thereby in a very stable and non - twistable guide during the movement of the lifting assembly , especially in connection with the dual arrangement of the respective two cylinder / piston arrangements 4 per linear drive 2 , 3 whereby said lifting assembly is thereby also greatly suitable in the use of heavy loads . the guide surfaces 14 are provided preferably with plain bearing materials , e . g ., made of synthetic material , which guarantees smooth operation of the lifting assembly even at heavy loads . aside of the illustrated “ asymmetrical ” arrangement of the two linear drives 2 , 3 , which causes a lateral moment onto the lower fastening of the lower drive 3 with the vertical load biasing the upper end of the linear drive 2 , the hydraulic cylinders or the linear drives of one side of the lifting assembly could also be arranged symmetrical at both sides of the linear drive ( s ) relative to the other side of the lifting assembly , which would result in two separate upper linear drives or two separate lower linear drives with respectively one linear drive operating in the center of the other side and which would prevent lateral stresses of the above - described kind . in addition , different linear drives could be arranged at both sides of the lifting assembly , especially hydraulic cylinders with different piston diameters and or strokes , which could be actuated independently to one another and , especially , they could be controlled separately with the use of different pressure mediums . the hydraulic cylinders or the cylinder / piston arrangement 4 of the two linear drives 2 , 3 are respectively connected to a support component 15 , which is made in this case in the form of a folded piece of sheet iron and whereby the support component is also provided with the upper and lower exterior mounting pieces 16 of the lifting assembly . the lower mounting piece 16 is fastened to a base plate 18 by means of bolts 17 — the type of connection of the upper mounting piece 16 to a surgical table or the like is not illustrated here . as it can be seen especially in fig3 , the outer component 5 of the cylinder / piston arrangement 5 is smooth and cylindrical , except for the connecting strip 19 having threaded holes for fastening of the support element 15 and having connections for the hydraulic system . the smooth and cylindrical shape makes possible for a large surface to cooperate with the guide surfaces 14 of the coupling piece 7 and which guarantees thereby also smooth operation of the lifting assembly even in case of heavy loads and laterally impacting moments . besides , the outer components 5 can naturally be provided with separate guide tracks or the like to cooperate with the corresponding guide surfaces of the coupling piece 7 , if necessary .