You just need to make sure your axis is far away from the object to lessen the rotation effect that occurs.
the farther away the more it will look like it is raising/lowering straight up.
check the pic:
the axis wouldn't be nearly far enough away from the box in the picture,
but this setup would give the effect of the box lifting straight off the ground if it was moved farther out...
i just didn't want to make a huge pic