Bicycle carrier

Supports: racks – Special article – Velocipede type

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C211S017000, C224S325000, C224S924000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06283310

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to bicycle carriers and more particularly to a fork block and wheel tray used to secure a bicycle on a roof rack.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the growing popularity of bicycling as a recreational activity, vehicles are often equipped with racks to transport bicycles. Such racks come in many different styles and configurations. One common configuration is a roof rack in which one or more bicycles are mounted to a pair of crossbars that extend across the top of the vehicle.
Various systems have been developed to secure and stabilize bicycles on vehicle-mounted cross arms. One such system utilizes a fork block mounted to one of the bars with a skewer extending therethrough to receive and grip the front forks of a bicycle. Typically, a wheel tray extends from the fork block to the other crossbar to receive the rear tire of the bicycle. In a slight variation, a short wheel tray is attached to only one crossbar to receive the rear wheel. One limitation of this variation is that the rear wheel must be substantially centered over the crossbar to avoid creating excess torque on the short wheel tray and/or crossbar. This limitation can be a problem where the crossbars cannot be positioned on the vehicle to accommodate the wheel base of a particular bicycle, or where it is desirable to carry bicycles with different wheel bases.
In addition to meeting the basic physical requirements of mounting a bicycle on a vehicle, it is also important for a rack to permit the bicycle to be locked on to prevent unauthorized removal. In systems utilizing fork blocks, this is usually accomplished by providing a lock associated with the skewer to prevent the skewer from being opened. Existing lock designs are either unnecessarily complex or not sufficiently secure.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2576222 (1951-11-01), Hill
patent: 3239115 (1966-03-01), Bott et al.
patent: 3828993 (1974-08-01), Carter
patent: 3848784 (1974-11-01), Shimano et al.
patent: 3893568 (1975-07-01), Lile
patent: 3912139 (1975-10-01), Bowman
patent: 4028915 (1977-06-01), Stahl
patent: 4057182 (1977-11-01), Kolkhorst et al.
patent: 4057183 (1977-11-01), Ness
patent: 4114409 (1978-09-01), Scire
patent: 4274569 (1981-06-01), Winter et al.
patent: 4386709 (1983-06-01), Graber
patent: 4433786 (1984-02-01), Wahl
patent: 4442961 (1984-04-01), Bott
patent: 4469257 (1984-09-01), Parker
patent: 4473176 (1984-09-01), Harper
patent: 4621873 (1986-11-01), Weinstein et al.
patent: 4629104 (1986-12-01), Jacquet
patent: 4702401 (1987-10-01), Graber et al.
patent: 4724692 (1988-02-01), Turin et al.
patent: 4842148 (1989-06-01), Bowman
patent: 4887754 (1989-12-01), Boyer et al.
patent: 4934572 (1990-06-01), Bowman et al.
patent: 4938475 (1990-07-01), Sargeant et al.
patent: 4964287 (1990-10-01), Gaul
patent: 5005390 (1991-04-01), Giannini et al.
patent: 5007260 (1991-04-01), Sharp
patent: 5007568 (1991-04-01), Da Vault
patent: 5014890 (1991-05-01), Perry
patent: 5020708 (1991-06-01), Kalbach
patent: 5027628 (1991-07-01), De Rocher et al.
patent: 5037019 (1991-08-01), Sokn
patent: 5042705 (1991-08-01), Johansson
patent: 5052605 (1991-10-01), Johansson
patent: 5065921 (1991-11-01), Mobley
patent: 5092504 (1992-03-01), Hannes et al.
patent: 5118125 (1992-06-01), Plunkett
patent: 5127564 (1992-07-01), Romero
patent: 5169044 (1992-12-01), Englander
patent: 5201911 (1993-04-01), Lee
patent: 5226341 (1993-07-01), Shores
patent: 5232134 (1993-08-01), Allen
patent: 5265897 (1993-11-01), Stephens
patent: 5275319 (1994-01-01), Ruana
patent: 5291763 (1994-03-01), Cuisinot
patent: 5362173 (1994-11-01), Ng
patent: 5427286 (1995-06-01), Hagerty
patent: 5435475 (1995-07-01), Hudson et al.
patent: 5476200 (1995-12-01), Wong
patent: 5479836 (1996-01-01), Chang
patent: 5492258 (1996-02-01), Brunner
patent: 5511894 (1996-04-01), Ng
patent: 5516020 (1996-05-01), Lawler et al.
patent: 5526971 (1996-06-01), Despain
patent: 5560498 (1996-10-01), Porter
patent: 5560666 (1996-10-01), Vieira et al.
patent: 5570825 (1996-11-01), Cona
patent: 5579972 (1996-12-01), Despain
patent: 5582044 (1996-12-01), Bolich
patent: 5598959 (1997-02-01), Lorensen et al.
patent: 5611472 (1997-03-01), Miller
patent: 5699684 (1997-12-01), Sulin
patent: 5699945 (1997-12-01), Micklish
patent: 5709521 (1998-01-01), Glass et al.
patent: 5738258 (1998-04-01), Farrow et al.
patent: 5749694 (1998-05-01), Ackerman et al.
patent: 5779116 (1998-07-01), Rosch et al.
patent: 5875947 (1999-03-01), Noel et al.
patent: 6053336 (2000-04-01), Reeves
patent: 3034750A1 (1982-04-01), None
patent: 4208064A1 (1993-05-01), None
patent: 1189908 (1988-02-01), None
patent: 1236808 (1993-04-01), None
535xt Classic Fork Mount Instructions, Thule U.S.A., undated.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Bicycle carrier does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Bicycle carrier, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Bicycle carrier will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2541102

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.