Package and article carriers – Vehicle attached – Carrier attached to the front or rear end of vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-30
2004-06-22
Pascua, Jes F. (Department: 3727)
Package and article carriers
Vehicle attached
Carrier attached to the front or rear end of vehicle
C224S924000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06752303
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a bike carrier with a preferred embodiment being suited for attachment to a vehicle such as by way of a trailer hitch attachment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A plurality of bike carrier designs have been developed including complex strap designs that position a bike on the upper surface of a bumper and rely on strap, buckle and trunk hook components to secure the bike to the body of the vehicle. Examples of this type of bike carrier can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,118,018 and 5,038, 980. In addition to the potential damage to the vehicle created by the hook and buckle components, bike carriers of this type are generally limited to single bike support and also often involve a great deal of set up and adjustment.
The prior art also features bike carriers that are designed to extend out away from the rear end of a vehicle from an attachment point in the bumper region of the vehicle such as from a square hitch common on many vehicles, particularly sports utility vehicles or SUV's. Many of these bicycle carriers include carriers with a relatively lengthy vertical main support bar from the top of which extends horizontal support beams that are provided with clamps or the like to attach to a bicycle generally in an upper region of its frame. Examples of this type of bicycle carrier can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,476,202; 5,469,997 and 5,373,978. The reliance on bike frame clamps as the sole means of connection can introduce, however, the potential for undesirable degradation of the more susceptible painted frame regions of bicycles and/or the need for expensive materials that are non-scratching and yet also sufficiently weather resistant.
Carriers that attach to a rear end of a vehicle also include carriers that are not designed for attachment to the upper or internal frame structure of a bicycle or other wheeled appliance, but are designed for providing an underlying platform on which the bicycle can be positioned. Prior art examples of this latter type of bicycle carrier include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,025,932; 5,377,886 ; 5,497,927; and 5,570,825. While these type of carriers typically avoid the drawback of having clamps connecting directly with the bicycle's upper, interior frame structure, they generally suffer from a plurality of other problems, such as being (1) often highly complex in design; (2) not well suited for avoiding tilting of bikes (e.g., motorbikes or bicycles once loaded); (3) not well suited for ease in bike loading; (4) bulky to the extent of presenting difficulties from the standpoint of, for example, shipping, retailer shelf space requirements and high customer handling weight; and/or (5) formed of a large number of unique components making for high manufacturing and purchase costs as well as difficulty in customer assembly or requiring a large deal of costly preassembly by the manufacturer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention features a carrier device that is directed at helping to avoid or alleviate various problems such as those described above as being associated with the prior art. The present invention features a carrier device, which in one preferred embodiment, is a bike carrier that is suited for attachment to a rear end of a vehicle such as by way of, for example, a hitch, tow ball platform or bumper attachment. A preferred embodiment of the present invention features a multi-component carrier which is easy to assemble, remove and/or break down and which is highly versatile in accommodating a variety of bike sizes and shapes and, yet, is also user friendly in allowing for ease of moving and positioning the adjustable components, and rapid bike securement.
The present invention has the advantage of being able to have a compact break down arrangement by way of, for example, reduced and common sizing for many of its components, which is beneficial from the standpoint of, for example, shipping container and storage requirements (particularly from the standpoint of minimizing retailer shelf storage space requirements which is at a premium). The arrangement of the present invention is also able to provide numerous bike carrier advantages while still making efficient use of its components so as to avoid the introduction of too large a number of components, particularly a large number of different designed components, which, again, avoids many of the manufacturing, assembly and use difficulties associated with the prior art. Preferred embodiments of the present invention also avoid lengthy and/or heavy single piece components and thus facilitates low stress operator handling.
The present invention also provides a design that allows for rapid loading and unloading of one or more bikes while still providing high stability and position maintenance assurance to the user.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention features a vehicle connection member preferably in the form of a connection bar such as a tubular bar having an end with means for attachment to a vehicle attachment support (e.g. a tubular bar sized for insertion into a vehicle receiver hitch and with aligned receiver hitch pin apertures in the side walls of the bar).
The connection bar provides support (preferably underlying support) to a cross frame structure. The cross frame structure is preferably a multi-frame element structure featuring a first set of frame elements running more transverse than parallel with respect to the connection bar and a second set of frame element(s) running more parallel to the connection bar than the first set of frame elements. In a preferred embodiment, the first set of frame elements of the cross frame structure comprises a pair of bars or cross-bars (e.g. hollow, tubular bars preferably with a quadrilateral cross-section) which are spaced apart relative to the length of elongation of the connection bar and which are positioned transverse to the direction of elongation of the connection bar.
The first pair of bars, which are elongated in the direction transverse to the connection bar, each extend out to opposite sides of the connection bar with the connection bar preferably contacting an intermediate region of each of the first pair of bars (e.g. each side of each of the cross-bars extending out an equal length to respective sides of the connection bar).
The second set of frame elements of the cross frame structure is preferably comprised of a second pair of bars (or interconnecting bars) extending between and in contact with the cross-bars. In a preferred embodiment the interconnecting bars extend transverse to the cross-bars and thus parallel with the connection bar and in-between the two spaced apart cross-bars. The interconnecting bars are spaced apart along the length of the cross-bars preferably to an equal amount inward of respective ends of the cross-bars and also outward of the central point of each cross-bar. Also, the interconnecting bars are preferably spaced away from adjacent respective sides of the connection bar to leave an opening on each side of the connection bar when the cross frame structure is attached to the connection bar. For example, a high stability cross frame structure can be achieved with the interconnecting bars positioned at an intermediate location within respective half sections of the cross-bars (e.g. one quarter in from each end) which halves extend to opposite sides of the connection bar when mounted. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, a double H-frame structure is formed.
The cross frame structure is also preferably formed as a unitary or monolithic member such as by way of welding the interconnecting bars to the cross-bars. Also, the cross-bars are each unitary bars which preferably have connection bar connection means such as bolt holes extending through upper and lower surfaces of an intermediate area of each of the cross-bars for alignment with spaced (preferably pairs) of bolt holes in the connection bar. Also, while less preferred from the standpoint of ease of assembly and structural integrity, the cross-bars and the interconnecting bar
McLemore Don
McLemore John D.
Pascua Jes F.
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
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