Package and article carriers – Vehicle attached – Carrier associated with vehicle roof or trunk lid
Patent
1995-12-06
1997-06-24
Recla, Henry J.
Package and article carriers
Vehicle attached
Carrier associated with vehicle roof or trunk lid
224309, B60R 904
Patent
active
056411073
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The subject invention concerns a foot member in roof-mounted load-carriers for vehicles, of the kind comprising a pair of support members, each member being placed on the upper face of the vehicle roof adjacent the respective one of the two longitudinal sides of the vehicle, a carrier rail extending transversely across the vehicle roof and interconnecting said support members, and a grip member in cooperating engagement with the adjacent roof edge portion and arranged to be actuated by a lever mechanism to releasably secure the load-carrier by clamping it against the corresponding roof-edge portion as a result of mutual vertical displacement of the individual grip member relatively to its associated support member upon pivotal movement of said lever.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main purpose of the invention is to provide a simple and reliable actuating mechanism which is designed to clamp the support member against the roof edge portion and which comprises a reduced number of movable components in said mechanism.
This purpose is achieved by means of foot member in accordance with the invention which is essentially chatacterized in that the support member and the lever comprise one curved cam part each, said cam parts arranged, upon pivotal movement of said lever, to perform a scissor-blade motion of displacement, a slidable body, which is connected to the grip member, extending through the free area between the two cooperating cam curves, i.e. externally of the "scissor-blade nip"0 calculated in the direction from the pivot between said lever and the support member, the position of displacement of said slidable body being determined by the portion of the "scissor-blade nip", i.e. by the position of pivotment of said lever relatively to the support member.
Preferably, the lever serves as a handle and is designed as a single-arm lever, the cam curves being positioned on the same side of the pivot as the handle and being directed so as to ensure that the "scissor-blade bite"0 is displaced away from the pivot point when the handle/lever is pivoted towards the foot member.
Preferably, the support member and the lever also are formed with one each of spaced apart, mutually parallel cam curves. In this manner, the slidable body will be positively and firmly guided, also when exposed to high pulling forces.
In addition, the spacing between cam curves associated with the same component and having a comparatively stable orientation relatively to said component is bridged by a yoke member supporting the associated sliding body and, from which yoke the grip portion is suspended at its top.
In addition, the means of suspension of the grip member from the yoke is in the form of a bolt extending through the yoke and by means of which the vertical position of said grip member relatively to the support member, and thus the degree of tightening between said grip member and said support member, may be adjusted by screwing or unscrewing the bolt.
This arrangement provides stable orientation of the slidable body and permits the grip member clamping position to be adjusted in a simple manner.
Preferably, the curved cam parts comprise, at least at one end of their operative part, a shoulder having an edge for support of said slidable body extending transversely relatively to the transverse direction of the pulling force acting on the slidable body. Owing to this shoulder a stable end position is obtained, preventing the foot member from being unintentionally loosened from the associated roof edge portion.
Furthermore, the central portion of the yoke is formed with supporting faces turned towards the cam part side faces. This provides an efficient lateral orientation of the slidable body.
Preferably, the curvature of the cam curves is designed to ensure that the gear ratio between the lever and the grip member is higher during the last part of the clamping movement than during the rest of that movement. In this manner it becomes possible to rapidly bring the clamping member to its clamping positio
REFERENCES:
patent: 3064868 (1962-11-01), Treydte
patent: 4496089 (1985-01-01), Eklund
patent: 5104020 (1992-04-01), Arvidsson et al.
patent: 5366128 (1994-11-01), Grim
Mont Blanc Industri AB
Recla Henry J.
Vidovich Gregory M.
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