Package and article carriers – Vehicle attached – Carrier associated with vehicle roof or trunk lid
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-31
2004-08-10
Vidovich, Gregory (Department: 3727)
Package and article carriers
Vehicle attached
Carrier associated with vehicle roof or trunk lid
C211S019000, C211S020000, C224S314000, C224S321000, C224S325000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06772927
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to carriers mountable to vehicles for transporting sports equipment. More particularly, it relates to carriers typically mountable to a rear end of a vehicle for transporting bicycles thereon.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many types of sports equipment are useable only under certain conditions and/or in specific locales. Examples of such sports equipment include surfboards that are ridden at beaches and snow skis that are normally used at ski resorts. The beach and ski areas are often remotely located from the homes of those who use them, therefore the need for transporting sports equipment upon vehicles to these locations has long been recognized.
In the instance of bicycling, a rider will often desire to ride his or her bicycle in different areas without having to ride the bicycle to those areas. To facilitate the transportation of one or more bicycles, bicycle carriers mountable to passenger vehicles have been developed. The carriers are typically mountable to the rear end of a vehicle, however, the carriers may be configured to be mounted at other locations upon a vehicle as long as the location is convenient for loading the bicycles onto the carriers and neither the bicycles nor the carrier inconveniences the driver or obstructs visibility. Examples of such bicycle carriers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,323 to Chimenti et al for a BICYCLE CARRIER ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON THE BACK OF A VEHICLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,767 to Chimenti et al for a BICYCLE CARRIER ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON THE BACK OF A VEHICLE and U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,996 to Raaber et al also entitled BICYCLE CARRIER ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON THE BACK OF A VEHICLE, each of which is commonly owned together with the present invention and whose disclosures are expressly incorporated herein.
The carriers of the above referenced patents are mountable to the rear end of a carrying passenger vehicle. The carriers incorporate rigid mounting members that engage surfaces of the vehicle and clippable straps that when tightened secure the carrier to the vehicle. The carrier further includes support arms that extend away from the vehicle and upon which one or more bicycles may be secured. In several of these exemplary carriers, once the carrier is properly configured for the particular vehicle upon which it is to be installed and it is secured thereupon, the orientation of the mounting members and support arms is substantially fixed so that relative movement therebetween is prevented.
A sports equipment carrier may not always be utilized on the same carrying vehicle or even similar vehicles. In fact, body configurations vary widely among different passenger vehicles. If the mounting configuration of the carrier were fixed, each carrier would only be installable upon a select group of vehicles. This would be highly inconvenient to persons wishing to use a carrier on vehicles that are not similarly configured. Therefore, the ability to variably adjust the mounting apparatus of an equipment carrier is desirable. Furthermore, the provision of indicia of proper orientation for a particular vehicle is also beneficial to the user. In this way, the need for trial-and-error adjustment is prevented and the installation process is streamlined.
A common feature of many of these known carrier designs is the inclusion of a pair of rearwardly extending arms adapted to receive bicycles to be transported thereupon. In some of these designs, these arms are fixed with respect to the hub to which these arms and frame members are joined together. Alternatively, the hub assembly at which the mounting members and the equipment support arms are interconnected may be variably positioned from vehicle to vehicle. As such, it has also been recognized as desirable to have the ability to variably position the equipment support arm so that the arm may be appropriately oriented into a carrying configuration, regardless of the vehicle to which it is mounted. The hub assembly required to facilitate the variable positioning of the arms relative to the hub, however, is typically quite complex. To accommodate these capabilities, certain designs include mated disc-type members that must rotate relative to one another, as well as lockingly interconnect when a desired orientation is achieved. Not only are these arrangements often not user-friendly because of their complexity, but they are commensurately expensive to manufacture. As a result, more elegant solutions have been sought to simplify such hubs' construction and operation, while at the same time lowering their cost.
Another aspect of such carriers often suffering from deficient design is the cradle upon which the bicycles rest, and by which the bicycles are secured to the carrier. Typically, these cradles provide an important buffer between the carrier and the bicycle. Different configurations for such cradles usually include a securing band or strap that wraps around the supported bicycle frame member. A problem for the user is that both hands are normally occupied lifting the bicycle up to the carrier and positioning it on the cradle(s). In traditional designs, the band or strap has often been provided as a separate element to the actual support for the bicycle. As shown in
FIG. 12
, a replication of
FIG. 2
from U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,247 entitled LOAD SUPPORT PEDESTAL, the use of flexible belting in conjunction with a cradling base unit has been previously employed as a combination. A similar arrangement is shown in
FIG. 11
, a replication of
FIG. 6
from U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,145 entitled MOUNTAIN BIKE RACK, in which the use of flexible elastic cord is employed in conjunction with a cradling base unit. In each of these examples of known designs, both the belting and elastic cord, however, are each so flexible that neither is capable of supporting its own weight and naturally flops across the supporting surface of the cradling base unit portion. This capability of the flexible belt and elastic cord to flop across the surface upon which the bicycle is to be placed is obviously undesirable in that the belt or cord must be moved before the bicycle can be properly installed thereupon. As pointed out above, this is often at a great disadvantage to the user since both hands are occupied with manipulating the bicycle itself. In a related aspect, if the flexible belt or cord has not flopped across the bicycle-receiving surface of the cradling base unit, it has flopped there away from, but must be fished for by the operator in order to affect properly securement across the bicycle frame member. As a result of these observations, it has been appreciated that it is desirable to have the securing strap of the cradle assembly maintained in a readied position for securement about the bicycle frame member, but out of the way until purposefully positioned across the bicycle frame member resting on the cradle base unit.
In a related aspect, it has also been found that too many component-pieces in the cradle's design is also detrimental. Therefore, the fewer component-pieces the better, and also, the more functional features that can be incorporated into these minimized component-pieces the better.
In view of these observations, a need exists for sports equipment carriers having capabilities for variably configuring the mounting apparatus of the carrier, absorbing potentially detrimental forces communicated through the carrier, and damping rebounding forces or bouncing actions induced in the carrier's structure. These features would prove to be beneficial if individually available, or in advantageous combinations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In an effort to alleviate the detrimental and deficient effects described above, several invention are disclosed which incorporate a plurality of beneficial and advantageous aspects for a load carrier arrangement. One such feature is the unique design for associating a load carrying member, such as a bicycle support arm, with the hub upon which it operates. According to one aspect of the disclosed inventio
Brevard Maerena
Novak Druce LLP
Thule Sweden AB
Vidovich Gregory
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