Package and article carriers – Vehicle attached – Carrier attached to the front or rear end of vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-08
2001-09-25
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3727)
Package and article carriers
Vehicle attached
Carrier attached to the front or rear end of vehicle
C224S521000, C224S523000, C224S525000, C224S526000, C224S527000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293451
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cargo and luggage carriers and their attachment to vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to carriers which are shiftably attachable to standard trailer hitches for rearward movement away from rear closure structures of vehicles.
2. Description of Prior Art
When traveling in a single family passenger vehicle, whether going to the airport, taking a day trip to the bike trails, or heading for the ski slops, there seldom seems to be enough space for luggage and other necessary equipment. To provide extra cargo space, many types of carriers including trailers and car top carriers have been developed. Car top carriers operate like sails reducing gas mileage and decreasing vehicle control. Trailers decrease vehicle control and, for the average driver, trailers substantially limit vehicle maneuverability. Limited maneuverability is most prominent when backing up.
Another type of carrier, a hitch carrier, attaches to a standard trailer hitch and is suspended by the hitch above the road surface. The hitch carrier is held behind the vehicle and therefore does not appreciably reduce gas mileage, and the hitch carrier is suspended above the road surface without wheels and therefore does not appreciably limit maneuverability. Even when backing up, the hitch carrier merely extends the length of the vehicle.
One disadvantage encountered is that the hitch carrier blocks the rear entrance of the vehicle. This is solved by shiftably attaching the carrier to the trailer hitch, so that the carrier is movable to a remote position which does not obstruct the closure structure of the vehicle rear entrance. However, shiftably attaching the carriers presents other problems such as noise from rattling parts, dangerous moving components which can come apart or trap fingers, and lack of stability in both a traveling position and in the remote position.
Further, hitch carriers are not well adapted to carry all equipment. While, for example, most camping equipment will fit inside the storage area of hitch carriers, larger or odd shaped items, such as skies and bikes for example, cannot be carried by currently available hitch carriers. Sometimes, even the additional space provided by the hitch carrier is still not enough leaving people in a quandary trying to decide what vital equipment must stay behind.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shiftable hitch carrier which makes less noise during travel.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved shiftable hitch carrier which increases safety.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide and improved shiftable hitch carrier with increased capabilities for carrying large and odd shaped equipment.
The present invention achieves these objects and other objects that become evident from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention by providing an improved hitch carrier adapted to be removably mounted at the rear of a vehicle having a swingable closure structure for closing a rear entrance of the vehicle and provided with a conventional hitch. The carrier includes a frame assembly with a rear section slidably mounted to a midsection for sliding movement relative to the rear entrance of the vehicle between a traveling position and a remote position which allows access to the rear entrance of the vehicle to open the closure structure. In a preferred embodiment, freely rotatable components join the carrier supporting rear section of the frame assembly to the midsection of the assembly, so that minimal physical effort is required to move the carrier toward and away from the back of the vehicle even when the carrier is loaded to its maximum cargo weight capacity. The rotatable components are preferably a plurality of ball bearings which ride in tracks defined between vertically oriented slides on each side of the frame assembly midsection to support the weight of the rear frame section, the cargo carrier, and the load in the carrier. The ball bearings allow virtually frictional in and out telescoping relative movement of the rear section with respect to the midsection which is received in the rear section.
In one embodiment, the carrier includes a latch mechanism for automatically latching the rear section to the midsection when the rear section has been moved to the remote position. The latch mechanism automatically unlatches the rear section of the frame assembly from the midsection when the rear section is moved forwardly toward the rear entrance of the vehicle. Preferably, the latch mechanism has a catch opening and a pivoting latch which is automatically introduced into the catch opening by a biasing member. The latch has an inclined unlatching surface allowing the latch to automatically unlatch when the rear section is moved toward the rear of the vehicle, and because the biasing member forces the latch into the catch opening, the latch initially resists forward movement of the rear section toward the rear of the vehicle.
In another embodiment, the carrier includes a lock assembly having a first lock opening in the midsection and a second lock opening in the rear section with a lock pin extending through the lock openings to substantially prevent relative movement between the midsection and the rear section. The lock pin has a restraining end which cannot pass through the openings and a lock receiving end. A lock member locks onto the lock receiving end to hold and lock the lock pin in the openings. Preferably, the lock assembly has third and fourth lock openings in the midsection and rear section, respectively, through which the lock pin also extends. To reduce noise, nylon bushings are inserted into the second and fourth lock openings of the rear section, and the lock pin extends through the nylon bushings.
In still another embodiment, the carrier includes an expandable sleeve which encloses the telescopic coupling between the midsection and the rear section. Preferably, the sleeve comprises an accordion sleeve with a plurality of expandable and compressible corrugations. The telescopic coupling comprises three slide members with an intermediate slide member interposed between and separated from the other two slide members by ball bearings.
In a further embodiment, the carrier includes an auxiliary equipment carrier mounted on the frame assembly by an auxiliary frame member which is removably held in an auxiliary opening of the frame assembly. Preferably, the frame assembly includes an upwardly extending joining member defining the auxiliary opening. The auxiliary equipment carrier includes a base plate and a hinge plate hingably attached thereto. A closure knob is provided to hold the hinge plate closed and secure skies between the plates.
In a still further embodiment, the carrier further includes a cargo unit extension member connected to a cargo unit support structure carried on the rear section. Preferably, the extension member includes a base end removably connected to a side of the cargo unit support structure. The extension member extends transversely to the rear section and comprises a platform cargo unit. An additional extension cargo unit is preferably attached to the opposite side of the cargo unit support structure.
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LeMay Lance T.
Trotter Tucker D.
Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP
Brevard Maerena W.
Elliott Klye L.
Outdoor Innovations, Inc.
Shoap Allan N.
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