AU2004101075A4 - Vehicle racks - Google Patents

Description

File Note The following specification is for an Innovation application and not a Standard application as stated on the following cover page.

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "VEHICLE RACKS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 1 TITLE: VEHICLE RACKS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention THIS INVENTION relates to vehicle racks.

The invention is particularly directed, but not limited to, load carrying racks for vehicles such as utilities, light-trucks and 4WD's with trays and the like.

2. Prior Art Many tradesmen have the necessity to carry long articles, such as ladders, water-and-sewerage pipes and electrical conduit on their work vehicles. Because of the transport regulations, it is preferable that these loads are carried within the confines of the vehicles.

To overcome this problem, various load carrying rack assemblies have been developed for utilities and tray top vehicles to support the articles. However, many of these rack assemblies are either fixed (and so cannot be easily removed when not required) or employ complex, expensive mounting mechanisms to enable the rack assemblies to be either removed or folded away when not required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle rack assembly which can be easily mounted or de-mounted on the vehicle as required.

It is a preferred object to provide such rack assemblies which incorporate an aligning mechanism so that adjacent racks will be 2 0 0 automatically aligned when positioned on the vehicle.

It is a further preferred object to provide such rack assemblies c which are easily installed and which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Other preferred objects of the present invention will become oapparent from the following description.

o In a broad aspect, the present invention resides in a vehicle 0 N rack assembly including: upper and lower tubular post support members for vertically spaced, co-axially aligned, mounting on a vehicle; a tubular post receivably mountable in the upper and lower post support members; article support means at or adjacent an upper end of the tubular post; the upper post support member having an upper face inclined to a horizontal plane and a vertical plate at or adjacent a lowermost portion of the upper face; and a plate on the post, operable to engage the upper face and/or the vertical plate, to locate the post relative to the upper and lower support members.

Preferably, the plate and the vertical plate are releasably securable to restrain the post in the upper and lower support members.

In one preferred embodiment, at least one slot is provided in a side wall of the upper support member to receive a spigot or pin on the post, 1- 3

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c or vice versa, to locate the post relative to the upper and lower support members.

cPreferably, the slot is of substantially Z-shape when viewed relative to a vertical axis of the post.

The article support means may be formed integrallywith, or be oreleasably connectable to, the post; and the centre line of the article support o means may be offset relative to the post.

0 The post may have an upper portion cranked, or inclined to the vertical axis, relative to a lower portion.

Preferably, the upper and lower support members are fixed, or permanently or detachably, to a side wall of a load-carrying body, compartment or tray of the vehicle.

Preferably, the post and upper and lower support members are of complementary circular, square or rectangular cross-section.

Other preferred features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To enable the invention to be fully understood, preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing two alternative embodiments of the vehicle rack assemblies fitted to a utility-type vehicle; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of alternative embodiments of the vehicle rack assemblies; 4

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N FIGS. 3 and 4 are respective perspective and side elevational views of one embodiment of the upper and lower support members; and cFIGS. 5 and 6 are respective perspective and side elevational views of a second embodiment of the upper and lower support members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE oPREFERRED EMBODIMENTS O Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle racks 10, 110 are 0 shown fitted to the load compartment 1 of a utility vehicle 2 and may extend through holes in a tonneau cover 3 covering the load compartment 1. As shown in more detail in FIGS. 2 to 6, the racks 10, 110 are mounted adjacent a side wall 4 of the load compartment 1 and the racks 10, 110 are aligned relative to the utility vehicle 2 to support, eg., a ladder, water and/or sewerage pipes, electrical conduits or other elongate loads (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 2, the vehicle rack assembly 10 has a tubular upper support member 11 which is secured to the side wall 4 of the load compartment 1 by a horizontal bracket 12 and fasteners 13. The upper support member 11 has an inclined upper face 14 and a vertical plate adjacent the lowermost portion of the upper face 14.

The lower support member 16 has a tubular socket 17 vertically spaced below, but coaxially aligned with, the upper support member 11, and is secured to the side wall 4 and floor 5 of the load compartment 1 via an Lshaped bracket 18 and fasteners 19.

The rack assembly 10 has a tubular post 20 which is slidably engageable within the upper and lower support members 11, 16; and a 0 Svertical plate 21, intermediate the length of the post 20, is operable to engage the upper surface 14 of the upper support means 11 so as to rotate rthe tubular post 20 into the required alignment, eg., relative to the side walls 4 of the load compartment 1, and thereby an adjacent rack assembly 110, where rotation is restrained by face-to-face engagement between the oplate 15 on the upper support member 11 and the vertical plate 21. As Oshown, a padlock 22 (or other suitable releasable locking means) may secure the plate 15 and vertical plate 21 together to prevent, eg., unauthorised removal of the post In FIGS. 1 and 2, vehicle rack assembly 10 has a (loadsupporting) horizontal cross-bar 23 terminated by vertical end plates 24, In this embodiment, the cross-bar 23 is relatively offset to the post 20 so that the centre line of the load supported by the rack assembly 10 is carried closer to the centre line of the utility vehicle 2 than the vertical axis of the post 20. Rack assembly 110 has a plurality of vertical load-engaging fingers or plates 126 on the corresponding cross-bar 123.

As shown in FIG. 2, rack assembly 210 is generally similar to rack assembly 10, except that the tubular post 220 has an upper portion 220a "cranked" or inwardly-inclined, relative to the vertical lower portion 220b.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the vehicle rack assembly 310 has an upper support member 311, where a substantially Z-shaped slot 340 is provided in the side wall of the upper support member 311 and is engageable by a spigot or pin 327 on the post 320. The engagement of the 6 0 c, spigot or pin 327 in the slot 340 provides non-rotational location of the post 320 relative to the upper and lower support members 311, 316 and also ~vertical restraint of the post 320 relative to the support member 311, 316s.

It will be noted in the embodiment that the L-shaped bracket is replaced by a substantially T-shaped bracket, which is secured to the floor of othe load-tray of the vehicle. This type of lower support member 316 is 0 preferred for tray-top vehicles, which may have drop sides; or where it is not convenient (or possible) to connect the lower support member to the adjacent side of the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 6, the post 320 is released from the support members 311, 316 by raising the post vertically in the direction of arrow A (until vertical plate 321 is above plate 315); rotating the post 320 (with a slight downward movement) as indicated by arrow B; and then by vertically lifting the post 320 as indicated by arrow C.

The provision of the plate 15, 315 and the vertical plate 21, 321, provides non-rotational location between the circular section post 320 and the complementary section upper and lower support members 11, 311, 16, 316.

It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the posts and upper and lower support members may be of complementary, eg., square or rectangular, metal section if preferred. The plates 15, 315 and vertical plate 21, 21 provide a simple, yet efficient means to enable releasable securing of the posts 20, 320 in the upper and lower support members 11, 311, 16, 316. This prevents unauthorised removal of the posts 320; but enables an operator to easily remove the posts, when the racks Sare not required, or to substitute one post, with a particular load-carrying "head" for a post with an alternative load-carrying "head", eg., to carry a ladder as an alternative to the relatively thin electrical conduit.

2 5 It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the obrackets 12, 18 can be fixed to the side walls of load-carrying trays on, e.g., o light trucks or4WD's. In addition, the "cranked" post 220 of the vehicle rack 0 N assembly 210 may be used where the vehicle body or load compartment 1 is inwardly-curved around its upper portion, eg., as found on many late model utility vehicles 2.

It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the present invention provides a simple, relatively inexpensive, means for providing vehicle racks for loads which can be easily removed, when not required.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention.

Claims (5)

1- 8 O 0The claims defining the invention are as follows: 1. A vehicle rack assembly including: cupper and lower tubular post support members for vertically spaced, co-axially aligned, mounting on a vehicle; a tubular post receivably mountable in the upper and lower post osupport members; o article support means at or adjacent an upper end of the 0 tubular post; the upper post support member having an upper face inclined to a horizontal plane and a vertical plate at or adjacent a lowermost portion of the upper face; and a plate on the post, operable to engage the upper face and/or the vertical plate, to locate the post relative to the upper and lower support members.

2. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein: the plate and the vertical plate are releasably securable to restrain the post in the upper and lower support members.

3. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1or Claim 2 wherein: at least one slot is provided in a side wall of the upper support member to receive a spigot or pin on the post, or vice versa, to locate the post relative to the upper and lower support members, the slot being of substantially Z-shape when viewed relative to a vertical axis of the post.

4. An assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein: the article support means is formed integrally with, or be 9 0 0 releasably connectable to, the post; the centre line of the article support :means is optionally offset relative to the post; and N the post has an upper portion optionally cranked, or inclined to the vertical axis, relative to a lower portion.

5. An assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein: othe upper and lower support members are fixed, or permanently or detachably, to a side wall of a load-carrying body, compartment or tray of the vehicle; and the post and upper and lower support members are of complementary circular, square or rectangular cross-section. DATED this twenty-ninth day of July 2004. ALEXANDER ROY PRIOR By his Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY