Ski rack
AssigneeBarreca Products Co., Inc.
InventorRobert J. Finnegan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention contemplates a rack construction as for carrying skis or the like on the roof or other exterior part of a vehicle. Plural pairs of skis are vertically clamped, back-to-back, by like pairs of relatively movable upstanding post members and a single lockable means carried by the rack is operative to selectively hold or to release a control member for releasing all post pairs in unison. The respective posts of each pair are capable of limited longitudinal displaceability and limited pivotal action, and the lockable actuator is operated to determine whether or not the posts of each pair are to be permitted their pivoted action.
Claims11
In a ski rack of the character indicated, comprising a frame with an elongate base and transversely spaced upstanding side walls connected by said base, a first post member mounted to said frame and extending generally perpendicularly above said frame, said post member including a vertical portion and an upper longitudinaly offset arm extending generally parallel to said base to define a ski-locating profile for a pair of edge-mounted skis with the combined width of said pair contained beneath said arm, and a second post member having a mounting portion mounted to said frame and between said walls at a mounting region longitudinally offset from said first post member, said second post member including a vertical portion extending generally perpendicularly to effectively close the ski-accommodating space beneath said arm, the improvement in which the mounting of at least one of said post members includes first and second longitudinally spaced transverse pins extending between said side walls and through first and second longitudinally spaced portions of the mounting region of said one post member, horizontally extending slot means in at least one of said mounting regions for establishing a pin-limited range of longitudinal displacement for said one post member, and generally vertically extending slot means accommodating one of said pins in the other of said mounting regions, whereby said one post member has both a limited range of longitudinal displaceability and a limited range of angular displaceability about the instantaneous axis of said other pin.
A ski-rack clamp unit of the character indicated, comprising a frame with an elongate base and transversely spaced upstanding side walls connected by said base, first and second post members mounted to said frame between said side walls and including vertical portions extending generally perpendicularly above said frame, one of said post members including an upper longitudinally offset arm extending generally parallel to said base to define with said vertical portions a ski-locating profile for a pair of edge-mounted skis with the combined width of said pair contained beneath said arm and between said vertical portions, said post members having a mounting portion mounted to said frame between said side walls at mounting regions longitudinally offset from each other, the mounting of each of said post members including first longitudinally spaced transverse pins extending between said side walls and through corresponding portions of the mounting regions of said post members, portions of the mounting regions of both post members extending into longitudinal overlap with each other, a longitudinally central pin extending between said side walls and the overlapped regions of said post members, horizontally extending slot means in each of said post members and accommodating said central pin, horizontally extending slot means in at least one of said mounting regions for accommodation of the remaining pins between said side walls whereby both said post members have a pin limited range of longitudinal displaceability, generally vertically extending slot means accommodating said central pin for a range of vertical displaceability within and with respect to said side walls, whereby both of said post members may be angularly displaced in opposite directions for opening and closing said clamp unit for accommodation of an inserted pair of skis.
In a ski-rack of the character indicated, a plurality of individual ski-clamp units, each unit comprising base structure adapted to seat upon a vehicle-body exterior surface, two clamp arms extending upwardly from each unit, at least one of the upstanding arms of each unit being moveable to open and close a ski-receiving space between said arms of each unit, elongate connection means to which said units are connected in spaced relation, said connection means having bending flexibility sufficient to enable an array of said units assembled thereto to achieve independent seating engagement with the vehicle surface and with accommodation to the contour of said surface, and elongate flexible control means guided by said connection means and having a control-function relationship with the movable arm of each of said units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.