Truck bed support rails

An article supporting apparatus adapted for use with a cargo bed of a vehicle such as a pick-up truck for elevationally supporting cargo above a floor of said cargo bed, said apparatus comprising:

• a pair of cross rails, each of said cross rails including a longitudinally extending channel and having a length sufficient to enable it to be supported by a pair of sidewalls partially forming the cargo bed, at least one of said sidewalls having a lip portion;
• a bracket member having a first end and a second end, said first end being releasably secured to a portion of one of said cross rails and said second end being releasably engageable with said lip portion of said one sidewall;
• a locking assembly for clampingly securing said bracket member to said one cross rail and said one sidewall of said cargo bed, said locking assembly including a member extending outwardly of said one cross rail and a manually engageable locking element, said member extending outwardly of said one cross rail from a longitudinal position along said one cross rail such that said member extends toward and adjacent a point of said bracket member intermediate said first and second ends of said bracket member;
• and
• said locking element engaging said member to enable a clamping force to be applied to said bracket member such that said bracket member releasably clamps said one cross rail to said one sidewall.

An article carrier apparatus adapted for use with a cargo bed of a vehicle such as a pick-up for allowing cargo to be elevationally supported above a floor of said bed so as not to interfere with the placement of articles within said cargo bed, said cargo bed having a pair of sidewalls with each said sidewall having an inner lip portion, said apparatus comprising:

• a pair of cross rails each having a length sufficient to span said cargo bed such that outermost longitudinal ends of each of said cross rails extend over at least portions of each of said sidewalls and each having an interior area;
• each of said cross rails including at least one bracket, each said bracket having a first lip portion, a curved outer end portion and a central portion, said first lip portion being adapted to engage said inner lip portion of an associated one of said sidewalls and said curved outer end portion being adapted to engage an undersurface of an associated one of said cross rails, said central portion including a first aperture in general vertical alignment with a second aperture in said undersurface of its associated said cross rail;
• and
• a locking assembly associated with each said cross rail for clampingly securing said brackets to their associated said cross rails and to said inner lip portion of said at least one sidewall, said locking assembly including a threaded bolt having a head portion and a shaft portion, a threaded nut adapted to be threadably secured to said shaft portion of said threaded bolt and a lockably securable cover member adapted to enclose said threaded bolt such that said threaded nut cannot be rotated when said cover member is in a locked position, said head portion of said threaded bolt residing within said interior area of an associated one of said cross rails and extending through said second aperture in said associated one cross rail and through said first aperture in an associated one of said brackets such that when said threaded nut is threadably tightened on said shaft portion said bracket is forcibly urged into clamping engagement with said lip portion of said sidewall and said undersurface of said one associated cross rail to secure said one associated cross rail to said sidewall.

An article carrier apparatus for supporting articles above a cargo bed of a vehicle such as a pick-up truck, wherein said cargo bed includes a pair of spaced apart sidewalls with at least one of said sidewalls having a lip portion extending at least partially there along, said apparatus comprising:

• a cross rail having an undersurface;
• a bracket member having first and second ends and a central portion;
• a clamping assembly including a threaded shaft and a manually engageable, threaded locking member, said threaded shaft being secured to said cross rail and extending outwardly therefrom;
• and
• said threaded shaft and said locking member being operable to engage said central portion of said bracket member and to urge said first end into engagement with said lip portion and said second end into engagement with said cross rail to thereby cause a portion of said undersurface to be clamped to an associated one of said sidewalls.