US 5,842,615 AGranted

Vehicle rack system

OwnerDaniel E. Goodnessinventor

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Abstract

A modular vehicle rack system having a rack holder and rack constructed and arranged to allow easy interchange of racks on the rack holder while allowing a rack mounted on the rack holder to be swung away from the rear of a vehicle to provide substantially unobstructed access to the vehicle rear. The holder has an upwardly extending pin located away from a tongue of the holder that telescopically receives a complementary sleeve of the rack enabling a rack to be quickly and easily mounted on the holder in a manner that permits it to be swung away from the vehicle rear to provide access. The rack preferably includes an integral handle that permits it to be easily grasped and maneuvered to enable racks to be quickly and easily mounted on or removed from a holder. The rack construction includes a swing arm support rail forming part of a cargo or equipment truss that can be flexibly arranged to carry many types of equipment and cargo making the rack design extremely flexible and versatile. One preferred rack embodiment includes an article retainer having a pair of spaced apart pegs that retains an article received between the pegs by a cap that engages the pegs. The axial location of the cap on the pegs can be adjustably varied to accommodate articles of different sizes and width between the pegs.

Claims50

Dependent claims

A load carrying modular rack system for a vehicle having a frame, a rear end, a passenger side, a driver side, and a hitch connection carried by the vehicle frame, the rack system comprising:

a) a rack constructed and arranged to carry an article;
b) a rack holder releasably coupled to the vehicle by hitch connecting means for connecting said rack holder to the hitch connection;
c) a rack receiver disposed on one of said rack and said rack holder;
d) a rack coupler on the other one of said rack and said rack holder for telescopically receiving said rack receiver and coupling said rack to said rack holder;
and
e) wherein said rack receiver and said rack coupler are constructed and arranged
1) to permit said rack to pivot about said rack receiver such that said rack can be swung between i) a closed position where said rack is adjacent the vehicle and said rack holder and ii) a position away from said closed position such that said rack is cantilevered from said rack holder by said rack receiver and said rack coupler, and said rack is disposed away from the vehicle permitting access to the vehicle and
2) to permit said rack to be removed from said rack holder by displacing said rack away from said rack holder such that said rack receiver telescopes completely free of said rack couplers;
f) a latch for releasably retaining said rack in said closed position;
g) wherein said rack holder has 1) a first portion extending beyond said hitch connecting means toward the passenger side of the vehicle, and 2) a second portion extending beyond said hitch connecting means toward the driver side of the vehicle;
and
h) wherein said rack receiver or said rack coupler is mounted on one of said first and second rack holder portions and is spaced from said hitch connection.

9 more elements

A load-carrying modular rack system for a vehicle having a frame, a rear end, a passenger side, a driver side, and a hitch connection carried by the vehicle frame, the rack system comprising:

a) a rack holder having a tongue releasably coupled to the hitch connection and a support base that is an elongate beam secured to said tongue and oriented generally transverse to said tongue with one end of said beam extending outwardly of said tongue and including a pin adjacent said end;
b) a modular rack for carrying cargo or equipment having a support rail carrying an article supporting truss structure with said support rail having a sleeve adjacent one end that is telescoped over said pin to releasably pivotally mount said rack on said rack holder in a manner that permits said rack to be swung about said pin relative to the rear of the vehicle on said rack holder;
and
c) wherein 1) removal of said rack is accomplished by lifting said rack away from said rack holder until said pin disengages from said sleeve and 2) mounting of said rack on said rack holder is accomplished by i) maneuvering said rack over said rack holder until said sleeve generally overlies and is coaxial with said pin and ii) thereafter moving said rack toward said rack holder such that said sleeve telescopes over said pin.

1 more element

A modular rack system for a vehicle having a frame, a rear end, a passenger side, a driver side, and a hitch receiver carried by the vehicle frame, the rack system comprising:

a) a rack holder having a tongue releasably coupled to the hitch receiver and a support base comprising an elongate beam carried by said tongue and oriented generally perpendicularly to said tongue with said support base beam having 1) one end extending outwardly of said tongue in a direction i) generally transverse to said tongue and ii) toward the driver side, and 2) its other end extending outwardly of said tongue in a direction i) generally transverse to said tongue and ii) toward the passenger side;
b) a generally upwardly extending pivot pin carried by said support base beam 1) adjacent said end of said support base beam and 2) spaced from said tongue, said pivot pin having a cross sectional width or diameter of at least about one-half inch and an axial length extending upwardly from said support base beam of at least about four inches;
c) a rack for releasably retaining an article having a generally horizontal support rail carrying an article supporting truss with said support rail having a sleeve adjacent one end for receiving said pivot pin to releasably pivotally mount said rack on said rack holder permitting said rack to be swung about said pivot pin relative to the rear of the vehicle on said rack holder between a closed position where said rack is directly behind the rear of the vehicle and a position disposed from said closed position permitting access to the rear of the vehicle;
and
d) a latch in operable communication with said rack holder and said rack for releasably retaining said rack in said closed position.

2 more elements

A modular rack system for a vehicle having a frame, a rear end, a passenger side, a driver side, and a hitch receiver carried by the vehicle frame, the rack system comprising:

a) a rack holder having a tongue releasably coupled to the hitch receiver and a support base that is an elongate beam secured to said tongue and oriented generally transversely to said tongue with said rack beam having (1) one end extending outwardly of said tongue in a direction generally transverse to said tongue and toward the driver side of the vehicle, and (2) its other end extending outwardly of said tongue in a direction generally transverse to said tongue and toward the passenger side of the vehicle;
b) a pivot pin carried by said rack holder base adjacent one end of said rack holder base and extending upwardly from said rack holder base;
c) a rack for releasably retaining an article having a generally horizontal support rail carrying an article supporting truss with said truss including (1) a first support post extending upwardly from said rail adjacent one end of said rail, (2) a second support post spaced from said first support post and extending upwardly from said rail adjacent the other end of said rail, (3) at least one cross beam extending from one of said support posts to the other of said support posts, (4) at least one article retainer or article receiver carried by said cross beam, and (5) a sleeve extending upwardly from said rail of hollow construction for telescopingly receiving said pivot pin to releasably pivotally mount said rack on said rack holder for permitting said rack to be swung about said pivot pin relative to the rear of the vehicle on said rack holder from a closed position where said rack is directly behind the rear of the vehicle toward a position disposed from said closed position permitting access unobstructed by said rack to the rear of the vehicle;
and
d) a latch in operable communication with said rack holder and said rack for releasably retaining said rack in said closed position.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.