US 6,599,078 B1Granted

Assembly for removably supporting cargo on a vehicle

OwnerGeorge Scott Elderinventor

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Abstract

An assembly for positioning and removably supporting cargo on the exterior of a vehicle, wherein the cargo is preferably mounted on a mobile carrier assembly such as a hand truck. A hoist assembly includes a winch and lifting cable and is concurrently supported, along with the mobile carrier, on a base which is removably secured to a hitch structure mounted on the vehicle. A support assembly is secured to the base and is structured to independently but concurrently support both the hoist assembly and the mobile carrier, with or without the cargo thereon. Upon removal of the mobile carrier from the vehicle, the cargo supported thereon can be transported over the ground or other support surface to an intended location for use without requiring repeated loading and unloading of the cargo from the mobile carrier.

Claims21

Dependent claims

An assembly for removably supporting cargo on the exterior of the vehicle, said assembly comprising:

a) a base connected to a hitch structure on the vehicle and including a support assembly secured to said base,
b) a hoist assembly including a winch and a cable connected in driven relation to said winch, said hoist assembly connected to said support assembly,
c) a load comprising a hand truck assembly structured to support the cargo thereon and including a mounting structure connected to said hand truck assembly,
d) said hoist assembly further including a stanchion and a boom connected to said stanchion,
e) said boom and said stanchion collectively and at least partially defining a path of travel of said cable between said winch and said load,
f) said support assembly structured to selectively support said hand truck assembly in interconnected relation to the hitch structure, and
g) said cable connected to said mounting structure at one of a plurality of locations thereon which facilitates orientation of said cable in substantially aligned relation to a center of gravity of said load, at least when said hand truck assembly is not supported on said support assembly.

4 more elements

An assembly for removably supporting cargo on the exterior of a vehicle, said assembly comprising:

a) a base connected to a hitch structure on the vehicle and including a support assembly secured to said base,
b) a hoist assembly including a winch and a cable connected in driven relation to said winch,
c) a load comprising a mobile carrier structured to support the cargo thereon and a mounting structure connected to said mobile carrier,
d) said hoist assembly further including a stanchion and a boom connected to said stanchion, said stanchion connected to said support assembly,
e) said support assembly structured to selectively support at the mobile carrier in interconnected relation to the hitch structure, and
f) said cable connected-to said mounting structure at one of a plurality of locations thereon sufficient to maintain said mobile carrier in a substantially vertically upright orientation at least when said mobile carrier is not supported on said support assembly.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.