Hitch-mounted pivotable racking assembly
AssigneeVigor Sports
InventorChanyoung Jeong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A racking assembly for securely storing and transporting recreational equipment on vehicles includes a hitch mount, an equipment support assembly, and pair of support members having lower ends pivotally coupled to the hitch mount and upper ends pivotally coupled to the equipment support assembly. The support members are configured to allow the racking assembly to collapse away from a user placing equipment thereon so that injury is prevented from the weight of the equipment causing the racking assembly to collapse onto a user.
Claims23
A racking assembly comprising:
- a hitch mount;
- an equipment support assembly having at least one equipment support bar;
- and
- first and second substantially symmetrically opposed, longitudinally aligned support members, the first and second support members each having a lower end pivotally coupled to the hitch mount and an upper end pivotally coupled to the equipment support assembly, the upper end of said second support member being slightly curved toward the upper end of the first support member so that the spacing between the first and second support members is smaller at the upper ends than at the lower ends.
A racking assembly comprising:
- a hitch mount;
- a first support member having a lower end pivotally coupled to the hitch mount and an upper end pivotally coupled to a housing;
- and
- a second support member oppositely oriented relative to said first support member, the second support member having a lower end pivotally coupled to the hitch mount and an upper end curved toward the upper end of the first support member, the curved upper end pivotally coupled to the housing.
A method of configuring a racking assembly for securely transporting recreational equipment, comprising:
- providing a racking assembly having a pair of oppositely oriented, longitudinally aligned support members including a first support member and a second support member, each support member having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end of the second support member being curved toward the upper end of the first support member;
- coupling the upper ends of said first and second support members to an equipment support assembly and the lower ends of the first and second support members to a hitch mount assembly;
- securing the movement of the upper ends of the first and second support members with an upper bolt assembly and an upper removable locking pin, the upper bolt assembly fixedly coupling the upper end of the first support assembly to the equipment support assembly, and the upper removable locking pin removably coupling the curved upper end of the second frame support member to the equipment support assembly;
- and
- securing the movement of the lower ends of the first and second support members with a lower bolt assembly and a lower removable locking pin, the lower bolt assembly fixedly coupling the lower end of the second support assembly to the hitch assembly, and the lower removable locking pin removably coupling the lower end of the first frame support member to the hitch assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.