Locking latch on central hub for a rack arrangement mountable to a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9649987-B2
Application number	US-201615060386-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2016
Priority date	Sep 22, 2009
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

A bicycle carrier rack mountable to a vehicle includes a hub having an elongate member with a plurality of teeth disposed on an external surface of the elongate member. An upper mounting member is rotatably coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle and a lower mounting member is coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle. A latch having a locked position and an unlocked position is coupled to the upper mounting member. The latch is interferingly fitted against one or more teeth of the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and the upper mounting member is rotatable about the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bicycle carrier rack mountable to a vehicle, the bicycle rack comprising:
a hub comprising an elongate member having a plurality of teeth disposed on an external surface of the elongate member;
an upper mounting member rotatably coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle;
a lower mounting member coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle;
a load carrying member coupled to the hub and configured to support a bicycle in a carrying configuration; and
a latch coupled to the upper mounting member, the latch having a locked position and an unlocked position,
wherein the latch is interferingly fitted against one or more teeth of the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and
wherein the upper mounting member is rotatable about the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

2. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , wherein the teeth are integrally formed with the elongate member.

3. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , wherein the teeth extend lengthwise along the elongate member from a first end of the elongate member to a second end of the elongate member.

4. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , wherein the latch comprises one or more teeth configured to engage one or more teeth of the elongate member.

5. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , further comprising a lever coupled to the latch, wherein actuating the lever positions the latch away from the elongate member in the unlocked position.

6. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 5 , wherein the lever is spring-biased to maintain the latch interferingly fitted against the elongate member in the locked position.

7. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , wherein the load carrying member is rotatable about the hub and projects rearward away from the vehicle in the carrying configuration.

8. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 7 , wherein the load carrying member comprises a latch having a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein the latch is interferingly fitted against the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and wherein the load carrying member is rotatable about the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

9. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 7 , wherein the load carrying member comprises a pair of arms.

10. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 1 , wherein the upper mounting member comprises a pair of upper legs and wherein the lower mounting member comprises a pair of lower legs.

11. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 10 , wherein the upper legs are connected by a first cross-member and wherein the lower legs are connected by a second cross-member.

12. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 10 , wherein the lower legs are fixed about the elongate member.

13. A bicycle carrier rack mountable to a portion of a vehicle, the bicycle rack comprising:
a hub having a load carrying arm, wherein the load carrying arm extends away from the vehicle and is configured to support a bicycle in a carrying configuration; and
a mounting frame member configured to abut against the vehicle, wherein the mounting frame member comprises an apertured portion configured to receive an elongate member of the hub about which the mounting frame is rotatable,
wherein the elongate member comprises a plurality of teeth disposed on an external surface of the elongate member, and
wherein the mounting frame member comprises a latch having a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein the latch is interferingly fitted against the teeth in the locked position, and positioned away from the teeth in the unlocked position, wherein the mounting frame member is rotatable when the latch is in the unlocked position and non-rotatable when the latch is in the locked position.

14. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 13 , wherein the elongate member passes through an apertured portion of the load carrying arm, and wherein the load carrying arm is rotatable about the elongate member.

15. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 14 , wherein load carrying arm comprises a latch having a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein the latch is interferingly fitted against the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and wherein the load carrying arm is rotatable about the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

16. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 13 , wherein the mounting frame member is disposed outside of the load carrying arm along the elongate member.

17. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 13 , wherein the latch is biased toward the locked position.

18. A bicycle carrier rack mountable to a vehicle, the bicycle rack comprising:
a hub comprising an elongate member having a plurality of teeth disposed lengthwise along the elongate member;
a first mounting member comprising a first leg, wherein the first mounting member is rotatably coupled around the hub while coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle;
a second mounting member comprising a second leg, wherein the second mounting member is coupled to the hub and configured to abut against the vehicle;
a load carrying member comprising an arm, wherein the load carrying member is rotatably coupled around the hub while coupled to the hub and configured to support a bicycle in a carrying configuration, wherein the load carrying member projects rearward away from the vehicle in the carrying configuration; and
a latch coupled to the first mounting member, the latch having a locked position and an unlocked position,
wherein the latch comprises one or more teeth interferingly fitted against one or more teeth of the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and
wherein the first mounting member is rotatable about around the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

19. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 18 , further comprising a lever coupled to the latch, wherein actuating the lever positions the latch away from the elongate member in the unlocked position.

20. The bicycle carrier rack of claim 18 , wherein the load carrying member comprises a latch having a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein the latch is interferingly fitted against the elongate member in the locked position and positioned away from the elongate member in the unlocked position, and wherein the load carrying member is rotatable about the elongate member when the latch is in the unlocked position and fixed about the elongate member when the latch is in the locked position.

Assignees

• Thule Sweden Ab

Inventors

• Prescott Keith L
• Fiegener John D
• Flaherty Joseph R
• Hanson Thomas J
• Makris Timothy J
• Tinstman Michael

Classifications

• B60R9/06

  at vehicle front or rear {(rear luggage compartments within vehicle extensible externally of the vehicle body B60R5/041)} · CPC title

• B60R9/10 Primary

  for cycles · CPC title

• Y10S224/924

  Vehicle attached carrier for bicycle or motorcycle · CPC title