GB2073306A

GB2073306A - Luggage-carrier and fastener for vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2073306A
Application number: GB8107985A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Piaggio and C SpA
Current assignee: Piaggio and C SpA
Priority date: 1980-04-04
Filing date: 1981-05-13
Publication date: 1981-10-14
Also published as: FR2479752B1; SE8101584L; NO811059L; IT8021401V0; DE3113317A1; SE441734B; GB2073306B; NO152831C; CH646038A5; NL8101625A; NO152831B; ATA156781A; DK108881A; BE888270A; ES256970Y; FR2479752A1; AT387551B; ES256970U; GR75205B; MX151619A

Abstract

To secure a parcel 24 on a carrier 1, a belt 3 is coiled on a drum 4 by means of a coil spring and has at its free end a hook member 10 for attachment to a fixed plate 23. Alternatively the free end may be fixed and the hook formed on a movable housing containing the coiled belt. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Luggage carrier and fastener for vehicles This invention relates to a luggage carrier and fastener for vehicles, especially two-wheeled vehicles.

For carrying parcels, containers or other items, the vehicles can have a specially provided luggage-carrier. As a rule, a luggage carrier is comprised of a platform, made of a metal sheet or a number of metal ribs, properly secured to the vehicle frame or the vehicle handle-bar, whereon the parcels must be secured by appropriate bonds, such as fastenings, belts or resilient clasps so as to prevent the parcel from falling when the vehicle is tilted or undergoes accelerations.

These fastenings can be either independent of the vehicle structure or can they permanently attached to the vehicle.

Independent fastenings have the drawback that they must always be carried by the driver, that they can very likely be lost and that they are time-consuming as to their use.

Among the fastenings which are permanently connected to the luggage-carriers, those which are comprised of unextensible belts or bonds are time-consuming also when they are not used because they must be tied, whereas those of the resilient type have the shortcoming that they cannot match all the sizes of parcels to be transported.

The problem of quickly and reliably fastening to a surface an item, especially in the form of a parcel, is present also in many other cases.

The object of the present invention is to provide a luggage-securing device which is practical in use, simple to build, and has an eye-pleasing appearance, which is especially suitable for being applied to a vehicle without being impaired by the defects outlined above.

The device of the invention is essentially characterised in that the objects to be carried are secured to their resting surface by a belt which can be slipped out of the supporting member for said resting surface, the belt being susceptible of being taken up on a specially provided drum under the bias of a preloaded spring.

A practical embodiment of this invention is shown, by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 shows a cross-sectional view of the device according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a lengthwise cross-sectional view, taken along the line ll-ll of Fig.1.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 shows a manner of installing the device of Figs. 1 to 3 on a. vehicle.

Figure 5 shows a detail view of Fig. 4, in plan view, partially in cross-section.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of Fig. 5, and Figures 7 and 8, 9 and 10, are views, akin to that of Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively, of different assembly layouts of the device according to this invention.

As can be seen in the drawings, to the luggage-carrier 1 is applied a box 2 for holding a belt 3 to be wrapped around a drum 4 having pins 4' and 4" mounted for rotation in specially provided bores of the box.

The inner end of the belt 3 is bent into a loop and is fastened to the drum 4 through the slot 7 and the peg 8. The outer end of the belt 3, emerging from a specially provided siot of the box 2 is also formed into loop and is secured by the dowel 9 to a handle 10 equipped with a hook 10'. The belt 3 is held wrapped around the drum 4 until the handle 10 abuts the box 2 by the bias of the spiral spring 11, the ends of which are secured, respectively, in a specially provided longitudinal siot of the cylindrical extension 4"' of the drum 4, and to the extension 14' of the container 1 4 for the spring 11, said container being appropriately matched to the box 2 for the belt 3.

The box 2 has snappingly resilient teeth 2' which are snapped into the specially provided slots 14" of the container 14, once that the latter has been properly rotated relative to the container 2 in order to preload the spring 11.

The spring 11 is so proportioned as to impart to the belt both a pay-out length and a tension adequate to wrap parcels 24 of various sizes, within reasonable limits, in order to have the parcel secured to the luggage carrier 1 without any additional bonds being required.

The box 2 is made integral with the outer edge of the platform of the luggage-carrier 1 by a bolt 19.

To the opposite edge of the luggage-carrier platform is secured, by a bolt 21 and its attendant nut 22, a plate 23 having a specially provided extension 23' for receiving the hook 10' of the handle 10 of the belt 3, as the belt has been pulled out of the box 2 and wrapped or not, around the parcel 24.

The extension 23 of the hook 10 has such a shape as to encourage, by a tilt of the handle, the unhooking of the belt without pulling the latter too much. This feature is important in order to carry out the unhooking of the belt conveniently; if not so, a considerable force would be required to overcome the sliding friction between the taut belt and the parcel and, possibly, also with the luggagecarried edges.

Let it be understood that, as a rule, the invention can take other forms within its scope: for example, the belt and its spring can be held in housings specially provided in the interior of the luggage-carrier, said housings being of sheet metal or a metal casting.

Likewise, the plate and the hooking-up exten sion for the belt can be integral with said platform. The free end of the belt can be secured to the luggage-carrier surface by riveting or by bolting and the supporting member for the belt and the spring can be equipped with means for hooking to another point of the carrier surface as shown in Figs. 9 and 10 of the accompanying drawings, and the spring for tensioning the belt can be of a type other than a band spring.

Finally, the device comprised of the belt which is self-coiled on its supporting member, can be so shaped as properly to be applied to other parts of the vehicle concerned, or to any other surface of a movable or a fixed body.

In Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 there is shown still by way of example, how the luggage-carrier of the invention can be applied to the rear portion of a two-wheeled vehicle.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are laterally taken views of the rear portion 25 of a two-wheeled vehicle having a luggage-carrier assembly 1 with the parcel-fastening belt 3 arranged parallely to the shorter side of the luggage-carrier platform, that is, transversally of the vehicle.

Figs. 7 and 8 show, in cross-sectional view and in top plan view, respectively, the luggage-fastening assembly according to the invention, in which the belt is arranged longitudinally relative to the luggage-carrier platform.

Figs. 9 and 10 show another embodiment in which, however, the free end of the belt is secured to the luggage-carrier and the supporting container for the belt is removable and has a hook to be used for securing said container to the luggage-carrier proper.

Claims

1. A luggagefastening device comprising at least one drum, a supporting member for said drum, a belt susceptible of being wrapped around said drum under the bias of a preloaded spring inserted between said drum and said supporting member, both said supporting member and said belt having means for connecting them to a luggage-supporting surface.

2. A luggage-fastening device according to Claim 1, characterised in that said drumsupporting member has means for securing it to the luggage-supporting surface and the outer end of said belt has a hooked handle for fastening said belt to said surface.

3. A luggage-fastening device according to Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that both the belt and the belt-tensioning springs are each housed in individual containers.

4. A luggagefastening device according to Claims 1, 2, 3 characterised in that the supporting member for the belt takeup drum and the belt housing, if any, and the spring casing, if any, are comprised of the luggagecarrier surface as such.

5. A luggagefastening device according to Claim 1, characterised in that the outer end of the belt has means for securing it to the luggage-carrying surface and in that the supporting member for the drum has a hook for securing said drum to said surface.

6. A luggage-fastening device according to Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said fastening hook for the belt handle or for the drum-supporting member have such a shape as to facilitate unhooking by twisting.

7. A device according to Claims 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, characterised in that the container for the belt-tensioning spring, equipped with means for holding the fixed end of the spring, is secured to the belt takeup drum by resilient extension teeth which snappingly engage correspondingly formed slots of the receiving member.

8. A device according to Claims 1 to 7, characterised in that all the component parts, with the exception of the spring, are made of a plastics material.

9. A device according to any of the preceding Claims, characterised in that it is anyhow applied to the luggage-carrying surface of a two-wheeled vehicle.

10. A two-wheeled vehicle, especially a moped, characterised in that it has at least a luggage-carrying assembly comprised of a resting surface and a belt susceptible of being wrapped under the bias of a preloaded spring around a drum anyhow supported and housed either externally or internally of said luggagecarrying assembly.

11. A luggage-fastening device applicable to the luggage-carrying assembly of a twowheeled substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the Figures of the accompanying drawings.