GB2507062A

GB2507062A - Pull-down bike rack with electrical connector.

Info

Publication number: GB2507062A
Application number: GB201218618A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gian Luca Baccelli
Original assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
Current assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
Priority date: 2012-10-17
Filing date: 2012-10-17
Publication date: 2014-04-23
Also published as: GB201218618D0

Abstract

A car bike rack 4 comprises at least one engaging portion 8 to secure the rack to at least one side rail 10 The side rail is adapted to be secured to a roof portion of the vehicle 2 and the rack is moveable along said side rail between a first position, wherein the support structure is disposed on the vehicle roof, and a second position, wherein the support structure is disposed over a wall element 18 of the vehicle. At least one locking assembly 14 on the rack is lockable to a latching assembly 16 secured to the wall element and which comprises at least one electrical contact 24 connectable to at least one second electrical contact 26 of the latching assembly. A hinge 20 may be located between the engaging portion and the locking assembly. The electrical supply may be used to supply a light unit 22 and a cap may be provided to p[protect the latching assembly when the rack is stored in the first position.

Description

s ARTICLE CARRIER AND VEHICLE The invention relates to an article carrier for a vehicle and to a vehicle comprising said article carrier.

Such an article carrier is known from EP 1 013 123 91. From this document, an article carrier for a vehicle is known that is fixedly secured to a roof portion in first position and movable from said first position in a second position, wherein the article carrier is fixedly secured to a wall element, in particular a tail gate, of the vehicle.

The known article carrier allows to fix at least one bicycle on a carrying unit when said article carrier is in the second position. Often, such article carriers are of such a dimension that a braking light or a turn signal light is hidden by the article carrier.

Therefore, driving maneuvers of the vehicle are not visible for following vehicles.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an article carrier for a vehicle or a vehicle with such an article carrier driving maneuvers are better visible for following vehicles This object is achieved by an article carrier for a vehicle, adapted to be secured to an outer surface of the vehicle, said carrier comprising: a cargo support structure with at least one engaging portion to fixely secure the cargo support structure to at least one side rail, said side rail is adapted to be fixedly secured to a roof portion of the vehicle and said cargo support structure is moveable along said side rail between a first position, wherein the support structure is disposed on the vehicle roof portion, and a second position, wherein the support structure is disposed over a wall element, and with at least one locking assembly which is lockable to a latching assembly fixedly secured to the wall element and which comprises at least one first electrical contact portion connectable to at least one second electrical contact portion of the latching assembly to supply a consumer load of the article carrier attached to the cargo support structure with electrical energy.

The wall element can comprise a side front or rear wall of the vehicle, in particular a tail gate of the vehicle.

The consumer load can comprise a display device, in particular to display braking situations or a turning maneuver. The display device in such a case can comprise at LO least one braking light and/or one preferably two turning lights.

Because a consumer load is part of the article carrier a possibly hidden turning light or braking light is replaceable. Therefore, the safety to traffic is guaranteed, in particular independent from if the support structure is in the first or the second position.

In one embodiment of the article carrier the cargo support structure comprises at least one, in particular bar shaped, carrying element, said carrying element extends in a driving direction of the vehicle in the first position and comprises the engaging portion on one end, the locking assembly on the other end and at least one hinge there between, said hinge divides the carrying element in a upper section facing the engaging portion and a tail section facing the locking assembly and said hinge is to allow to clap the carrying element and to allow opening of the wall element in the second position of the article carrier.

Because of the at least one hinge it is possible to open the wall element, in particular the tail gate, although the cargo support structure is in the second position. Therefore, it is very easy and comfortable to insert or to take out a load out of the rear part of the vehicle.

Further, the upper portion, in particular the engaging portion and/or the tail portion, in particular the locking assembly, can comprise at least one further hinge.

Therefore, the kinematic of the system is increased to allow opening of the tail gate.

The cargo support structure can comprise only one carrying element and only one side rail on the roof portion. Hereby, it is preferred to place the side rails in the center of the roof portion.

S To increase stability of the article carrier it is preferred that the cargo support structure comprises at least two carrying elements extending parallel to each other and/or two side rails on the roof portion of the vehicle extending parallel to each other.

It is an advantage of the article carrier of the present invention that the cargo support structure comprises at least one carrying unit fixedly secured to at least one carrying element, in particular extending from a first carrying element to a second carrying element, in particular in the tail section of the carrying element, said carrying unit provides at least one holding fixture for at least one article.

The carrying unit can comprise at least one fastener to fix the at least one article to the article carrier.

Further, it is preferred, that the carrying unit is movable, in particular rotatable, between a storage position, wherein the carrying unit is extended in general parallel to the tail section of the carrying element, and a carrying position, wherein the carrying unit is extended angular or diagonally to the tail section of the carrying elements.

One further aspect of the article carrier the consumer load comprises at least one light unit, as turning light or braking light, and/or at least one sensor device, as distance and/or motion sensor or camera.

Therefore, it is possible to replace the braking light and/or the turning light of the vehicle if the cargo support structure is in the second position.

One embodiment of the article carrier the consumer load is fixed to carrying unit in such a way that it is, in particular in the carrying position, facing away from the driving direction of the vehicle, in particular wherein the consumer load is fixed to a cross bar being spaced apart to the carrying elements at least in the carrying position.

Hereby it is guaranteed that the display device, in particular the turning light or the braking light is always visible for the following vehicles, in particular independent if an article is placed on the carrying unit or not.

On a further embodiment for the article carrier the latching assembly comprises a cap, said cap is movable, in particular rotatable, between a open position, wherein the at least one first electrical contact portion is connectable with the second electrical contact portion of the locking assembly of the cargo support structure, and a close position, wherein the first electrical contact portion is closed.

With this the electrical contact is protected from dirt or water.

The protection of the electrical portion can be increased in that the cap provides at least one sealing element to seal the first electrical portion in the close position.

To increase the functionality of the cap it is also an important advantage of the present invention that the cap is a fastener the fix the locking assembly to the latching assembly in the second position of the cargo support structure.

To make it more easy and comfortable to open and close the cap it is preferred that the cap comprises a spring element for tempering the cap in the open position andfor wherein the cap comprises a1 in particular manual operable, fixing element, to hold the cap in the close position.

In advance to the foregoing embodiment it is evident if the fixing element automatically fixely secures the cap in the open position and/or the fixing element is for, in particular manual, solving the cap out of the open position.

The locking assembly and the latching assembly can be of any preferable shape or contour. To build the article carrier compact it is preferred that the locking assembly provides at least one recess to accept the cap, in particular at least partly complementary formed to the cap, and/or wherein the locking assembly provides a fixing device for fixely secure the cap within the locking assembly.

The fixing device can comprise recess in the cap nose of the locking assembly can access to build an undercut. Finally, it is preferred, that the consumer load is connectable with a control unit of the vehicle by the first electrical contact und the second electrical contact. Through this it is guaranteed that the consumer load replaces the possibly hidden display devices of the vehicle under command of the vehicles control unit.

Finally the object is achieved by a vehicle that comprises an article carrier according to any of the preceding features.

The article carrier and the vehicle with such a carrier is advantageous in many ways: By providing a consumer load the article carrier can display specific driving maneuvers as braking or turning that are hidden by the article carrier.

Further, by positioning the consumer load on a cross bar spaced apart to the carrying elements the consumer load is always visible by following cars independent from the position of the cargo support structure, in particular if the cargo support structure is in the first or the second position, and independent from that load is placed on the carrying unit or not.

The various advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and sub-joined claims and by referencing the following drawings in which: Figure 1 a perspective view of a rear portion of a vehicle with an article carrier the cargo support structure in a first position in accordance to the invention; Figure 2 a perspective view of a rear portion of a vehicle with an article carrier with a cargo support structure in a first position in accordance to the invention; Figure 3 a plan view of a latching assembly of the article carrier in accordance to the invention; Figure 4 a latching assembly according to figure 3 in an open position; Figure 5 a schematic cross sectional side view of a vehicle with an article carrier according to the invention in the first position; Figure 6 a cross-sectional side-view of a vehicle with an article carrier in second position; Figure 7 a cross-sectional side-view of a vehicle with an article carrier carrying an article in the second position; Figure 8 the vehicle according to figure 7 as wall element in an open position; Figure 9 perspective view of fasteners fixed to the carrying unit of the article carrier; Figure 10 perspective view of fasteners fixed to the carrying unit of the article carrier.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a rear portion of a partly illustrated vehicle 2 with an article carrier 4 in accordance with the present invention. The article carrier 4 comprises cargo support structure 6 that is in a second position. In said second position the cargo support structure 6 is engaged with an engaging portion 8 to a side rail 10 that is adapted to be fixedly secured to a roof portion of the vehicle 2.

In the embodiment as shown in Figure 1 the support structure 6 rises two carrying elements 12 that are bar shaped. The cargo support structure 6 comprises on another end of the carrying element 12 locking assemblies 14 that are fixed to latching assemblies 16 fixedly secured to a wall element 18 of the vehicle 2.

The wall element 18 comprises a tail gate of the vehicle 2. Between the locking assembly 14 and the engaging portion 8 the carrying element 12 comprises a hinge that allows to clap the carrying element 12 in such a way that the opening of the wall element 18 is possible. The locking assembly 14 and the engaging portion 8 comprise hinges as well.

Further the embodiment of the article carrier 4 in accordance to the invention comprises a plurality of consumer loads 22 which are supported by a first electrical contact that is a part of the latching assembly 16 and a second electrical contact 26 that is a part of the locking assembly 14.

The consumer loads 22 are integrated in a carrying unit 28 that is fixedly secured to the carrying elements 12.

As can be seen in figure 1 the consumer loads 22 are arranged at a cross bar 20 being spaced apart to the carrying elements 12. In figure 1 the carrying unit 28 is in a carrying position, wherein it is extended angular or diagonally to a tail section 32 of the carrying elements 12.

The tail section 32 is a part of the carrying element 12 being between the hinge 20 and the locking assembly 14. An upper section 34 is between the hinge 20 and the engaging portion 8. If the article carrier 4, in particular the cargo support structure 6 is in the second position the tail section 32 is in general vertical to a driving direction and the upper section 34 is in general parallel to the driving direction.

Figure 2 shows the article carrier 4 with the cargo support structure 6 in a first position. As can be derived by figure 2 the latching assembly 16 comprises a cap 36 that is shown in a close position. That close position it is hold by a fixing element 38 that is manually operable to move the cap 36 in open position.

If figures 3 and 4 show the cap 36 of the latching assembly 16 in an open and in a closed position. In figure 3 the cap 36 is closed according to figure 2.

In figure 4 the cap 36 is in an open position where it extends way from the wall element 18 of the vehicle 2 In the open position the first electrical contact 24 of the latching assembly 16 is contactable by the second electrical contact portion 26 of the locking assembly 14 of the cargo support structure 6. In the shown embodiments the cap 36 comprises a spring element 40 that tempers the cap 36 in the open position. l0

Figures 5 and 6 are schematic cross-sectional side views on the vehicle 2 with the article carrier 4. Figure 5 shows the article carrier 4 in first position. Figure 6 shows the article carrier 4 in a second position.

is Figure 7 and figure 8 show the article carrier according to figure 6 with an article on the carrying unit 28. In figure 7 the wall element 18 of the vehicle 2 is closed and the article carrier 4 in its second position. On figure 8 the article carrier 4 is in its second position 2 but the wall element 18 of the vehicle 2 is opened.

Figures 9 and 10 show different possibilities to arrange fasteners 42 to the article carrier 4, in particular to the cargo support structure 6 of the carrying unit 28. In figure 9 fasteners 42 comprise clamping device that are fixed to a cross bar of the cargo support structure 6. In figure 10 fastener 42 comprise runners that are placed on the carrying unit 28.

The features disclosed in this specification, the claims and the figures maybe important for the claimed invention, taken separately or in any combination, for the respective different embodiments.

Reference N urn erals 2 vehicle 4 article carrier 6 cargo support structure 8 engaging portion side rail 12 carrying element 14 locking assembly 16 latching assembly 18 wall element hinge 22 consumer load 24 first electrical contact portion 26 second electrical contact portion 28 carrying unit cross bar 32 tail section 34 upper section 36 cap 38 fixing element spring element 42 fastener