The present disclosure relates generally to racks that can be mounted to the rear of a vehicle and configured to hold recreational items such as skis and snowboards.
Vehicle carrier racks can be mounted on the exterior of vehicles to transport any variety of recreational items, including skis, snowboards, water skis, wakeboards, surfboards, and the like. Carrier racks are typically mounted to the roof, trunk, or rear hitch of a vehicle. Such rear-mounted racks are advantageous in that they allow easy access to the stowed items, are easier to load, and do not cause drag associated with roof-top carriers. However, rear-mounted carriers can, in some circumstances, inhibit access to the rear of the vehicle.
The present disclosure relates generally to a vehicle rack intended to be mounted to the rear of a vehicle. The rack generally includes a planar base to which at least one receptacle is coupled. The receptacle is intended to hold at least one recreational item (for example, a ski or snowboard). The planar base is coupled to a hitch arm via a pivot portion. The pivot portion allows the receptacle to be pivoted. In one embodiment, the receptacle is pivoted rearward to allow access to the rear of the vehicle without the need to detach the rack from the vehicle. The rack provided herein has enhanced customization, in that a user can determine to which vehicle side the rack is offset, the degree of offset, the proximity of the rack to the rear bumper of the vehicle, and the height of the rack from the ground. This degree of customization allows optimization of the rack location depending on user preference and car design (e.g., rear camera location, exhaust location, ability to open vehicle trunk without pivoting, preference for overall car length, etc.). Thus, in some embodiments, the rack can be customized to be positioned to allow trunk access without requiring the rack to pivot.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings.
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, a specific embodiment thereof is shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description presented herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular embodiment disclosed, but to the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. For purposes of clarity in illustrating the characteristics of the present invention, proportional relationships of the elements have not necessarily been maintained in the drawing figures.
Referring now to
A containment ring 25 is preferably coupled to the top end of the receptacle 20. The rack 10 also comprises a vertically oriented adjustment arm 30 that substantially runs the height of the receptacle 20. The adjustment arm 30 allows for the adjustment of the vertical position of the rack 10. Typically, the adjustment arm 30 is coupled to the base 10 on one end and the containment ring 25 on its other end. A hitch arm 35 can be coupled to the adjustment arm 30 on one end and configured to be coupled to a vehicle V (e.g., vehicular hitch) on the other end. The hitch arm 35 includes multiple attachment locations for customization of how close the rack 10 is to the rear of the vehicle V as well as multiple attachment locations for the adjustment arm 30 to determine the degree of offset of the hitch arm 35 with the base 15. Rotation of the hitch arm 35 allows for adjustment of the location of the rack 10 as between the driver and passenger side of the vehicle V. Accordingly, the illustrated embodiment includes at least 72 customization options (three different heights of the planar base 15, ability to flip from driver to passenger side, four different distances from the vehicle rear, three offsets from center).
In some embodiments, a pivot portion 40 can couple the hitch arm 35 to the adjustment arm 30. As illustrated in
Turning now to
Each of the distal portion 45 and the proximal portion 50 can include through openings 55. The openings 55 of the distal portion 45 can engage hitch hardware 60 (e.g., a bent pin) used to secure the rack 10 to a hitch mount of a vehicle, as known and understood in the art.
The pivot portion 40 can include a rectangular channel 65 sized to slide over the proximal portion 50 of the hitch arm 35. The channel 65 can include openings 70 that are alignable with the openings 55 of the proximal portion 50 of the hitch arm 35. Fasteners 75 can be inserted through openings 55 and 70 to couple the pivot portion 40 to the hitch arm 35. The pivot portion 40 can include a second channel 80 (for example, a U-shaped or C-shaped channel) that is sized and shaped to be received over the adjustment arm 30.
The adjustment arm 30 can also include openings 85 that are alignable with openings 90 of the second channel 80 of the pivot portion 40. In embodiments where the adjustment arm 30 includes more than two openings, the height of the pivot portion 40 can be adjusted on the adjustment arm 30 to change the height of the base 15. Typically, the second channel 80 includes at least two openings 90. A first opening 90a can receive a fixed fastener 95 (e.g., a nut and bolt). A second opening 90b can typically receive another fastener 100.
In one embodiment, fastener 100 can be a quick release fastener. With reference to
As illustrated in
Turning now to
The front face 140 can include a cut-out portion 145 along an upper edge thereof, the cut-out portion 145 being configured to allow easier access to the items contained within sleeve 120. The front face 140 may also include one or more openings 155 on a portion thereof. The side faces 135 may also include one or more openings 160 on a portion thereof, for example, as illustrated, on an upper portion thereof. Although not shown in the illustrated embodiment due to perspective, the bottom face 130 may also include one or more openings.
As illustrated in
As can be seen from the illustrated embodiments, any number of receptacles 20 can be included, for example, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, or more receptacles can be included. The receptacles 20 can be the same or different sizes and/or shapes. For example, in one embodiment, one receptacle 20 is sized to hold skis and another receptacle 20 is sized to hold a snowboard. Any type of item can be housed in the receptacle 20. Typically, the items are recreational in nature and can include, without restriction, skis, snowboards, water skis, wakeboards, skateboards, surfboards, paddle boards, and any other acceptable item known in the art. The receptacles 20 can be constructed of any acceptable material known in the art, for example, metal or plastic. In one embodiment, the receptacles 20 are constructed of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The illustrated embodiment includes cylindrical receptacles, but any shape of receptacle can be used, for example, rectangular.
As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention is not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications, applications, variations, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. Many such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the present constructions will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and the accompanying drawings. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses in applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present inventions are deemed to be covered by the inventions which are limited only by the claims which follow.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/374,146, filed Aug. 31, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63374146 | Aug 2022 | US |