JP2002036963A - Roof-rack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve less operation burdening handling loads on a roof-rack frame provided on an automobile roof, and safety, handy use of it. SOLUTION: The roof-rack frame 2, movable along a pair of right and left fixed rails 1, has a pair of right and left rollers 2A pivotally provided at the middle part 3 near the middle of the roof-rack frame 2. The roof-rack frame 2 is drew out until the rollers 2A come to contact with the inner side of an end stopper 1A of the above rails 1 were the roof-rack frame 2 can be inclined like a seesaw, of which fulcrum is each roller 2A, outside the automobile M. A single-directional elastic damper is provided on the roof-rack frame 2 for curbing its inclining motion toward the automobile body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roof rack suitable for mounting a conveyed object such as a ladder or ski on an upper surface of a roof of an automobile such as a wagon or a light van. The present invention relates to a roof rack capable of safely and lightly tilting a seesaw outside a vehicle from a cargo frame drawn out of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a roof rack or a roof carrier of this type, a roof carrier mounted on a ceiling of a vehicle, such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-262183, is used. 2. Description of the Related Art A roof carrier is known in which a base rail portion is fixed to the base rail portion, a carrier frame portion is slidably fitted on the base rail portion, and a ground portion is provided at one end of the carrier frame portion.

[0003] Separately from this, as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-2026, projecting piece receivers are provided at both ends of one side of a fixed base, and projecting pieces are provided at both ends of the same side of a movable inclined loading platform.
There is also known a movable carrier in which a wire for the fixed base and the interlocking relay pipe for receiving the protruding piece is provided with an unlocking pull at the end of the wire, and dampers are provided before and after the fixed base and the movable inclined carrier.

[0004]

The former of the above-mentioned prior arts can be stored by placing the carrier frame portion at the same position in parallel with the base rail portion on the automobile roof and pulling out the carrier frame portion. By tilting down and locking the upper end to the base rail and grounding the lower end, the luggage can be fixed or released on the carrier frame, and when the carrier frame is returned to the stowed state, the cargo is stacked I can do it.

Therefore, in order to stack the carrier frame together with the load on the roof in this conventional example, it is necessary to lift the carrier frame by pivoting upward with the upper end of the carrier frame as a fulcrum. In order to resist the gravity of the sum of the weight of the load and lift the frame grounding part to a height equal to or higher than the vehicle height and rotate the frame greatly, the work of stacking the load is
There is an essential problem of considerable labor.

[0006] Further, when pulling down the cargo together with the carrier frame, the long frame is pulled out of the ram together with the cargo by the principle of leverage at the upper end fulcrum, and the above-mentioned gravity is supported by hand, and it is rotated greatly while tilting. However, since it must be grounded slowly, this is also a heavy labor, and if care is not taken, there is a serious problem that the foot or hand can easily be caught in the grounding portion and there is a risk of injury.

Further, in the latter case of the conventional example, that is, the conventional example described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-2026, when loading on a movable inclined bed and mounting it on a car,
The inclined carrier is pushed up from the position lower than the car roof together with the load to a height equal to or greater than the damper length in the contracted state against the total force of the gravity of the self-weight of the carrier itself, the load, and the sum of the degenerate stress of the damper. There is a problem that it has to be rotated, which also causes considerable labor.

Further, in the conventional carrier, the fulcrum at the time of standby for tilting is near the upper end portion and is close to the damper coupling portion. When a force is applied, a large upward force is applied to the damper and the fulcrum according to the principle of leverage, and there is also a second problem that the damper and the fulcrum are easily damaged and there is a risk of being broken.

Further, as a result of actually making a sample based on this conventional example and conducting an experiment, in this conventional example, the heavier inclined loading bed is loaded by hand, and the damper is lifted by this contracted height while being contracted by hand. In fact, when pushing in to the back, in reality, the dumper leans toward the back while the damper is close to vertical and it is in a contracted state, so the cargo platform tends to fall aiming at the roof upper surface, There is a danger that the carrier will suddenly collide with the roof without the cushioning effect.

[0010] In addition, when the loader that has become heavier due to loading is pushed up by a hundred steps, and the vertical damper is in a loaded state in front of the loader while being extended, the damper is Since the loading platform is retracted while leaning down due to the load as it moves to the back, a dumping action of the damper is exhibited at this time. Conversely, when the loading platform with the above-mentioned cargo is pulled out, the above-described retracting is performed. After the damper shrinks vertically after shrinking, it leans forward while shrinking, so the damper does not exhibit a buffering action, and once the carrier drops to the near position, pull the carrier forward while extending the damper. Because of the inclination, there is a danger due to the above-mentioned drop of the cargo bed, and there are also inconsistent major operational problems such as the need for traction force to extend the damper.

According to the present invention, in order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, the cargo frame is pulled out from the automobile roof along a rail to a pulley provided substantially at the center thereof, and then the cargo frame is mounted on the automobile using the pulley as a fulcrum. By tilting the seesaw type that can be tilted with small external force on the outside, it is possible to reduce the load handling work, to ease the downward tilting movement of the loading frame with a unidirectional elastic damper, and to reduce the load of the loading frame. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to use the device safely and lightly by enabling the front upward tilting to be promoted by the self-restoring force of the elastic damper.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a load carrier frame which is movable along a pair of right and left fixed rails disposed on the upper surface of an automobile roof, and an intermediate portion near the center of the load carrier frame. A load carrier frame that is pulled out until a pair of left and right rollers pivotally supported by the roller is inscribed in the end stopper of the rail is disposed outside the vehicle so as to be tiltable with a seesaw using each roller as a fulcrum. This can be achieved by providing a one-way elastic damper on the luggage frame to alleviate the tilting operation, and has a luggage frame that can move along a pair of left and right fixed rails disposed on the upper surface of the roof of the automobile. The loading frame which is pulled out until a pair of left and right rollers pivotally supported at an intermediate portion near the center of the loading frame is inscribed in the end stopper of the rail can be tilted seesaw outside the vehicle with each roller as a fulcrum. And a front portion of a one-way elastic damper having a spring for relaxing the frontward downward tilting operation of the loading frame is pivotally supported by a pivoting portion to a rear portion of the loading frame intermediate portion, and the rear portion of the damper is The movable member may be pivotally supported by a movable member arranged to be movable to a front stopper along a guide rail arranged in parallel at the middle of the rail.

As the one-way elastic damper, a one-way elastic damper is provided in which a spring is provided in a cylinder, and a piston rod having a compression seat for compressing the spring is projected from the cylinder to the outside. May be used.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the basic form of the present invention is:
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of right and left fixed rails 1 made of a U-shaped channel material disposed on a roof upper surface R of a vehicle M by a well-known means such as a rain gutter attachment RA are respectively one before and after the left and right. A load carrier frame 2 that can move horizontally from the state of FIG. 3 to the rail 1 as shown in FIG. 4 is provided by a total of four rollers 2A, and the roller 2A in the intermediate portion 3 near the center of the carrier frame 2 3, the loading frame is pulled out as shown in FIG. 3 until the loading frame 2 is inscribed in the front end stopper 1A, and the loading frame 2 can be tilted seesaw at the rear of the vehicle M with the roller 2A of the intermediate portion 3 as a fulcrum. And a piston rod having a compressible spring SP in a cylinder S and a compression seat PA of the spring as shown in FIG. 5 in order to alleviate the downward downward tilting operation of the pulled-out carrier frame 2. The through the spring S cylinder S
1 is a roof rack having a loading frame 2 provided with a unidirectional elastic damper 4 projecting forward and backward.

That is, the rear portion 3A of the intermediate portion 3 of the carrier frame.
The front end of the piston rod P at the front portion 4A of the damper 4 is pivotally supported by the pivot portion 4B as shown in FIG. 5, and the rear portion of the cylinder S at the damper rear portion 4C is located at the middle of the rail 1 in the left-right direction. As shown in FIG. 5, a damper pivot 4D is pivotally supported by a damper pivot 4D on the rear portion of a movable body 6 having a substantially rectangular cylindrical shape, which is slidably inserted and slidably arranged over guide rails 5 arranged in parallel as shown in the figure. It constitutes an outline of a roof rack according to the present invention.

The one-way elastic damper 4 includes:
Piston rods P are displaceably projectingly provided on both front and rear sides of the cylinder S, and a rear portion of a rod cover pipe 4E extending to a rear portion of the cylinder is pivotally supported on a movable body 6 by a pivot 4D as shown in FIG. Alternatively, a recess (not shown) into which the roller 2A falls may be formed inside the front end of the rail 1 below the stopper 1A of the rail 1.

Further, the loading frame 2 is formed in a ladder shape with a horizontal rail 2B in order to facilitate loading and fixing as shown in the above-mentioned figures, and the loading frame 2 is a rail 1 made of a U-shaped channel material. The roller can be moved back and forth along the rail 1 by a total of four rollers 2A, one on each of the left and right sides at the center and rear, which rolls in the longitudinal direction. In addition, at the end point of pulling out the loading frame 2 shown in FIG. 3, the right and left front rollers 2A near the center are respectively left and right rail stoppers 1A.
1 or falls into a rail recess (not shown) provided in the lower portion inside the rail stopper 1A as described above, and the loading frame 2 is supported by the roller 2A as a fulcrum in FIGS. In this case, the rear roller 2A is configured to be able to move up and down through the notch 1a of the rail 1 in such a case.

Further, the storage state of the loading frame 2 in the rail shown in FIG. 4 is based on a well-known state such as a key pin locking means or a hook locking mechanism in which a well-known key pin is inserted by a handle H into a key hole at the front of the rail 1 and the loading frame 2. The storage lock mechanism prevents the derailment of the carrier frame 2 with respect to the rail 1.
Also, the strength of the spring SP in the damper 4 is such that the empty cargo bed frame 2 is about 10 to 2 facing downward as shown in FIGS.
The strength at which a seesaw balance state is achieved at an inclination angle of 0 degrees is preferable, and a rubber column with a vertical hole can be used in place of the spring SP.

Since the roof rack of the present invention has the above-described configuration, the well-known storage lock mechanism is used to pull out the loading frame 2 from the empty loading frame 2 stored in the rail shown in FIG. The handle H can be removed and the front side of the loading frame 2 can be pulled out of the rail along with the damper 4 and the movable body 6 as shown in FIG. The roller 2A rolls on the rail 1 and the movable platform 6 is pulled by the damper 4 and slides on the guide rail 5, so that the loading frame 2 is moved to the intermediate portion 3 near the center thereof.
Until the roller 2A pivotally connected to the rail is inscribed in the rail front end stopper 1A, it can be pulled out lightly as shown in FIG.
The loading frame 2 is about 1 downward and forward as shown in FIGS.
At a tilt angle of about 0 to 20 °, it is stationary in a seesaw balance.

Next, the front of the loading frame 2 is pushed downward (in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 3) against the resilience of the spring SP in the damper 4 to lower the loading frame 2 to the rail stopper 1A.
1 and 2 and FIGS. 6 to 8, the seesaw can be tilted downward toward the front with the roller 2A inscribed in the pallet as a fulcrum, and as shown in FIGS. Of the damper 4 in a substantially upright state in which the piston rod PA in the cylinder S is fully extended, that is, in a state immediately before the in-cylinder spring SP (see FIG. 5) is completely compressed in the compression seat PA, so that the load can be reduced. At this time, the load can be set in a load handling state, such as unloading. At this time, the lower side of the loading frame 2 is about to return upward with the roller 2A as a fulcrum due to the elasticity of the spring SP. The connecting portion 3B substantially at the center of the carrier frame 2 is connected to the rail 1 or the rail attachment RA with a hook F or the like by a connecting member 7 such as a chain or a string as shown in FIG.

More specifically, the movable body 6 begins to slightly advance due to the compressive stress of the spring SP when the loading frame 2 at the end point of the drawer starts tilting forward and downward, and as shown in FIG. 6 through the state of FIG. The movable body 6 is prevented from moving forward by contacting the front stopper 5A of the rail 5 and the loading frame 2
In response to the start of downward tilting, the spring SP in the cylinder S is compressed by the damper 4 from the contracted state in FIG. 6 to the state in which the piston rod P in FIG. Since it can be slowly expanded while being compressed by PA, even if the above-described downward seesaw tilting of the loading frame 2 is performed casually, the loading frame 2 can be slowly and safely started up, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Carrier frame 2
The load handling standing state can be achieved, and this state is maintained by the coupling tool 7 and other standing holding means in FIG.

A cargo (not shown) such as a folding ladder, a stepladder, or skis can be easily mounted and fixed on the loading frame 2 close to the upright position, and the loaded loading frame 2 is erected in FIGS. When starting to return horizontally to the direction of the automobile roof upper surface R while approaching the horizontal state as shown in FIG. 6 from the state of FIG. 7 through the state of FIG. 7, first, the coupling device 7 in FIG. When you turn upwards with
Since the movable body 6 is in contact with the stopper 5A and does not move,
The piston rod P is moved into the cylinder S by the expansion restoring force after compression of the spring SP in the cylinder S through the compression seat PA.
Since the pulling force applies a forward upward rotation return force to the loading frame 2, the loading frame 2 is gently moved forward with light work as shown in FIGS. It can be turned upward.

Next, after the loading frame 2 is made horizontal as shown in FIG. 3, the loading frame 2 is started to be pushed along with the load (not shown) along the rail 1 as shown in FIG. The movable body 6 also starts to retreat through the damper 4 by the pushing force, and the loading frame 2 is lightly retracted together with the movable body 6 as shown in FIG. H, etc., the loading frame 2 is fixedly locked to the rail 1 by the above-mentioned well-known locking mechanism, so that the debris of the loading frame 2 can be prevented, and the load (not shown) mounted on the upper surface R of the automobile roof can be remotely moved. It can be safely transported to places.

In order to lower the transported luggage from the roof upper surface R, the respective parts may be operated in the same manner as in the case where the empty cargo frame 2 is pulled out, tilted, and then erected. When loading on the R, the loading frame 2 already loaded on the roof may be placed in the same manner as on the roof, but the balance state of the loading frame 2 depends on the weight balance of the position, shape, size, etc. of the load. Be careful as it changes naturally.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A roller 2A is provided inside a lower portion of a rail stopper 1A.
If the rail recess (not shown) into which the roller 2A falls is provided, the loading frame 2 can be tilted more stably with the roller 2A lowered into a more stable fulcrum state. In this case, the loading frame 2 At the time of storage between the rails after the horizontal return, the front of the loading frame 2 may be lifted by the recessed height of the roller 2A, and the loading frame 2 may be pushed between the rails 1.

Also, the example has been described in which the spring SP in the damper 4 is compressed by the compression seat PA of the piston rod P when the carrier frame 2 is rotated downward and forward.
It is also possible to employ a damper 4 in which the spring SP is extended against the elasticity thereof when the loading frame 2 is rotated downward and forward, and in this example, the damper 4 may be only the spring SP, such as the cylinder S or the piston rod P or the compression. The seat PA and the like can be omitted.

[0027]

The present invention adopts the above-described embodiment, and has the following effects. According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, a pair of left and right rollers 2A is pivotally supported at an intermediate portion 3 near the center of a loading frame 2 movable along a pair of left and right fixed rails 1 disposed on a roof upper surface R of an automobile M. After the loading frame 2 is pulled out until the rollers 2A are inscribed in the end stoppers 1A of the rails 1, the loading frame 2 can be tilted outside the automobile M with a small external force with each roller 2A as a fulcrum. And the downward tilting operation of the loading frame 2 can be reduced by the extension elasticity of the one-way elastic damper 4 (the compression elasticity or the extension elasticity of the spring SP in claim 2). The first effect is that the cargo handling work such as unloading can be performed safely and slowly.

Further, according to the above two inventions of the present invention, in the seesaw operation of the loading frame 2, the upward returning operation of the loading frame 2 is performed by the self-return force of the one-way elastic damper 4. In the item 2, since the extension and resilience of the spring SP can be used to assist and assist,
There is also a second effect that the work of mounting the loading carrier frame 2 on the automobile roof can be performed safely with light work.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above-described effects, the downward tilt of the loading frame 2 can be reduced by the compression elasticity of the in-cylinder spring SP. Without having to be removed from the device, and added the effect of being safe.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above-described effects, the piston rod is provided at both ends of the cylinder so as to penetrate the cylinder, so that the piston and the cylinder can be prevented from being perturbed.
An even more stable damper operation was realized.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above-described effects, the loading frame 2 is tilted in a seesaw manner in a stable fulcrum state in which the roller 2A falls into the recess of the rail provided below the rail stopper 1A. As a result, the effect that the tilting of the loading frame 2 can be performed more stably can be added.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a roof rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state different from that shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state different from that shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of the one shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a main part showing an operation sequence of the roof rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a main part showing an operation sequence of the roof rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a main part showing an operation sequence of the roof rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an example of a handling state of a roof rack according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a side view of a main part showing an operation sequence of the roof rack according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 M Car R Upper surface of the roof of the car 1 Rail 1A Rail end stopper 2 Carrier frame 2A A pair of left and right rollers provided on the carrier frame 3 Intermediate part of the carrier frame 3A Rear part of the intermediate part of the carrier frame 3B Coupling almost at the center of the carrier frame 2 Part 4 One-way elastic damper 4A Front part of damper 4B Pivot part at front part of damper 4C Rear part of damper 4D Pivot part at rear part of damper 4E Rod cover pipe 5 Guide rail 5A Front stopper of guide rail 6 Movable body 7 Coupler S cylinder SP Cylinder internal spring P Piston rod PA Piston spring compression seat F Connecting hook

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (71) Applicant 595153516 NTT ME Kansai Co., Ltd. 2-14-11 Shimanouchi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi (72) Inventor Toyokuni Yamaguchi 4-23-5 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo Shinagawa Station Building 4F COMSYS.NET Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shiro Yoshii 8-14-24 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo NTT FANNET SYSTEMS INC. (72) Inventor Miyamoto Yasunori 2-14-11 Shimanouchi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka F-term (reference) 3D020 AA01 AB02 AC05 AD06 AD12 AD23

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A left and right pair of left and right pivots supported at an intermediate portion 3 near the center of the luggage frame 2 having a luggage frame 2 movable along a pair of left and right fixed rails 1 disposed on a roof upper surface R of the vehicle M. The loading frame 2 drawn out until the rollers 2A of the rails 1 are inscribed in the end stoppers 1A of the rails 1 is disposed outside the automobile M so as to be tiltable with the rollers 2A as fulcrums, and the loading frame 2 is located in front of the loading frame 2. A roof rack including a one-way elastic damper (4) on a carrier frame (2) for reducing a downward tilting motion. 2. A left and right pair of right and left pivots supported by an intermediate portion 3 near the center of the left and right fixed frame 1 which is movable along a pair of right and left fixed rails 1 disposed on a roof upper surface R of the vehicle M. The loading frame 2 drawn out until the rollers 2A of the rails 1 are inscribed in the end stoppers 1A of the rails 1 is disposed outside the automobile M so as to be tiltable with the rollers 2A as fulcrums, and the loading frame 2 is located in front of the loading frame 2. A front part 4A of a one-way elastic damper 4 having a spring SP for alleviating a downward tilting operation is pivotally supported on a rear part 3A of the middle part 3 of the carrier frame by a pivot part 4B. A roof rack pivotally supported by a movable portion 6D on a movable body 6 movably disposed to a front stopper 5A along a guide rail 5 disposed parallel to the guide rail 5. 3. A piston rod P having the spring SP inside a cylinder S as the one-way elastic damper 4, and having a compression seat PA for compressing the spring.
The roof rack according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a one-way elastic damper (4) protruding from the cylinder to the outside thereof is used. 4. As the one-way elastic damper 4, a piston rod P is provided so as to be displaceable through front and rear sides of the cylinder S, and a rear portion of a rod cover pipe 4E extending to a rear portion of the cylinder is provided with a movable body 6. 4. The roof rack according to claim 3, wherein the roof rack is pivotally supported by a pivot portion 4D. 5. The roof rack according to claim 1, wherein a recess in which the roller 2A falls is formed inside the front end of the rail 1 below the stopper 1A of the rail 1.