US3477587A - Gun rack - Google Patents

Description

R. V. HART Nov. 11, 1969 GUN RACK Filed Aug. 50, 1967 United States Patent Office 3,477,587 Patented Nov. 1l, 1969 U.S. Cl. 211-64 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A gun rack into which a gun, such as a rie or shotgun, may be latched so as to hold the gun in a positive fashion regardless of the position of the rack, which has la movable latch or link for holding the gun, and which is almost entirely, or entirely, including the movable latch or link, encased in at least a single homogeneous layer of a soft elastomer.

BACKGROUND oF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention is directed to a gun rack which will hold a gun positively without chance of dislodgment, and which is particularly useful for mounting on the underside of motor vehicle trunk lids and in other locations subject to movement of a swinging nature. The rack includes moving parts and is entirely, or almost entirely, including the moving parts, encased in at least a single homogeneous layer of a soft elastomer.

Description of the prior art Previously known gun racks were of the bracket or clip type, even when intended for use in moving vehicles, and failed to hold a gun positively against accidental dislodgement. Thus, the previously known racks when used, for instance in a Jeep type vehicle in rough terrain, did not necessarily always hold'the gun in place. Further, the earlier type racks would not always perform satisfactorily when used on the underside of a trunk lid of a vehicle where the rack is substantially inverted when the lid is closed. The gun rack of the present invention overcomes all of these problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises a gun rack formed of a bracket adapted to be mounted -on movable portions of a motor vehicle carrying a spaced, parallel flexible arm or bar and a pivotally mounted latch or link adapted to swing away from the arm so that a gun may be placed between the bracket and the arm, and to be swung back over the arm to lat-ch the gun in the rack, the entire rack and latch or link, with the possible exception of the extremities of the bracket, being entirely encased in at least a single homogeneous layer of a soft elastomer. Normally, the brackets are used in pairs but could be used singly to hold a handgun.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a front, elevational view of a pair of the gun racks constructed in accordance with this invention, showing in dotted lines a gun case mounted therein,

FIG. 2 is a side, elevational view, partly in section, of the gun rack, the open position of the parts of the rack being shown in dotted lines,

FIG. 3 is lan enlarged, front, elevational view of the gun rack,

FIG. 4 is a further-enlarged, horizontal, cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a rear, perspective view of the gun rack in its open position with the elastomer coating deleted, and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, vertical view, partly in elevation and partly in section, showing a modification of the invention in which the extremities of the upper and lower offset portions of the bracket are not encased in the elastomer. l

A construction designed to carry out the invention will be hereinafter described, together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein examples of the invention are shown.

DESCRIPTION OF'THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawing, the numeral 10 designates generally a gun rack constructed in accordance with this invention. Normally, the racks are used in pairs, as shown at 11 and 12 in FIG. 1, and are mounted in spaced, parallel relationship to hold an elongate gun such as a riiie or shotgun in or out of a conventional guncase 13. A single rack could be used, however, to hold a handgun, dependent on the dimensions of the rack, but such a. use would be unusual and possibly not advisable except under particular circumstances.

The gun rack includes a rigid, elongate bracket 14 formed of metal or some other suitable strong, rigid material. At its upper end the bracket is offset at an angle rearwardly, as shown at 15, and then vertically upwardly, parallel to the main body of the bracket, to form an upper extremity 16 of the bracket. At its lower end the bracket is also offset rearwardly at right angles to form a short horizontal leg 17 and then bent downwardly at right angles to form a depending lower extremity 18 of the bracket vertically alined with the upper extremity 16. Both the extremities 16 and 18 have transverse openings 19 for receiving suitable fasteners, such as screws or bolts, for attaching the bracket to any desired surface 20 with the main portion of the bracket parallel to but spaced from such surface. Of course, the upper and lower ends of the bracket need not be offset to the same degree and the bracket, when mounted, need not be parallel to the surface 20.

An L-shaped arm 21 formed of a fiexible, springlike material such as steel or some other suitable material has its shorter, horizontal leg 22 extending beneath the leg 17 of the bracket and suitable secured thereto as by the rivet 23, the longer leg 24 of the arm 21 curving upwardly and vertically from the shorter leg 22 in substantial parallelisrn to the bracket 14. At its upperI extremity 25 the leg 24 is curved arcuately outwardly from the bracket to form a link receiving concavity 26.

A substantially rectangular link 27, Wider than th arm 21, vis pivotally mounted or connected to the rear- Ward face of the bracket 14 immediately beneath the upper angular offset 15 by a clip 28 having U-shaped central section 29 which receives the link 27 and is secured to the rearward face of the bracket by any suitable means Such as the rivets 30, the forward portions 31 of which are beveled as to be flush with the surface of the bracket. As shown in FIG. 3, when the link 27 is swiveled upwardly, as shown in dotted lines at 31, to release the arm 21, the latter is inclined slightly forwardly from the bracket as shown in dotted lines at 32. Thus, a gun is readily received between the arm 21 and the bracket 14. After the gun has been positioned, the arm 21 is manually pressed rearwardly toward the bracket 14, the flexibility of the arm 21 permitting it to conform to the shape and size of the gun. The link 27 is then swung downwardly over the upper end of the arm 21 to be received in the concavity 26 and thereby lock the gun in the rack. Due to the resiliency of the arm 21, the concavity 26 tends to move forwardly from the bracket 14 and thus holds the link securely in the concavity as shown in solid lines in FIG. 3.

After the complete rack has been assembled, it is suitably coated or encased in any suitable manner, as by spraying or dipping, in a suitable soft elastomer such as rubber, synthetic rubber, polyvinyl chloride, or any of the other well-known synthetic resins which are moderately soft and flexible yet capable of forming a relatively thick coating over the entire gun rack. Desirably the gun rack is so coated in its open position, as shown in FIG. so as to form the relatively thick homogeneous layer 33 which encases the entire rack, including the clip 28 and link 27. The resiliency and ilexibility of the coating 33 will, however, permit the movement of the arm 21 and the vertical swinging of the link 27.

In the alternative, the entire gun rack with the exception of the upper and lower extremities 16 and 18 may be so coated or encased, as shown in FIG. 6.

The coating 33 may be applied in a single layer or may be built up in several layers being of such a nature as to protect the surfaces of the gun mounted in the rack against scratching or marring and adequately flexible and resilient to permit the necessary movement of the several parts of the rack. Thus, although the entire rack, or almost the entire rack, is encased in at least a single homogeneous layer, the various parts thereof are permitted to move as needed without injury to or rupture of the encasing elastomer.

The link 27 is normally horizontal, as shown in FIG. 5 so that the encasing coating 33 is normally under very little, or no, stress or strain.

This novel gun rack permits it to be mounted in any desired location and is satisfactory for mounting in vehicles subjected to much bouncing or tilting, as, for instance, a vehicle used for transversing rough and hilly terrain, and is also extremely useful for mounting on moving parts of a motor vehicle such as a door or other portion. The rack is particularly useful for mounting on the underside of a trunk lid of a vehicle since the lid may be swung upwardly, the guns received and latched in their sets of racks after which the trunk lid may be closed, which substantially inverts the rack, and yet the gun will be held securely in position by the engagement by the arm 21 and the link 27. The gun is readily removed at any time by pressing the arm 21 inwardly and swinging the link 27 upwardly so that the rack is opened and the gun removed.

The gun cannot become dislodged from the rack regardless of the orientation or the position the rack may assume since the gun is rmly held against movement in any and all directions.

The foregoing description of the invention is explanatory thereof and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as Well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A gun rack especially adapted for mounting on movable portions of a motor vehicle such as on the underside of a trunk lid including an elongate bracket rearwardly offset at its upper and lower ends for securing to a portion of a motor vehicle body,

the offset lower end of the bracket including a short leg extending transversely between and connecting said offset lower end to said bracket,

an L-shaped exible arm having its shorter leg secured to the short transverse leg of the offset lower end of the bracket and projecting forwardly therefrom and its longer leg extending upwardly in spaced substantial parallelism to said bracket,

the upper extremity of the longer leg being deformed outwardly from the bracket, and a link wider than the arm pivotally connected to the bracket below the offset upper end of said bracket,

the link being swingable upwardly to admit a gun between the bracket and the arm and swingable downwardly over the upper end of the arm to conne the gun between said bracket and the arm regardless of the orientation of the rack,

the entire rack, including the link but not necessarily including the extremities of the olset portions of the bracket, being encased in at least a single homogeneous layer of a soft elastomer.

2. A gun rack as set forth in claim 1 wherein the entire rack is enclosed in the elastomer.

3. A gun rack as set forth in claim 1 wherein the link is pivotally secured to the rearward side of the bracket by a U-shaped clip carried by the bracket, the clip being encased in the elastomer.

4. A gun rack as set forth in claim 1 wherein the upper extremity of the longer leg of the arm is curved arcuately outwardly from the bracket and adapted to be engaged by the clip.

5. A gun rack as set forth in claim 1 wherein the longer leg of the arm terminates at about the lower end of the offset upper end of the bracket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,632,619 3/1953 Wilson 248-316 3,294,247 12/ 1967 Norrington 211-64 3,326,385 6/1967 Pinkerton 21164 X FOREIGN PATENTS 591,321 7/1925 France.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 248-201

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