초록 ▼

A roof bar (10) for a motor vehicle (1) has an elongate load carrying member (213) and a single elongate stay (214) which are hingedly connected to a roof (5) of the motor vehicle (1) by a pair of base plates (211). The elongate load carrying member (213) is selectively held in a deployed position b

A roof bar (10) for a motor vehicle (1) has an elongate load carrying member (213) and a single elongate stay (214) which are hingedly connected to a roof (5) of the motor vehicle (1) by a pair of base plates (211). The elongate load carrying member (213) is selectively held in a deployed position by a latch mechanism (222, 255) which latches a castellated edge of the elongate load carrying member (213) to a castellated edge of the single elongate stay (214) along a significant portion of the interface between the two components (213, 214) so as to provide a strong support for any loads carried by the roof bar (10). The components (211, 213, 214) forming the roof bar (10) are all relatively thin and the elongate load carrying member (213) and the single elongate stay (214) are arranged to fold flat on the roof (5) of the motor vehicle (1) so as to minimize any change in vehicle height when the roof bar (10) is stowed.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A stowable roof bar (10) for a motor vehicle (1) comprising an elongate load carrying member (213) pivotally connected to a roof (5) of the vehicle (1) so as to extend across said vehicle (1) and a latch mechanism (222, 255) to selectively hold the elongate load carrying member (213) in a deploye

1. A stowable roof bar (10) for a motor vehicle (1) comprising an elongate load carrying member (213) pivotally connected to a roof (5) of the vehicle (1) so as to extend across said vehicle (1) and a latch mechanism (222, 255) to selectively hold the elongate load carrying member (213) in a deployed state in which a crossbar portion (215) of said elongate load carrying member (213) is spaced above the roof (5) of the vehicle (1), wherein a single elongate stay (214) is latchable by means of said latch mechanism (222, 255) to said elongate load carrying member (213) along the length of said elongate load carrying member (213) to hold said roof bar (10) in the deployed state; wherein the latch mechanism (222, 255) is operable from one end of the roof bar (10) so as to permit the roof bar (10) to be stowed or deployed from one side of the vehicle (1) to which it is fitted. 2. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 wherein the elongate load carrying member (213) comprises a crossbar portion (215) and an end portion (216) at each end of the crossbar portion (215) and the single elongate stay (214) comprises a central portion (217) and a support portion (218) at each end of the central portion (217). 3. A roof bar as claimed in claim 2 wherein the elongate load carrying member has a castellated edge (251) formed on the crossbar portion (215) and is latchable by means of the latch mechanism (222, 255) to a castellated edge (252) of the central portion (217) of the single elongate stay (214) so as to form a load bearing support when the roof bar (10) is in the deployed state. 4. A roof bar as claimed in claim 2 wherein the central portion (217) of the single elongate stay (214) is latched along its entire length to the crossbar portion (215) of the elongate load carrying member (213) by the latch mechanism (222, 255). 5. A roof bar as claimed in claim 2, wherein the roof bar (10) further comprises a pair of base plates (211) used to fasten the roof bar (10) to the roof (5) of the motor vehicle (1), each of the base plates (211) having a respective support portion (218) of the single elongate stay (214) pivotally connected to it near to one end and a respective end portion (216) of the elongate load carrying member (213) pivotally connected to it near to an opposite end. 6. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 in which the roof bar is adapted to fit a roof (5) of a motor vehicle (1) having a high point and a low point and the roof bar (10) is fitted so as to be stowable in a open ended transverse channel (8) in the roof (5) wherein the thickness of the components forming the roof bar (10) are such that, when the roof bar (10) is moved to a stowed state, no part of the stowed roof bar (10) is located below the low point of the roof (5) and above the high point of the roof (5). 7. A roof bar as claimed in claim 6 wherein the roof bar is adapted to a accommodate a roof (5) of a motor vehicle (1) in which the roof has a high point and a low point, with the low point corresponding to a height below which the surface of the roof is not self draining, and a number of transverse open ended channels (8) each sized to accommodate a stowed roof bar (10), each of the channels (8) having a base surface (8b) located no lower than the low point of the roof (5) such that, when each roof bar (10) fitted to the roof (5) of the vehicle (1) is moved to its respective stowed state, no part of each stowed roof bar (10) is located higher than the high point of the roof (5) so that the overall height of the motor vehicle (1) is not increased by the stowed roof bars (10) and no part of each roof bar (10) is located lower than the low point of the roof (5). 8. A roof bar as claimed in claim 7 wherein each of the channels (8) has a base surface (8b) located no lower than the height of drainage ditches (9) so as to ensure that it is self draining. 9. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 wherein the roof has a convex central portion (7) bounded on each side by a longitudinally extending drainage ditch (9) and the low point of the roof (5) corresponds to the height of the drainage ditches (9). 10. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 wherein the latch mechanism includes an axially slideable J-shaped rod (255) that is moveable between an unlocked position in which it is engaged only with castellations (251) formed in said elongate load carrying member (213), and a locked position in which it is engaged with said castellations and with additional castellations (252) formed in said single elongate stay (214). 11. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 wherein, when the single elongate stay (214) is unlatched from the elongate load carrying member (213), the elongate load carrying member (213) is rotatable in one rotational direction so as to lie flat on the roof (5) of the vehicle (1) to which the roof bar (10) is fitted and the single elongate stay (214) is rotatable in an opposite rotational direction so as to lie flat on the roof (5) of the vehicle (1). 12. A roof bar as claimed in claim 1 wherein the crossbar portion (215) is asymmetrical in cross-section having a thickness that is less than the width of the crossbar portion (215) so as to minimize the increase in vehicle height when the roof bar (10) is stowed while retaining a high resistance to bending when a load is carried on the roof bar (10) in the deployed state.