Patent ID: 8991889
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. In combination, an automotive work vehicle and a ladder rack for facilitating the loading and unloading of at least one ladder onto and from the roof of the work vehicle, a) a ladder rack having a front four-bar linkage assembly and a rear four-bar linkage assembly, each including a stationary bar member, a movable ladder support member and a pair of linkages operatively coupled between the stationary member and the movable ladder support member with an elongated drive shaft extending between and journaled for rotation in the stationary bar member of the front and rear four-bar linkage assemblies and connected to one of the pair of linkages comprising the front and rear four-bar linkage assemblies; b) the automotive work vehicle having compartment defined by a front wall, a rear wall, a pair of side walls and a roof supported by the front, rear and side walls; the roof including outwardly and downwardly sloping recesses proximate the front and rear walls and parallel thereto, the recesses having front and rear vertical surfaces joined by a bottom surface; c) the stationary bar members of the front and rear four-bar linkage assemblies being affixed to said bottom surfaces of the front and rear recesses, respectively, and with said drive shaft passing through an opening formed in the rear vertical surface of the front recess and an opening formed in the front vertical surface of the rear recess such that the drive shaft extends beneath the roof of the compartment, the combination being such that rotation of the drive shaft in a first direction simultaneously displaces the ladder support members from a location within the recesses to a location alongside one of the compartment's pair of side walls.