Abstract:
A safety railing for attachment to a vehicle roof mounted rack to reduce the likelihood of fall injuries to workers who have mounted to roof of the vehicle has a pair of side railings joined by a front railing and supported by balusters that pivotally attach to the roof rack. A crank operated mechanism is provided for shifting the balusters between an erect, vertical orientation and a collapsed orientation where the safety railing lies flat against the roof rack.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a 371 of International application no. PCT/US2013/058887, filed Sep. 10, 2013, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application, Ser. No. 61/702,627, filed Sep. 18, 2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     I. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to safety equipment, and more particularly to a vehicle roof rack having a guardrail structure for use on cargo vans to preclude fall accidents to workers who may have occasion to stand on the vehicle&#39;s roof. 
     II. Discussion of the Prior Art 
     There are occupations that require workers to climb onto and stand on the roof of a motor vehicle, such as cargo vans and the like. For example, video news photographers frequently mount the roof of their vehicle to obtain recordings in a crowd scene. Likewise, electricians are frequently called upon to install wiring and lighting or other fixtures at elevated locations where ladder access is inconvenient. Working from a vehicle rooftop location is not without risk, however. Should a person stumble and fall, serious injury can result. 
     It is known in the art to provide railings on a vehicle&#39;s roof to inhibit falling. The Satchwell III Pat. No. 5,249,436 shows one such arrangement where a collapsible railing structure is bolted or otherwise affixed directly to the vehicle&#39;s roof, thus causing permanent damage to the vehicle at numerous points along either side of the vehicle&#39;s roof where railing balusters have been located. The Ciarfello Pat. No. 7,841,644 also discloses a vehicle with a roof mounted deck having a railing but the disclosed approach requires major alteration to the vehicle. 
     A need exists for a handrail system that is attachable to a vehicle without causing damage to the vehicle. The present invention fulfills this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention comprises a vehicle roof rack that can be securely clamped to the roof of a cargo van without any damage or alteration to the vehicle itself and which incorporates a collapsible handrail structure that can be readily raised and lowered by manual rotation of a crank arm. The roof rack preferably comprises the one described in Published PCT Application WO/2009/126286 A1, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The roof rack portion of the invention itself is an extremely strong, yet lightweight and easy to assemble on the roof of motor vehicles without any damage to the vehicle. It is fabricated for the most part using extruded aluminum tubing to create side members and crossbars for joining the side members to one another across the width dimension of the vehicle roof Each side member comprises a pair of elongated rails that are clamped together by a series of clamps that cooperate with attachment spines integrally formed with the rails. Attachment flanges forming a part of the extrusion on one rail on each side member facilitates attachment of the crossbar members thereto. The roof rack structure is adapted to be clamped to the vehicle&#39;s rain gutter using specially designed clamps that will not mar or distort the rain gutter at points of attachment. 
     The handrail structure of the present invention is adapted to attach to crossbars of the ladder rack and comprises a pair of tubular side handrails, each longitudinally extending and pivotally hinged to upper ends of a pair of balusters that also have their lower ends pivotally hinged to separate ones of the crossbars. A front tubular handrail extends between the front ends of the pair of side rails. When not in use, the handrail assembly collapses down to lie flat on the ladder rack. To elevate the handrail assembly to its upright disposition, there is provided a transversely extending rod that is coupled by bearing brackets to a separate crossbar and the rod is adapted to be rotated by a crank arm affixed to one end thereof. Extending between the rotatable rod and a pair of balusters are first and second slide arms whose upper ends include a follower that is designed to slide in a groove in the cooperating balusters. As the crank arm is turned to rotate the rod, the slide arms rotate with that rod and urge the cooperating balusters to their vertical orientation. To again lower the handrail assembly to its collapsed disposition, the crank arm is rotated in the opposite direction, thereby causing the balusters to rotate downwards. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, especially when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals in the several views referred to corresponding parts. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective rear view showing the ladder rack and associated handrail assembly in its fully elevated condition; 
         FIG. 1A  is a detail view of the hinge connecting to the balusters to a roof rack cross bar; 
         FIG. 1B  is a detail view of journal coupling to the actuator rod to a roof rack cross bar; 
         FIG. 1C  is a detail view of the follower coupling the pivot arm to a longitudinal groove in the frontmost balusters; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing the orientation of the various components as the handrail assembly is being lowered; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the ladder rack with the handrail assembly fully collapsed onto the roof rack; and 
         FIG. 4  is an alternative embodiment of the collapsible handrail assembly of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     This description of the preferred embodiments is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description of this invention. In the description, relative terms such as “lower”, “upper”, “horizontal”, “vertical”, “above”, “below”, “up”, “down”, “top” and “bottom” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally”, “downwardly”, “upwardly”, etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the apparatus be constructed or operated in a particular orientation. Terms such as “connected”, “connecting”, “attached”, “attaching”, “join” and “joining” are used interchangeably and refer to one structure or surface being secured to another structure or surface or integrally fabricated in one piece, unless expressively described otherwise. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the roof rack is indicated generally by numeral  5  and has a right primary  10  and a left primary  11  side rail a right  12  and left  13  secondary side rail coupled to one another by a plurality of side rail spacing clamps  170  that connect the right primary side rail  10  to the right secondary side rail  12  and connect the left primary side rail  11  to the left secondary side rail  13 . A plurality of cross bar members  130  are seen connecting the right primary side rail  10  to the left primary side rail  11  all as described in the afore-referenced Published PCT Application WO/2009/127286A1. Extending along the length dimension of the roof rack  5  and resting upon the cross bar members  130  is a walkway  20 . 
     The collapsible handrail assembly is indicated generally by numeral  22  and comprises right and left tubular side rails  24  and  26  and a front cross rail  28  that is affixed to the front end portions of the side rails  24  and  26  using suitable L-brackets  27 . The right most hand rail  24  has associated with it a pair of balusters  30  and  32 . Similarly, the left side handrail  26  has associated with it balusters  34  and  36 . More particularly, the upper ends of the balusters  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36  have a hinge connection between them and their associated tubular side rails as at  38 . 
     The lower ends of the balusters  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36  are coupled by hinge brackets  40  to a rear cross bar  42  and to an intermediate cross bar  44 . See the detail view of  FIG. 1A . An adjacent intermediate cross bar  46  has clamped to it bearing brackets, as at  48  and  50 . The bearing brackets  48  and  50  journal a transversely extending actuator rod  52  therein. See the detail of  FIG. 1B . Affixed to one end of the rod  52  is a crank arm  54  which is used to rotate the rod  52  within its bearing brackets  48  and  50 . 
     As best seen in the detail view of  FIG. 1C , each of the balusters  30  and  34  has a longitudinal bead  56  formed in a front edge thereof and fitted onto the bead  56  is a slidable follower  57  having a slidable latch  58 . The follower is affixed to an end of a pivot arm  60 . The slidable latch  58  can be made to slide in and out from a notch (not shown) formed in the bead  56  of the balusters  30  and  34 . The lower ends of the pivot arms  60  are coupled to the rotatable actuator rod  52 . 
     As can be seen in  FIGS. 1C and 2 , as the crank arm  54  is moved in the direction of the arrow  62 , latches  58  in the followers  57  are pulled out a notch in the balusters  30  and  34  and allow the followers  57  to slide along the bead  56  in the balusters  30  and  34  and when the pivot arms  60  rotate with the rod  52 , applying a pulling force on the balusters  30  and  34  as followers  57  on the upper ends of the pivot arms  60  ride upward in their associated grooves  56  of the balusters  30  and  34 . This causes the handrails  24  and  26  to descend. Referring to  FIG. 3 , the handrails  24  and  26  are shown as completely lowered and are resting, along with the associated balusters  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36  on the ladder rack structure  5 . It is in this position when the vehicle is being driven to and from a job site. In the elevated position, the latches  58  in the slidable followers  57  slide into the notch (not shown) in the bead along balusters  30  and  34  and lock the handrail in its elevated position so as not to fold or collapse when force is applied to the handrail tubes  24  and  26 . 
     In an alternative embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , an additional pair of side rails  62 ,  64  joined by a front cross rail  66  may be pivotally jointed to the balusters  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36  midway between the upper side rails  24  and  26  and the lower ends of the balusters to provide additional rigidity to the assembly and to afford more of a barrier to persons working atop the vehicle. 
     Thus, the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned above as well as those inherent therein. While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described for the purpose of this disclosure, numerous changes in the construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art, which changes are encompassed within the spirit of this invention as defined by the appended claims.