Abstract:
A rack includes a sliding latch member, which operates with one hand and which opens and closes several positions on the rack. The rack holds tubular members such as string trimmers and includes first and second uprights, each of which includes hooks and retaining members for retaining the tubular members on the hooks.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to racks, and, in particular, to racks which can support string trimmers or other elongated members. 
     String trimmers are an important tool for the lawn maintenance business. Lawn mowers, trimmers, and other tools are typically carried from one site to another on a trailer. Securing the string trimmers on the trailer has been a problem in the past. The trimmers have tended to slide and roll around on the trailer in transit, which damages the trimmers. Also, if the trimmers are not secured to the trailer, they may be stolen when the trailer is parked. Since professional trimmers are expensive, this is a problem. 
     In the prior art, other mechanisms have been used to secure the trimmers to the trailer. However, they have been difficult to use and have not been particularly useful. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a rack for receiving an elongated, tubular member, such as a string trimmer, in which a plurality of trimmers can be released from the rack with a simple, one-hand motion. 
     The present invention provides a rack in which the trimmers are automatically secured on the rack whenever there is no external force on the rack. 
     The present invention provides a rack which can receive and retain tubular members of varying diameters at the same time. 
     The present invention provides a rack which grips the tubular members so they do not slide or roll when they are retained on the rack. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a trailer with a preferred embodiment of the rack of the present invention mounted on the trailer; 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the rack of FIG. 1, with part of the trailer shown in phantom; 
     FIG. 3 is the same view as FIG. 2, but showing a string trimmer being removed from the rack; 
     FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the left upright member of the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the right upright member of the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is a broken-away back perspective view of the right upright member of the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a left side sectional view of the right upright member of the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a top sectional view of the latch mechanism on the right upright of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 9 is a top view of the right upright of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 10 is the same view as FIG. 7 but with the latching mechanism open and the slide mechanism slid upwardly for inserting or removing something from the rack; 
     FIG. 11 is a top view of a string trimmer being put onto the rack of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 12 is a left side view of the right upright of FIG. 5 with a security bar added; 
     FIG. 13 is a rear perspective view of the security bar of FIG. 12; 
     FIG. 14 is a view taken along the section 14--14 of FIG. 12; 
     FIG. 15 is a view taken along the section 15--15 of FIG. 12; and 
     FIG. 16 is a view taken along the section 16--16 of FIG. 12. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring first to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a preferred embodiment of a rack 10, which is mounted on a trailer 12. The trailer 12 includes walls 14, a floor 16, a tongue 18, and wheels 20. The rack 10 is made up of left and right upright members 22, 24, respectively. While the left and right upright members 22, 24 as shown here are separate members, they could instead be part of a single, connected unit. The left and right upright members 22, 24 are preferably mounted to the trailer 12 by standing the uprights 22, 24 on the floor 16 of the trailer 12 and bolting them to one of the walls 14 of the trailer 12 by means of bolts extending through holes 26. Each upright 22, 24 is bolted to the trailer 12 in at least two places, so the rack is solidly mounted on the trailer 12. 
     Now, looking at all the figures to see the details of the rack, the left upright member 22 (shown in detail in FIG. 4) has three first support hooks 28 mounted on its front face 30. Straight out from the front face 30 is the forward direction. The first support hooks 28 extend at an angle alpha of approximately 45 degrees to the forward direction, as shown in FIG. 11. Each of the first support hooks 28 is substantially U-shaped and defines a top opening 32 for receiving the shaft of a string trimmer. Adjacent each of the first support hooks 28 is a retaining member 34. Each retaining member 34 is preferably welded to the side of the left upright 22 and projects forward from the front of the left upright 22 at a height near the top of its respective first support hook 28. The entire left upright member 22 is stationary relative to the trailer when it is mounted on the trailer. 
     The right upright member 24 has a sliding latch member 36 mounted on it so as to slide up and down relative to the right upright member 24. The right upright member 24 has three second support hooks 38 mounted on it at the same heights as the corresponding three first support hooks 28 of the left upright member 22. These second support hooks 38 project forward from the right upright 24 and each hook 38 defines a top opening 40 for receiving the handle of a string trimmer 33. 
     On the sliding latch member 36 are mounted three second retaining members 42. When the sliding latch 36 is down, these second retaining members 42 close off the top opening 40 of their respective second support hooks 38 so that, if the handle of a string trimmer is in a second support hook 38, it cannot be lifted up to be removed. 
     Both of the upright members 22, 24 are preferably made of flat steel or some other rigid material. The sliding latch 36 is also preferably made of angle iron and wraps around the outside of the right upright member 24. 
     The manner in which the sliding latch 36 is mounted on the right upright member 24 is shown in FIGS. 5-10. Each of the pieces of angle iron has an L-shaped cross-section, with a front face and a side face. The sliding latch 36 is mounted to both the front and side faces 44, 46 of the right upright member 24. As shown in FIG. 6, there are two vertical slots 48, 50 in the front face 44 of the right upright member, and there is one vertical slot 52 in the side face 46 of the right upright member. The lengths of the vertical slots 48 and 52 are equal, because they both represent the length of travel of the sliding latch member 36 relative to the right upright 24. The shorter slot 50 in the front face 44 receives the latch pin 54, which retains the sliding latch member 36 in the closed position. 
     The sliding latch member 36 has rivets 56, 58 which extend through their respective slots 48, 52. The rivets 56, 58 have heads 60 which are wider than the slots 48, 52 in order to retain the sliding latch member 36 on the right upright 24. The rivets 56, 58 are positioned so that they bottom out and top out in their respective slots at the same time. There is a spring 62 which is mounted at its upper end to the rivet 56 and at its lower end to the right upright member 24. In order to open the latch, the sliding latch member 36 must be lifted up against gravity and against the force of the spring 62, and, when the sliding latch member 36 is released, the spring and gravity cause the sliding latch 36 to slide downwardly to close the latch. 
     The latch pin 54 is mounted on the sliding latch member 36 opposite a hole 64 in the front face of the sliding latch member 36. A spring 66 urges the latch pin 54 to extend through the hole 64. When the sliding latch member 36 is down, in the closed position, the latch pin 54 extends through both the hole 64 in the sliding latch member 36 and through the short slot 50 in the front face of the right elongated member 24, so as to latch the sliding latch member in the closed position. 
     In order to open the sliding latch member, a person need only pull on the round head or handle 68 of the latch pin 54, pulling against the spring 66 until the latch pin is pulled out of the slot 50, then lifting on the round head 68 to lift the sliding latch member upwardly, so the second retaining members 42 move upwardly, away from their respective second support hooks 38. Then, with the other hand, the person can lift the right end of a string trimmer out of its second support hook 38, pivot the trimmer to an angle of about 45 degrees, as shown in FIG. 11, and then lift the left end of the trimmer out of the first support hook 28. As soon as the round head 68 of the latch pin 54 is released, the latch will close, locking any remaining trimmers in place on the rack. 
     Inserting a trimmer on the rack is simply the reverse of the removal described above. To insert a trimmer on the rack, the left end of the trimmer is inserted vertically into one of the first support hooks 28 on the left upright 22, with the shaft of the trimmer at an angle of about 45 degrees from its normal resting position on the rack. This angle enables the shaft of the trimmer to get by the respective first retaining member 34 in order to enter the top opening of the first support hook 28. Then, the right end of the trimmer is pivoted toward the right upright 24, the latch 36 is slid upwardly, the trimmer is inserted into the respective second support hook 38, the latch is released, and the latch automatically closes, retaining the trimmer on the rack. 
     While the drawings show only a single string trimmer on the rack 10, it is clear that this rack is made to hold three string trimmers, and it could readily be modified to hold a different number of trimmers by adding or removing support hooks and retaining members. Each of the support hooks 28, 38, and each of the retaining members 34, 42 has a clear plastic tubing slipped over it. This plastic tubing cushions the shaft and handle of the string trimmer to prevent the trimmer from sliding relative to the hooks. It also provides some &#34;give&#34;, to enable the rack to securely hold trimmers of different shaft sizes. 
     In order to secure the string trimmers against theft, there are two ways of locking the sliding lock 36 in the closed position. First, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, aligned holes 70 are located in the sliding latch member 36 and in the right upright 24. The hole 70 in the right upright 24 is slightly elongated, in order to accommodate different handle sizes. A padlock 72 can be inserted through the aligned holes 70 to lock the sliding latch member 36 in the closed position. In this way, the three (or more) string trimmers mounted on the rack 10 can all be secured with a single lock. 
     A second mechanism for locking the rack 10 is shown in FIGS. 12-16, in which a security bar 74 is added to the right upright 24. The security bar 74 includes a hollow rectangular top portion 76, which surrounds the top of the right upright 24 and sliding latch 36, contacting the top of the uppermost second retaining member 42. It includes a bottom portion 78, which has a slot 80 that enables the bottom portion 78 to wrap around the front face 44 of the right upright 24. The bottom portion has a hole 82 which is aligned with a hole 84 in the right upright 24, and these two aligned holes receive a padlock 86. The security bar 74 also includes an elongated portion 88 which connects together the top portion 76 and the bottom portion 78. When the security bar 74 is installed on the right upright member 24, the elongated portion 88 lies directly in front of the head 68 of the latch pin 54, preventing the latch pin 54 from being pulled out to open the latch. 
     When the security bar 74 is in place, it prevents the sliding latch member 36 from being lifted up in two ways. First, it prevents the latch pin 54 from moving forward far enough to release the sliding latch 36. Second, the top portion 76 of the security bar 74 presses down on the uppermost second retaining member 42, so that, even if the latch were released, the sliding latch member 36 could not be slid upwardly to open the latch. In addition to that, the space between the elongated member 88 and the right upright 24 is too small for either end of the string trimmer to fit through, so that, even if the latch were released, the string trimmer still could not be removed from the rack. The padlock 86, being surrounded by portions of the security bar 74, would be very difficult to reach with a hacksaw or bolt cutters. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the present invention.