Patent Publication Number: US-10315304-B1

Title: Cargo retrieval assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to retrieval devices and more particularly pertains to a new retrieval device for retrieving cargo from a bed of a pickup. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a handle that has a length of at least 1.2 meters and the handle may be extended into a bed of a pickup. A member is slidably positioned in the handle such that the handle and the member combine to have a telescopically adjustable length, and the member has a length of at least 1.2 meters. A rocker is pivotally coupled to the handle and the rocker engages the member when the rocker is in a locking position to retain the handle and the member at a selected length. The rocker disengages the member when the rocker is manipulated for adjusting the telescopic length of the handle and the member. A grapple is removably coupled to the member has the grapple is oriented perpendicular to the member for engaging, and thusly retrieving, cargo when the member is extended into the bed of the pickup. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a cargo retrieval assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a front phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a right side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 5  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a right side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure showing a grapple in a stored position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 8  thereof, a new retrieval device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 8 , the cargo retrieval assembly  10  generally comprises a handle  12  has a length of at least 1.2 meters for extending into a bed  14  of a pickup  16  or any other vehicle that has a cargo bed. The handle  12  has a first end  18 , a second end  20  and an outer wall  22  extending therebetween, the first end  18  is open and the handle  12  is hollow. The outer wall  22  has a protrusion  24  extending outwardly therefrom and the protrusion  24  extends around an entire perimeter of the outer wall  22 . The protrusion  24  has a distal surface  26  with respect to the outer wall  22  and the distal surface  26  has a well  28  extending toward the outer wall  22 . The well  28  has a bounding surface  30  and the outer wall  22  has an aperture  32  extending through the bounding surface  30  into an interior of the handle  12 . 
     A member  34  is slidably positioned in the handle  12  such that the handle  12  and the member  34  combine to have a telescopically adjustable length, and the member  34  has a length of at least 1.2 meters. The member  34  has a primary end  36 , a secondary end  38  and an outside wall  40  extending therebetween, the secondary end  38  is open and the member  34  is hollow. The first end  18  of the handle  12  insertably receives the primary end  36  of the member  34 . The outside wall  40  has a plurality of holes  42  extending an interior of the member  34 , and the holes  42  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the primary  36  and secondary  38  ends. 
     A rocker  44  is pivotally coupled to the handle  12  and the rocker  44  is biased into a locking position. The rocker  44  engages the member  34  when the rocker  44  is in the locking position to retain the handle  12  and the member  34  at a selected length. The rocker  44  disengages the member  34  when the rocker  44  is manipulated for adjusting the telescopic length of the handle  12  and the member  34 . The rocker  44  has a bottom side  46  and a foot  48  extending away from the bottom side  46 . A fulcrum  50  is coupled to the bounding surface  30  of the well  28  and the bottom side  46  of the rocker  44  is pivotally coupled to the fulcrum  50 . Moreover, the foot  48  is aligned with the aperture  32  in the well  28  in the distal surface  26  of the protrusion  24  on the handle  12 . 
     A biasing member  52 , such as a spring or the like, is positioned between the bounding surface  30  of the well  28  and the bottom side  46  of the rocker  44 . The biasing member  52  biases the foot  48  downwardly through the aperture  32  and into a selected one of the holes  42  in the member  34 . In this way the rocker  44  retains the member  34  and the handle  12  at the selected length. A grapple  54  is removably coupled to the member  34  having the grapple  54  being oriented perpendicular to the member  34 . In this way the grapple  54  can engage cargo  55  when the member  34  is extended into the bed  14  of the pickup  16 . 
     The grapple  54  has a first end  56  and a second end  58 , and the first end  56  of the grapple  54  is pivotally coupled to the outside wall  40  of the member  34 . The grapple  54  is positionable in a deployed position having the grapple  54  being oriented perpendicular to the member  34 . The secondary end  38  of the member  34  has a slot  59  therein and the grapple  54  engages the slot  59  in the secondary end  38  of the member  34  when the grapple  54  is in the deployed position. In this way the grapple  54  is inhibited from deflecting from the perpendicular orientation when the grapple  54  engages the cargo  55 . The grapple  54  is positionable in a stored position having the grapple  54  being inserted into the secondary end  38  of the member  34  for storage. A pin  60  extends through the outside wall  40  of the member  34  and engages the second end  58  of the grapple  54 . 
     In use, the rocker  44  is depressed and the member  34  is slid in the handle  12  to the selected length. The rocker  44  is released such that the rocker  44  engages a selected one of the holes  42  in the member  34 . The member  34  is extended into the bed  14  of the pickup  16  thereby facilitating the grapple  54  to engage the cargo  55 . The member  34  is drawn toward a user thereby urging the cargo  55  toward the user. In this way the cargo  55  can be retrieved from the bed  14  of the pickup  16  without requiring the user to enter the bed  14 . The pin is removed from the grapple  54 , the grapple  54  is inserted into the secondary end  38  of the member  34  for storage and the pin is re-inserted into the grapple  54  to retain the grapple  54  within the member  34 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.