Patent ID: 7815405

Claim:
A tie-down apparatus for use in a vehicle article carrier system employing at least one support rail supported from a portion of a vehicle, wherein the support rail has a channel, the apparatus comprising: a frame portion comprising a base portion and a tie-down portion; said base portion adapted to at least partially reside within the channel of the support rail and shaped to be slidably movable in the channel, but not able to removed from the channel in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the support rail; said tie-down portion shaped to facilitate connecting to an independent tie-down element; a locking subsystem operably associated with said base portion for locking said frame portion at a desired position along said support rail; said locking subsystem including: a locking element; a biasing member for biasing said locking element into a locked position relative to said channel; and a manually graspable release element operatively associated with said locking element and moveable rotationally into first and second positions, and moveable axially relative to said base portion; said manually graspable release element and said base portion of said frame portion including cooperating structure that enables said locking element to be retained in an extended position when said manually graspable release element is oriented in said second position, and wherein said locking element is moved into a retracted position relative to said support rail by an axial pulling force exerted by a user on the manually graspable release element, and wherein the locking element is held in the retracted position by contact between the cooperating structure when the manually graspable release element is rotated a predetermined degree by the user into the first position while said axial pulling force is being applied by the user, and then the axial pulling force being exerted by the user is released; and wherein said locking element is housed at least partially within said base portion when said locking element is in said retracted position and said manually engageable release element is positioned in said first position.