Patent ID: 8777071

Claim:
An apparatus for storing a spare wheel on a motor vehicle comprising: a first mechanism attached to the motor vehicle and including: a vertically disposed main shaft that is adapted to support the load of the spare wheel, the main shaft moveable between a first vertical position where the spare wheel is in a stored position and second vertical position lower than the first vertical position where the spare wheel is in an accessible position; a hook pivotal between first and second angular positions, in the first angular position the hook engages with the main shaft to substantially limit the main shaft to the first vertical position, in the second angular position the hook is disengaged with the main shaft to permit the main shaft to be moved to the second vertical position, the hook being biased by a spring toward the first angular position; a second mechanism coupled to the first mechanism by first and second cables, each of the first and second cables having a first end and a second end, the first end of the first cable coupled to the main shaft, the first end of the second cable coupled to the pivotal hook, the second mechanism including: a winding assembly located within a housing and coupled to the second end of the first cable, the winding assembly comprising a rotating shaft adapted to receive a tool, the rotating shaft rotatable upon the application of a rotational force applied by the tool; a longitudinal body translatable on the winding assembly housing between a first position and a second position, the second end of the second cable attached to a first side of the longitudinal body so that when the longitudinal body is in the first position the hook assumes the first angular position as a result of the hook being biased by the spring toward the first angular position, when the longitudinal body is moved away from the first position toward the second position the longitudinal body acts on the second end of the second cable to urge the hook toward the second angular position; a cam assembly coupled to a second side of the longitudinal body opposite the first side, the cam assembly having a first part coupled to and angularly displaceable along with a first shaft of rotation of the cam assembly, the first part angularly displaceable between a first angular position and a second angular position, when the first part is in the first angular position the longitudinal body is in the first position and the first part inhibits tool access to the rotating shaft, when the first part is in the second angular position the longitudinal body is in the second position with the first part permitting tool access to the rotating shaft, when the first part rotates from the first angular position to the second angular position the cam assembly simultaneously acts upon the longitudinal body to cause the longitudinal body to translate away from the first position the second position and to cause the first shaft of rotation to move away from the rotating shaft.