Patent ID: 8016171

Claim:
A vehicle article carrier apparatus comprising: first and second support rails secured to said vehicle so as to be arranged generally parallel to one another; a cross bar assembly including a cross bar, a first end support assembly disposed at a first end of said cross bar and fixedly secured to said cross bar so as not to be moveable relative to said cross bar, and a second end support assembly disposed at a second end of said cross bar and being moveable slidably relative to said cross bar: said first end support assembly including a first latching element fixedly secured so as to be non-moveable relative to a housing of said first end support; said second end support assembly including a second latching element fixedly secured so as to be non-moveable relative to a housing of said second end support assembly, and wherein said second end support assembly is slidably moveable relative to said cross bar; a biasing member operably coupled at a second end to said second latching element of said second end support assembly, and being operatively coupled at a first end thereof to said cross bar, to thus bias the cross bar towards the second end support assembly, and thus bias said latching elements toward one another; said slidably secured second end support assembly enabling said latching elements to be detached from, and attached to, said support rails by linearly moving said cross bar relative to said second end support assembly, to thus enable said latching elements of said cross bar assembly to be attached to and detached from said support rails; said first end support assembly including a pivotally mounted locking element having a first portion and a second portion, the second portion engaging with a portion of its respective said support rail, to prevent lateral movement and removal of said first end support assembly from its respective said support rail; and said pivotally mounted locking element enables a user to press on the first portion and rotate the second portion of the pivotally mounted locking element upwardly out of abutting engagement with an upper edge portion of its respective said support rail, to permit lateral movement of said cross bar assembly relative to said respective support rail, and thus removal of said first end support assembly from its respective said support rail.