Patent ID: 8038186

Claim:
A carrier support for attaching to a motor vehicle between a set of rear bumper attachment pads of the motor vehicle and a bumper crash bar on which a rear bumper is mounted; the carrier support comprising: a transverse support beam; left and right support lands formed at ends of the transverse support beam and adapted to be mounted onto respective ones of the bumper attachment pads; and a pair of spaced-apart tubular socket members affixed to said transverse support beam and extending rearward therefrom, said tubular socket members being adapted to receive attachment rods of a carrier device to that is to be removably supported thereon; wherein said transverse support beam is a modified hollow tubular beam having a lower flange and an upper flange, a rearward web member and a forward web member, with said web members extending between forward and rearward portions of said upper and lower flanges; and wherein each of said forward an rearward web members has a plurality of triangular cutouts formed therein to define a series of diagonal struts thereon; and wherein said transverse support beam further comprises a lower reinforcing lip extending downward from a rear edge of said lower flange, and said lower reinforcing lip has a pair of spaced cutouts therein adapted for receiving said tubular socket members, with the latter being affixed thereto.