Patent ID: 7011297

Claim:
A hand rail assembly to assist in the ingress and egress of a recreational vehicle, the hand rail assembly comprising: (1) a first mounting bracket fixedly attached to an exterior of the recreational vehicle adjacent to an ingress-egress opening in the recreational vehicle; (2) a second mounting bracket fixedly attached to the exterior of the recreational vehicle at a spacing from the first mounting bracket; (3) a banister having opposing ends, a first one of the ends pivotally attached to the first mounting bracket; (4) a support assembly having one end pivotally connected to the second mounting bracket and another end pivotally connected to the banister intermediate the ends thereof, wherein the support assembly comprises an outer arm and an inner arm, the outer arm being pivotally connected to the second mounting bracket, one end of the inner arm being pivotally connected to the outer arm opposite the second mounting bracket, another end of the inner arm being pivotally connected to the banister; and (5) a release mechanism coupled to the support assembly and having a trigger member for latching and unlatching the hand rail assembly for movement between a retracted storage position adjacent to the opening of the recreational vehicle and an extended operating position extending outwardly from the recreational vehicle, the trigger member actuating the release mechanism for movement of the hand rail assembly between the operating and storage positions, wherein the release mechanism comprises; (i) a rod insertable into an interior of the inner arm, one end of the rod protruding from an end of the inner arm connected to the banister to form the trigger member; (ii) at least one set of drive pins protruding from opposing sides of the rod, the drive pins extendible through aligned openings on opposing sides of the inner arm for engagement of aligned cutouts in opposing sides of the outer arm; and (iii) at least one recovery element extending between the rod and the inner arm, the recovery element being engaged by actuation of the release mechanism by the trigger member.