US 6,981,835 B1
Recreational vehicle loading and transport platform for pickup trucks
Calvin Douglas Groth, 1228 N. Long Rd., Greenacres, Wash. 99016 (US)
Filed on Apr. 04, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/97,703.
Int. Cl. B60P 7/08 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 414—462 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A loading and transport platform for pickup trucks to carry two recreational vehicles in elongate alignment and lateral adjacency partially within a pickup box, comprising in combination:
(a) a base, formed by spaced parallel elongate side beams structurally interconnected by crossbeams to define forward and rearward end portions, carried within the pickup box and having
an upstanding securing tower structurally carried by the forward end portion of the base and having an upper horizontal member for releasable attachment of a forward securing mechanism,
similar paired opposed upstanding vertical members carried at each rearward end portion of each side beam, each vertical member carrying a plate having means for engaging with a rear securing mechanism to releasably interconnect the vertical members to the pickup box, and
an upwardly extending axle mounting arch having similar lateral end portions each defining orifices to journal bolt type axles to pivotally support a transport platform;
(b) a loading and transport platform, pivotally carried by the base to extend thereabove, within the pickup box having
similar paired opposed parallel side beams structurally interconnected by plural spaced perpendicular cross beams to define forward and rearward end portions,
similar opposed axle mounting arches each defining an orifice to journal a bolt type axle connecting each axle mounting arch of the transport platform to each associated upwardly extending axle mounting arch of the base,
a forward outrigger support carried by the forward end portion of the transport platform spacedly thereabove to extend perpendicular to the transport platform side beams,
a rearward outrigger support carried by the rearward end portion of the transport platform at a vertical level below the forward outrigger support to extend parallel thereto, and
an elongate ramp support carried at the rearward end of the transport platform to extend perpendicular to the transport platform side beams, the ramp support having pivoting extensions at respective lateral ends thereof to increase the length of the ramp support;
(c) at least one outrigger assembly carried by the transport platform outwardly of the upper edges of a pickup box side, each outrigger assembly having
an elongate beam having forward and rearward end portions,
a rearward horizontal leg to slidably engage within the rear outrigger support of the transport platform, and
a forward horizontal leg, vertically above the rearward horizontal leg and extending parallel to the rearward horizontal leg, to slidably engage in the forward outrigger support of the transport platform;
(d) a forward securing mechanism having an elongate box beam releasably carried by the upper horizontal member of the securing tower to extend parallel thereto within the pickup box, said box beam having
laterally extending end pieces slidably carried in a medial channel at each end, and
tensioning bolt means communicating between the elongate box beam and at least one of the laterally extending end pieces to adjustably extend the at least one end piece to cause the box beam to be frictionally engaged between pickup box sides for positional maintenance of the securing mechanism in the pickup box;
(e) a rearward securing mechanism having a plate, carried by an inner vertical member of the upwardly extending axle mounting arch, and structurally carrying pin means to engage with tailgate locking brackets of the pickup box to positionally maintain and releasably lock the base in the pickup box; and
(f) a loading and unloading ramp releasably attachable to the rearward portion of the transport platform to aid loading and unloading of a recreational vehicle between the ground and the transport platform.