Jac Products, Inc.

Benjamin Kay

Gordon Michie

Michael J Presley

Jeffrey M Aftanas

Gerald J Gomes

The present disclosure relates to a vehicle article carrier system for supporting articles above an outer body surface of a vehicle. The system makes use of a pair of support rails fixedly secured generally parallel to one another on the outer body surface, and at least one cross bar assembly clampable to the support rails, and having a cross bar element having opposing ends. First and second end supports are secured at the opposing ends and able to engage the support rails to secure the cross bar against movement on the support rails. At least one of the end supports includes fixed and movable jaw portions, an actuating lever, and a pivot component pivotally coupled to the actuating lever and including a bore. A barrel nut is positioned in a bore of the movable jaw portion. A threaded member is coupled to both the barrel nut and the pivot component for changing an effective distance between the bore of the movable jaw portion and the pivot component, to thus effectively change a clamping force able to be applied by the movable jaw portion relative to the fixed jaw portion when the actuating lever is moved into a closed position.

Vehicle article carrier system with end support having tunable clamping force

A tie-down apparatus is disclosed which is adapted to be removably secured over an opening in a structure. The apparatus may have a base plate, a knob, a biasing member, a cam plate and a fastening member. The knob may be used to rotate and depress the cam plate away from the base plate against the biasing force of the biasing member, to permit securing and detachment of the apparatus from the structure. The biasing member maintains the cam plate biased toward the base plate when no pressure is being applied on the knob.

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Troy, MI, United States of America

Benjamin Kay