Spare tire carrier fixing holder

The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Korean Application Serial Number 10-2004-0047112, filed on Jun. 23, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The present invention relates to a spare tire carrier fixing holder. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fixing holder that fixes a carrier by which a spare tire is installed onto the vehicle body.

Generally, a spare tire is carried in a vehicle for replacing a flat tire. The spare tire is installed at a carrier fixed to the vehicle body via a fixing holder. The spare tire carrier is often tough to use in that it is typically fastened to the vehicle body by a holder via a nut and bolt which are difficult to properly align with each other. (The misalignment of a bolt and nut such that the nut cannot screw onto the bolt is called “eccentricity.”) Also, the bolt often suffers from corrosion due to its exposure to the exterior of the vehicle. Further, the typical spare tire carrier falls from the vehicle body when the bolt is removed, sometimes causes bodily injury to the user.

The present invention discloses a spare tire carrier fixing holder that includes a bolt penetrating a vehicle body member, a holder that is equipped at the upper end with a nut screwed to the bolt and a lower end formed with a hook onto which a carrier is held, and a guide ring that is formed in the holder to guide the bolt.

In one embodiment, the holder is mounted with a cover that prevents exposure of the bolt to the exterior, thus preventing corrosion. In another embodiment, a protrusion extends from the nut and is positioned to be held by the vehicle body member, thus preventing the holder from falling from the vehicle body member when the bolt is detached. In yet another embodiment, the upper surface of the guide ring is inclined to allow the bolt to easily be inserted into the guide ring. This minimizes the eccentricity between the bolt and the nut by allowing the bolt to be guided into the holder. In a further embodiment, the bolt has a threaded section formed at its upper portion to be disposed in the vehicle body member, and an unthreaded section formed at its lower portion to be disposed outside the vehicle body member.

For a better understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a spare tire carrier fixing holder according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a spare tire carrier fixing holder according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a principle cross-section of a spare tire carrier fixing holder according to another yet embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a completely coupled state of a spare tire carrier fixing holder according to a further embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the present invention is a spare tire carrier fixing holder that includes bolt 2 penetrating vehicle body member 1 . Bolt 2 is screwed with nut 4 placed at an upper end of holder 3 . Holder 3 is formed at the lower end with hook 6 onto which carrier 5 is held. A guide ring 7 is formed in holder 3 to guide bolt 2 .

In another embodiment, the section of the bolt that is located outside of the vehicle body is protected by a cover to prevent the bolt from corroding. Referring to FIG. 2 , the upper section of bolt 2 is located in vehicle body member 1 , and lower section of bolt 2 , which is outside of vehicle body 1 , is located within exposure preventing cover 9 . Thus, the entire bolt is prevented from being corroded.

In yet another embodiment, the holder includes a circular plate located around the bolt so that the plate attaches to the vehicle body and seals the opening of the vehicle body where the bolt protrudes, thus preventing exposure of the bolt to the exterior. In FIG. 2 , holder 3 is equipped with circular plate 8 . Thus, when holder 3 is raised with nut 4 being fastened to bolt 2 , circular plate 8 closely attaches to vehicle body member 1 . Holder 3 is also mounted with exposure preventing cover 9 to prevent exposure of the portion of bolt 2 that protrudes from vehicle body 1 .

In a further embodiment, a protrusion is disposed along the outside of the nut and is positioned to prevent the holder from falling away from the vehicle body when the bolt is removed. Referring back to FIG. 1 and referring now to FIG. 3 , protrusion 10 is formed on holder 3 and is disposed at both sides of nut 4 and is held by vehicle body member 1 to prevent holder 3 from falling from vehicle body member 1 when removing bolt 2 .

In yet a further embodiment, the guide ring within the holder is formed with an inclined upper surface to guide the bolt in the holder. As can be seen in FIG. 2 , guide ring 7 is formed in holder 3 to guide the lower portion of bolt 2 , and the inclined upper surface of guide ring 7 allows bolt 2 to be easily inserted into guide ring 7 .

In yet a further embodiment, the bolt has threads on the portion that is within the vehicle body and no threads on the portion outside the vehicle body. As can be seen in FIGS. 1-3 , the upper portion of bolt 2 is threaded, while the lower portion of bolt 2 is not. With this configuration, nut 4 slips over the unthreaded portion and need only be screwed along the upper portion of bolt 2 . This decreases the amount of time required to screw in bolt 2 to attach the spare tire carrier.

The operation and effect of the spare tire carrier fixing holder will now be described in detail.

In reference to FIG. 2 , as bolt 2 turns and nut 4 screws onto bolt 2 , holder 3 , with carrier 5 engaged in hook 6 , gradually moves toward vehicle body 1 . As the unthreaded lower portion of bolt 2 is guided by guide ring 7 in holder 3 , bolt 2 and holder 3 are supported by two points (i.e., nut 4 and guide ring 7 ), thereby minimizing the eccentricity between bolt 2 and holder 3 . Bolt 2 is turned until circular plate 8 of holder 3 presses against vehicle body member 1 . In this manner, carrier 5 , installed with a spare tire, is stably fixed to the vehicle body in a completely coupled state of bolt 2 (see FIG. 4 ).

When unfastening bolt 2 from nut 4 to use the spare tire, even if bolt 2 is completely separated from nut 4 , protrusion 10 formed at both sides of nut 4 are held by vehicle body member 1 as illustrated in FIG. 3 , thus eliminating potential injury to the user due to the unintended release of the spare tire and carrier 5 .

As apparent from the foregoing, there is an advantage in the present invention in that the eccentricity is minimized between a bolt and nut by allowing the bolt to be guided in a holder. Another advantage is prevention of corrosion of the bolt by precluding exposure of the bolt to the exterior. Yet another advantage is the movement distance of the holder is minimized by disposing the threaded section of the bolt in a vehicle body member and allowing the holder to vertically move along the threaded section, while disposing the unthreaded section of the bolt in the lower section. Since the carrier movies only along the threaded section, the carrier's movement is lessened. Therefore, attachment and detachment of the carrier are smoothly performed. A further advantage is that even if the bolt is removed from the nut during carrier detachment, the holder is held by the vehicle body member by protrusions, thus preventing injury to the user due to the release of the carrier and tire.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it should be clearly understood that many variations and/or modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught, which may appear to those skilled in the present art, will still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.