Vehicle holddown

Claim 2

A vehicle holddown comprising: a hollow, box-like body having a bottom wall and a top wall spaced therefrom, and an open front end for access to the space between the walls; a vertically axised shaft arranged within the body and having its lower end rotatably journalled within an opening formed in the bottom wall, whereby an end of a flexible holddown element may be extended into the body through the open end thereof and engaged with the shaft for winding around the shaft; a co-axial, annular ring, of considerably larger diameter than the shaft, formed on the upper end of the shaft, with said ring being rotatably journalled within a correspondingly sized opening formed in the body top wall; a co-axially arranged gear-like toothed ratchet wheel formed upon the upper surface of the ring, with the wheel being of a smaller diameter than the ring so that the lower portion of the wheel is surrounded by an annular border formed by the ring; a horizontally swingable pawl arranged upon and pivotally connected to the top wall of the body, and having a ratchet engaging pawl end portion engaged with at least one tooth of said ratchet wheel and simultaneously overlapping the portion of said ring forming border adjacent to and extending radially outward of said engaged tooth for thereby simultaneously holding the wheel against rotation in one direction and holding the shaft against upward axial movement for locking the shaft within the body.

Claim 3

A construction as defined in claim 1, and a manually removable pivot means removably connecting said pawl to said body top wall, so that the pawl may be removed and thereby the ratchet wheel, ring and shaft unit may be manually upwardly removed from the body.

Claim 4

A construction as defined in claim 2, and wherein the body opened forward end and also the top wall opening, within which the ring is journalled, are both of sufficient size to pass through the flexible holddown element, including any hook-like vehicle attaching means secured on the opposite end of said element, for thereby permitting complete removal of the element along with the shaft upwardly through the top wall opening without moving the body.

Claim 5

A construction as defined in claim 1, and said body being shaped to endwise slidably fit within an upwardly opening, elongated, fixed support channel; and said body having side wall portions arranged to engage with the walls defining said channel for holding the body in predetermined fixed positions relative to said channel.

Claim 6

A vehicle holddown comprising: a hollow, box-like body having a bottom wall and a top wall spaced therefrom, and having an open forward end for access to the space between the walls; a vertically axised shaft arranged within the body and having its upper and lower ends rotatably journalled within openings formed in the top and bottom walls respectively, whereby an end of a flexible holddown element may be extended into the body through the open end thereof and engaged with the shaft for winding around the shaft; a co-axially arranged gear-like toothed ratchet wheel forMed upon the upper end of the shaft and located above the top wall surface; a horizontally swingable pawl arranged upon and pivotally connected to the top wall of the body, and having a ratchet engaging pawl end portion engaged with at least one tooth of said ratchet wheel to hold the wheel against rotation in one direction; and an integral raised portion formed upon the top wall surface between the wheel and the body forward end and being of about the height of the wheel to shield the wheel; and said raised portion being formed as a transversely extending ridge portion arranged at the body forward end, and of about the height of the wheel, and a lower raised section located between the ridge portion and the wheel and partially surrounding the wheel.

Claim 7

A vehicle holddown comprising: a hollow, box-like body having a bottom wall and a top wall spaced therefrom, and having an open forward end for access to the space between the walls; a vertically axised shaft arranged within the body and having its upper and lower ends rotatably journalled within openings formed in the top and bottom walls respectively, whereby an end of a flexible holddown element may be extended into the body through the open end thereof and engaged with the shaft for winding around the shaft; a co-axially arranged gear-like toothed ratchet wheel forMed upon the upper end of the shaft and located above the top wall surface; a horizontally swingable pawl arranged upon and pivotally connected to the top wall of the body, and having a ratchet engaging pawl end portion engaged with at least one tooth of said ratchet wheel to hold the wheel against rotation in one direction; and an integral raised portion formed upon the top wall surface between the wheel and the body forward end and being of about the height of the wheel to shield the wheel; and said raised portion being formed as a transversely extending ridge portion arranged at the body forward end, and of about the height of the wheel, and a lower raised section located between the ridge portion and the wheel and partially surrounding the wheel.

Claim 8

A construction as defined in claim 5, and said body being formed of a one-piece casting.

Claim 9

A vehicle holddown comprising: a hollow box-like body having a bottom wall and a top wall spaced thereform, and having an open forward end for access to the space between the walls; a vertically axised shaft arranged within the body and having its upper and lower ends rotatably journalled within openings formed in the top and bottom walls respectively, whereby an end of a flexible holddown element may be extended into the body through the open end thereof and engaged with the shaft for winding around the shaft; a co-axially arranged gear-like toothed ratchet wheel formed upon the upper end of the shaft and located above the top wall surface; a horizontally swingable pawl arranged upon and pivotally connected to the top wall of the body, and having a ratchet engaging pawl end portion engaged with at least one tooth of said ratchet wheel to hold the wheel against rotation in one direction; and an integral raised portion formed upon the top wall surface between the wheel and the body forward end and being of about the height of the wheel to shield the wheel; and a co-axial, annular ring, of considerably larger diameter than the shaft, formed on the upper end of the shaft beneath the wheel, with said ring being rotatably journalled within the body top wall opening; said ring being of a larger diameter than said wheel to form a border around the lower end of the wheel; and said pawl overlapping the portion of said border adjacent to and extending radially outward of said engaged tooth for thereby holding the shaft against upward axial movement for locking the shaft within the body.

Claim 10

A vehicle holddown comprising: a hollow box-like body having a bottom wall and a top wall spaced thereform, and having an open forward end for access to the space between the walls; a vertically axised shaft arranged within the body and having its upper and lower ends rotatably journalled within openings formed in the top and bottom walls respectively, whereby an end of a flexible holddown element may be extended into the body through the open end thereof and engaged with the shaft for winding around the shaft; a co-axially arranged gear-like toothed ratchet wheel formed upon the upper end of the shaft and located above the top wall surface; a horizontally swingable pawl arranged upon and pivotally connected to the top wall of the body, and having a ratchet engaging pawl end portion engaged with at least one tooth of said ratchet wheel to hold the wheel against rotation in one direction; and an integral raised portion formed upon the top wall surface between the wheel and the body forward end and being of about the height of the wheel to shield the wheel; and a co-axial, annular ring, of considerably larger diameter than the shaft, formed on the upper end of the shaft beneath the wheel, with said ring being rotatably journalled within the body top wall opening; said ring being of a larger diameter than said wheel to form a border around the lower end of the wheel; and said pawl overlapping the portion of said border adjacent to and extending radially outward of said engaged tooth for thereby holding the shaft against upward axial movement for locking the shaft within the body.