Roof top carrier

Claim 1

A roof top carrier for vehicles comprising a frame to be supported by the roof of a vehicle, transport means supported by said frame, a housing supported by said transport means for transporting said housing away from its stored position on said roof down to the side of said vehicle to its loading and unloading position and back again to said stored position without any substantial change of the vertical or horizontal orientation of said housing, said transport means includes first and second telescoping slidable arms, said first telescoping slidable arms are slidably received and horizontally supported by said frame by bearings for transporting said housing generally horizontally away from said stored position on said roof of said vehicle, said second telescoping slidable arms are slidably received and vertically supported by a frame member by bearings, said frame member carried by said first telescoping slidable arms for transporting said housing generally vertically down to the side of said vehicle to its loading and unloading position, first travel limiting means is provided on said first telescoping slidable arms to limit the horizontal travel of said housing away from said stored position on said roof of said vehicle, second travel limiting means is provided on said second telescoping slidable arms to limit the vertical travel of said housing down to the side of said vehicle to its loading and unloading position, said frame comprises a plurality of members at least two of which members are substantially parallel to each other and are positioned on said roof perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said vehicle, there being one each of said parallel members fore and aft of said housing when it is in its stored position, said first telescoping slidable arms include telescoping slidable arms received within said parallel frame members, said parallel frame members being generally horizontal with respect to said vehicle roof, there are at least two first telescoping slidable arms telescopingly received within each said parallel frame member, at least one of said first telescoping slidable arms is horizontally fixedly attached to said housing, said horizontally fixedly attached telescoping slidable arm being horizontally slidably removable from said other telescoping slidable arm received within said parallel frame members, said housing being free to be transported generally vertically downward by said second telescoping slidable arms to the side of said vehicle to its loading and unloading position when said horizontally fixedly attached telescoping slidable arm is so removed from said other telescoping slidable arms.