It has become increasingly common to utilize pickup trucks for transporting all terrain vehicles (ATVs) to remote sites for off-road riding. Special platforms with detachable ramps have been developed to alleviate some of the well known problems associated with the handling of the relatively heavy and bulky ATVs. Although most of these platform structures provide an elevated supporting surface above the bed of the pickup truck so as to avoid the inwardly projecting wheel wells of the truck, none utilize the space beneath the supporting surface to its fullest advantage. Frequently, this limited, load carrying space is wasted as a repository for the platform loading ramps when being moved from place to place. Thus, cargo, other than the loaded ATV, cannot be easily carried by the pickup truck.
Space limitations beneath the platform's supporting surface require that the loading ramps be provided with a relatively short overall length so as to ensure a proper fit upon the pickup truck bed. Use of these short ramps has, however, proven to be somewhat of a hazard with ATV upset on their steeply sloping surfaces being an ever present problem. Furthermore, because of the low ground clearance of most ATVs, it is often impossible to negotiate the angled junction between the ramp and the horizontal supporting surface of the platform during loading or unloading operations without "bottoming-out." A need, therefore, exists for a combined vehicle carrier and ramp assembly having ramps with a length appreciably greater than a pickup truck bed for safely loading an ATV as well as having means for usefully storing the ramps in such a fashion so as to maximize the cargo carrying space in the bed of the pickup truck.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds