Sliding pivot for a truck bed cover bow

Details Sliding pivot for a truck bed cover bow Sliding pivot for a truck bed cover bow

1998-10-28

2001-07-10

Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Tops

Roll-up covers

C160S074000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06257646

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to covers for truck beds, and more particularly to a sliding pivot for a truck bed cover bow.
BACKGROUND ART
Many trucks, particularly those hauling loose loads such as sand and gravel, need a truck cover to prevent the wind from blowing load particles off the load bed. Various apparatus have been devised for covering a truck load. Some such apparatus include a motor for selectively winding a flexible cover. My U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,955 provides a truck cover which may be conveniently motor operated from the cab of a truck while simultaneously extending the cover over the truck bed and pressing down on the front of the cover proximate a winding assembly which winds up the cover at the front of the truck bed. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,287 shows a front mount telescopic arm truck cover system, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,953 shows a contractible vehicle bed cover assembly with an extendable closure.
Container trucks, however, present special problems. In particular, such container trucks tend to have differently sized beds, and are required to accept containers of different dimensions. To accommodate these variances, the arms normally used in conventional truck bed covers have to be long enough to reach from their mounting point to both the front and rear ends of the truck bed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,169 shows such a truck container cover. Not only do such arms require great effort to move from either their forward most or rearward most position, but they are not able to efficiently accommodate containers of different sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,735 shows one attempt to address at least this latter problem with adjustable pivot points shifted along opposite rails by hydraulic cylinders. This design, however, uses rephasing cylinders which furthermore are not arranged in line with the rails.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention is an apparatus for moving a cover over a bed of a truck. The apparatus comprises a rail, a bow and a cylinder. The bow has a first end connected to the cover and a second end adjustable along the rail. The cylinder is connected to the second end of the bow and develops a force along an axis defined by the rail to adjust the second end of the bow.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above which pivotally connects a truck cover bow to the truck.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above which requires a smaller clearance than conventional truck bed covers.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above which is suitable for use with container trucks.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above which has adjustable pivots.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above which has two same sized cylinders
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described above in which force applied in line with movement of pivots.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the best mode for carrying out the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


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