Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Variable capacity of body
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-24
2001-09-04
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Variable capacity of body
C296S026060, C296S026110, C280S748000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283525
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for increasing the load carrying capacity of pickup trucks, and more particularly to articulable frame arrangements for extending the bed of a pickup truck.
2. Prior Art
Pickup trucks are well known and very common in the United States. They are popular vehicles for all walks of American life. Often they may see duty as a family vehicle as well as a cargo carrying truck for its utility purposes.
A number of approaches have been attempted to extend the cargo carrying capacity of the bed of a pickup truck to at least the area over the tailgate when the tailgate is in its down (horizontal) position. Such an attempt is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,173 to Leitner et al., which shows a wall which is movable over a tailgate of a truck from an inside position on the bed to the over the tailgate position. As is typical with many of these arrangements, these devices take up as much room in the bed, as they add to the truck bed when in their extended orientation. Furthermore, many of these arrangements are unduly complicated and when they do work, merely extend the volume of the truck without adding other capabilities.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a pickup truck bed extender apparatus which also features the ability to carry a further diverse payload than that shown by the prior art arrangements.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bed extender which protects the rear window of the cab of the pickup truck in the stowed orientation.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention, to provide a truck bed extender that is simple to operate, which extender takes up minimum space, and is unobtrusive within the normal cargo bed of a pickup truck.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a cargo bed extender arrangement for use in a bed of a pickup truck. A pickup truck is typically a truck having a wheel base of an automobile and has a “cab” where the driver sits, behind which cab there is located a cargo carrying bed defined by a pair of parallel sidewalls, and a forward wall immediately adjacent and parallel to the back wall of the cab. A tailgate is hingedly supported from the rearwardmost end of the bed and adjacent the back end of the sidewalls.
The bed extender apparatus of the present invention comprises a generally U-shaped frame having a first or transverse wall arranged immediately adjacent and parallel to the back wall of the cab of the pickup truck. The transverse wall has a first edge defining its perimeter.
A first arm and a second arm are arranged parallel to the first and second sidewalls of the pickup truck, each first and second arm being attached to an end of the transverse wall. The first and second arm each have a second end which is attached to a securement joint along an upper edge of the first and second sidewalls. The first arm and the second arm along with the transverse wall, jointly form the generally U-shaped configuration of the bed extender apparatus.
A generally U-shaped support frame is attached adjacent the first end of each first and second arm. The support frame is arranged to extend within the bed of the pickup truck when the bed extender apparatus is in its nesting or stored-away configuration.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, an intermediate wall portion may be arranged between the first end of each first and second arms and the edges of the transverse wall, to provide an enclosure configuration to the bed extender apparatus.
To adapt the bed of the pickup truck into an extended bed configuration, the tailgate is rotated about its hinge, into a horizontal orientation. The bed extender apparatus may then be pivoted or re-arranged about its respective securement joints on the upper side of each first and second sidewall of the pickup truck bed. The first edge of the transverse wall is thus juxtaposed into the lower edge of the transverse wall which rides upon the distalmost edge of the now horizontal tailgate. The first and second arms are secured to the securement joints, thus securing the apparatus in the opened configuration, to the pickup truck. The support frame originally nested within the forward edge of the pickup truck bed now becomes an “upper” support frame when the bed extender apparatus rests upon the tailgate. The support frame functions as a rearward support for elongated cargo which may rest thereacross as well as atop a forward frame component adjacent the rearward wall of the cab of the pickup truck.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, an upright support frame may be removably arranged from a position adjacent the first ends of the first and second arms of a configuration in which it is immediately adjacent the transverse wall of the bed extender apparatus. The support frame in this embodiment, is thus removable from a pair of spaced apart openings adjacent the transverse wall, and is replaceable into a second set of spaced apart openings on the opposite sides of the transverse wall to provide a rear upper frame portion onto which equipment and material may be supported in conjunction within existing support frame at the forward edge of the truck bed.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the U-shaped bed extender apparatus has a transverse wall as in the aforementioned embodiments, with a U-shaped frame support hingedly attached to the respective ends of the transverse wall. The U-shaped frame support is in parallel alignment and is immediately adjacent the transverse wall when the bed extender apparatus and transverse wall is oriented in its forwardmost or “stowed-away” configuration. When the U-shaped bed extender apparatus is moved into its bed extending configuration, for example, as by pivoting about securement joints at the ends of the side arms, or by moving the bed extender apparatus 180 degrees, the U-shaped frame support is flipped about a pair of hinges into an upright or vertically opposed relationship with respect to the transverse wall, now resting upon the horizontally disposed tailgate. The transverse wall may also have a mid-portion which folds down about a hinge to create a “ramp” onto the tailgate. The frame support provides a rear support means to elongated cargo which supported forwardly either on the roof of the cab or onto a forward support frame fixedly attached to the wall on the front end of the cargo bed of the pickup truck.
Thus, what has been shown is a unique bed frame apparatus which may be moved or pivoted from a first stowaway orientation immediately adjacent the rear wall of a cab of a pickup truck, into a bed extender orientation atop the folded down tailgate of that pickup truck. The bed extender apparatus of this invention also provides a further frame for supporting equipment and material in general alignment with the roof of the cab thus further increasing the load carrying capacity of the pickup truck while maintaining its minimum interference with any carrying capacity of the truck bed when such bed extender apparatus is not in use.
The invention thus comprises a bed extender apparatus for extending and enlarging the useful carrying capacity of the bed of a pickup truck. The pickup truck has an elongated bed defined by a forward wall, a pair of sidewalls, a floor and a tailgate hingedly attached to a rearward edge of the floor. The bed extender apparatus comprises a U-shaped frame movably arranged on an upper edge of the sidewalls, the U-shaped frame including a transverse wall and a pair of parallel arms, the transverse wall being storably disposed adjacent the forward wall of the bed when the bed extender apparatus is in a stowed or non-bed extended configuration, the transverse wall being displaceable onto the tailgate when the bed extender is in a bed extended configuration. The arms have a second end which are attached to the sidewalls of the pickup truck. The second end of the ar
Blankenship Greg
Halgren Don
Pape Joseph D.
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