Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Structural detail
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-31
2003-05-13
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Structural detail
C296S190110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06561572
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to cabs for off road land vehicles to protect the driver from adverse environmental conditions.
PRIOR ART
Land vehicles such as lift trucks, construction machinery, farm machinery and the like are frequently supplied with a cab enclosure to protect the driver or operator from severe weather, dust, noise or other environmental conditions. For reasons of cost and/or other factors, a vehicle may be originally manufactured without a fully enclosed cab. In many product lines, a vehicle may be manufactured and delivered to a dealer or end user with a factory built overhead guard. Such guards typically comprise an open framework or network fabricated from sheet stock, tubing and/or other structural steel shapes. It is known for a manufacturer to produce an overhead guard with sheet metal flanges that can be glazed with safety glass or shatter resistant plastic to form a windshield, side lights, and/or rear window in the event that a customer desires an enclosed cab. These glazing flanges, integrated with the factory installed overhead guard, are intended to allow glazing to be fitted at the factory or to facilitate dealer installation of the glazing panels. This approach of integrating glazing flanges with a guard, in theory, offers flexibility in meeting customer's demands. However, dealer installation of glazing may be troublesome because the available personnel may be inexperienced and ill-equipped to perform the necessary tasks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides glazing assemblies particularly suited for dealer or after market installation on factory built overhead guards, particularly those originally manufactured with glazing flanges but originally sold without glazing. The glazing assemblies of the invention include conventional safety glass or shatter resistant plastic glazing and a rigid metal frame surrounding the perimeter of the glazing.
The glazing assemblies are arranged to span the openings in the overhead guard structure. As disclosed, the assemblies are retained on the cab with structural elements that extend through the planes of the original factory glazing flanges to enable the assembles to be mechanically clamped on the guard.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the ingress and egress areas of the guard are enclosed by prehung door assemblies. The disclosed door assemblies include a door jamb proportioned to fit onto strategic parts of the overhead guard. A door is hinge-mounted on the specially configured jamb. In a manner similar to the glazing assemblies, the door assemblies are clamped onto the original overhead guard structure. The disclosed glazing and door assemblies can be installed with personnel having no glazing experience with minimal instructional time and with little chance of error.
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Martin Sheet Metal, Inc.
Pape Joseph D.
Pearne & Gordon LLP
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