Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Camper
Patent
1988-03-09
1990-11-06
Song, Robert R.
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Camper
135 88, B60P 334
Patent
active
049680862
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a camper unit particularly adapted for transport and use while atop a cabin roof of a vehicle yet not excluding its possible use off the vehicle.
Where it has been desired to provide a light, simple, low cost camper unit in which two sleeping adults are intended to be comfortably and securely supported, it has not been feasible to use the flexible surface stretcher concept so acceptable for single bed applications.
There is a requirement that a pair of sleepers on a common vehicle roof mounted camper surface experience no resultant lateral forces (due to, e.g. gravitational influence, or non-horizontal application, or wind movements) that would either lead to rolling out over the side or to rolling centrally together. This state of inertia is essential to achieve the total confidence needed both mentally and physically for relaxation and sound sleep.
Need for a non-obtrusive, securing and separating cradling means is all the more vital in vehicle top applications, where height from the ground, a high likelihood the vehicle will not be exactly level, and inherent swaying movements have to be considered.
The conventional rigid co-planar bed base falls quite short of ideal for double bed vehicle top application even when a foam mattress of substantial thickness, bulk and cost is employed, which of course would be highly impractical in this application.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a camper unit, particularly for vehicle cabin roof application, of substantially simpler and more economical construction than all units to date offered, including that presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,732 to the present applicant. It is a further object to provide such a camper unit capable of comfortably supporting two separate sleeping adults on its underlying bed base surface, whether used with or without a mattress.
The invention accordingly provides a camper unit for vehicle cabin roofs, comprising:
a support frame adapted to be secured to the cabin roof of a vehicle;
plural elongate members arranged together to define a bed base peripherally about a sleeping zone;
means for detachably securing said bed base to the support frame;
a canopy assembly mounted to said bed base and adjustable between a compact collapsed condition and an expanded erect condition;
an elongate support extending centrally of the bed base and having an uppermost face just below the level of the bed base; and
bed base sheet means secured to the bed base and being such that, when loaded with two sleepers in said sleeping zone, said bed base sheet means sags sufficiently to contact said elongate support and to comfortably cradle the respective sleepers to opposite sides of said elongate support.
The resultant degree of "separate cradling" is not only acceptable and tolerable in roof top application but, as described and illustrated, is both needed and desirable. A sleeping surface condition is thus achieved that has, up until this time, been considered impossible and hence not available.
The support frame is conveniently comprised of a specialized pair of vehicle roof carry bars, each provided with devices for adjustable connection of the bars to the lateral gutter regions of a cabin roof. Typically in situ, the carry bars extend transversely above the roof and bracket assemblies are provided to mount the elongate support across and above the carry bars. Each of the bracket assemblies is adjustable both longitudinally of the respective carry bar and vertically with respect to the cabin roof.
In a typical arrangement, the bed base is generally rectangular, includes lateral and front and rear elongate bed base members, and is supported, say, 80 mm above the carry bars by means including pairs of upstanding brackets welded, bolted or otherwise secured to the carry bars and detachably attached to the lateral bed base members. The elongate support is conveniently secured to the carry bars by similarly attached single brackets, for example with its uppermost face immediately below, preferably up to 30 mm below, the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2222636 (1940-11-01), Strauss
patent: 2848007 (1958-08-01), Churchill
patent: 3028607 (1962-04-01), Tolf
patent: 3088475 (1963-05-01), Muhr
patent: 3623762 (1970-11-01), Fagan
patent: 3844300 (1974-10-01), Sanders
patent: 4522441 (1985-06-01), Allison
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