Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Tops – Roll-up covers
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-21
2003-06-10
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Tops
Roll-up covers
C296S100010, C296S100150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06575518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to flexible covers or tarping systems for open-topped containers. The invention is particular related to tarping systems for use with hauling vehicles, such as dump trucks, where the flexible cover or tarpaulin is extended across the open top of the truck body.
Many hauling vehicles, such as dump trucks, include open-topped containers useful for hauling or storing various materials. For example, in a typical dump truck application, the dump body is used to haul a variety of particular material, such as gravel, aggregate or similar products. In addition, some hauling vehicles carry organic materials, such as grain or produce.
Depending upon the nature of the materials stored in the open-topped container, it is often desirable to provide a cover for the container. Of course, rigid covers are well known that may be hinged from end of the container body. These rigid covers have gradually given way in the trucking industry to flexible tarping systems because the flexible tarpaulin can be easily stowed when a cover is not necessary, such as when the dump truck is being loaded. Moreover, the flexible tarp is much easier to deploy than a rigid cover, and is easier to replace when it becomes worn or damaged. Furthermore, in some instances the flexible tarp provides a tighter environmental seal for the contents of the container than is provided by a rigid cover.
A variety of tarping systems have been developed that are geared to particular hauling vehicle applications. Once such tarping system for use with dump trucks is the Easy Pull® tarping system of Aero Industries, Inc. The Easy Pull® system includes a flexible tarp that is wound around a spool at one end of a dump bed. A rope attached to the free end of the tarp can be used to unwind the tarp from the roller to extend along the length of the dump bed.
Another cover system particularly suited for open-topped containers on hauling vehicles is the Easy Cover® tarping system, also of Aero Industries, Inc. The Easy Cover® tarping system includes a U-shaped bail member that is pivotally mounted at its end to the base of the container body. The horizontal section of the U-shaped bail is attached to the tarp, while the free ends of the vertical elements are pivotably mounted to the truck body. In one application, the Easy Cover® tarping system allows the tarp to be manually pulled in a sweeping arc over the container load.
In another application of the Easy Cover® system, an actuation mechanism is provided that automatically pivots the U-shaped bail member to deploy the tarp over the load within the open-topped container. When the actuation mechanism is released, it automatically pivots the bar, thereby unfurling the tarp from the tarp roller at the front of the vehicle. A hand crank or powered motor can be provided to rotate the tarp roller to retract or wind the tarp when it is desired to open the container top.
A vehicle
10
is depicted in
FIG. 1
having an open-top dump body
12
. As illustrated, the vehicle can be a dump truck, with the open-topped container comprising a dump body. A flexible cover system
14
mounted on the body
12
includes a tarpaulin cover
15
that is shown in its deployed position spanning the length of the container and covering the load within. The tarp cover
15
can be wound onto a retraction mechanism
19
, which can be in the form of a roller assembly, such as employed in the Easy Cover® tarping system.
Referring still to
FIG. 1
, an extension mechanism
17
is utilized to pull the tarp
15
across the container body
12
. In the illustrated embodiment, the extension mechanism
17
includes the U-shaped bail member described above. However, for the purposes of the present invention, the extension mechanism
17
can be a variety of types of mechanisms, whether motorized or manual, and whether relying upon pivoting bail arms or longitudinally driven members. However, for the purposes of illustration of the principles of the present invention, a rotatable spring-biased extension bail member is illustrated.
With this illustrated embodiment, the extension mechanism
17
is spring biased so that its natural tendency is to pull the tarp out of the retraction mechanism
19
. Again, for purposes of illustration, the retraction mechanism
19
can include a drive motor
20
that rotates a spool
21
or roller to which one end of the flexible tarp
15
is fastened.
With reference to
FIG. 2
, one difficulty of prior flexible tarpaulin cover systems is illustrated. The container body
12
in this figure includes a top rail
22
. A cab shield
26
extends above and forward of the top rail
22
to support the retraction mechanism
19
. In one application, the body
12
includes sideboards
24
that extend the length of the container body. The flexible tarp
15
is shown extending over at heaped load L. As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the flexible tarp
15
is held in an extended position
28
or
28
′. In the case of the extension mechanism
17
shown in
FIG. 1
, the mechanism itself holds the tarp at its extended position
28
. In the configuration illustrated in
FIG. 2
, the flexible tarp is held in the extended position
28
′ by a tie-down arrangement. At any rate, when the tarp
15
is fully extended over the length of the container
12
and covering the load L, a gap can exist between the tarp
15
and the interior of the container body, as depicted in FIG.
2
.
A similar problem exists where the sideboards
24
are not used. In this instance, a heaped load L′ extends slightly above the top rail
22
. The flexible tarp
15
′ then covers the heaped load L′ in its extended position
28
′. Again, as can be seen in
FIG. 2
, the tarp
15
′ has a gap between it and the top rail
22
.
In order to eliminate this gap, extra tarp
15
can be payed out from the retraction mechanism
19
. With this approach, the tarp will fall over the load L, L′. However, when the container body
12
is on a moving vehicle, such as a dump truck, the wind and vibration generated at traveling speeds causes the tarp
15
,
15
′ to flap and expose the load beneath.
Various solutions have been devised to help hold the excess tarp material down over the load L, L′ when the tarp is in its extended position
28
,
28
′. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,416, a linkage and side flap arrangement is employed. With this approach, the tarp includes side flaps that are held against the outside of the truck body by a specific external linkage arrangement.
Another approach is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,955. This approach is limited to use with tarp extension mechanisms utilizing an external bail arm. In this approach, a tension bail arm is pivotally mounted to the extension bail arm. The tension bail arm extends across the outside of the truck body to hold the front portion of the flexible cover down.
Yet another approach is described in pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/330,143, filed Jun. 11, 1999, by Aero Industries, Inc. and entitled “Tarp Cover Hold-Down System”. The system disclosed in this application, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, includes a U-shaped bar that resides within the interior of the container body. The bar is spring biased by torsion springs so that it pivots downward to provide a downward force against the front portion of the flexible cover. With this mechanism, the torsion spring applies a constant downward pressure directly on the tarp within the interior of the container body, so that its effectiveness is not limited by the sideboards or rails of the container.
While the system of the '143 Application represents a significant advance in devices for holding a tarp down, it too has its drawbacks. For instance, the disclosed mechanism requires the mounting of an additional component to the container body or to the retraction mechanism. In addition, the hold-down bar of the mechanism must be retracted against the retraction mechanism or roller. Since the bar is spring-bi
Aero Industries, Inc.
Maginot Moore & Bowman
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