Land vehicles: dumping – Catches
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-20
2002-05-28
Patel, Ken (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: dumping
Catches
C298S01700B, C298S010000, C296S184100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06394555
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a four-wheeled utility vehicle suitable for carrying goods in outdoor spaces or in wide indoor spaces and provided with a cabin frame (also called as a cab frame) surrounding a driver's seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 6A and 6B
showing a four-wheeled utility vehicle disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Shou 63-202579, The four-wheeled utility vehicle has a body frame
10
, four wheels, i.e., two front wheels
2
and two rear wheels
3
, suspended from the body frame
10
, a driving unit, such as an engine, mounted on the body frame
10
, a driver's seat
4
and a load-carrying platform
30
′. The four-wheeled utility vehicle is often provided with wide tires suitable for traveling on rough roads.
A cabin frame
20
′ is formed in front of the load-carrying platform
30
′ so as to surround the driver's seat
4
. The cabin frame
20
′ has front and rear portions
21
′,
22
′ including vertical members and horizontal members which are extended between the vertical members. The front, rear, right and left sides of the driver's seat
4
is surrounded by the cabin frame
20
′. The cabin frame
20
′ is formed by assembling steel pipes or the like so as to protect the driver. A roof or a hood, not shown, can be attached to the cabin frame
20
′ to screen the driver's seat
4
from rain and sunshine, and lighting devices
7
can be attached to the cabin frame
20
′ for illumination to facilitate work at night.
As shown in
FIG. 6B
, lower end portions of the front portion
21
′ of the cabin frame
20
′ are held on a front part of the body frame
10
by joints
23
′ fastened to the body frame
10
with bolts. Lower end portions of the rear portion
22
′ of the cabin frame
20
′ are held on an upper part of the load-carrying platform
30
′ by joints
26
′ fastened to the load-carrying platform
30
′ with bolts.
The above-mentioned four-wheeled utility vehicle has the following problems.
a) The joints
26
′ holding the lower end portions of the rear portion
22
′ are fastened to the upper part of the load-carrying platform
30
′. Therefore, it is difficult to lift or tilt the load-carrying platform
30
′ or to remove the load-carrying platform
30
′ from the body frame
10
. Work for unloading the load-carrying platform
30
′ and work for the maintenance of mechanical devices including the engine provided under the load-carrying platform are facilitated if the load-carrying platform
30
′ can be tilted by lifting the front part thereof or can be removed easily from the body frame
10
. However, when those components of the cabin frame
20
′ are held by the joints
26
′ fastened to load-carrying platform
30
′, the cabin frame
20
′ must be separated from the joints
26
′ before lifting or removing the load-carrying platform
30
′, which takes considerable time and labor.
b) On the other hand, if the lower end portions of the rear portion
22
′ of the cabin frame
20
′ are joined to the body frame
10
which is underlying the load-carrying platform
30
′, the load-carrying platform
30
′ can be relatively easily lifted or removed. However, the length of the rear portion
22
′ must be increased to join the lower end portions of the rear portion
22
′ to the body frame
10
. As a result, the rear portion
22
′ should be formed by bigger pipes or pipes having bigger wall thickness to ensure a sufficient rigidity to the rear portion
22
′. Therefore, the weight of the cabin frame
20
′ will considerably increase. To enable the cabin frame
20
′ to withstand an external back-and-forth force acting on the upper end of the cabin frame
20
′, most part of the moment must be born by the joints joining the lower end portions of the rear portion
22
′ and the body frame
10
. Therefore, the joints must be built very strong, and the rear portion
22
′ of the cabin frame
20
′ must be formed from thick, strong pipes or the like. As a result, the cabin frame will become considerably heavy. The rigidity of the cabin frame
20
′ can be enhanced by extending guardrails
4
a
from the rear portion
22
′ as shown in FIG.
6
B and joining the guardrails
4
a
to the body frame
10
. However, the weight of the cabin frame
20
′ will increase. Moreover, the guardrails
4
a
obstruct the driver's getting on and off the utility vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve such problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a four-wheeled utility vehicle provided with a rigid, lightweight cabin frame capable of facilitating tilting a load-carrying platform of the four-wheeled utility vehicle.
According to the present invention, a four-wheeled utility vehicle has: a body frame; a driver's seat disposed on the body frame; a load-carrying platform having a front end portion and a rear end portion, the load-carrying platform being disposed behind the driver's seat; a cabin frame having a rear portion and surrounding the driver's seat, the cabin frame being disposed in front of the load-carrying platform, the rear portion of the cabin frame including a lower end which is positioned on a level below the load-carrying platform and a middle portion which is located on a middle level in a vertical direction within the rear portion, the lower end of the rear portion being joined to the body frame, and the middle portion of the rear portion being bound by the front end portion of the load-carrying platform in an easily separable manner.
Unless otherwise specified, the words “front”, “rear”, “right”, “left” are used herein to signify position or direction with respect to the direction of forward travel of the four-wheeled utility vehicle, and the words “lateral”, “back-and-forth”, “vertical” and “horizontal” are not used in strict sense and is used to signify substantially lateral, substantially back-and-forth, substantially vertical and substantially horizontal. The phrase “(be bound) in an easily separable manner” signifies that the cabin frame is bound by the load-carrying platform such that the cabin frame can be easily disconnected from the load-carrying platform without practically impairing the tilting ability of the load-carrying platform.
Since the lower end portions of the rear portion of the cabin frame are not fastened to the load-carrying platform, the load-carrying platform of the four-wheeled utility vehicle can be turned upward and downward (tilted). The load-carrying platform can be easily and quickly turned upward and downward by hand or a mechanical device only if the middle portion of the rear portion of the cabin frame is released from the load-carrying platform without requiring work for unfastening a joint and removing the cabin frame. The tiltable load-carrying platform facilitates work for unloading the load-carrying platform or work for the maintenance of mechanical devices underlying the load-carrying platform.
Since the lower end of the rear portion of the cabin frame is joined to the body frame and the middle portion of the same is bound by the load-carrying platforms, the cabin frame is rigid and is able to withstand load exerted thereon. A large moment exerted on the rear portion by the load is counterbalanced by reaction forces produced in the middle portion bound by the load-carrying platform and the lower end joined to the body frame. Since the middle portion and the lower end of the rear portion can be spaced a sufficiently great distance apart, reaction forces at the middle portion and the lower end of the rear portion are not excessively high. Therefore, stresses are induced in the rear portion of the cabin frame in a mode quite different from that in which stresses are ind
Kinouchi Sosuke
Mizuta Fumio
Takegami Itsuo
Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Patel Ken
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