Motor vehicles – Power – Hoods
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-08
2001-04-10
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)
Motor vehicles
Power
Hoods
C180S069210, C180S069230, C180S069240, C180S089130, C180S089140, C180S089150, C292SDIG001, C292S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213235
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to work vehicles, such as agricultural tractors and construction equipment, having a compartment containing, e.g., an engine, machinery, or tools. It relates particularly to such vehicles having openable hoods for covering such compartments when in a closed position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Work vehicles, including agricultural tractors and construction equipment, have long been provided with engine compartments, and in some cases additional compartments for other uses, which are often desired to be at least partially covered for protection from dust, debris, weather, theft, etc. Engine compartments may be covered to also contain noise and to route cooling air flow. Such compartments are generally kept covered by hoods in normal use of the vehicle and in storage, but must be opened to provide access for periodic maintenance and inspection and for repairs.
Hoods are generally too heavy to be readily removed and set aside, and so are provided with opening, or “lift”, mechanisms. Many such lift mechanisms comprise simply pivots, or hinges, at one end of the hood, often including a torsion spring or gas spring to balance the weight of the hood when in an opened position. Some mechanisms, with or without a balancing spring, also include a support rod for propping the raised hood up in its opened position. Such mechanisms reposition a hood in a manner which provides substantially full access to the interior of the compartment at the end at which the hood has been raised, but access at the pivot end which is often marginal. Such hoods must then be removed and set aside, often with a lift truck or a crane, for work to be performed on an item within, and at the hood pivot end of, the compartment.
Other types of hood opening mechanisms are known, including one in which a hood slides longitudinally upon rollers riding in a track and does not lift; while this mechanism provides reasonably full access to the interior of the compartment, it is costly and requires an inordinately long garage stall to accommodate it. Another type of mechanism includes a four-bar linkage which both pivots and translates the hood in an arcuate path of motion. These are relatively effective, but have not heretofore included a backup latch which is both actuatable in the closed position with a single control device and supported in the opened position with the same control device.
There has been, therefore, a longstanding need for a hood lift mechanism which repositions the hood in a manner which provides substantially full access to items within a compartment, and which includes a simple apparatus for both backing up a primary hood latch and supporting the hood in its opened position.
SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a work vehicle comprising a frame, a compartment, a hood coupled to the frame and configured to at least partially cover the compartment when disposed in a first position wherein the hood is closed, and a mechanism coupling the hood to the frame. The mechanism is configured to move the hood between the first position and at least a second position, wherein the hood is at least partially opened. The mechanism includes at least one four-bar linkage, a first bar of the linkage including a portion of the frame and a second bar of the linkage including a portion of the hood, the vehicle further having a support member configured to engage the at least one linkage at predetermined positions corresponding to the first and at least second positions of the hood and thereby immobilize the at least one linkage, and thereby the hood, against a further change in position.
In another aspect of invention, the support member has a first portion movably secured to the vehicle, a second portion configured as a handle, and an intermediate portion disposed between the first and second portions and including at least one support member catch member disposed to engage an engaging member of the at least one linkage and thereby immobilize the at least one linkage when the hood is in a predetermined position, the at least one catch member engageable and disengageable by movement of the support member with respect to the vehicle.
In another aspect of the invention, the work vehicle includes a primary latch for securing the hood to the frame in the first position and further comprises a secondary latch for backing up the primary latch, the secondary latch including a first catch member positioned on the support member for engagement of an engaging member of the at least one linkage to secure the hood in its first position regardless of the proper functioning of the primary latch.
In another aspect of the invention, the work vehicle further comprises a coupler coupling the support member to the primary latch wherein the support member functions as a single lever actuating device of both the primary latch and the secondary latch when the hood is in its first position.
In another aspect of the invention, the work vehicle further comprises at least one biasing device disposed within the mechanism and configured to oppose the weight of the hood, the hood being thereby movable between positions regardless of the weight and the weight distribution of the hood. The at least one biasing device is configured to generate a first balancing moment of a first value and sense when the hood is in its first position, a second balancing moment of a second value and sense when the hood is in its second position, and a balancing moment of an intermediate value and a sense corresponding to the amount of opening of the hood when the hood is partially opened, the hood being thereby substantially balanced when it its first, second, and intermediate positions.
In another aspect of the invention, the biasing device has a predetermined spring rate and is selected from a plurality of biasing devices having differing spring rates, to provide a particular value of balancing moment associated with the weight and the weight distribution of a particular hood.
In another aspect of the invention, the preload of the biasing device is adjustable to provide a particular predetermined value of balancing moment associated with the weight and the weight distribution of a particular hood.
In another aspect of the invention, the work vehicle further comprises a mounting device coupled to an end of the biasing device and configured to be mounted to a particular position of the frame corresponding to the weight and the weight distribution of a particular hood, and including a threaded member for preloading of the biasing device to the predetermined value.
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Westlaw Database—EP 792787 based on a Priority App.—US 608114 Feb. 28, 1996.
Elhardt Paul M.
Lykken Thomas G.
Rivers Thompson M.
Case Corporation
Foley & Lardner
Mai Lanna
To Toan
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