Roll-up cargo-space cover for motor vehicle

Details Roll-up cargo-space cover for motor vehicle Roll-up cargo-space cover for motor vehicle

2001-03-19

2002-07-09

Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Auxiliary article compartments

Reexamination Certificate

active

06416105

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a motor-vehicle cargo-space cover. More particularly this invention concerns such a cover that can be unrolled like a window shade to cover cargo in the space behind the seats of a station wagon or van.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a station wagon, for instance, it is known to mount a roll-up housing at a front end of a cargo space behind the rear seats, either securing the housing to the seats or to the walls of the vehicle. A cover sheet is wound up in this housing on a spring-loaded shaft so that it can be pulled from it. Typically the sheet has a rear edge provided with a stiffening rod whose ends can be fitted to seats at the rear end of the cargo space, leaving the cover stretched tautly above the cargo on the floor of the cargo space.
As described in German patent document 4,040,038 of E. Allershausen et al and German patent 195 37 768 of S. vanLieshout et al, these systems are fairly complex. A so-called end board is provided at the rear sheet edge, and has hand holes so a user standing at the rear of the vehicle can easily manipulate the cover and fit its pins into their vehicle-mounted seats. In general the known systems of securing this end board to the sheet is clumsy and often ineffective.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved motor-vehicle cargo-space cover.
Another object is the provision of such an improved motor-vehicle cargo-space cover which overcomes the above-given disadvantages, that is whose end board is solidly mounted in an arrangement that is both robust and simple.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A cover according to the invention has a roll-up housing mounted in a motor vehicle at a front end of its cargo space, a sheet retractable against spring force out of the housing and having a rear edge, and a stiff end board projecting generally a full width of the sheet at the rear edge thereof and having a front edge juxtaposed with the sheet rear edge. A thick edge bar is fixed to one of the edges and the other of the edges is releasably secured to this edge bar.
Thus the end board according to the invention is a separate part and does not need to be painstakingly constructed with the cover sheet. Instead the end board is mounted at the rear edge of the cover sheet by means of the edge bar in accordance with the invention.
The edge bar according to the invention is formed with a forwardly open groove having a wide base and a narrow throat and the sheet rear edge is enlarged and complementarily received in the groove. The edge bar can in this case be formed as a single unitary piece. It can even be formed unitarily with the stiff end board. The pins can be unitarily formed with the edge bar.
The sheet rear edge according to the invention is formed as a loop holding a stiff rod. This rod has projecting ends that can form the pins.
Alternately the edge bar is formed with a transversely throughgoing passage and the cover has according to the invention a rod extending through the passage and having ends projecting therefrom and forming the pins.
The edge bar according to the invention is formed as a pair of elongated parts. Screws secure the parts together. One of the parts can be formed with a groove extending transversely and open toward the other part and the other part with a ridge fitting into the groove. The sheet rear edge is pinched between the ridge and groove. In another system the end-board front edge is widened and the two ports formed a wide-base groove in which the widened end-board front edge is gripped.
The two parts of the thick edge bar in accordance with the invention can be unitarily formed with respective flat rearward extensions that are secured together and form the end board. A decorative flexible overlay sheet surrounds the end board and edge bar. More particularly the edge bar is formed with a rearwardly open groove in which the end-board front edge is seated. The overlay sheet engages rearward around the end board and pressing its forward into the groove. Alternately the end-board front edge is provided with gripper clips engaged around the edge bar and constituting the securing means.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4220367 (1980-09-01), Gale et al.
patent: 4502674 (1985-03-01), White et al.
patent: 4671557 (1987-06-01), Lemp
patent: 5584523 (1996-12-01), Kawaguchi
patent: 40 40 038 (1991-06-01), None
patent: 195 37 768 (1996-11-01), None

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