Vehicle bed edge and manufacturing process

Details Vehicle bed edge and manufacturing process Vehicle bed edge and manufacturing process

2002-09-06

2004-10-05

Coletta, Lori L. (Department: 3612)

Land vehicles: bodies and tops

Bodies

Body shell

C029S897200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06799792

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a bed member for a vehicle, such as a truck, which is roll formed so as to have alternating channel-like ribs and valleys extending longitudinally thereof, and more specifically to a bed member having an improved tapered end structure associated with the channels so that the channels adjacent an edge of the bed are longitudinally tapered downwardly for merger into the plane defining the bottom of the bed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
To improve upon the construction of truck bed members which are formed using a conventional stamping process, the assignee of this application developed the improved truck bed structures and forming methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,418, 5,544,932, 5,575,525, 5,730,486, 5,938,272, 6,128,815, and all of which are assigned to Pullman Industries, Inc., and are herein incorporated by reference.
In the aforesaid patents, and as illustrated in
FIG. 1
, there is disclosed a main floor pan or bed member
11
which was developed principally for a pick-up truck so that the bed member
11
is disposed between the side walls
12
of the truck and extends rearwardly from the front wall
13
so as to terminate at the rear sill
14
. The bed member has the rear edge thereof secured, typically by welding, to the rear sill
14
, and the bed member is typically supported on and fixedly secured to additional cross sills which are spaced longitudinally along the bed, such as the intermediate cross sills
15
and the front sill
16
. The bed member
11
is roll formed from a continuous sheet of thin steel so as to have alternating ribs
18
and valleys
19
of channel-like cross-section disposed sidewardly thereacross with such ribs and valleys extending longitudinally along the roll formed sheet. The roll formed sheet is then cut to length to define the bed member, which bed member hence has the front and rear edges thereof having a corrugated configuration defined by the alternating ribs and valleys. In a preferred variation of this invention, the rear sill
14
is provided with protruding projections
17
on the top wall thereof, which projections interfit within the channels of the bed member
11
at the rear edge thereof to provide for a strong structural assembly while also closing off the rear ends of the ribs.
The arrangement described above and as briefly illustrated in
FIG. 1
has proven to provide a highly desirable bed assembly, but in a continuing effort to provide for and accommodate other demands associated with the use of such vehicles, the assignee hereof has also developed a modified end construction for the bed member
11
which, as illustrated by
FIGS. 2-5
, results in the ends of the ribs
18
being flattened downwardly through a tapered or downwardly sloped rib section so as to merge with the bottom of the bed member, namely the walls which define the bottoms of the valleys, so as to effect closure of the ends of the ribs and at the same time result in the edge of the bed member being generally flat.
The construction illustrated by
FIGS. 2-5
, as disclosed in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/196,979 (now replaced by copending continuation U.S. application Ser. No. 09/611,444) owned by the assignee hereof and incorporated herein by reference, results in a modified edge construction for the roll-formed bed member
11
so as to permit the edge portion of the bed to be supported on a conventional cross sill
21
(which can be either a rear sill or a front sill) without the necessity of providing the top wall of the sill with upward projections for nesting within the channels of the ribs, although provision of such projections on the cross sill is still a preferred alternative. In this edge construction, the bed member
11
is provided with a flat and substantially planar flange
22
extending transversely across the bed member, which flange terminates at a free edge
23
of the bed member. The flange
22
is defined by deforming and hence flattening rear portions of the channel-like ribs
18
over a selected longitudinal length which projects forwardly from the free edge
23
.
The bed member
11
of
FIGS. 2-4
in addition has the ribs
18
thereof, just forwardly of the flange
22
, downwardly deformed to define tapered rib portions
18
A which extend longitudinally of the bed member over a small longitudinal distance, and define a transitional zone between the rear flange
22
and the longitudinally-extending full-height rib
18
. The tapered rib portions
18
A each have a top wall
25
A which at one end is continuous with and joins to the top wall
25
of the full-height rib
18
, with the top wall
25
A then angling or sloping downwardly as it projects longitudinally until intersecting the plane of the bed member base walls
26
(the latter defining the bottom of the valleys
19
), which intersection substantially defines the transition between the tapered rib portions
18
A and the rear flange
22
. The tapered rib portions
18
A thus effectively define a slope or ramp which projects upwardly from the elevation of the base walls
26
or flange
22
to the elevation of the rib top walls
25
, with the ramp projecting in a longitudinal direction which, when the tapered rib portion is at the rear edge of the bed member, slopes upwardly in the forward direction of the bed member to thus eliminate or minimize any abrupt or sharp corners at the rear edge of the bed member.
The tapered rib portions
18
A are shaped by physically deforming a selected length of the full-height ribs
18
downwardly into the tapered or sloped configuration, which forming typically is carried out in a shaping press following the roll forming of the bed member. The deforming (i.e. compressing) of the ribs
18
into the tapered configuration results in at least partial collapsing of the side walls
27
of the ribs, and the tapered rib portion
18
A is preferably formed so that the top wall
25
A thereof extends at a slope or angle relative to the horizontal of at least about 30°, and more preferably in the neighborhood of about 40° to about 45°, in an effort to minimize the amount of material which is being physically displaced during the compression of the ribs into the tapered shape.
During the deforming of the end portions of the ribs
18
so as to form the tapered rib portions
18
A, the end portions of the ribs
18
which extend between the tapered portions
18
A and the rear edge
23
are also substantially simultaneously flattened during the same deforming or pressing operation so that the rib portions which extend throughout the longitudinal length of the flange
22
are effectively flattened so as to be substantially coplanar with the base walls
26
and thereby result in the substantially flat and planar edge flange
22
.
With the arrangement as illustrated by
FIG. 2
, the flange
22
can be positioned so as to lie flatly on an upper surface of the cross sill so as to permit closure and fixed securement therewith.
Alternatively, the flattened rear flange, designated
22
A in
FIG. 5
, can be bent downwardly in the vicinity adjacent or slightly rearwardly from the intersection point with the tapered rib-portions
18
A, which flange
22
A can be disposed so as to project downwardly directly adjacent and hence overlap a side surface of the supporting cross sill
21
, such as the rear surface when the cross sill
21
constitutes the rear sill of the vehicle bed construction. In this arrangement the flange
22
A can be fixedly secured to the cross sill, such as by welding.
While the rib end constructions illustrated by
FIGS. 2-5
may be desirable for some use situations, nevertheless these rib end constructions created by reforming a roll-formed bed member result in undesired wrinkling of the material during the deforming or flattening operation. In order to deform the full-height rib into either the tapered rib portion and/or the flat rear flange, it is necessary to cause the excess material which exists due to the presence of the side walls
27
to be redistributed so as to merge into the material ass

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