Vehicle bed extender unit with protective top cover sheet

[0002] This invention relates to improvements in the selective lengthwise extension and top covering of the cargo beds of vehicles and more particularly to a new and improved bed extension unit having a pliable top cover sheet of protective material carried by an associated bed extension frame that can be operatively attached to the side walls of the vehicle bed so that it can be turned between a stored position and a fully-covered, bed-extended position.

[0003] Engine powered utility vehicles such as pick-up trucks and some SUV pick-up units have forward cabs and rear beds that are generally designed to conveniently and economically haul a wide range of cargo from bulky and heavy loads to small parcels. Protective covers are frequently added to such vehicles to enclose the beds thereof and protect the cargo. In some designs protective covering sheets are deployable from a spring powered roller assembly mounted in a housing supported at the front of the vehicle bed to facilitate the covering of loads carried on the bed. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,824 issued Sep. 1, 1964 to Veilleux for Apparatus for Covering Truck Bodies, for example. However, with the progressively increasing use of such vehicle for personal transportation, cab designs evolved into larger and extended cabs for increased passenger space. Such larger cab designs generally crowd into and limit the bed or cargo space. With such reduced bed space and with ever-increasing demand for further increasing the bed space to accommodate more cargo, new and improved supplemental cargo accommodating equipment is needed. Prior bed-extender designs have generally not met new and higher standards and requirements for additional protected space and transport of increased amounts of cargo or bulky objects particularly where flexible bed covers are needed.

[0004] The present invention is drawn to new and improved top cover and extender units for enclosing and protecting the beds of vehicles and the cargo therein and particularly those that have cabs extending into bed space for increased occupant seating.

[0005] This invention improves the capability of vehicles with cargo beds to handle and protect more cargo and bulky individual items to meet new requirements and standards. In preferred embodiments of the present invention, a pliant or flexible bed cover and extender unit is provided that can readily fit to a wide range of bed configurations and sizes to materially add to the utilitarian nature of such vehicle. This invention is particularly applicable to those vehicles with a forward cab and an aft bed having sidewalls and a rear tailgate selectively moveable between a closed bed and a bed extended position.

[0006] It is a feature, object and advantage of this invention to provide a new and improved bed extender unit with an on-board top cover for selectively extending and protectively covering the cargo bed of a motor vehicle comprising a box-like frame having a top cover of fibrous or other pliable sheet material normally rolled and stored on a spindle within a housing carried thereon. The frame is operatively mounted for limited pivotal movement between a stowed or nested position within the vehicle bed and a bed extension position in which the bed extension includes a fenced horizontally extended tailgate and in which the cover is automatically fed from a roll to ultimately provide a full bed cover.

[0007] Another feature, object and advantage of this invention is to provide a new and improved bed extender unit operatively mounting a pliable top cover for selectively fully covering the extended cargo bed of a motor vehicle. Moreover, in this invention the cover is automatically converted to a longitudinally extended top cover of the bed in response to the pivoting of the extender unit from its normal stowed or nested position in which the cover overlies only a front portion of the bed to an outboard position overlying the horizontally extending tailgate and in which the cover fully covers the extended bed.

[0008] Another feature, object and advantage of this invention is to provide a new and improved top cover and extender unit for the bed of a motor vehicle in which the unit has a conformable or pliable cover sheet that covers and protects the fully extended bed of the vehicle.

[0009] These and other features, objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent from the detailed description and from the following drawings.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a vehicle with a bed extension and pliable top cover unit deployed in accordance with this invention;

[0011] FIG. 1ais a pictorial view similar to FIG. 1 showing selective tailgate opening when the bed has been extended;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a pictorial view similar to FIG. 1 showing the bed extension and top cover unit in a stowed position with the top cover covering a forward compartment of the vehicle bed;

[0013] FIG. 2ais a broken apart pictorial view of a portion of the top cover and the attachments thereof;

[0014] FIG. 2bis a pictorial view of the top cover being deployed with the bed extender in a nested position in the vehicle bed;

[0015] FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of a portion of the bed extender unit in a fully deployed position with the top cover maintained in a stowed position;

[0016] FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the vehicle of FIG. 1 with parts broken away illustrating the bed extension unit in a stowed position and establishing a covered forward bed compartment;

[0017] FIG. 5 is a side view of a part of the vehicle with the extender unit and top cover being turned toward the fully extended and covered position;

[0018] FIG. 6 is a side view similar to the view of FIG. 6 showing the unit in a being further turned toward the fully extended position; and

[0019] FIG. 7 is a side view similar to he view of FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrating the extension unit and flexible bed cover in a fully extended and covered position.

[0020] Turning now in detail to the drawings there is partially shown in FIGS. 1-3, a motorized vehicle 10 such as a pick-up truck that has an extended forward cab 12 accommodating the operator and passengers and a flat rear bed 14 for cargo transport. The vehicle bed 14 is bounded by upwardly rising forward end wall 16, laterally spaced right and left side walls 18, 20 extending rearwardly from connection with the forward end wall and a rear tailgate 22. The tailgate 22 is mounted for limited turning movement on the transverse pivot axis 24 of lower hinges, not shown, between an upright, bed-closure position and a horizontal, bed-extending position. Conventional latches 26 are employed to releasably secure the tailgate 22 to the opposing sidewalls in the upright position to enclose the bed. Moreover, the horizontal position of the tailgate 22 is maintained by conventional mechanism such as a lever, chain or cable system 28.

[0021] As illustrated best in FIGS. 1-3, a woven or continuous top cover sheet 30 of suitable waterproof or other protective pliable material is operatively mounted on an extender unit 32 that provides for the linear extension and selective covering of the bed 14 of vehicle 10. The unit 32 is in the form of a pivoting frame comprising a pair of laterally spaced side members 34 and 36 whose forward ends in FIG. 2 are connected to one another by a transversely extending and pivotally mounted end panel 38. The end panel 38 is operatively mounted by pairs of pivot pins 40, 41 to the side members 34 as best illustrated in FIG. 1a.With this construction, the end panel can function as an operable tailgate when the unit is in the bed extender position. More particularly by removing two axially aligned pins such as lower pins 41, 41, the remaining pins 40, 40 act as pivots and establish a pivot axis that allow the end panel 38 to act as a tailgate and be swung to an open position as shown to provide access to the cargo bed. If desired, closure pins 40, 40 could be removed and pins 41, 41 used to establish a lower pivot axis for the tailgate of the extension. In such circumstance the cover and its housing may be temporarily disconnected and removed from the tailgate to provide cargo bed access. The slotted bracket or mid arm 43 shown in FIG. 1acan be employed as a strut to hold the end panel in the illustrated upward horizontal position or as a supporting brace to support the end panel in a horizontal lower position then swung on the pivot axis provided by pins 41-41. In any event after cargo access, the removed pairs of pins 40 or 41 are replaced to secure the tailgate in a fixed and closed position. When the tailgate is pivoted on the lower pins 41, 41 to a horizontal position the cover and the housing may be removed for access to the cargo space. The housing 48 can be readily reinstalled in a preselected position on the extension tailgate, i.e. panel 38, for cover reattachment.

[0022] The frame of unit 32 may be generally U-shaped and sized to operatively fit into the enclosed bed 14 of the vehicle. As shown the side members 34, 36 are parallel to one another and lie with clearance along the inner sides of the sidewalls 18, 20 of the vehicle bed. In the stowed position of the unit, the end panel 38 is forwardly positioned in the vehicle bed but lies in a rearwardly offset and parallel position with respect to the forward end wall 16 of the vehicle bed to provide a separate forward compartment 42.

[0023] The top cover 30 being pliable is selectively rolled and stored on spring powered cylindrical roller or spindle 46 as shown in FIG. 2a.The spring is diagrammatically shown as spring 47 in FIG. 2a.Such spring powered rollers are illustrated in prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,824 identified above and are employed in many coverings such as roller blinds and awnings. If desired the cover can be manually rolled on the spindle such as by a hand crank. The roller 46 and the cover 30 of this invention are operatively mounted, in an elongated, shell-like housing 48 that is fixed to the top of the end panel 38 or other portions of extender unit 32 by suitable fasteners 50. The top cover 30 is fed, outwardly from the housing though an elongated feeder slot 52 laterally extending across the width thereof. The leading edge of the top cover may be secured to an elongated connector bar 54 that projects laterally from opposite edges of the top cover and can be readily fixed into hook-like brackets 56 laterally spaced across from one another and secured at forward stations on the sidewalls of the vehicle bed. This covers the forward compartment and protects cargo therein.

[0024] The extender unit 32 is further provided with laterally extending pivots 58, 60 projecting outwardly from the side members 34 and 36 thereof into transverse bushings 62 provided in the sidewalls 16, 18 of the bed. This structure operatively supports the extender unit 32 so that it can be swung approximately 180 degrees on the pivots between fully stored or nested position (FIG. 2) and fully extended position (FIG. 3). The extender unit may be releasably maintained in the extended position by a locking pin 61 extending through aligned openings on one of the sides 36 and into a catch in the side wall of the bed, FIG. 3 or by a detent attachment mechanism 63 (FIG. 7). In the extended position in movement from the FIG. 2 to the FIG. 3 position, the top cover is preferably automatically deployed for bed covering purposes. Such deployment is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGS. 4-7. In returning to the fully stored or nested FIG. 2 position from the deployed position, the top cover will be automatically retracted by the associated wind-up spring.

[0025] In the closed extended bed position (FIGS. 1 and 7) the pliable cover 30 covers the entire bed of the vehicle and fits onto the upper surface of the side members 34, 36. If roller 46, cover 30 and shelf 48 are positioned on sidewalls 34 and 36 such that they clear right and left sidewalls 18 and 20 the cover may also be released securely to sidewalls 18 and 20. The cover may be releasably secured to the top surface by suitable fasteners 64 carried by such surfaces that operatively connect the cover to the sidewalls of the vehicles. The flexible or conforming properties of the cover provides sufficient stretch to accommodate bulky cargo whose profiles may extend above the sides of the vehicle bed.

[0026] Referring to FIG. 2 and assuming the vehicle operator desires to extend and enclose the vehicle bed 14, the tailgate 22 will be manually swung from its bed-enclosing position to the horizontal bed-extended position established by the cables 28. The cover 30 of the extender unit is pulled and fed forwardly from its housing against the force of the windup spring until sufficient material has been dispensed allowing the connector rod 54 to be attached to the forwardly located brackets 56. With the cover attached to the forward stations of the bed, the unit can then be manually turned on its pivots and swung rearwardly from the nested position to the fully covered and extended position as diagrammatically, illustrated in FIGS. 4-7. This action automatically unwinds the bed cover from the spindle until the extended position is reached. In the covered position, the cover is held taut by the wind up spring. The detent or latch 63 illustrated in FIG. 7 may be provided to releasably secure the unit in the extended position. Cut outs 66 in the fabric of the cover provide openings so the rear reflectors or lights 68 may be readily observed when the unit is in the extended position.

[0027] In the event covering of the short bed is needed, the housing 48 may be detached from the extender unit 32 and moved rearwardly over the closed tailgate 22 and secured thereto by quick attaching fasteners 65 as illustrated in FIG. 2b.

[0028] It will be appreciated that the optimal dimensional relationships for the parts of this invention including variation in sizes, clearances, materials, shapes, forms and functions and the manner of operation to suit various constructions will now be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, all such constructions are within the scope of the invention set forth in the following claims.