Full body slide and integrated chassis

[0002] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,006 filed Feb. 20, 2002 titled Integrated Bilateral Full Body or Multiple Slide Chassis for Recreational Vehicles.

[0003] Recreational vehicles have become a very popular way of traveling, especially for extended periods of time. These vehicles are equipped with a wide variety of amenities that are normally found in a residence. These include fully appointed kitchens, complete bathrooms, laundry facilities, and entertainment centers. For many years, trailers have incorporated expandable rooms, sometimes called slide outs, to increase the interior space while parked and yet maintain legal size requirements while in motion. In the past decade, expandable rooms have become very common in motorhome applications. Owners continue to want more space and more luxurious amenities. In recent years, consumer demands have resulted in manufacturers adding multiple slide-outs to their production models, sometimes as many as four or five in a forty or forty-five foot model. When the expandable rooms are retracted, cupboards, appliances, fixtures, and other components can be inaccessible. This is of more concern in motorhome applications than trailers because people occupy a motorhome, but not a trailer, while in motion. When the expandable room is retracted, the appearance is less pleasing because of the intrusion of the box-like structure through the side wall of the vehicle. Even though current production models are advertised as having six feet or more height in the slide-out room, the height of the primary vehicle is often more than 12″ higher than the slide-out module. This difference exists because the room telescopes into the side wall. In addition, conventional recreational vehicles partly rely on the side walls for structural support so multiple small slide-out rooms significantly diminish the strength and integrity of the vehicle.

[0004] The present invention, which uses one or two large slide out assemblies rather than multiple small rooms, provides increased living area when expanded, less intrusion on interior space when retracted, and the same interior ceiling height as the rest of the vehicle because the ceiling of the slide-out module telescopes into the roof of the primary vehicle rather than the side wall.

[0005] The present invention is a full body or multiple slide out assembly for all types of recreational vehicles. There is a front and rear stationary module and the entire length between the modules can be deployed outwardly from one or both sides, which can nearly double the interior living space. When retracted for travel, the vehicle body meets legal size restrictions. Because the roof of the full body slide moves between the stationary center section interior ceiling and the exterior roof, the appearance of the ceiling remains unchanged and is aesthetically pleasing whether the full body slide is deployed or retracted, and the interior height of the slide-out module is the same as the stationary module.

[0006] There is a center or offset longitudinal truss or trusses below the floor level and a longitudinal central spar with lateral ribs at the roof level. The full body slides can be deployed or retracted using a variety of techniques, including manual, hydraulic, electric, mechanical, or a combination of two or more of these methods. The slides can be locked in a retracted or deployed position. In a motorhome application, the front stationary module contains the driver's cab area, including a co-pilot's seat. This area is similar to that in a conventional motorhome. The rear can be any optional room designation such as bathroom, bedroom, or office. In a trailer application, both the front and rear modules can be any optional room designation.

[0007] When the full body slides are retracted the floors of each full body slide meet in the middle to create an even, level floor that is contiguous from front to rear and side to side. When the full body slides are extended, a sub-floor automatically elevates to yield a level floor. The sub-floor may be raised and lowered using different means including air pressure, hydraulic pressure or electro-mechanical drive mechanisms.

[0008] FIG. 1: are plan and front views of a 45′ coach with Full Body Slide.

[0009] FIG. 2: is a vehicle chassis with front and rear rollbars and stationary modules.

[0010] FIG. 3: shows plan and elevation views of lateral support rails with the driver's side rail extended.

[0011] FIG. 4: is an end view of central spar assembly.

[0012] FIG. 5: is a plan view of vehicle showing central space and lateral roof ribs.

[0013] FIG. 6: is a slide-out module.

[0014] FIG. 7: is cross section, roof with slides and stationary ceiling in place.

[0015] FIG. 8: is vehicle roof with lateral support ribs, sliding element, and roof rib of slide out module.

[0016] FIG. 9: is an isometric view of FIG. 8 components.

[0017] FIG. 10 is an end view of a central spar assembly plus a roof structure of slide-out module.

[0018] FIG. 11: is an end view of guide rail assemblies.

[0019] FIG. 12: is plan view, drive assemblies mounted under floor of slide and vehicle.

[0020] FIG. 13: shows linear actuators located within the roof structure of the stationary module.

[0021] FIG. 14: is a linear actuator with integral DC motor, gear box, lock, and alignment pin assembly.

[0022] FIG. 15: is an end view of the vehicle that shows the relative positions of the vehicle chassis, the support rails for the slide out module, the floor of the two slide out modules and the sub floors that may be raised when each slide out module is extended. The sub floor may be two-piece, one sub-floor for each module, or one sub-floor that may be raised after both slide-out modules are extended.

[0023] The preferred embodiment of the present invention consists of one or more slide-out modules 1 where each is located between fixed front 2 and rear 3 modules and are not constrained in length, height, or depth other than the overall dimensions of the target vehicle. (FIG. 1)

[0024] An integrated frill body slide and chassis is comprised of front 2 and rear 3 stationary modules, center or offset longitudinal trusses 4 below the floor level, side to side trusses 5, at least two roll bars, one front 6 and one rear 7 (FIG. 2) a plurality of lateral support rails 8 mounted under the vehicle floor 9 and mechanically attached to the chassis truss assembly 4 of the vehicle (FIG. 3), a central spar 10, an interior ceiling 11, lateral roof ribs 12 which extend from the central spar 10, an external roof covering 13 (FIG. 4) and one or two full length slide-out modules 1.

[0025] Front 6 and rear 7 rollbars are structural members consisting of a support column in the left outer wall 14, a horizontal support beam 15 spanning the width of the vehicle and a support column in the right outer wall 16. The front rollbar 6 is located at the rear edge of the front stationary module 2 and the rear rollbar 7 is located at the front edge of the rear stationary module 3. (FIG. 5)

[0026] As shown in FIG. 5, the central spar 10 located in the roof of the vehicle is a sheetmetal box section that spaces the region from the front rollbar 6 to the rear rollbar 7 and is secured to the rollbars with bolts, rivets, or welds. The dimensions of the spar are typically 24″ wide with a length determined by the distance between the front 6 and rear 7 rollbars, which will be dependent on the overall length of the vehicle. Multiple-lateral ribs 12 are mechanically attached perpendicularly to the longitudinal length of the central spar 10 and extend laterally to the outer extremities where the roof ends at the side of the vehicle. The lateral roof ribs 12 support the exterior roof covering 13 of the vehicle.

[0027] Each slide out module 1 (FIG. 6) is a monocoque type construction, which may be of fiberglass, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, carbon fiber, or other material consisting of a roof 17, floor 18, front wall 19, rear wall 20, and longitudinal wall 21. Each slide-out module 1 is assembled as a unit and then mounted on the lateral support rails 8 of the integrated chassis. Multiple roof ribs 22 are mechanically attached to the roof 17 of the slide-out module(s) 1. Each stationary lateral roof rib 12 in the vehicle roof is positioned above a roof rib 22 in the slide-out module and sliding elements 23 are mechanically attached to the medial end of each roof rib 22 of the slide-out module 1 (FIG. 7). Each sliding element 23 engages a vehicle roof rib 12 and remains engaged throughout the inward and outward movement of the slide-out module 1 (FIGS. 8 & 9). Since the roof 17 of each slide-out module telescopes between the stationary interior ceiling 11 and the stationary roof assembly of the vehicle (FIG. 10), the interior height of the slide-out module 1 is equal to the interior height of the vehicle. This is substantially different from the current technology of telescoping a slide-out room through the side wall of a vehicle.

[0028] A guide rail assembly consists of a support rail 8 that is attached to the vehicle chassis and a guide rail 24 that is attached to the underside of each slide-out module 1 (FIG. 11). Pluralities of guide rail assemblies are mechanically attached to the vehicle chassis and extend laterally to the opposite side of the vehicle. The guide rails 24 support the slide-out modules 1 while retracted and extended, and by capturing the support rails 8 that are mounted to the vehicle chassis, support and guide the slide-out modules 1 during the movement between the retracted and extended positions. Also shown in FIG. 11 is a low-friction polymer plate 25 located between the support rails 8 and the guide rails 24 to provide a dry, lubrication free, bearing surface between these two structural members.

[0029] In the preferred embodiment, each slide-out module 1 is driven by four linear actuators 26 that are electronically synchronized for smooth extension and retraction. Each actuator consists of a DC drive motor, gearbox, lock assembly, and an extension shaft to apply pressure to the slide-out module 1. Two of these actuators 26 are located under the floor of the vehicle (FIG. 12) and two actuators 26 are located within the stationary roof structure of the vehicle (FIG. 13) for each slide-out module. Each slide-out module is locked front and rear as well as top and bottom by the linear actuators (FIG. 14) when the slide-out module is in the retracted or any deployed position. The actuator/lock assemblies 26 at the top mechanically fasten each slide-out module to the central spar 10. As shown in FIG. 12, the actuator/lock assemblies 26 under the floor mechanically lock the slide-out module to the vehicle chassis in either an extended or retracted position. In the retracted position, the slide-out modules 1 are held in alignment with the central spar 10 via tapered alignment pins 27.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 3, the floor 9 of the stationary structure can comprise the full width of the vehicle which can be 8 or 8½ feet, including wall thickness, in the travel position The floor 18 of the slide-out module 1 moves under the stationary floor 9. Another design is to have each full body slide-out module provide 50% of the floor width in the travel position and a sub-floor assembly 28 occupies a central position below the full body slide floor 18 (FIG. 15). Also shown in FIG. 15, the sub-floor assembly could be divided into smaller sections, which would allow a level floor during extension of one of both full body slides. In a retracted position, the floor 18 of the expandable portion of the full body slide would be above the sub-floor assembly 28. As the fully body slide is deployed, the floor 18 of the slide-out module would move outwardly and the sub floor assembly 28 would elevates to become flush with the floor 18 of the slide-out module. This is accomplished with pneumatic or hydraulic lift cylinders, or electro-mechanical lifts 29.

[0031] While the present invention has been described for a motorhome application, the principles may be applied to any vehicle, independently powered or towable. Variations and modifications to this description could be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.