US 10,118,585 B2 · Vehicle safety guard

Abstract

A safety guard which functions to push objects lying in the path of a vehicle out of the path of the wheels of the vehicle, such as a school bus, for safety purposes includes a front guard includes a first, fixed guard section and a second, movable guard section positioned at an angle of at least 30° in front of at least one wheel of the vehicle beneath the vehicle. More particularly, the first and second guard sections are hingedly interconnected such that the second guard section can pivot or otherwise shift from a first operational position to at least a second operational position relative to the first guard section upon engagement with an animate or inanimate object. At the same time, the second guard section is biased or otherwise forcibly shiftable by an actuator, such as a shock absorbing device, toward the first operational position.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A vehicle comprising:

a body having a side panel, a frame and a floor board;
a pair of front steerable wheels spaced in a transverse direction of the body of the vehicle;
at least one pair of transversely spaced rear wheels which are longitudinally spaced from the front steerable wheels;
a door provided along the side panel;
and
a safety guard assembly for deflecting animate body parts from in front of at least one of the front and rear wheels, said safety guard assembly including a first guard section fixed to the body and a second guard section extending inwardly and forwardly of the first guard section and at an angle between 30°-45° relative to a lateral crosswise axis of the vehicle, in a first operational position.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Vehicle safety guard

Life of this patent

Vehicle safety guard

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21