Retractable canopy for a vehicle

A retractable canopy assembly for a vehicle, comprising:

• a canopy mounting structure, the canopy mounting structure configured to be attached to a pivotable roll bar of the vehicle, the pivotable roll bar having a roll bar pivot bracket and the canopy mounting structure adapted to be mounted below the roll bar pivot bracket;
• a canopy support bracket, the canopy support bracket configured to be attached to the canopy mounting structure and having a pivot point to allow adjustment of the angle between the canopy support bracket and the canopy mounting structure;
• and
• a canopy sub-assembly, including:
• a front canopy support, having a first pivoting connection to the canopy support bracket;
• a rear canopy support, having a second pivoting connection to the canopy support bracket;
• and
• a canopy, having a first connection to the front canopy support, and having a second connection to the rear canopy support;
• and
• in which the canopy is movable to a raised canopy position by pivoting the front and rear canopy supports in a first direction and the canopy is movable to a lowered canopy position by pivoting the front and rear canopy supports in a second direction, the second direction being opposite from the first direction, thereby allowing the canopy, when mounted on a vehicle with a pivotable roll bar, to be moved between the raised canopy position and the lowered canopy position regardless of the position of the pivotable roll bar, and allowing the pivotable roll bar to be pivoted regardless of the position of the canopy.

A retractable canopy for a vehicle having a roll bar, the roll bar mounted via a roll bar pivot bracket to a roll bar support, and movable between a deployed roll bar position in which the roll bar extends above a driver's head to protect a driver during a vehicle roll over and a retracted roll bar position in which the roll bar is lowered to avoid interference with obstacles, the retractable canopy comprising:

• a canopy assembly operable to provide weather protection for a vehicle driver;
• a canopy support operable to support the canopy;
• and
• a canopy mounting bracket operable to mount the canopy to the roll bar support below the roll bar pivot bracket, the canopy mounting bracket and canopy support operable to allow the canopy to move between a deployed canopy position, in which the canopy provides weather protection for the vehicle driver and a retracted canopy position in which the canopy is positioned lower than when the canopy is in the deployed canopy position;
• the canopy, canopy support, and canopy mounting bracket operable to allow the canopy to be moved between the deployed canopy position and the retracted canopy position when the roll bar is in either the deployed roll bar position or the retracted roll bar position;
• and
• wherein the canopy assembly includes a front canopy support and a rear canopy support, each of the front and rear canopy supports having a separate pivoting connection to the canopy support and wherein the canopy is operable to move around the outside of the roll bar, or the canopy is operable to move within the inside of the roll bar.