Fasteners for truck bed covers
OwnerW. David Tuckerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for adjustably attaching a cover to an open-topped vehicle enclosure including a cover attachment member, a plurality of cover attachment clip members and a plurality of rail members attached to the top of a side wall of the enclosure by any suitable means. A cover attachment member affixed to a peripheral element of a cover is engageable with the cover attachment clip members, which are engageable with the rail members. The cover attachment member may be attached to the rail member in various different positions to accommodate variations in the cover dimensions and to allow for variation of the cover tension as installed.
Claims26
A cover apparatus for an open-topped vehicle enclosure having a plurality of side walls, each side wall having at least an outer wall and a top wall, the cover apparatus comprising:
- at least one rail member having at least an outer side and a longitudinal axis;
- the at least one rail member further having a flange, the flange having a proximal end, a distal end, a transverse axis, and a longitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the at least one rail member;
- the proximal end of the flange being associated with the outer side of the at least one rail member, and the distal end of the flange being substantially free;
- the at least one rail member further being configured to be removably mounted on the top wall of the plurality of side walls of the enclosure;
- a cover member having at least one locking member affixed along the peripheral region of the cover;
- means for adjustably affixing the at least one locking member of the cover member to the at least one rail member;
- the adjustable affixation means comprising at least one clip member being configured to be releasably and lockingly engageable to the flange at one or more positions along the flange's transverse axis so as to provide adjustability of the cover member along the flange's transverse axis;
- and
- the clip member being further configured to interlockingly engage with the at least one locking member so as to securely affix the cover member to the at least one clip member;
- and
- the clip member being further configured to preclude undesired repositioning of the clip member relative to the flange while the locking member is engaged with the clip member.
A clip member for attaching a locking member of a cover member to a rail member, said clip member being comprised of:
- rail gripping means for releasably, adjustably, and lockingly gripping said rail member;
- cover retention means for releasably and lockingly attaching said locking member of said cover member to said clip member;
- and
- release means for selectively attaching and detaching the gripping means to any of a plurality of pre-selected positions on the rail member.
A cover apparatus for an open-topped vehicle enclosure having a plurality of side walls, each side wall having at least an outer wall and a top wall, the cover apparatus comprising:
- at least one rail member, associated with the top wall of the side wall of the vehicle, and having at least an outer surface and an upper and lower edge;
- a cover member having at least one locking member associated with a peripheral region of the cover;
- means for affixing the at least one locking member to the at least one rail member, the affixing means comprising a clip member having two retention regions configured so as to snapingly engage each of the upper and lower edges of the rail member, and a receiver member for releasably receiving the at least one locking member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.