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US 2006/0091695 A1Published application
Close-conforming vehicle floor tray with reservoir
OwnerDavid MacNeilinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle floor tray is molded from a multiple extrusion thermoplastic polymer sheet such that it has high shear and tensile strength, an acceptable degree of stiffness and a high coefficient of friction on its upper surface. The floor tray design is digitally fitted to a foot well of a particular model of vehicle such that a lower surface of the tray is no more than one-half of an inch from a digitally acquired model of the foot well surface.
Claims21
A system including a vehicle and a removable tray for a foot well of the vehicle, comprising:
- a vehicle foot well having a surface including a floor, an upstanding generally longitudinal first wall extending upward from the floor, an upstanding generally transverse second wall extending from the floor and substantially formed at an angle to the first wall, the foot well being generally arranged in a longitudinal or fore and aft direction substantially parallel to a direction of travel of the vehicle;
- a vehicle foot well surface model which replicates the vehicle foot well surface;
- and
- a tray formed of polymeric material for fitting into the vehicle foot well and having an upper surface and a lower surface, at least ninety percent of the lower surface of the tray being within 0.25 inch (0.635 cm) of the vehicle foot well surface model when the vehicle foot well surface model is mathematically superimposed to best fit the lower surface of the tray, a reservoir formed in the upper surface of the tray to be located within an aft two-thirds of the upper surface of the tray and to occupy an area between ten and fifty percent of the upper surface of the tray, a circumferential wall defining a lateral boundary of the reservoir, the wall having a depth of at least 0.050 inches (0.0127 cm), the tray having a floor, an upstanding generally longitudinally oriented first wall of the tray extending from the floor and substantially conforming to said first wall of the vehicle foot well, an upstanding generally transversely oriented second wall of the tray extending from the floor of the tray and substantially conforming to said second wall of the vehicle foot well.
1 more element
A process for manufacturing a vehicle floor tray, comprising the steps of:
- digitally measuring and storing points on a vehicle foot well surface;
- using the stored points to construct a vehicle foot well surface model;
- using the model of the vehicle foot well surface to construct a three-dimensional image of a vehicle floor tray, said step of using the model including the substeps of
- replicating the vehicle foot well surface model to create a general lower surface of the vehicle floor tray, and
- within a predetermined reservoir area, downwardly projecting the vehicle foot well surface model by at least 0.050 inch from the general lower surface of the vehicle floor tray to create a lower surface of the tray image within the reservoir area;
- using the stored three-dimensional image to construct a mold for the vehicle floor tray;
- and
- manufacturing the vehicle floor tray by molding polymer material in the mold.
5 more elements
A process for manufacturing a vehicle floor tray, comprising the steps of:
- digitally measuring and storing points on a vehicle foot well surface which is selectively compressible, the surface from which said points are obtained being substantially uncompressed;
- using the stored points to construct a vehicle foot well surface model;
- using the model of the vehicle foot well surface to construct a three-dimensional image of a vehicle floor tray, said step of using the model including the step of disposing portions of the surface of said three-dimensional image in an intentional negative standoff relative to corresponding portions of the vehicle foot well surface when the three-dimensional image of the vehicle floor tray is best-fit to the vehicle foot well surface model;
- using the stored three-dimensional image to construct a mold of for the vehicle floor tray;
- manufacturing the vehicle floor tray by molding polymer material in the mold;
- and
- fitting the tray into the vehicle foot well by selectively compressing portions of the vehicle foot well surface corresponding to those portions of the three-dimensional image which are in negative standoff with corresponding portions of the vehicle foot well surface model.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.