Demountable extension enclosure for motor vehicles

#The invention relates to camper conversions for motor vehicles. It relates, more particularly, to such conversions which extend the floor of the vehicle body to provide additional shelter space.

#The recent expansion of motor camping has resulted in a wide variety of special designs to satisfy the requirement for shelter space at night. Camper bodies for pick-up trucks, tents specially adapted to be carried on roofracks, temporary conversions for `hatchback` car bodies, and many others have been proposed in the prior art.

#None of the available devices of the art addresses itself to the task of providing sleeping space to the occupants of motor vehicles such as enclosed cross-country vehicles, vans and the like which inherently have a flat floor inside an enclosed body, but where the dimensions of that floor are marginal for use as a sleeping surface.

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rear of an enclosed, cross-country type vehicle, upon which a demountable extension housing of the invention has been erected, to provide sleeping accommodation;

#FIG. 2 is a partial section, in plan, taken along section line 2--2 in FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3A is a transverse section through the extension housing of FIG. 1, taken along section line 3--3 in FIG. 2;

#Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates the use of an extension housing 1 in conjunction with a typical enclosed, cross-country type vehicle 10. The vehicle 10, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 1, is provided with a rear loading door normally closed off by three door panels.

#Two door panels 12 are mounted on vertically aligned hinges in the lower portion of the doorway, while a lift gate 14, hinged along the upper edge of the doorway, and supported by a telescoping strut 17 at each side, is mounted to close the upper portion of the doorway, as shown in FIG. 3A. All three doors are utilized to support the extension housing 1.

#The principal load-bearing structure of the housing 1 is provided by a floorboard 20 whose width is equal to the lateral clear space defined by the opened doors 12 and whose length is slightly longer than the projecting dimension of the lift gate 14. The floorboard may be fabricated from wood, plastic or metal. A particularly suitable material is plywood, of appropriate thickness, which may be covered with carpeting or matting.