Cover assembly for open top truck bodies

In combination with an open top truck body having upstanding spaced apart sidewalls, a cover assembly for covering the open top of the truck body, said cover assembly comprising:

• a frame fastened to the truck body and bridging the open top thereof;
• aligned first and second sheaves located adjacent each sidewall for rotation about spaced apart axes which are fixed in position with respect to the frame;
• endless cables extended around the first and second sheaves and having upper and lower passes which are adjacent to the sidewalls of the truck body, the cables being passed around the first sheaves at least one and a half times so that at least two convolutions of cable exist along a portion of each first sheave;
• drive means for rotating the first sheaves in unison to drive the cables in unison and in both directions;
• separating means located in a fixed position with respect to the frame and being detached from the first sheaves so that the sheaves rotate relative to the separating means, the separating means projecting between the convolutions of cable on the first sheaves to prevent the convolutions from crossing;
• and a flexible cover extending over and supported on the frame, the cover having ends and sides with one of the ends being fixed in position with respect to the frame and the other end being attached to one of the passes for each of the two cables such that said other end will move with those passes, the sides of the cover being connected to the endless cables such that the cables can move relative to the sides of the cover, but the sides of the cover cannot be pulled away from the cables, whereby when the cables move in one direction, the cover will move to a folded position wherein it gathers together adjacent to its fixed end, and when the cables move in the opposite direction, the cover spreads out over the frame and covers the open top of the truck body.

In combination with an open top truck body having upstanding spaced apart sidewalls, a cover assembly for covering the open top of the truck body, said cover assembly comprising:

• a frame fastened to the truck body and bridging the open top thereof, the frame including rigid bows extending transversely of the truck body between the sides thereof and rigid stringers extending longitudinally of the body between the sides thereof, the stringers being extended over and attached to the bows such that the stringers are elevated above the bows at the locations where they cross the bows, at least one of the stringers being segmented into a portion fixed with respect to the frame and a removable portion which is detachable from the fixed portion, at least one of the bows being segmented into at least one portion fixed with respect to the frame and a removable portion which is detachable from the fixed portion of the bow, the removable portion of said one stringer being attached to the removable portion of said bow so as to form a removable frame section which may be detached and removed from the remainder of the frame as a unit, whereby the truck body at the location of the removable frame section is not fully traversed by a bow when the frame section is removed;
• aligned front and rear sheaves located adjacent each sidewall for rotation about spaced apart axes which are fixed in position with respect to the frame;
• endless cables extended around the front and rear sheaves and having upper and lower passes which extend along the sidewalls of the truck body;
• means for rotating the sheaves to drive the cables in unison and in both directions;
• and a flexible cover extending over and supported on the frame, the cover having ends and sides with one of the ends being fixed in position with respect to the frame and the other end being attached to the two cables such that said other end will move with one of the cable passes on each of the two cables, the sides of the cover being connected to the endless cables such that the cables can move relative to the sides of the cover but the sides of the cover cannot be pulled away from the cables, whereby when the cables move in one direction the cover will move to a folded position wherein it gathers together adjacent to its fixed end and when the cables move in the opposite direction the cover spreads out over the frame and covers the open top of the truck body.