Back to results
US 4,901,895 AGranted
Truck rear bumper-storage compartment assembly with facility for sheet material storage and dispensing, such as truck bed cover tarpaulins, tents and the like
OwnerNorman M. Gancarzinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A novel vehicle bumper-storage compartment wherein the presence of the storage facility is totally hidden so as to provide the sole appearance of a bumper, but with added capability of storing and dispensing sheet material from within the storage compartment for such uses as covering a truck bed or providing adjacent emergency shelter or tenting and the like.
Claims19
Truck rear-bumper storage-compartment tarpaulin-dispensing apparatus, comprising:
- a rectangular metal housing defining a storage compartment and having a base with integral rear, bottom and end walls coextensive with the rear bumper area of a truck, a cover with integral front and top walls, means behind the base rear wall for securing the housing to a frame of the truck, and a hinge pivotally connecting a lower edge of the cover front wall with an adjacent edge of the base bottom wall such that the cover is pivotable upwardly about the hinge to close the storage compartment and thus to serve as a bumper and pivotable downwardly about the hinge to open the storage compartment and permit storage access within the storage compartment;
- bearing means carried by the base end walls of the housing;
- an axle extending longitudinally within the storage compartment and rotatable in the bearing means;
- and means for enabling mounting a a tarpaulin roll upon the axle, with the tarpaulin being withdrawable from the storage compartment about the axle when the housing cover been pivoted downwardly, to serve such purposes as a cover has for a bed of the truck or an external tent or shelter behind the truck, and, in the former case, to permit the cover to be re-closed for bumper service while the withdrawn portion of the tarpaulin is serving as the truck bed cover.
1 more element
Truck rear-bumper storage-compartment apparatus, comprising:
- a rectangular metal housing defining a storage compartment and having a base with integral rear, bottom and end walls coextensive with the rear bumper area of a truck, a cover with integral front and top walls, means behind the base rear wall for securing the housing to a frame of the truck, and a hinge pivotally connecting a lower edge of the cover front wall with an adjacent edge of the base bottom wall such that the cover is pivotable upwardly about the hinge to close the storage compartment and thus to serve as a bumper and pivotable downwardly about the hinge to open the storage compartment and permit storage access within the storage compartment, the cover front and top walls being provided with integral end walls, with the cover front, top and end walls being dimensioned to cover and hide the presence of the rear, bottom and end walls of the base.
Vehicle-bumper storage-compartment apparatus, comprising:
- a rectangular housing defining a storage compartment and having a base with integral rear, bottom and end walls coextensive with the rear bumper area of a vehicle, a cover with integral front and top walls, means behind the base rear wall for securing the housing to a frame of the vehicle, and a hinge pivotally connecting a lower edge of the cover front wall with an adjacent edge of the base bottom wall such that the cover is pivotable upwardly about the hinge to close the storage compartment and thus to serve as a bumper and pivotable downwardly about the hinge to open the storage compartment and permit storage access within the storage compartment, the cover front and top walls being integrally provided with end walls, with the cover front, top and end walls being dimensioned to cover and hide the presence of the rear, bottom and end walls of the base.
Truck rear-bumper storage-compartment apparatus, comprising:
- a rectangular metal housing defining a storage compartment and having a base with integral rear, bottom and end walls coextensive with the rear bumper area of a truck, a cover with integral front and top walls, means behind the base rear wall for securing the housing to a frame of the truck, and a hinge pivotally connecting a lower edge of the cover front wall with an adjacent edge of the base bottom wall such that the cover is pivotable upwardly about the hinge to close the storage compartment and thus to serve as a bumper and pivotable downwardly about the hinge to open the storage compartment and permit storage access within the storage compartment;
- safety chain means provided between ends of the cover and the base end walls;
- and spring means connected externally of the base end walls between the safety chain means and portions of the base end walls.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.