US 5,364,154 AGranted

Liftable rigid truck bed cover

AssigneeSierra Line Products, Inc.

InventorRobert Kaiser

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Abstract

A liftable cover assembly for the bed of a truck having sidewalls and a tail gate. The cover assembly comprises a rigid cover panel sized to encompass the entire truck bed, plural support legs for the cover panel, a height establishing mechanism, and a locking mechanism. The support legs comprise a pair of generally U-shaped members pivotally mounted on the sidewalls and pivotally connected to the cover panel to enable the cover panel to be lifted from a lower or closed position, wherein it is horizontally disposed over the bed on the sidewalls and the tailgate, to a raised or open position, wherein it is disposed and held horizontally a predetermined distance above the sidewalls. The height establishing mechanism is adjustable to establish various predetermined distances that the cover may be disposed over the truck bed in the open position. The locking mechanism includes an actuatable handle and plural associated latches for locking the cover panel in the closed position. Plural gas-operated dash-pots are provided for assisting the lifting of the cover panel to the open position. The U-shaped members making up the support legs are releasably secured to the sidewalls of the truck to enable the cover panel and the U-shaped members to be removed as a unit from the truck bed, if desired. A tent-like curtain is provided for releasable suspension by the cover panel when it is in the open position to provide an enclosure for the truck bed.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A liftable cover assembly for the bed of a truck, the truck having sidewalls and a tail gate, said cover assembly comprising a cover member, plural support legs for said cover member, height establishing means, first coupling means, second coupling means, and locking means, each of said support legs being an elongated member arranged to be pivoted to an inclined angular orientation and having a lower end pivotally connected about a horizontal axis to a respective one of the sidewalls by said first coupling means, said elongated member having an upper end pivotally connected by said second coupling means to said cover member at a fixed position on said cover member to enable said cover member to be lifted horizontally from a closed position to an open position, said cover member when in said closed position being horizontally disposed over said bed on said sidewalls and said tailgate with said support legs being positioned substantially parallel to said cover member so that they do not extend substantially into the bed, said cover member when in said open position, being disposed and held horizontally at a selected one of a plurality of predetermined distances above the sidewalls, said height establishing means being coupled by means to at least one of said support legs to releasably secure said at least one support leg in a predetermined desired angular orientation to establish said selected one of said plurality of predetermined distances, said locking means being actuatable to lock said cover member in said closed position and to unlock said cover member from said closed position so that it can be raised to said open position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.