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US 5,427,428 AGranted
Folding cover for the bed of a pickup truck
OwnerJohn C. Ericson, Linda S. Ericsoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A folding cover for a pickup truck bed is comprised of a plurality of substantially rigid material sheets hinged together using specially adapted hinges made of a flexible material, the flexible hinges extending the width of the sheets making the cover substantially leakproof/weatherproof. In a second embodiment, the cover can be mounted on rollers which themselves can be rollably supported by a horizontal track mounted to one or both of the side rails of the pickup truck bed to make folding and unfolding of the cover easier.
Claims6
A folding cover for a pickup truck bed comprising:
- a plurality of sheets constructed of substantially rigid material, each of said sheets having approximately the same width;
- at least one hinge constructed of a flexible material, the length of said at least one hinge being approximately the same as the width of said sheets;
- a means for attaching the cover to the pickup truck;
- wherein the number of said at least one hinge is one less than the number of said sheets and wherein one of said at least one hinge is fixed between two of said plurality of sheets;
- wherein said sheets are dimensioned such that they can be folded up over each other with said at least one hinge alternately bendable between an unfolded and a folded position,
- wherein said plurality of sheets are dimensioned such that the dimension of each sheet in the direction of folding is less than the next succeeding adjacent sheet, and
- wherein said at least one hinge comprises a first channel member for receiving the transverse edge of one of said plurality of sheets, a second channel member for receiving the transverse edge of another of said plurality of sheets, and a flexible web member connected between said first and second channel members, said web member having a longitudinal extent sufficient to permit said one sheet and said another sheet to be folded with respect to each other with one or more other of said plurality of sheets therebetween.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.