Vehicle with bed raising and lowering system

A vehicle comprising:

• a cab having a front, rear and a sleeping compartment at the rear of the cab, the sleeping compartment having first and second side walls, a rear wall, a ceiling and a floor, the ceiling being generally sloped downwardly in the area of the sleeping compartment moving from the rear of the cab toward the front of the cab;
• an elongated bed positioned in the sleeping compartment, the bed having first and second ends and first and second sides, the bed being oriented to extend transversely within the sleeping compartment with the first end of the bed adjacent to the first side wall, the second end of the bed adjacent to the second side wall, and with the second side of the bed adjacent to the rear wall, the bed being movable from at least one sleeping position to a storage position, the bed having a sleeping surface which is generally horizontal and spaced from the ceiling to accommodate a user sleeping on the sleeping surface when the bed is in the sleeping position, the bed sleeping surface being positioned adjacent to the ceiling and inclined downwardly from the rear toward the front of the cab when the bed is in the bed storage position wherein when the bed is in the bed storage position, the first side of the bed is spaced from the rear wall and is at a lower elevation than the second side of the bed such that the sleeping surface tilts downwardly away from the rear wall.

A vehicle comprising:

• a cab with a sleeping compartment, the sleeping compartment having first and second side walls, a rear wall, a floor and a ceiling;
• a bed positioned in the sleeper compartment, a plurality of elongated support elements coupling the bed to the sleeper compartment, the support elements being selectively variable in length such that adjusting the length of the support elements raises or lowers the bed within the sleeper compartment;
• the elongated bed support elements comprising a plurality of flexible elements which suspend the bed downwardly below the ceiling as the bed is shifted between sleeping and storage positions;
• a rotatable shaft coupled to the flexible elements, a motor coupled to the shaft for rotating the shaft such that rotation of the shaft in a first direction winds the flexible elements about the shaft to raise the bed and rotation of the shaft in a second direction opposite to the first direction unwinds the flexible elements from the shaft to lower the bed;
• a first set of flexible elements being coupled to the bed adjacent to the rear wall of the sleeping compartment and a second set of flexible elements being coupled to the bed at a location spaced further from the rear wall than the first set of flexible elements, the first set of flexible elements being coupled to the shaft so as to be wound and unwound from the shaft at a faster rate than the second set of flexible elements such that the bed sleeping surface tilts forwardly from horizontal as the bed is raised and tilts rearwardly toward horizontal as the bed is lowered;
• at least one non-vertical upright elongated bed motion guiding track mounted to the rear wall and coupled to the bed so as to guide the motion of the bed as it shifts between bed sleeping and bed storage positions;
• and
• a guide roller pivoted to the bed and positioned in rolling engagement with the track, the roller following the track to guide the motion of the bed.

A method of selectively increasing the available living space in a sleeping compartment of a vehicle comprising:

• positioning a bed in the sleeping compartment in an upper berth sleeping position with a sleeping surface of the bed facing upwardly, the bed having opposing front and rear sides, the rear side being positioned adjacent to the rear wall of the vehicle;
• raising the bed and thereby the sleeping surface upwardly toward a ceiling of the sleeping compartment to provide additional clearance between an under surface of the bed and a floor of the sleeping compartment;
• and
• tilting the bed downwardly away from the rear wall of the vehicle as the sleeping surface is raised upwardly toward the ceiling of the sleeping compartment.