Vehicle brush and grill guard
AssigneeWarn Industries, Inc.
InventorRichard J. Geisler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle having a brush and grill guard fabricated to blend with the contour of the vehicle so that the design features of the vehicle are not compromised. Frame extensions are mounted to the frame and support a pair of vertical support plates. A winch carrier and winch mounted thereon are optionally mounted to the support plates or directly to the vehicle frame. A fascia configured as a compound curve is fitted to the vertical plates and has a removable cover to hide the winch from view when not in use. An exposed edge of the vertical plates and/or the fascia are provided with a protective and visual enhancing elastomer strip molded to the edge.
Claims14
A vehicle comprising:
- a body portion and a support portion, said body portion defining a front end of the vehicle having a rounded visual appearance;
- a pair of vertical plates each having opposing sides and each mounted to the support portion and protruding forwardly of the front end to define a pair of leading front edges;
- a plurality of tubular members mounted to the vertical plates and collectively forming a brush and grill guard and providing a rounded visual appearance compatible with the rounded visual appearance of the front end of the vehicle;
- said vertical plates each including a metal plate having a metal leading edge portion and an elastomer strip wrapped around the metal leading edge portion from one side of the plate to the other and defining elastomer wrap around sides, said leading edge portion provided with openings and said elastomer strip applied to the edge portion by molding, said molding producing a continuum of elastomer material through the opening and integrally bonded to both wrap around sides of the elastomer strip to produce an integral bond of the elastomer strip to the metal plate.
A vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body designed to produce a rounded appearance and a frame, the combination defining a front end of the vehicle;
- a winch carrier mounted to the frame and protruding forwardly of the front end and a winch and cable thereof mounted to the carrier;
- vertical plates mounted to each side of the carrier and a plurality of tubular members mounted to the vertical plates and collectively providing a brush and grill guard in the form of a front end extension with the carrier and winch inset into the front end extension and not projected forward of the front end extension with the winch in a non-operative mode;
- and
- a fascia extended between the vertical plates and configured to achieve a blending of the front end extension to the rounded appearance of the vehicle body, said fascia positioned to cover the winch without impeding operator use of the winch.
A vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body designed to produce a rounded appearance and a frame, the combination defining a front end of the vehicle;
- a winch carrier mounted to the frame and protruding forwardly of the front end and a winch and cable thereof mounted to the carrier;
- vertical plates mounted to each side of the carrier and a plurality of tubular members mounted to the vertical plates and collectively forming a front end extension with the carrier and winch inset into the front end extension;
- and
- said vertical plates each including a metal plate having a forwardly projected edge portion, holes provided through the plate at strategic positions along said edge portion, and an elastomer strip molded to the edge portion and wrapped around the edge portion and overlapping said openings and as molded providing a continuum of elastomer through the openings and integrally bonded to the strip at each side of the edge portion to integrally bond the elastomer strip to the metal plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.