Combination of a vehicle door and a storage box

#The present invention relates to a combination of a motor-vehicle door, in particular, that of a passenger car or commercial vehicle, and a storage box that is used to accommodate utensils, objects, etc.

#German Published Patent Application No. 295 00 669 U describes a storage box which can be attached to the exterior of a motor vehicle, preferably to the rear end. The storage box is used to store first-aid equipment, and, because it is attached to the outside of the vehicle, it can immediately be seen by each road user and is thereby situated at an optimally accessible position. The intention here is to increase the overall traffic safety of the vehicle.

#U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,457 describes another storage box, which is attached to the rear end of a vehicle. This storage box extends across the entire width of the vehicle, and is made of two halves, which can be swung outwards to open the storage box. This storage box increases the storage space of the vehicle.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the inside of a vehicle door, which has a storage box that is attached or may be attached to it.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a detail of FIG. 1, but in this case, when the storage box is inserted into or removed from a corresponding storage compartment of the vehicle door.

#FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the back of the storage box.

#In accordance with FIG. 1, a combination of the present invention is formed from a storage box 1 and a door 2 of a motor vehicle, e.g. of a passenger car or commercial vehicle. For this purpose, storage box 1 has a shell 3, which includes an upper shell segment 4 and a lower shell segment 5. In addition, vehicle door 2 possesses an interior trim panel 6, which has, in a lower segment, a storage compartment 7 that is open from above, an opening 8 of the storage compartment being surrounded by an opening edge 9. In order to produce the combination, the outer contour of lower shell segment 5 is designed to be complementary to the inner contour of storage compartment 7. Accordingly, lower shell segment 5 of storage box 1 may be inserted into storage compartment 7. In so doing, the back of storage box 1, at least its upper shell segment 4, comes to rest against an essentially vertical panel 10, which is formed above storage compartment 7, on interior trim panel 6.

#The insertion movement and the corresponding removal movement are indicated in FIG. 1 by double arrow 11.

#In order to improve the representation, storage box 1 is illustrated in two states in FIG. 1. In the one state, storage box 1 is removed from its storage compartment 7 and separated from vehicle door 2 (this representation of storage box 1 is provided with the reference numerals). In the other state, storage box 1 is inserted in its storage compartment 7.