Composite Truck Box

• US 20150158436A1
• Filed: 12/06/2013
• Published: 06/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bruce Edward Toman, Jarrad Scott Zaiser
• Original Assignee: Bruce Edward Toman, Jarrad Scott Zaiser
• Inventors: Zaiser, Jarrad Scott, Toman, Bruce Edward
• Granted Patent: US 9,260,063 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/06 for tools or spare parts for vehicle roof parts B60J7/20; for spare wheels B62D

Abstract

Provided herein are truck boxes, such as pickup truck toolboxes, that comprise an open box body and lid assembly fabricated from composite materials. The composite materials may be fiber-reinforced polymeric constructs and may have a solid laminate structure or a sandwich structure utilizing a plurality of plies. Also provided are composite toolboxes that have an open storage box and lid component affixed to an upper back edge of the box component in an opening and closing relationship and means for independently hinging and latching the lid component to the open storage box component. The open storage box and lid in the pickup truck tool box may each independently comprise a ply layup of fiber reinforced polymeric composites or may each independently comprise a solid laminate of a fiber reinforced polymeric composite.

Claims

1. A truck box, comprising:

an open box body and lid assembly fabricated from composite materials.

2. The truck box of claim 1, wherein the open box body and lid assembly further comprises hinge and shock absorber combinations and a latching mechanism.

3. The truck box of claim 1, wherein the composite materials comprise a fiber reinforced polymeric composite having a solid laminate structure or a sandwich laminate structure.

4. The truck box of claim 3, wherein the fiber reinforced polymeric composite has a polymer matrix comprising polyester, vinyl-ester, epoxy, epoxy vinyl-ester resin, or polyurethane.

5. The truck box of claim 3, wherein fiber reinforcement comprises glass fibers, carbon fibers, basalt fibers, quartz fibers, or a poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide fibers or a combination thereof.

6. The truck box of claim 5, wherein the fibers are stitched, woven or oriented randomly.

7. The truck box of claim 5, wherein the fibers are oriented in an x, y, or z direction from 0 degrees to about 90 degrees.

8. The truck box of claim 3, wherein the fiber reinforced polymeric composite further comprises a surfacing veil disposed thereon.

9. The truck box of claim 3, wherein the fiber reinforced polymeric composite further comprises a gel coat with or without pigment disposed thereon.

10. The truck box of claim 3, wherein the sandwich laminate structure further comprises a core material disposed between adjacent plies thereof.

11. The truck box of claim 10, wherein the core material comprises foam, honeycomb, balsa, PVC, or polyurethane.

12. The truck box of claim 1, wherein the open box body and the lid assembly comprise a single piece box body and a single piece lid or a plurality of joined segments independently forming the box body and the lid.

13. The truck box of claim 1, wherein the open box body and lid assembly are fabricated via a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process, a hand-layup process, a pultrusion process, a resin transfer molding process, a compression molding process, or a spray-up process or a combination thereof.

14. The truck box of claim 1, wherein the truck box is mountable on a truck bed in any position.

15. A composite toolbox for a pickup truck, comprising:

an open storage box and lid components each independently comprising a ply layup of fiber reinforced polymeric composites, said lid component affixed to an upper back edge of the box component in an opening and closing relationship; and

means for independently hinging and latching the lid component to the open storage box component.

16. The composite toolbox of claim 15, further comprising a surfacing veil disposed on an upper ply of the fiber reinforced polymeric composite.

17. The composite toolbox of claim 15, further comprising a core material disposed between adjacent plies of the fiber reinforced polymeric composite.

18. The composite toolbox of claim 17, wherein the core material comprises foam, honeycomb balsa, PVC, or polyurethane.

19. The composite toolbox of claim 15, wherein the fiber reinforced polymeric composite has a polymer matrix comprising polyester, vinyl-ester, epoxy, epoxy vinyl-ester resin, or polyurethane.

20. The composite toolbox of claim 15, wherein fiber reinforcement comprises glass fibers, carbon fibers, basalt fibers, quartz fibers, or a poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide fibers or a combination thereof.

21. The composite toolbox of claim 20, wherein the fibers are stitched, woven or oriented randomly in an x, y, or z direction from 0 degrees to about 90 degrees.

22. The composite toolbox of claim 15, wherein the open storage box component and the lid component each comprise a single piece or each comprise a plurality of joined segments independently forming the same.

23. The composite toolbox of claim 15, wherein the composite toolbox is mountable on a pickup truck bed in any position.

24. A composite toolbox for a pickup truck, comprising:

an open storage box and lid components affixed in an opening and closing relationship and independently comprising a solid laminate of a fiber reinforced polymeric composite; and

means for independently hinging and latching the lid component to the open storage box component.

25. The composite toolbox of claim 24, further comprising a gel coat with or without pigment disposed on an outer surface of the solid laminate.

26. The composite toolbox of claim 24, wherein the fiber reinforced polymeric composite laminate has a polymer matrix comprising polyester, vinyl-ester, epoxy, epoxy vinyl-ester resin, or polyurethane.

27. The composite toolbox of claim 26, wherein fiber reinforcement comprises glass fibers, carbon fibers, basalt fibers, quartz fibers, or a poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide fibers or a combination thereof.

28. The composite toolbox of claim 26, wherein the fibers are stitched, woven or oriented randomly in an x, y, or z direction from 0 degrees to about 90 degrees.

29. The composite toolbox of claim 24, wherein the open storage box component and the lid component each comprise a single piece or each comprise a plurality of joined segments independently forming the same.

30. The composite toolbox of claim 24, wherein said composite toolbox is mountable on a pickup truck bed in any position.