Fabric tailgate for a pickup truck

• US 4,930,834 A
• Filed: 05/26/1989
• Issued: 06/05/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Steven Jerome Moore
• Original Assignee: Steven Jerome Moore
• Inventors: Moore, Stephen J.
• Primary Examiner(s): SONG, ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US07/357,161
• Time in Patent Office: 375 Days
• Field of Search: 296/50, 296/180.1, 296/180.2, 296/85, 296/57.1, 296/96.11, 296/100, 296/37.1, 296/161, 296/24.1, 296/27, 160/392, 160/394, 160/354, 160/370.1
• US Class Current: 296/50
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/30 for indicating rear of vehicle, e.g. by means of reflecting surfaces

Abstract

A fabric tailgate for a pickup truck which has a cargo carrier with a bed, vertical sides and a front enclosing the bed with an open end, is made by forming a rectangular sheet of material made from plastic fabric having re-enforced edges and a length as long as the pickup truck opening is wide and a height as high as the vertical sides of the pickup. Along the top and outer edges of the fabric tailgate are straps which pass through "U" shaped mounting brackets attached to the upper edge of the open end of the pickup truck. A "C" shaped securing mounting is attached along the bottom edge of the pickup truck. A cylindrical plastic rod is sewn into the hem along the bottom of the fabric tailgate and inserted into the "C" shaped opening of the mounting bracket. The "C" shaped mounting bracket extends along the entire length of the bed of the pickup truck. Once the fabric tailgate is anchored along the bottom to the "C" shaped anchoring bracket, the top portions are pulled tight with the straps and the fabric tailgate is installed.

The weave of the tailgate should be fine enough so that it permits free entry of wind and also permits the insertion of painted material on the outer portion of the fabric which can be read by a viewer approaching the rear of the pickup truck.

Claims

1. A fabric tailgate for a pickup truck having a cargo carrier with a bed, sides and a front enclosing said bed and an open end;

said fabric tailgate comprising;

(a) a plastic fabric having ends, a top and a bottom; and

wherein said plastic fabric is plastic coated polyester yarn having a weave of at least twenty threads per inch, but not less than ten threads per inch, vertically and horizontally so that a logo could be printed thereon and can be read by a person viewing said logo;

(b) C-shaped anchoring means mounted on said open end to each of said sides and at the top of said sides;

(c) strap means attached to said plastic fabric along said top and adapted to extend through said anchoring means;

(d) strap securing means attached to said strap means and configured to receive said strap means and lock said strap means to said fabric means and to said sides of said truck so that said fabric means is stretched across said open end;

(e) an elongate securing means of a C-shaped cross-section and a length substantially same as the width of the truck bed.

(f) mounting means attached to said elongate securing means for attaching said securing means to the open edge of said bed;

(g) cylindrical means secured along the bottom of said plastic fabric, the diameter of said cylindrical means and the thickness of said plastic fabric when combined being dimensioned to slide into said elongate anchoring means to lock said plastic fabric along the open edge of said bed;

whereby said plastic fabric is retained along the bottom by said said elongate securing means and at the top to the sides by said "C" shaped anchoring means and said straps.

2. Apparatus a claimed in claim 1 wherein said plastic fabric is plastic coated polyester yarn having a weave of seventeen vertical threads per inch and thirteen horizontal threads per inch.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cylindrical means is a plastic tube.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cylindrical means is a rod.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plastic fabric is polyvinyl chloride coated polyester yarn.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said plastic fabric is polyvinyl chloride coated polyester yarn.