Vehicle transport cover

• US 5,845,958 A
• Filed: 03/07/1997
• Issued: 12/08/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Corteva, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Corteva, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walsh, Virginia McAndrews, Fisher, Linda C., Simon, Charles B., Knapp, Ross W., Jones, David C., Rudys, Stasys K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pike, Andrew C.
• Application Number:
  US08/813,738
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: 296/95.1, 296/136, 150/166
• US Class Current: 296/136.08
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 11/00 Removable external protective coverings specially adapted for vehicles or parts of vehicles, e.g. parking covers covering of load on vehicles B60P7/00; guard strips for body finishing, identifying or decorating B60R13/04; tents for use as garages E04H15/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 11/06 for covering only specific parts of the vehicle, e.g. for doors covers or guards for traction couplings, hitches, draw-gear or towing devices B60D1/60; guards for wheels, radiators or bumpers B60R19/00

Abstract

A motor vehicle transport cover is made of a vapor permeable, water impermeable, synthetic nonwoven sheet. The transport cover includes a mechanism for firmly attaching the nonwoven sheet in a position on a motor vehicle that covers substantially all of the roof, hood, and front bumper fascia of the vehicle and remains attached at air speeds along the major axis of the vehicle of at least 50 mph. The attachment mechanism is readily releasable and it leaves no visible adhesive residue on the vehicle at the moment the nonwoven sheet is removed from the vehicle. The transport cover may be a unitary cover that covers substanstially all of the finished surfaces of a covered vehicle. The transport cover does not prevent driver access to a covered vehicle and it does not unduly obstruct the view of a driver of a covered vehicle.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle transport cover comprising:

a nonwoven sheet having a water vapor transmission rate of at least 100 g/m² in 24 hours according to ASTM standard E96, method B, having a liquid water permeability resistance expressed by a hydrostatic head pressure of at least 1 m according to AATCC standard 127, and having an Elmendorf tear strength of at least 12N, said sheet having a front section for covering a front bumper, a hood, and front side panels of a vehicle, a middle section for covering a roof and door panels of the vehicle, and a rear section for covering rear panels and a rear bumper of the vehicle;

attachment means for firmly attaching said nonwoven sheet to the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached and for maintaining said covering at relative air movement speeds of at least 50 mph along a lengthwise direction of the vehicle, said attachment means being manipulable to readily release said nonwoven sheet from the vehicle and readily reattach said nonwoven sheet to said vehicle in a manner that permits inspection under the hood of the vehicle to which the cover is attached and permits inspection of the front side panels, the door panels, and the rear panels of the vehicle to which the cover is attached, said attachment means including at least one pair of locking straps, each locking strap of said pair being attached at a first end to said transport cover, each locking strap of said pair having a second end opposite the first end and having at the second end a locking member fastenable to a locking member at the second end of the other locking strap of said pair of locking straps, the transport cover being securable around an underside of the vehicle by fastening said locking members of said at least one pair of locking straps, said attachment means leaving no visible residue on the hood, the front side panels, the roof, the door panels, or the rear panels of the vehicle to which the cover has been attached when the nonwoven sheet is removed from the vehicle; and

access means for permitting a driver to readily access the vehicle to which the vehicle transport cover is attached without removing the transport cover from the vehicle.

2. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 1 wherein

said at least one pair of locking straps includes at least one pair of front locking straps, each locking strap of said pair of front locking straps being attached at a first end proximate a front edge of the front section of said transport cover, each locking strap of said pair of front locking straps having a second end opposite the first end thereof and having at said second end thereof a locking clip fastenable to a locking clip at the second end of the other locking strap of said pair of front locking straps, the front edge of the transport cover being securable around the vehicle'"'"'s front bumper by fastening said locking clips of said at least one pair of front locking straps;

said front section of said transport cover has a rear edge that corresponds to a rear edge of the hood of the vehicle to which the cover is attached, said rear edge of said transport cover front section having two opposite ends; and

said attachment means further comprises at least one strap that extends from each of the two opposite ends of said rear edge of the front section of the transport cover for attaching to sides of the vehicle to which the cover is attached.

3. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 2 wherein said front edge of said front cover section is securable to the front bumper of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached by multiple pairs of locking straps, each of the multiple pairs of locking straps comprising first and second straps attached at first ends thereof at points proximate the front edge of the front section of the cover at a spacing of more than 6 inches from each other and having at second ends thereof means for releasably clipping the second ends of said first and second straps of each said multiple pair to each other.

4. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 3 wherein said straps that extend from each of the two opposite ends of said rear edge of the front section of the transport cover are each configured to attach to a side view mirror support arm on the vehicle to which the cover is attached.

5. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 2 wherein said attachment means further comprises at least one pair of rear locking straps, each locking strap of said pair of rear locking straps being attached at a first end proximate an edge of the rear section of said transport cover, each locking strap of said pair of rear locking straps having a second end opposite the first end thereof and having at said second end thereof a locking clip fastenable to a locking clip at the second end of the other locking strap of said pair of rear locking straps, the edge of the rear section of the transport cover being securable around the vehicle'"'"'s rear bumper by fastening said locking clips of said at least one pair of rear locking straps.

6. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 2 wherein

said middle section is between said front and rear sections, and said middle section has a top for covering the roof of the vehicle and a pair of sides for covering the door panels on the sides of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached, said middle section sides of the transport cover each having edges that generally correspond to a bottom edge of the door panels of the vehicle to which the cover is applied, and wherein said cover middle section further includes means for releasably attaching the cover middle section'"'"'s side edges to a bottom of the vehicle to which the cover is attached;

and

said access means comprises a flap cut into a portion of the transport cover that corresponds to a driver'"'"'s door of the vehicle to which the cover is attached, said flap having a front edge that corresponds to a hingeline of the driver'"'"'s door of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached, top and bottom edges that generally correspond to a top edge and a bottom edge of the driver'"'"'s door to which the transport cover is attached, and a back edge that corresponds to a rearward edge of the driver'"'"'s door that is opposite the door'"'"'s hingeline, and wherein said flap is permanently attached to the transport cover along the front edge of said flap, said flap is releasably attached to the transport cover along the top edge and the back edge of the flap, and said flap includes means for releasably attaching the bottom edge of said flap to the bottom edge of the driver'"'"'s door of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached.

7. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 6 wherein said flap edges that correspond to the top edge and the back edge of the driver'"'"'s door of the vehicle to which the transport cover is applied are releasably attached to the transport cover by means of complementary pairs of hook and loop fastening strips wherein a first of the hook and loop fastening strips of the pair thereof is bonded to the top edge and the rear edge of the flap and a second of the hook and loop fastening strips of the pair thereof is bonded to a portion of the transport cover abutting said first of the hook and loop fastening strips of the pair thereof.

8. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 7 wherein said means for releasably attaching the cover middle section'"'"'s side edges to the bottom of the vehicle to which the cover is attached comprises complementary pairs of hook and loop fastening strips wherein a first of the hook and loop fastening strips of the pair thereof is bonded to a section of each of the cover'"'"'s middle section side edges and a second hook and loop fastening strip of the pair thereof is adhesively bondable to the bottom of the vehicle to which the cover is attached.

9. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 6 wherein the rear edge of said front section defines a bottom edge of an elongated opening in said cover that substantially corresponds to a windshield of the vehicle to which the cover is attached, and wherein said elongated opening in said cover is further defined by a top opening edge and two side opening edges in the vehicle transport cover, said top opening edge being configured to correspond to a top edge of the windshield of the vehicle to which the vehicle transport cover is attached and being on a side of said elongated opening opposite the rear edge of said front section, said two side opening edges being configured to correspond to opposite sides of the windshield of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached, said top and side opening edges of said elongated opening being trimmed with adhesive tape for attaching to the windshield of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached.

10. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 9 wherein the adhesive tape is a single-sided adhesive tape with first and second bands of adhesive applied thereto, the first of said adhesive bands being a high strength adhesive that attaches to the nonwoven sheet with an adhesive strength at least 10N/25 mm, and the second of said adhesive bands being a lower strength adhesive that attaches to the windshield of the vehicle to which the nonwoven sheet is attached with an adhesive strength in a range of 6 to 10N/25 mm.

11. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 9 further comprising a second opening in a portion of the transport cover corresponding to a rear window of the vehicle to which the cover is applied, and a third opening in a portion of the transport cover corresponding to a passenger side window of the vehicle to which the cover is applied, said second opening being trimmed with adhesive tape for attaching to the rear window of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached, and said third opening being trimmed with adhesive tape for attaching to the passenger side window of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached.

12. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 9 wherein said nonwoven sheet has a delamination strength of at least 0.3N/25 mm.

13. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 9 wherein said rear edge of said front section of said transport cover is configured such that it does not interfere with movement of windshield wipers of the vehicle to which the vehicle transport cover is attached.

14. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 9 wherein said sheet further has translucent panels oriented so as to cover headlights of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached.

15. The motor vehicle transport cover of claim 2 wherein said front section of said vehicle transport cover further has an opening in the sheet proximate the rear edge of said front section, which opening is substantially round and has a diameter of less than 1 inch, and which opening corresponds to a windshield wiper fluid nozzle of the vehicle to which the transport cover is attached.