Single force strut for dual sided cargo box
First Claim
1. A vehicular mountable cargo container comprising:
- a top portion of said vehicular mountable cargo container hinge-connected for pivotation relative to a bottom portion of the cargo container between open and closed configurations;
a pair of spring-biased struts, each operatively interposed between said top and bottom portions of said vehicular mountable cargo container, and one each of said pair of spring-biased struts located at opposed end regions of the cargo container; and
each of said pair of spring-biased struts being configured to exclusively deliver an expansion force between the top and bottom portions of the cargo container for urging the container toward the open configuration and each of said pair of spring-biased struts comprising;
a cam surface provided at one of two arms of the strut, said cam surface establishing a surficial interaction between said two arms during transitions between first and second strut orientations; and
a force communication point defined by a point of support of a non-cam surface including arm on a cam-including arm at said cam surface and which moves across the cam surface as said two arms pivot relative to one another between said first and second strut orientations during which said force communication point remains exclusively on one side of a line oriented parallel to a direction of an operationally effective force imposed by said biasing spring between said two arms and intersecting a pivot connection between said two arms.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Arrangement for providing and controlling operation of a dual sided opening roof mount cargo box (10) for a carrying vehicle. A dual sided opening roof mount cargo box (10) is provided and which has a lid portion (30) releasably hinge-connected at two lateral sides to a bottom portion (32) of the cargo box (10) for alternate pivotation at each of the two lateral sides between open and closed configurations. The bottom portion (32) is adapted to be mounted to a carrying vehicle and the lid portion (30) is manufactured from a semi-flexible material sufficiently pliable to permit two opposite end regions thereof to be at different relative distances from the bottom portion (32) of the cargo box (10) during transition between the open and closed configurations. A pair of spring-biased struts (50) are also provided, each operatively interposed between the lid portion (30) and the bottom portion (32) of the cargo box (10), and one each of the pair of spring-biased struts (50) being located at the two opposite end regions of the cargo box. An expansively directed force is imposed on the lid portion (30), utilizing the pair of spring-biased struts (50), across a substantial entirety of travel of the lid portion (30) during operator induced movement from the closed configuration to the open configuration and thereby assisting the operator to smoothly open the cargo box (10).
25 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A vehicular mountable cargo container comprising:
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a top portion of said vehicular mountable cargo container hinge-connected for pivotation relative to a bottom portion of the cargo container between open and closed configurations; a pair of spring-biased struts, each operatively interposed between said top and bottom portions of said vehicular mountable cargo container, and one each of said pair of spring-biased struts located at opposed end regions of the cargo container; and each of said pair of spring-biased struts being configured to exclusively deliver an expansion force between the top and bottom portions of the cargo container for urging the container toward the open configuration and each of said pair of spring-biased struts comprising; a cam surface provided at one of two arms of the strut, said cam surface establishing a surficial interaction between said two arms during transitions between first and second strut orientations; and a force communication point defined by a point of support of a non-cam surface including arm on a cam-including arm at said cam surface and which moves across the cam surface as said two arms pivot relative to one another between said first and second strut orientations during which said force communication point remains exclusively on one side of a line oriented parallel to a direction of an operationally effective force imposed by said biasing spring between said two arms and intersecting a pivot connection between said two arms. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for providing and controlling operation of a dual sided opening roof mount cargo box for a carrying vehicle, said method comprising:
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providing a dual sided opening roof mount cargo box having a lid portion releasably hinge-connected at two lateral sides to a bottom portion of said cargo box for alternate pivotation at each of the two lateral sides between open and closed configurations, said bottom portion being adapted to be mounted to a carrying vehicle and said lid portion being manufactured from a semi-flexible material sufficiently pliable to permit two opposite end regions thereof to be at different relative distances from the bottom portion of the cargo box during transition between the open and closed configurations; providing a pair of spring-biased struts, each operatively interposed between said lid portion and said bottom portion of said cargo box, and one each of said pair of spring-biased struts being located at said two opposite end regions of said cargo box; imposing an expansively directed force on said lid portion, utilizing said pair of spring-biased struts, across a substantial entirety of travel of said lid portion during operator induced movement from said closed configuration to said open configuration and thereby smoothly urging the cargo box open; controlling said expansively directed force, through configuration of said pair of spring-biased struts, to have a magnitude that substantially balances a weight of said lid portion across a range of motion of said lid portion when operating in proximity of said closed configuration and wherein each of said pair of spring-biased struts further comprises; two arms operatively connected for pivotation relative to one another through a delimited range of motion; a biasing spring operatively interposed between said two arms for operational influence during transition between first and second strut orientations that correspond to said open and closed configurations of said cargo box; said two arms connected, one each, to said lid and bottom portions of said cargo box thereby enabling said strut to deliver said expansively directed force for urging the cargo box into the open configuration; a cam surface provided at one of said two arms and thereby establishing a cam-including arm and a non-cam-including arm, said cam surface establishing a surficial interaction between said two arms during transitions between said first and second strut orientations; delimiters configured to limit the range of relative motion between said two arms so that throughout the entire range of transitional motion of said strut between said first and second strut orientations, said operationally effective force imposed by said biasing spring between said two arms urges exclusively unidirectional pivotation of said cam-including arm relative to said non-cam-including arm; and a force communication point being defined by a point of support of said non-cam-including arm on said cam-including arm at said cam surface and which moves across said cam surface as said two arms pivot relative to one another between said first and second strut orientations during which said force communication point remains exclusively on one side of a line oriented parallel to a direction of said operationally effective force imposed by said biasing spring between said two arms and intersecting a pivot connection between said two arms. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A method for providing and controlling operation of a dual sided opening roof mount cargo box for a carrying vehicle, said method comprising:
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providing a dual sided opening roof mount cargo box having a lid portion releasably hinge-connected at two lateral sides to a bottom portion of said cargo box for alternate pivotation at each of the two lateral sides between open and closed configurations, said bottom portion being adapted to be mounted to a carrying vehicle and said lid portion being manufactured from a semi-flexible material sufficiently pliable to permit two opposite end regions thereof to be at different relative distances from the bottom portion of the cargo box during transition between the open and closed configurations; providing a pair of spring-biased struts, each operatively interposed between said lid portion and said bottom portion of said cargo box, and one each of said pair of spring-biased struts being located at said two opposite end regions of said cargo box; imposing an expansively directed force on said lid portion, utilizing said pair of spring-biased struts, across a substantial entirety of travel of said lid portion during operator induced movement from said closed configuration to said open configuration and thereby smoothly urging the cargo box open; controlling said expansively directed force, through configuration of said pair of spring-biased struts, to have a magnitude that substantially balances a weight of said lid portion across a range of motion of said lid portion when operating in proximity of said closed configuration; and wherein each of said pair of spring-biased struts comprises; two arms operatively connected for pivotation relative to one another through a delimited range of motion; a biasing spring operatively interposed between said two arms for operational influence during transition between first and second strut orientations that correspond to said open and closed configurations of said cargo box; said two arms connected, one each, to said lid and bottom portions of said cargo box thereby enabling said strut to deliver said expansively directed force for urging the cargo box into the open configuration; a cam surface provided at one of said two arms and thereby establishing a cam-including arm and a non-cam-including arm, said cam surface establishing a surficial interaction between said two arms during transitions between said first and second strut orientations; and a force communication point being defined by a point of support of the non-cam-including arm on said cam-including arm at said cam surface and which moves across the cam surface as said two arms pivot relative to one another between said first and second strut orientations during which said force communication point remains exclusively on one side of a line oriented parallel to a direction of said operationally effective force imposed by said biasing spring between said two arms and intersecting a pivot connection between said two arms. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification