Patent ID: 6142553
Filing Date: 2000-11-07
Classification: B60J,Y10S

Abstract:
In a trailer coverable by a flexible cover, wherein a first longitudinal edge of said flexible cover is mounted along a first longitudinal edge of an upper, generally planar opening of said trailer,wherein said trailer includes at least one lateral spanning member extending from said first longitudinal edge of said planar opening to an opposed second longitudinal edge of said planar opening,wherein said flexible cover is sized so that an opposed second longitudinal edge of said flexible cover opposed to said first longitudinal edge of said flexible cover overlaps said second longitudinal edge of said planar opening when said flexible cover is deployed into a deployed position.wherein said second longitudinal edge of said flexible cover has a rigid member mounted therealong,wherein said flexible cover is retractably deployable from a furled storage position along said first longitudinal edge of said planar opening,and wherein said flexible cover is furlable about a longitudinal axis so as to be rolled from said second longitudinal edge of said planar opening to said first longitudinal edge of said planar opening,a trailer cover deployment and storage device for selectively deploying said flexible cover, comprising an elongate flexible harness having opposed first and second ends, said harness mounted, at said second end, to said second longitudinal edge of said flexible cover, said harness sized so as to be positionable laterally from said second longitudinal edge of said flexible cover to said first longitudinal edge of said flexible cover, across, so as to lay on and extend laterally from, an upper surface of said flexible cover when said flexible cover is unfurled so as to be deployed across said planar opening into said deployed position, wherein when said flexible cover is furled, said harness is correspondingly furled in contact with said upper surface into said furled flexible cover in said storage position,an elongate flexible line, releasably securable at a first end thereof to said first end of said harness, a second end of said line, opposed to said first end of said line, having a throwing weight mounted thereon, said line when releasably secured to said harness being sufficiently long so as to extend at least across said planar opening when thrown thereover from a first side of the said trailer corresponding to said first longitudinal edge of said planar opening, andfurling means for selectively rolling said flexible cover about said longitudinal axis from said deployed position into said storage position.