Patent ID: 6375249
Filing Date: 2002-04-23
Classification: B60N,B61D

Abstract:
A public transit vehicle comprising:a vehicle body having: a roof, two side walls each extending longitudinally of the vehicle including an upper side wall portion connecting to the roof and a row of windows underneath the upper portion, a vehicle floor; two rows of seats for seated passengers each along a respective one of the side walls at the windows and defining a central aisle therebetween for standing and moving passengers; a bottom frame including a plurality of rails supporting the floor; two side frames each including a plurality of upstanding posts and a plurality of longitudinally extending members interconnecting the posts; the vehicle floor including a flooring sheet spanning between the side walls and molded from a composite panel having an upper skin, a lower skin and an intervening core material layer, the panel containing a cured resin material and the upper and lower skins including reinforcing fibers; the panel being substantially planar such that the upper skin forms a substantially flat floor surface; the upper and lower skins being continuous over the extent of the panel so as, at least over a part of a length of the floor, to span between the side walls; wherein the panel has at least one first portion thereof at which the core material layer is of different thickness than at a main portion of the panel; wherein the core material layer changes thickness between said first portion and said main portion and is continuous therebetween; wherein the upper skin is flat and the lower skin is shaped to follow the thickness of the core material layer between the first portion and the main portion; wherein the panel has at least one second portion thereof at which at least the upper skin is shaped out of the flat floor surface of the main portion; and wherein the core material layer is continuous between the main portion and the second portion.