Patent ID: 8672198
Filing Date: 2014-03-18
Classification: B60R,E05C,E05D,E05F,E05Y,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A spring-biased strut for a vehicular mountable cargo container having a top portion hinge-connected for pivotation relative to a bottom portion of the cargo container, said strut comprising: 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, said biasing spring configured to be operationally influential on said two arms during transitions between first and second strut orientations that correspond to open and closed configurations of an incorporating vehicular mountable cargo container; said two arms being one each connectable to said top and bottom portions of the vehicular mountable cargo container thereby enabling said strut to deliver an assisting force for urging the cargo container into the open configuration; said two arms configured relative to one another and the biasing spring so that across a substantial entirety of said delimited range of relative motion between said two arms, and which corresponds to a substantial entirety of relative motion between the top and bottom portions of the cargo container when transitioning between the open and closed configurations, the assisting force imparted to said cargo container acts in one rotational direction urging the vehicular mountable cargo container toward the open configuration; a cam surface provided at one of said two arms, said cam surface establishing a surficial interaction between said two arms during transitions between said first and second strut orientations; and 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 exclusively urges one of clockwise and counter clockwise pivotation of said cam surface including arm relative to the non-cam surface including arm.