Abstract:
A bulkhead assembly is provided for dividing a storage compartment into two or more sub-compartments. The bulkhead includes a peripheral seal member mounted at an edge of the bulkhead assembly for engagement with interior surfaces defining at least a portion of the storage compartment. Seals are constructed and configured so as to be reversible to provide a second sealing surface to replace the first sealing surface when it becomes worn or ineffective. The seals may be mounted to the panel assembly via mechanical fasteners permitting easy reversal of the seal members.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   In the shipping and storing of products particularly those for cold storage, like foods, a storage compartment may be separated into sub-compartments to segregate products. This can be because of the need to segregate an order for one customer from another customer or to segregate products by type or storage conditions, e.g., frozen from refrigerated from ambient. Such storage can be on a trailer for use with a truck tractor (a semi-truck), a straight truck or van body, or the like. When a mobile storage compartment is involved, the bulkheads are movable relative to the interior walls of the storage compartment to accommodate various types and sizes of loads at various times within the storage compartment. The bulkheads are movable and can be secured in a desired location for example with straps attached to securement devices within the storage compartment. The bulkheads will typically include a main panel, having outer peripheral edges providing a bulkhead sized and shaped to fit within the compartment and engage surfaces defining the perimeter of the storage compartment. The main panel may be either of a single panel portion or a multiple panel portion bulkhead joined at a seam as for example with one or more hinge assemblies. A panel may comprise an insulating member, a bottom skirt or kick plate for engagement with the storage compartment floor, and outer peripheral edges along the sides and top of the panel. Seals may be provided at one or more of the edges typically, the top and side edges to help effect a seal between sidewalls and a ceiling and perhaps even the floor, to environmentally seal one sub-compartment from another sub-compartment. While prior art bulkheads have been used effectively, they do present certain problems. A principal problem with these bulkheads is that the seals wear requiring either very expensive repair or replacement of the bulkhead panels or at least a new seal. Panels have been provided with replaceable seals, but replacement requires proximity to a source of replacement seals and tools to effect the replacement. Neither of these options can be conveniently done without return to a repair center. 
   There is thus a need for an improved bulkhead with an improved seal. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention involves the provision of a bulkhead having a replaceable edge seal member. At least one side edge of a bulkhead panel has a seal member extending therefrom. The seal member is mounted in a respective groove with fasteners that permit the removal, reorienting, reinsertion and resecurement of a seal member. The seal is reversible about at least one longitudinal central plane and may be repositioned to expose a new seal surface and then resecured to the panel for sealing engagement with surfaces partially defining a storage compartment. The compartment surfaces may include faces of sidewalls, the floor and the ceiling. Securement devices may be provided to secure the bulkhead in a predetermined position within the storage compartment. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of a storage compartment having a bulkhead positioned therein to separate the storage compartment into a plurality of sub-compartments. 
       FIG. 2  is an enlarged perspective view of one panel portion of a multi-panel portion bulkhead assembly with portions broken away to show detail thereof. 
       FIG. 3  is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the bulkhead assembly seen in  FIG. 2  encompassed by the circle designated  3 . 
       FIG. 4  is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a portion of a seal member usable with a panel of with the bulkhead. 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the seal member seen in  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 6  is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of another modified form of the present invention and illustrates a single panel portion bulkhead system. 
       FIG. 7  is an enlarged exploded fragmentary perspective view of a bulkhead panel and seal member with the seal being shown out of a receiving groove. 
   

   Like numbers throughout the various Figures designate like or similar parts or structure. 
   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   In the referenced numeral  1  designates generally a storage device such as a trailer for a tractor trailer, a truck, or van bed, forming an enclosure or a stationary storage device for example a storage room. The present invention is particularly useful with mobile storage devices for example refrigerated (including freezer) trailers and other truck or van bodies. The storage device  1  has an interior compartment  3  at least partially defined by a series of surfaces  4 A–D which may be surfaces of a ceiling  5 , sidewalls  6  and floor  7 . End walls, not shown, are also preferably provided to provide a closed compartment  3 . The interior transverse shape of the compartment  3  is preferably generally rectangular. A bulkhead assembly  9  is positioned in the compartment  3  and has edge portions  10 A–D that engage various of the surfaces  4 A–D respectively providing a wall located between the end walls. In the event the storage compartment is a portion of a truck, securement devices  12  such as straps and retainers are secured within tracks  14  used to secure a bulkhead assembly  9  at a desired location within the compartment  3  in an upstanding orientation. Such assemblies are well known in the art and are exemplified by products supplied by ROM Acquisition Corp. such as the Generation II Insulated Bulkhead System. The edges  10 A–D define a perimeter for the bulkhead assembly  9  that corresponds generally to the interior perimeter defined by the surfaces  4 A–D whereby the bulkhead assembly  9  forms a partition across the compartment  3  dividing the compartment  3  into sub-compartments providing a sealed barrier or wall between sub-compartments. 
   As seen in the various Figures, the bulkhead assembly  9  can be comprised of one or a plurality of panels forming a wall. In the form of bulkhead assembly  9  shown in  FIG. 1 , the bulkhead assembly is a bi-fold arrangement having two panels  16 ,  17  hingedly joined as at  19  which is shown as a generally central hinge joint. An enlarged view of one of the panels, panel  16 , is seen in  FIG. 2 . A further enlarged view of a portion of the panel  16  is seen in  FIG. 3 . The panels  16  and  17  are similar in construction with one being a left hand panel and one being a right hand panel and thus being mirror images of one another about the joint  19 . A description of one of the panels suffices for a description of the other panel. The panel  16  as seen in  FIGS. 2 and 3  is generally rectangular in shape at the outer perimeter and has a plurality of edge portions  10 A,  10 B,  10 D in addition to the center edge portion  10 E. The edge  10 E abuts an edge  10 F of the adjacent panel  17  as seen in  FIG. 1 . The edges  10 A,  10 B,  10 D, and  10 E define the outer perimeter of the panel  16 . A kickplate  18 , which can be in the form of an extruded plastic, e.g., polyethylene, generally U-shaped channel can be provided at the edge  10 D. The panel  16  includes a center panel portion  21  that includes an inner core portion  22  which may be made of a closed or open cell foam of the desired density, rigidity and resilient flexibility. A suitable material is a closed cell expanded polystyrene. The core  22  is covered on the opposite main surfaces with the covers  23 ,  24  forming a sandwich assembly. Portions of the covers  23 ,  24  extend laterally outwardly of the core  22  forming grooves  25 ,  26  each having a respective open side  27 ,  28 . The covers  23 ,  24  can include an inside layer of closed cell foam and an exterior layer of relatively rigid fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) bonded to the core  22 . The grooves  25 ,  26  are shown as being positioned on two adjacent side edges,  10 A,  10 B for the illustrated embodiment seen in  FIGS. 1–3 . The grooves  25 ,  26  may have any suitable transverse cross-sectional shape but preferably, the grooves  25 ,  26  are generally rectangular having three closed sides and the respective open side  27  or  28 . The grooves  25 ,  26  may be lined with a relatively rigid U channel  29  ( FIG. 7 ) and may be retained in a groove as by adhesive bonding or friction. The channel  29  may be an extruded plastic like high density polyethylene. A seal member  30 , described below, is received in each groove  25 ,  26  and is removably secured in place therein. An outer surface  35  of a respective seal  30  forms the edges  10 A and  10 B. In the illustrated structure. No seal  30  is provided at the edge  10 D or  10 E in a preferred embodiment. 
   As seen, the seals  30  are elongate having a generally central longitudinally extending plane  32  with the seal  30  being reversible and preferably generally symmetrical about the plane  32 , i.e., portions of the seal  30  on opposite sides of the plane  32  are generally the same in size, shape and construction with the opposite sides preferably being mirror images of one another. The plane  32  is preferably positioned within a groove  25 ,  26 . It is to be noted, that the seal  30  may be reversible and also preferably symmetrical about two orthogonal central longitudinally extending planes to provide four seal surfaces  35  instead of the two illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The seal  30  is sized and shaped to be received within a respective groove  25 ,  26  having a portion thereof projecting outwardly from a respective edge  33 ,  34  of the central portion  21  of the panel  16  to thereby present the outer positioned surface  35  of the seal  30  for engagement with one of the surfaces  4 A–D as desired. In the illustrated structure, the seal surfaces  35  of the two seals  30  mounted to the panel  10  engage a respective one of the surfaces  4 A and  4 B. The seals  30  for the panel  17  would engage a respective one of the surfaces  4 A and  4 C. For a non-bifold bulkhead assembly, the surfaces  35  would preferably engage the surfaces  4 A, B and C. 
   The seals  30  may be removably secured within the grooves  25 ,  26  in any suitable manner and preferably with some form of mechanical fastener. This may be by rib and groove arrangements, snap lock components, mechanical fasteners such as screws  39  or push pins  40 . As seen in  FIG. 3  and in  FIG. 6 , apertures  37  are provided through the covers  23  and/or  24  and sidewalls of channel  29  to allow the fasteners such as screws  39  or push pins  40  to pass therethrough and be cooperatively interengaged with a seal  30  to releasably retain a seal  30  within its respective groove  25 ,  26 . As seen in  FIG. 5 , the seal  30  may have recesses  42  therein for receipt of a push pin  40  to releasably mount a seal  30  to the panel  16 ,  17  or to the panel  44  which is used in a non-bifold or single panel bulkhead assembly ( FIG. 6 ). When a seal  30  becomes worn or non functional on one exposed surface  35 , it may be simply reversed, for example, by 180° rotation about its longitudinal axis, reinserted into the respective groove  25 ,  26  and resecured in place with the appropriate fastener  39 ,  40 . As seen in  FIG. 4 , the seal  30  is provided with a core  46  and an outer skin  47 . This may be formed by co-extrusion or lamination. The core  46  is preferably an open cell foam to provide resilient compressibility and the skin is preferably a woven fabric like ballistic nylon to provide abrasion resistance. The seal  30  as seen in  FIG. 4  is provided with reinforcing strips  49  positioned and secured within grooves  50  in the core  46  as by adhesion and sandwiched between the core  46  and the skin  47 . The strips  49  can be used to receive screw fasteners  39  therethrough to help resist the pull out of or stripping by the screws  39  during use of the bulkhead assembly  9 . The fasteners  39  may be of the self tapping type. The strips  49  may be made of a suitable polymeric material such as polyethylene. The apertures  37  for the push pins  40  may include polymeric grommets  52  suitably mounted to the panel  44 . The push pins  40  may also be of a polymeric material such as nylon and can be retained in place by frictional engagement with the grommet  52  and/or hole liners  55  each with a respective recess  42  and mounted to the seal  30  as seen in  FIG. 5 . The pins  40  have a shank  60  sized and shaped relative to either or both of the aperture  37  or recess  42  to provide frictional engagement and retention. Preferably the axes of the shanks  60  or of the threaded shanks of the screws  39  are each adjacent to and generally parallel to the plane  32  and more preferably lie in a plane generally parallel to the plane  32 . Preferably one of the apertures  37  or recesses  42  is larger than the shanks  60  to provide positional tolerance for mounting of a seal  30 . Preferably, the width of the grooves  25 ,  26  is such as to provide some frictional engagement between the inner surfaces defining the grooves  25 ,  26  and the exterior surface of the seals  30  positioned therein. 
   Thus, there has been shown and described several embodiments of a novel invention. As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. The terms “having” and “including” and similar terms as used in the foregoing specification are used in the sense of “optional” or “may include” and not as “required”. Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the present construction will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and the accompanying drawings.