Reinforced cargo door assembly

A cargo door assembly for pivotally mounted side doors in a van-type vehicle is provided with an improved reinforcing beam. The beam extends vertically along the shut face of one door of the assembly and has structure at its top for mounting the door latch and a hook at its bottom unengageable with the vehicle body at its sill. The beam is wider at its bottom than at its top and presents a simply supported beam to the sidewall of the vehicle, enhancing its capacity to handle lateral loading, including impact loading.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Technical Field 
The present invention relates generally to vehicle doors, and more 
specifically to reinforcement of vehicle doors arranged in the side of 
van-type vehicles. 
2. Description of Related Art 
In the manufacture and sale of automotive vehicles of the type generally 
referred to as vans, it is customary to provide for ingress and egress to 
rear portions of the vehicle body through a rearwardly placed side door or 
doors positioned on at least one side of the vehicle. The doors are 
generally of two types: sliding doors and center opening, outwardly 
swinging cargo doors. 
Engineering development activity relating to the resistance of body 
structures of the these van-type vehicles to the imposition of external 
forces has resulted in the establishment of certain design goals for 
enhancing the resistance of side vehicle structures to the imposition of 
such loads, particularly impact loads. 
It is known in the prior art to provide reinforcing structure for side 
doors of vehicles. Particularly well-known are generally horizontally 
running reinforcing beams in passenger vehicles; U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,317 
is exemplary of such designs. It is also known to reinforce side cargo 
doors in vans through interengaging structure disposed between the two 
doors. applicant's copending U.S. application No. 07/997,067 now U.S. Pat. 
No. 5,297,841 discloses such an approach. The prior art, however, while 
effective for its intended purpose, reinforces through structure not 
self-contained in the door and does not make use of the load supporting 
strength provided by other portions of the vehicle body. In applicant's 
other design, which is the subject of the copending application '067, the 
reinforcement takes place solely between the two cargo doors at their 
interface. This positioning of the interlocking devices of that design 
necessitates the carrying of the extraneous hook and catch structure on 
door surfaces exposed to vehicle users when the doors are open. This is 
considered undesirable in certain applications. 
Because of the shortcomings and the prior art, it is considered desirable 
that the cargo door reinforcement be provided which is integral with the 
door system and coacts with the vehicle body. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The desired advantages are realized in the present invention through 
providing a cargo door assembly that includes a pair of longitudinally 
spaced cargo doors pivotally mounted for movement between open and closed 
positions and having a latch assembly interlocking the two doors in which 
a vertical reinforcement beam is carried with one door and extends 
vertically from the latch to the bottom of the door and includes a hook 
portion which is received in an aperture in the vehicle body to resist 
inward movement of the door with respect to the body. 
According to one aspect of the present invention, the reinforcement beam is 
provided in a fashion in which it is carried within one of the doors of 
the cargo door system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Turning now to drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1 thereof, a van 
indicated generally at 10 is illustrated as comprising a body 12 having an 
aperture 14 formed through its side 16, and a cargo door assembly 
indicated generally at 18 for closing the aperture 14. The cargo door 
assembly 18 is indicated as including a first door 20 and a second door 22 
positioned rearwardly in the vehicle with respect to the first door. The 
first door 20 is preferably wider, that is, more longitudinal extent, than 
the second or rear door 22. The doors 20 and 22 are pivotally mounted on 
the vehicle body 12 in a known manner as through hinges for pivotal 
movement between open and closed position. The door 20 in FIG. 1 is 
illustrated in a partially open position. 
As is customary, the doors 20, 22 are configured to be latchingly secured 
to each other when in the closed position by provision of a striker 24 
projecting forwardly from the forward face 26 of the door 22 and a latch 
(shown generally at 23 in FIG. 3) carried on the trailing edge 28 of the 
door 20. 
The forward door 20, according to the present invention, is modified from 
customary designs by provision of a reinforcing beam 30 carried with the 
door 20. The door 20 is otherwise of conventional construction, having an 
outer panel 32 and an inner panel 34. The outer panel 32 and the inner 
panel 34 are interconnected on the trailing edge 28 of the door 32 by a 
generally vertical panel 36, preferably formed as a flat panel 
interconnecting panels 32, 34. 
The reinforcing beam 30 is carried between the outer panel 32 and the inner 
panel 34 and extends vertically from approximately the mid-vertical point 
of the door, and is preferably formed as a stamping and includes an upper 
end of generally L-shaped configuration indicated at 38 which has an 
upstanding wall 40 into which is formed a fish mouth slot 42 for receiving 
the striker 24. A plurality of apertures 44 are arrayed about the fish 
mouth 42 for conventional mounting of a latch of known design. The 
upstanding wall 40 is carried in abutting relationship with a forward 
surface of the end wall 36 of the door 20 and is preferably secured 
thereto by fixed mechanical means such as welding. At the upper end 38 of 
the reinforcing beam 30, a longitudinally extending wall 46 projects 
generally perpendicularly from the wall 40. The outer surface 48 of the 
wall 40 is configured to project laterally away from the wall 46 along the 
vertical extent of the beam 30 to form an enlarged bulbous portion 50 
proximate the lower end of the beam 30. At the lower end 52 of the beam 
30, a hook portion 54 is formed which projects generally laterally 
inwardly. 
A slot 56 is formed in a lower sill portion 58 of the body 12 for receiving 
the hook portion 54. A reinforcing plate, which may be an L-shaped plate 
such as indicated at 58, loosely receives the hook portion 54 when 
inserted in slot 56. 
Upon imposition of an excessive load on outer surfaces 60, 62 of front and 
rear doors 20, 22, respectively, the tendency of the doors to deflect 
inward toward the interior of the vehicle 10 is resisted in part by the 
reinforcement beam 30 which is carried as a simply supported beam between 
the latch striker 24 and the interaction of the hook portion 54 with the 
plate 58. 
While only one embodiment of the cargo door assembly of the present 
invention has been described, others may be possible without departing 
from the scope of the appended claims.