Truck tailgate auxiliary step

An improved auxiliary multiple step configuration for use on a truck having rigid step attached to the upper surface of the tailgate and a self storing step which retracts substantially into the tailgate when the gate is closed and deploys automatically when the tailgate is opened.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
In one aspect this invention relates to tailgate structures useful with 
large trucks. In a further aspect, this invention relates to an improved 
step structure for use with large trucks to facilitate ingress and egress 
by personnel from the vehicle. 
2. Prior Art 
In general, military cargo vehicles are used to carry troops as well as 
cargo. Such vehicles are made in a wide variety of sizes and 
configurations. As such they have different tailgate configurations and 
cargo bed heights depending on the truck being used. Because military 
vehicles are designed to operate off road under particularly rough 
terrain, the axles and bed are usually a substantial distance from the 
ground making it impossible for a person to enter the vehicle from ground 
level without an assisting step. Presently the most common means of 
ingress to the rear of a military cargo vehicle is to install a bracket on 
the tailgate for as a combination handle and step. Troops entering the 
vehicle can step onto the bracket and then onto the cargo bed. This 
configuration presents several problems. First the bracket/step is 
generally high off the ground when the tailgate is down making it 
difficult for many troops, particularly shorter troops to use the step. 
Also the second step from the bracket is still a substantial step. The 
problems are compounded by the fact that troops are required to enter 
carrying full battle gear which will weigh 75 or more pounds. The 
additional weight they carry negatively effects their balance. The 
resulting structure slows the ingress and egress of troops from the truck 
and increases the chances for accidents in normal conditions and 
substantially increases exposure of the troops under battlefield 
conditions 
It would be desirable to have a supplemental step associated with the 
existing tailgate bracket to provide an additional step for the troops 
when the tailgate is deployed and which will be self storing when the 
tailgate is in its upright position. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly the present invention is a self storing, gravity deploying 
auxiliary step for use with a truck tailgate. The present invention has an 
auxiliary step associated with a permanent step disposed on the tailgate. 
The auxiliary step has a pair of spaced parallel legs the parallel legs 
being disposed with their longitudinal axes parallel to and lying within 
the plane defined by the tailgate. The parallel legs lie one on each side 
of the permanent step located on the tailgate so as to bracket the 
permanent step. The parallel legs have a first end which has stop means 
that cooperate with the tailgate or associated bracket to allow the 
parallel legs to move longitudinally but prevent the legs from separating 
from the tailgate.. A cross arm extends between the second ends of the 
parallel legs with one end attached to each end of the parallel legs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring to the accompanying drawing in which like numerals refer to like 
parts and initially to FIG. 1, a truck (not shown) has a tuck cargo body 
10 mounted to the truck in a conventional fashion. The cargo body 10 as 
shown has a bench 12 attached to the cargo body wall 14 and held in place 
by braces 16, only one being shown. In this configuration the vehicle can 
be used to move a number of troops and their equipment. The back of the 
cargo body 10 is closed by means of a tailgate 18 shown in the open 
position where the tailgate hangs vertically downward away from the cargo 
body. The tailgate is attached to the cargo body 10 by a plurality of 
hinges 19 one-half of the hinges being attached to the cargo body and the 
other, mating half, being attached to the tailgate 18. 
In FIG. 1 the tailgate 18 has a first rigid step 20 affixed to the 
tailgate's surface so it extends downward from the lowest surface of the 
tailgate when the tailgate is in the open position as shown. When the 
tailgate 18 is closed the rigid step 20 will be on the uppermost surface 
of the tailgate where it can function as a handle. The rigid step has a 
pair of parallel arms 22 extending perpendicularly outward from the 
surface of the tailgate and a connecting arm 24 disposed between the 
parallel arms 22 to form the step. The parallel arms 22 each have an 
attachment arm 26 which extends outward from the associated parallel arm 
along the tailgate surface. The attachment arms 26 are fastened to the 
tailgate such as by the use of a threaded fastener 28. 
The rigid step 20 has an deployable, auxiliary step 30 associated with and 
juxtaposed to the first step. The auxiliary step 30 is designed to deploy, 
that is extend downward towards the ground when the tailgate 18 is moved 
to the open, lowered position as shown in FIG. 1 and will move to a 
position near the rigid step 20 when the tailgate is in the closed 
position. As shown in FIG. 1, the auxiliary step is in the deployed 
position and extends downward as far as it will go. The auxiliary step 30 
has a pair of parallel legs 32, the legs moving to a position 
substantially within the tailgate 18 when the tailgate is in the upright 
position. The parallel legs 32 have a first end 34 located and retained 
within the interior of the tailgate, the first end having a boss 36 formed 
on the end. The aperture is sized smaller than the boss 36 to prevent the 
boss from passing through the aperture so as to retain the boss within the 
tailgate 18. The parallel legs 32 extending through the aperture in 
tailgate 18 terminate in a second end. A connecting leg 38 joins the 
second ends of parallel legs 32 to form a step or rung disposed at a 
position closer to the ground than the rigid step 20. The parallel legs 32 
are disposed so as to bracket the parallel arms of the rigid step 20 
attached to the tailgate 18 and are free to move along their longitudinal 
axes from the storage position when the tailgate is upright to the 
extended position when the tailgate is in its open position. 
FIGS. 2 and 3 show an alternative embodiment providing a reduced height 
configuration where the rigid step 20 is formed with a channel 
configuration so that a substantial portion of the auxiliary step fits 
within the channel to reduce the overall height of the configuration. As 
shown in FIG. 2, the parallel legs 32 are located at a position near the 
end 40 of the portion of the rigid step attached to the tailgate 18 only a 
portion of the surface being shown in this view. The rigid step 20 is 
attached to the tailgate 18 by means of one or more rivets 42 passing 
through a section of the rigid step extending along and juxtaposed to the 
tailgate 18. The rivets 42 will hold the rigid step securely in place and 
can be formed so as to minimize their protrusion into the channel in the 
rigid step. In FIG. 3 the cross section shows how the connecting arm 24 is 
formed as a half circle making a channel 44 which will accept the 
connecting leg 38 formed as a circular cross section and cradles it when 
the tail gate is in the closed position. As shown in FIG. 2, the tailgate 
18 has been opened and the view is just prior to the point where the 
auxiliary step 30 will begin to deploy under the influence of gravity. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the auxiliary step is formed with an L-shaped 
portion 46 connecting the parallel legs 32 to the connecting leg 38. The 
L-shaped portion 46 has a first finger 48 orthogonally mounted to the 
associated parallel leg 32 the first finger extending toward the 
connecting leg 38 and positioned to fit in the channel 44 of that portion 
of the rigid step 20 lying along and juxtaposed the tailgate surface. The 
L-shaped portion has a second finger 50 orthogonally attached to the first 
finger 48 and extending away from the tailgate 18 the second finger 
extending to a point near the connecting arm 24 of the rigid step 20 and 
being sized so as to rest juxtaposed to the channel in the parallel arm 22 
of the rigid step. 
FIG. 4 shows the addition of an anti-skid strip 52 on the stepping surface 
of the auxiliary step connecting leg 38. This configuration will provide 
enhanced traction to muddy boots and the like and especially in the 
nesting configuration of FIG. 2 the traction strip will be exposed only 
when the auxiliary step is deployed protecting the strip from incidental 
damage and not exposing troops to the abrasive action of the strip when 
the tailgate is in its closed position. 
Referring to FIG. 5, a second embodiment of this invention is shown for use 
on tailgates where the tailgates internal structure does not allow the 
parallel legs of an auxiliary step to move within the interior of the 
tailgate. In such situations the step legs must perforce be mounted so as 
to move outside the tailgate. In FIG. 5, a tailgate 64 has the rigid step 
20 with its parallel arms 22 extending perpendicularly from the tailgate 
and its connecting arm 24 rigidly mounted to the surface of the tailgate 
64 using attachment arms 26 as described above by threaded fasteners 28. 
In the structure of FIG. 5, the threaded fasteners 28 also attach an 
L-shaped bracket 66 having one plate 68 lying along the surface of the 
tailgate the plate 68 having apertures (not visible in the figure) through 
which the threaded fasteners pass the threaded fasteners firmly holding 
the plate in position on the tailgate. The L-shaped bracket has a second 
plate 70 which extends along a portion of the tailgate and towards the 
portion of the tailgate which attaches to the truck body. 
The second plate 70 has a pair of bracket members 72 shown in the drawing 
as rectangular cylinder members permanently attached to the second plate 
and having a longitudinal extending square aperture. The aperture will 
allow parallel legs 62 of an auxiliary step 60 to move from a first 
storage position to a second deployed position for use. The auxiliary step 
60 has a pair of parallel arms 62 which are partially disposed in and 
sized to move longitudinally within the bracket 70. The parallel arms 62 
are disposed one on either side of the permanent step 20 and have an 
oblique extension 74 which extends at an obtuse angle to the longitudinal 
axis of legs 62, the oblique extension pointing towards and ending at a 
terminal end 76 near the permanent step 20. The terminal ends 76 will 
bracket the permanent step and have a cross bar 78 extending between and 
connected to the terminal ends to provide a deployable auxiliary step. As 
shown, the cross bar 78 has an angular configuration with one face 80 of 
the angle attached to the oblique extension 74 and the other face 82 of 
the angle extending across the end of the oblique extension. The cross bar 
78 is formed in an L-shape in the figure but could be also be a rounded 
semicircle configuration, either configuration forming an auxiliary step 
having two edges 84 which serve to surround and cradle the permanent step 
20 when the tailgate 64 is in the upright, closed position to protect the 
step and also minimize the height. When the tailgate 64 is lowered and the 
step 60 deployed, the cross bar 78 step will present the edges 84 as 
gripping surfaces to engage the tread on the soldiers boots to make for 
better purchase by the boot limiting slippage and missteps when troops 
board under the muddy wet conditions frequently found in the field. 
The deployable step of FIG. 5 has means to prevent the parallel legs 62 
from slipping out of the bracket 72 the means being shown as a pin 86 
transversely disposed across the parallel legs 62 to prevent the ends of 
the legs from passing through the bracket 72. The pins 86 can be easily 
removed to replace the deployable step 60. Because the military fleet has 
a wide variety of vehicle sizes and numerous configurations, a plurality 
of apertures 88 are formed in the longitudinal the legs along the leg 
allowing the pins 86 to be moved so that the step can be sized to deploy 
at different lengths depending on the size of the tailgate and the vehicle 
to which it is attached. This allows a common step configuration to be 
installed an a variety of different configurations and tailgates. 
Various alterations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled 
in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention 
and it is understood this invention is limited only by the following 
claims.