Abstract:
A convertible cargo bed cover can function as both a tonneau cover and a cargo bed cap. The cover is raised by motorized elements to be substantially aligned with a roof of a passenger cabin of the vehicle. Side and rear window panels stored inside the cover can be installed to transform the cover to a cap to enlarge available enclosed cargo space. Rear pillars are installed at the rear corners of the tonneau cover in its raised position to complete the installation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to provisional application No. 60/398,221 filed Jul. 24, 2002. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention generally relates to covers for vehicular cargo beds, such as pick-up truck boxes. More specifically, the invention pertains to a movable cover which may function as a tonneau cover and can be converted to a cargo bed cap cover. 
     Various types of covers for open cargo beds, such as found in pick-up trucks have become common place. A first conventional cover, styled a tonneau cover, traditionally rests on side panels of the cargo bed and covers any contents either partially or fully. 
     A second type of cover called a cap has become well known for use with cargo beds of vehicles such as pick-up trucks. The cap cover conventionally also rests upon the side panels of the cargo bed but extends upwardly to substantially align itself with a width of the passenger cabin to form an enlarged closed cargo space either for larger items or for converting the vehicle to a camper. 
     These individual styles of covers have traditionally been independent of each other and if one switches between cover types, the unused cover must be stored separately from the vehicle. 
     There is a need for a cover arrangement which may be convertible between a tonneau cover and a cap cover. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A deployable cover for a cargo bed of a vehicle includes a movable tonneau cover having a closed position adapted to close off the cargo bed. A plurality of linearly extendable supports positioned with respect to the tonneau cover such that they may extend to move the tonneau cover from its closed position to an upwardly extended deployed position is also provided wherein the tonneau cover is substantially parallel to a bottom surface of the cargo bed and raised above the side panels of the vehicle. 
     In a further aspect of the invention, the tonneau cover contains a storage space for side and rear window panels which slide into place between the raised tonneau cover and the side panels of the vehicle to form cap-like cover therefor. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The objects and features of the invention will become apparent from a reading of a detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawing, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a rear view of a pick-up truck with a tonneau cover of the invention in a down and closed position; 
     FIG. 2 is a view of the tonneau cover of FIG. 1 in a down and open position; 
     FIG. 3 is a view of the tonneau cover of FIG. 1 in an up or raised position; 
     FIG. 4 is a close-up view of actuator buttons for raising and lowering the tonneau cover; 
     FIG. 5 is a view of one of the cover guides located on each front faring; 
     FIG. 6 is a view of the tonneau cover in an open position while also in a raised or up position; 
     FIG. 7 is a view of an access door of the undersurface of the tonneau cover the inner support cover lowered to expose storage areas for side and rear window panels; 
     FIG. 8 is a view of one side of a side window panel partially installed and showing alignment grooves in both the faring and cargo bed side panel top plates; 
     FIGS. 9 and 10 are views of a rear corner pillar locking mechanism in a lowered and raised position, respectively; 
     FIG. 11 is a view of an access door in a side panel of the cargo bed open and showing a rear corner pillar in a storage position; 
     FIG. 12 is a view of a rear corner pillar attached to a side panel top plate of the vehicle; 
     FIG. 13 is a view of a locking mechanism on a rear corner pillar that engages a side panel top plate locking mechanism; 
     FIG. 14 is a view of the tonneau cover lowered to engage a top of a rear corner pillar; 
     FIG. 15 is a view of the rear window panel in an installed and open position; 
     FIG. 16 is a view of a support strut for the rear window panel in a stored position on a rear corner pillar;. 
     FIG. 17 is a view of a cover hingeably connected to the faring and enclosing a front edge of the tonneau cover when the tonneau cover is in its down position; and 
     FIG. 18 is a view of a seal between the faring and the passenger cabin to prevent entry of weather elements at this joint. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to FIG. 1, pick-up truck  100  includes a passenger cabin  110  and a cargo bed defined by vehicle side panels  118   a  and  118   b , a tailgate  114  and a front faring  104 . A tonneau cover  102  is fashioned from a substantially rigid rather than fabric material of most conventional tonneau covers for purposes to become apparent as the description continues. 
     The front faring  104  is a cross-car structure located at the front corners of the pick-up box or cargo bed and is an integral part of top plates  116   a  and  116   b  respectively associated with side panels  118   a  and  118   b  of the vehicle. The rearview shape of front faring  104  is identical to that of the upper half of the passenger cabin  110 . In a side view, the faring&#39;s front surface also resembles the passenger cabin&#39;s shape, but the width of the faring is narrower at the top than it is at its base, thus providing opposed slanted rear surfaces  106   a  and  106   b.    
     Since the front faring  104  blocks the rear view of a conventional center high mounted stop lamp located at a top rear portion of the passenger cabin  110 , a rear face of the tonneau cover  102  is equipped with an additional center high mounted stop lamp  112  conventionally illuminated via driver brake actuation. 
     The tonneau cover incorporates a lock system that secures the cargo bed or pick-up box. In a locked condition, neither the tonneau cover  102  nor the tailgate  114  can be opened. To gain access, a lock cylinder  120  at the rear face of the tonneau cover is deactivated, thereby allowing the tonneau cover&#39;s rear edge to be manually lifted as it pivots about hinges along its front edge. 
     With reference to FIG. 2, the tonneau cover  102  is shown in a down position but pivotably opened by manually raising cover  102  about its front edge  102   a  to expose a downward facing undersurface of cover  102  designated  102   b . At least a portion of surface  102   b  forms an access door to a storage compartment to, be described in a later section of this description. 
     To assist in manually raising cover  102  about its front edge  102   a , gas powered struts  202   a  and  202   b  are coupled between opposed outer side edges of cover  102  and the top panels  116   a  and  116   b . Cargo bed  200  is thereby accessible when the tonneau cover is in this pivoted open condition. 
     With reference to FIG. 3, the tonneau cover  102  of FIG. 1 is shown in its raised condition wherein cover  102  is substantially parallel to a floor or bottom surface  308  of cargo bed  200  and substantially aligned with roof  306  of passenger cabin  110 . Cover  102  reaches the position shown in FIG. 3 via operation of switches at control panel  400  which simultaneously actuate electric gear motors  302   a - 302   d  which are respectively associated with linearly extendable elements  300   a - 300   d . Each element  300   a-d , has a rack  304   a-d  respectively associated with each linearly extending support which are engaged by associated gear motors  302   a - 302   d  housed in the side panels  118   a  and  118   b  of the vehicle. 
     As further seen from FIG. 3, each side panel  118   a  and  118   b  has an access door on its inner surface  310   a  and  310   b  (FIG. 6) for enabling access to the storage area in each side panel for housing rear pillar columns for the raised tonneau cover to be described in a later section. 
     FIG. 4 shows details of control panel  400  of FIG. 3. A switch  402  is actuated to raise tonneau cover  102  as shown in FIG. 3, and switch  404  is used to lower cover  102  to the position shown in FIG.  1 . 
     As tonneau cover  102  is raised or lowered by linearly extendable supports  300   a - 300   d , its front end portions travel along a cover guide  500  formed at both sides of front faring  104 , one guide shown in FIG.  5 . 
     With reference to FIG. 6, the tonneau cover  102  of FIG. 1 is shown pivoted to an open position while in a raised or up state. Also shown in FIG. 6 are the access door and phantom outline of the actuator gear motors  302 B and  302   d  for extendable struts  300   b  and  300   d.    
     With reference with FIG. 7, when the under surface  102   b  of cover  102  is exposed, such as when tonneau cover  102  is placed in its raised position by extension struts  300 , access may be had to storage areas within cover  102  for side and rear window panels to be used in the manner described below. 
     An outer access door  708  gains access to a side panel storage area  704 , while access door  706  may additionally be swung downwardly to give access to an upper storage area  702  for containing a rear window panel unit. Hence, rear and side panels for completing a cap-like structure are housed when not in use in substantially parallel positions to the major surface of cover  102 . 
     As shown in FIG. 8, a partially installed side window panel  802  slides from the rear of the cargo bed towards the passenger cabin along alignment grooves  806  formed in top plates  116   a ,  116   b  and rests in alignment grooves  804  in the front faring side panels  106   a  and  106   b.    
     With reference to FIGS. 9-15, first and second rear pillar units  1102   a  and  1102   b  are adapted to engage rear portions of top panels  116   a  and  116   b  and rear corners of the tonneau cover  102  when in its raised position. When not in use, pillars  1102   a  and  1102   b  are stowed in storage areas  1100  in opposed side panels  118   a  and  118   b , respectively. FIG. 11 shows access door  310   b  and side panel  118   a  pivoted downward to expose storage area  1100  for a stored rear pillar  1102   a.    
     Each rear corner pillar  1102   a,b  is adapted to lockingly engage its respective top panel  116   a,b  via a latching element  902  which may be manually pulled upwardly as shown in FIG. 10 from stored position virtually flush with the top panel  116   a  as shown in FIG.  9 . When in the raised position of FIG. 10, latching element  902  engages a locking mechanism  1302  associated with each corner pillar. The specific locking mechanism for pillar  1102   b  is shown in FIG.  13 . When, fully assembled to the top panel, the rear pillar  1102   a , for example, engages tonneau cover  102  at its rearward corner when the cover  102  is lowered down to engage pillar  1102   a.    
     Each rear pillar carries a support strut  1504  for assisting in manually raising a rear window panel  1502  (FIG.  15 ). As shown in FIG. 15, support struts  1504   a  and  1504   b  are respectively associated with rear pillars  1102   b  and  1102   a . The rear window panel when taken from its storage area in cover  102  may be pivotally installed to the rear edge of the tonneau cover via quick disconnect hinge halves  1506   a  and  1506   b , which respectively mate with hinge halves  1507   a  and  1507   b  (FIG. 2) mounted to the rear edge of tonneau cover  102 , to thereby be rotatable between a closed position and an open position as shown in FIG.  15 . 
     With reference to FIG. 16, support lift strut  1504   a  is shown in its non-used condition with one end thereof permanently attached to an associated rear pillar  1102   b.    
     With reference to FIG. 17, cover flap  502  is hingedly connected to the faring  104  and is adapted to enclose a front edge of the tonneau cover  102  in its down and closed position as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 18 shows a seal  1800  placed between faring  104  and passenger cabin  110  to provide a weather-tight juncture between faring  104  and cabin  110 . 
     With reference to all of the drawing Figures, the features of the convertible cover arrangement of the invention may be summarized, as follows. 
     The tonneau cover  102  extends rearwardly from a base  108  of faring  104  to a rear edge of the cargo bed or pick-up box. Cover  102  is constructed from a rigid material. The overall shape and width of tonneau cover  102  also matches the roof of the passenger cabin and faring. The overall width of tonneau cover  102  is less than a top surface width of the cargo bed or pick-up box. Hence, the side panel top plates  116   a  and  116   b  are designed to extend inboard and provide a sealing surface for tonneau cover  102 . 
     An extension panel  502  located forward of the tonneau cover  102  and placed between bases of the faring  104  completes the pick-up box top cover. A Weather seal on the front edge of the tonneau cover (not shown) prevents intrusion by the elements at this joint. The extension panel  502  is hinged along a front edge thereof and mechanically interfaces with tonneau cover  102  to open and close as tonneau cover  120  travels up and down via linearly extendable supports  300   a-d.    
     An independent perimeter frame  600  (FIG. 6) and high pressure gas lift struts  202   a  and  202   b  are incorporated into tonneau cover  102  to assist in raising it and also in maintaining its raised position. Tonneau cover  102  may be raised high enough to provide unobstructed access to items in the cargo bed or pick-up box  200 . By partially lifting a rear edge of the tonneau cover  102 , access to power control switches  402 ,  404  for the tonneau cover, mounted inside the cargo bed or pick-up box at panel  400  just forward of the tailgate opening is obtained. 
     Electrically powered gear motors  302   a-b  and associated racks  304   a-d  are positioned at each corner of tonneau cover  102 . When activated, motors  302   a-d  simultaneously operate to raise the tonneau cover  102  until its height is flush with a roof of the passenger cabin  110  and faring  104 . In this raised position, the rear of tonneau cover  102  can also be tilted upward as shown in FIG.  6 . 
     An inner panel  102   b  of tonneau cover  102  drops down to gain access to a storage compartment  704  for side window panels  802  an a storage compartment  702  for a rear window panel  1502 . Slots in outboard/underside edges of tonneau cover  102 , in outboard/top surfaces of the pick-up side panel top plates, and a rear face of the front faring provide tracks  500  which allow the side windows to slide into place from the rear of the vehicle. The rear window panel has quick disconnect hinges  1506   a,b  that attach to mating hinge halves  1507   a  and  1507   b  located on the rear/underside edge of tonneau cover  102 . This allows the rear window panel to be opened upward to gain access to the cargo bed or pick-up box. Folding arms or support struts  1504   a,b  can be engaged to hold the rear window panel in a raised position. Rear window panel  1502  additionally incorporates a lock (not shown) to secure the pick-up box area when desired when the convertible cover is being used as a cap. The side and rear window panels are at least partially fashioned from window glass or other appropriate transparent material. 
     Rear corner pillars  1102   a,b , which are stored inside the pick-up box side panel bins  1100  via access doors  310   a,b , have bottom surfaces that key into mating depressions in the top rear corners of the pick-up box. Over-center latches secure them in place. Front faces of the pillars also have tracks that mate with the rear edge of the side windows. Their installation completes the pick-up box enclosure which is both lockable and weather-tight. 
     The invention has been disclosed with reference to a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention, which is to be taken for the sake of example only. The scope and spirit of the invention are to be determined from the appropriately interpreted claims.