Abstract:
A load retaining gate assembly is provided to restrain the movement of items stored in the bed of a vehicle. The load retaining gate assembly is made of two gate members arranged in sliding relationship and has at least one compression spring-loaded assembly. One gate member slides into another gate member. A compression spring is held in place within the gate members for biasing the length of the gate assembly against side walls of a vehicle bed. The gate assembly is held in place by the pressure put by the spring against the side walls of the vehicle bed. The gate assembly can be positioned anywhere across the width of the vehicle bed and can be easily removed from its position when not needed and locked in a compressed state.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application is a Continuation-in Part and is related to and claims priority from prior patent application Ser. No. 14/749,681 filed Jun. 25, 2015 which application is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d). 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art. 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of load retaining devices and more specifically relates to a load retaining gate assembly for use in the bed of a pick-up truck or other similar vehicles. The load retaining device can be positioned anywhere across the width of the vehicle bed and removed when not in use. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Pick-up trucks, SUV&#39;s, vans and other similar vehicles are commonly used to transport different kinds of items. Such items may include purchased grocery items, furniture, vegetables, etc. These items which are transported in the vehicle bed, are prone to spill out and spread to different locations in the vehicle bed as the driver of the vehicle proceeds along the road. It is very troublesome for a person to have to climb into a bed of a transport vehicle to retrieve spilled articles. 
     To avoid this troublesome inconvenience, different systems have been developed to keep the stored items in their place in the vehicle bed. In general, a tie down assembly or a rectangular divider is placed in the vehicle bed to keep the stored items in place. 
     For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,435 issued to Frederick A. Musta on Jan. 31, 1995, discloses a system for securing articles to a load bearing structure during transportation. However, this and other tie, down systems cannot secure articles of all sizes. Furthermore, it can be secured in only specific positions in the vehicle where the tie down structure is available. U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,913 issued to William F. Baker on Oct. 16, 1993, discloses a rectangular shaped truck bed partition consisting of mounting members for mounting a cargo cage to a truck bed wherein the cargo cage retains the stored item or items. This cargo cage can be positioned in only one specific position in the vehicle bed. Another invention, U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,807 issued to Bernardo on Oct. 7, 2003, discloses rectangular shaped load retaining devices which can be positioned anywhere along the length of the vehicle bed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,486 issued to Gerald D. Green on Jun. 27, 1995, discloses a rectangular shaped load retaining device which can be extended in width to fit the vehicle bed and can be positioned anywhere along the length of the vehicle bed. Still other references due consideration are U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,135 issued to A. D. Caminiti on Jun. 13, 1961; U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,781 issued to Smith et al. on May 8, 2001; and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0096243. 
     These load retaining devices suffer from a lot of the same issues. Some of them cannot be easily detached from their position in the vehicle bed when they are not in use. Many of the net structured load retainer devices do not secure small items well and they spill through the openings in the net. Also, most of these load retaining devices cannot be easily positioned anywhere across the width along the vehicle bed. Therefore, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as will be claimed herein. 
     Ideally, a load retaining device should provide a convenient means for securing articles that are being transported, should be positionable across the width of and anywhere along the length of a vehicle bed, and be easily removed when not in use and, yet would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The general purpose and object of the present invention is to provide a load retaining gate assembly to restrain the movement of the items stored in the bed of a vehicle. The stored items may be groceries or other purchased items. The load retaining assembly restricts the movement of all the stored articles including small items, hence a person does not need to dive in the bed of a vehicle to collect the stored items which may have spilled and scattered during transport. 
     The load retaining gate assembly is made of two gate members arranged in a sliding relationship and having at least one compression spring-loaded assembly. One gate member slides into another gate member and the load retaining gate assembly is biased outwardly to position it against interior side walls of a vehicle bed. The length of the load retaining gate assembly can be made to different sizes per the width of the vehicle bed. The load retaining gate assembly can be positioned anywhere across the width of the vehicle bed. When the load retaining gate assembly is not required to restrain any item in the vehicle bed, it can be easily removed from its position and stored in a compressed condition. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a load retaining gate assembly positionable across the width of a vehicle bed per the amount of load to be secured. Furthermore, a method is also provided detailing an easy way to use and remove the load retaining gate assembly from its position in the vehicle bed and stored in a locked position when it is not in use. 
     For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been briefly described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following detailed description and drawings. 
     The present invention holds significant improvements and serves as a load retaining gate assembly. For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention, Load Retaining Gate Assembly, which is constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present invention. 
         FIG. 1  shows a perspective view illustrating the Load Retaining Gate Assembly with the front side removed according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating a cross-sectional view of the small gate member according to an embodiment of the present invention of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the Load Retaining Gate assembly in use with the bed of a truck according to an embodiment of the present invention of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference there is shown in  FIG. 1-3 , a load retaining gate assembly  10 . The load retaining gate assembly  10  (also referred to as gate assembly  10 ) is made of a first long gate member  12  and a second short gate member  14 . First long gate member  12  is formed of a generally rectangular receptacle first casing member  25 A. Second short gate member  14  is formed of a generally rectangular receptacle second casing  25 B which is a little larger so as to slide over the first long gate member  12 . The first and second receptacle casings  25 A and  25 B respectively may be of unitary construction or may be made of components that snap fit together or be assembled by screw threads or similar fasteners such that they may be easily assembled and disassembled. 
     First long gate member  12  includes a cut-out region  18  at the free end which provides a hand grasping area. Second short gate member  14  includes a cut-out region  20  at the free end which also provides a hand grasping area. These cut-out regions  18  and  20  allow a user to grasp the gate assembly  10  so that it may be compressed and moved. The gate assembly  10  has two compression spring-loaded assemblies  16 A and  16 B that each include a compression spring  17 A and  17 B respectively which bias first long gate member  12  and second short gate member  14  outwardly from one another. 
     The spring-loaded assemblies  16 A and  16 B are located one near the top and one near the bottom of the gate assembly  10  when viewed in an upright orientation and are attached to either the first long or second short gate members  12  and  14  at one free end thereof by a pair of eyelets  11 . The compression springs  17 A and  17 B are encased in pipes  13 A,  13 B,  15 A and  15 B and are made of PVC or a similar material and which extend the length of the gate assembly  10 . Pipes  15 A and  15 B are attached to the free end of the small gate member  14  by screw threaded attachments  22  which allow easy access to eyelets  11  and the compression springs  15 A and  15 B for replacement. Pipes  15 A and  15 B are of a larger diameter than pipes  13 A and  13 B such that they may slide over the pipes  13 A and  13 B as the gate members  12  and  14  are expanded or contracted as needed to fit the desired space. When the load retaining gate assembly  10  is in the extended position, the compression springs  17 A and  17 B put pressure against opposite sidewalls of a vehicle bed thereby holding the gate assembly  10  in place. 
     The load retaining gate assembly  10  is available in multiple shapes, sizes, thicknesses and or colors for different types of vehicles. The following dimensions are preferred but not limiting. The weight of the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 10 pounds. For a half-ton truck, the long gate member  12  of the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 31 inches long and 15.75 inches wide. The short gate member  14  of the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 20 inches long and 16 inches wide. When in an extended position, the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 51 inches long. The cut-out regions  18  and  20  are rectangular shaped and are 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. 
     For a three-quarter-ton truck, the long gate member  12  of the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 35 inches long and 19 inches wide. In an extended position, the load retaining gate assembly  10  is 75 inches long. The cut-out regions  18  and  20  are rectangular shaped and are 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. 
     To initially place the gate assembly  10  within the bed of a truck, the user places the locked gate assembly  10  across the width of a vehicle bed in the desired position either closer to the tailgate or closer to the cab of the vehicle by grasping one of the cut-out regions  18  and  20  and compressing the compression springs  17 A and  17 B against one of the sidewalls of the truck bed just enough to unlock the gate assembly which will be described in more detail hereinafter. Thus, the compression springs will naturally bias outwardly and a user may more easily place the gate assembly in the desired position. The compression springs  17 A and  17 B bias the long gate member  12  and the short gate member  14  against the sidewalls of a vehicle bed. 
     The gate assembly  10  has a first riveted post  19 A and a second riveted post  19 B centrally located on long gate member  12  and the small gate member  14  respectively of the gate assembly  10 . Second riveted post  19 B is on the short gate member  14  and first riveted post  19 A is on the long gate member  12 . First and second riveted posts  19 A and  19 B are in lateral alignment on the front side  23  of the gate assembly  10 . A first J-shaped latch  21 A is permanently attached yet able to swivel in a clockwise direction freely on riveted post  19 A and is oriented to face upwardly. The free end of the first J-shaped latch  21 A swivels upwardly and engages riveted post  19 B on the short gate member  14  to lock the gate assembly  10  into a compressed state when not in use. 
     A second J-shaped latch  21 B and third and fourth riveted posts  19 C and  19 D are employed on the rear side  24  of the gate assembly  10  and operate in the same manner as the first J-shaped latch  21 A with the second J-shaped latch  21 B permanently attached to and able to swivel in a counter-clockwise direction from the third riveted post  19 C to engage with the fourth riveted post  19 D. Third riveted post  19 C is on the long gate member  12 . Fourth riveted post  19 D is on the short gate member  14 . 
     When the gate assembly  10  is not in use and in the locked position, the user places their hands in one of the cut-out sections  18  or  20 , positions the opposite side of the gate assembly  10  against one of the interior sidewalls of a truck bed and gives a short compression so that the first J-latch  21 A and second J-shaped latch  21 B will swing downwardly and be released at one side from the second and fourth riveted posts  19 B and  19 D respectively on the front and rear sides  23  and  24 . The gate assembly  10  is then in the unlocked position with the compression springs  17 A and  17 B naturally biasing firmly and outwardly against opposite sides of a truck bed whereby a load within the truck bed is held in place from shifting. 
     When a user desires to remove the gate assembly  10  from a truck bed for storage, the user will grasp one of the cut-out regions  18  or  20 , then provide a pulling force. The compression springs  17 A and  17 B are contracted a sufficient length to allow one side of the gate assembly  10  to be pulled out toward the user and away from one side of the truck bed whereby the entire gate assembly  10  is easily removed from the truck bed entirely. The gate assembly  10  is then oriented to stand on one end and a user pushes down from the opposite end. First J-shaped latch  21 A is rotated to engage the second riveted post  19 B and the second J-shaped latch  21 B is rotated to engage the fourth riveted post  19 D thereby holding the load retaining gate  10  in a locked state that is compressed and compact for easy storage. 
     The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. 
     Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods of use arrangements such as, for example, different orders within above-mentioned list, elimination or addition of certain steps, including or excluding certain maintenance steps, etc., may be sufficient.