Abstract:
A protective flexible car cover that is attachable to and detachable from a foldable deployment rod, which facilitates deploying and removing the car cover from a vehicle, is disclosed. The attachment of the car cover to the deployment rod is effected by fasteners. The car cover has magnets or weights around its periphery to help hold the cover in place while being deployed and after deployment. Additional panels on the underside of the car cover and at the rear of the car cover are provided which can be held in place by the side doors of the vehicle or by the trunk lid.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates, in general, to car covers and, more particularly, to car covers that can be readily deployed and removed from a vehicle.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     There are many different car covers presently available and even more have been the subject of prior patents. Most such covers are made from a flexible cloth material. The reasons to use a car cover include at least the following: 1) to diminish heating the interior of the vehicle when parked in the sun with the concomitant discomfort to passengers; 2) to protect the exterior of the vehicle against sun exposure, bird droppings, sap from trees, chemicals, such as oil contained in the runoff encountered in some garage facilities, blowing sand and/or salt encountered near the seashore, etc.; 3) to protect the interior of the vehicle against sun exposure and heating; 4) to protect the exterior of a car against impact, such as encountered in hail storms or accidental minor collisions during transportation. Car covers can be various sizes, depending on the intended use. For example, to minimize solar heating and sun/heat damage to the vehicle interior it is only necessary to cover the window spaces to obtain the desired effect. The benefits of a car cover are documented by the Dupont Corporation with respect to its materials Tyvek® or Tyvek® Plus. If all exterior surfaces of the vehicle are to be protected, the car cover should fit around the entire vehicle. In general, covering a car with a flexible material resistant to sun and other damaging elements of nature is not convenient, nor is the storage of the cover when not in use. The cover must be held onto the vehicle firmly to resist the effects of wind, or to minimize the potential for theft of the cover, which often leads to a multiple tie-down design that is also inconvenient and time-consuming. These factors tend to discourage users from buying car covers or even using a car cover unless it is anticipated that the vehicle will be out of use for an extended period of time. Thus, there is a need for a simple car cover system that makes the deployment and removal of the cover quick and convenient and one that can be stored quickly and compactly when not in use, such that the owner would be willing to use the assembly for relatively short periods of time. It is preferable not to make any permanent installations on the vehicle exterior or truck storage area to accomplish these objectives.  
         [0003]     There are many designs for car covers that do not necessarily have any provision for improved ease of deployment. For example, there are a number of car covers designed to protect a vehicle against impact, using an energy-absorbing material, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,648 (Daniel), U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,006 (Pettigrew), U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,825 (Henke, et. al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,074 (Timerman), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,206 (Heck). These covers are relatively difficult to deploy and no provision is made for deployment of the car cover in these patents.  
         [0004]     There are a number of patented designs in which a roller device is mounted in the trunk area of a vehicle for the purpose of holding a car cover. U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,406 (Vargo) teaches a spring-biased rollup system for a car cover that is stored in the car trunk for a car cover. A similar spring-biased roller system is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,196 (Gibbs) and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,515 (Dang). This device is fixed within the vehicle trunk area, which will interfere with normal storage in the trunk as well as require being fixed to the interior walls of the trunk. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,427 (Huang, et. al.) a car bumper is modified to hold a spring-activated roller on which a car cover is mounted. In addition to the mechanical complexity of this device, a permanent fixture must be added to the automobile. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,421 (Fasiska), an electrically driven roller system is taught, in conjunction with the use of a hand crank or a spring-actuated system. In this case a containment tube for the cover is mounted in the vehicle trunk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,881 (Piros) teaches a motor, spring or manually operated roller system that mounts to the underside of the vehicle trunk lid. A similar device is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,298 (O). In U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,446 (Tung-Chow), a mechanically cranked or electric motor actuated device that remains in the vehicle trunk winds a belt to which the car cover is attached. While requiring less volume than a trunk-mounted roller, the system is mechanically complex and does not aid the user in spreading the car cover evenly over the surface of the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,711 (Rabbit) teaches a double roller-bar system, one end of which is attached to the interior of the trunk and which requires both roller bars to reside on the vehicle exterior when the car cover is being deployed. While the use of a roller bar is expected to aid in the deployment of the car cover, in order for this approach to be useful, the bar must be at least the width of the vehicle making it less convenient for storage. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,197 (Mowar, et. al.), there is no mechanical deployment aid but a cross-member attached to the front of the car cover is supposed to aid in the deployment of the cover. This cross-member is not designed to deploy the cover by a simple rolling action but instead requires the user to support the weight of the cover plus the cross-member. Depending on the weight of the car cover material this is likely to be awkward to carry out.  
         [0005]     There are a number of designs for a car cover alone, with no provision for improving the ease of deployment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,286 (Huang) teaches the use of a form-fitting cover with an elastic band on the periphery of the cover to hold the cover more tightly to the passenger compartment of the vehicle. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,417 (Curchod), a similar system is described except that explicit provision is made for a storage pouch that is mounted in the trunk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,324 (Carden) teaches a four-sided cab cover in which a better fit to the contour of the vehicle is achieved by employing V-shaped cuts in the covering material. Tubular attachments to the cover are utilized to hold the cover in place and the rear-most tube is located in the trunk of the vehicle in order to fix the cover in place, requiring the user to open and close the vehicle trunk each time the cover is used.  
         [0006]     There are a number of commercial car cover products presently available For example, car covers are made and/or distributed by Car Covers Direct or Car Cover World. The covers offered for sale by the foregoing are large sheets having a size to fit a particular vehicle or class of vehicles and are attached to the vehicle by an elastic material that is located around the periphery of the cover and that fits under the vehicle body. None of these products has any provision to aid in the deployment of the car cover. The fact that deployment and removal of a car cover is inconvenient is reflected in the two products, CoolCar™ car cover and Roll up™ car cover. The CoolCar™ car cover uses padded weights around the edge of the cover to help facilitate throwing the car over the top of the vehicle. The CoolCar™ car cover can be held firmly in place by closing the doors on the cover, thereby trapping a portion of the reflective material inside the car where heat can be partially trapped, as well as causing additional wear and tear on the cover itself. For the Roll up™ car cover an electric windup device is used to roll the car cover inside a drum. While the approach utilized by the Roll up™ provides convenient storage for the car cover and should be effective in helping remove the car cover, it is not obvious that deployment of the car cover is facilitated thereby.  
         [0007]     In view of the foregoing disadvantages associated with the prior art car covers, it has become desirable to develop a car cover that can be readily deployable on and removable from a vehicle and which can be readily stored in a compact configuration when not in use.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The present invention solves the problems associated with the prior art car covers and other problems by providing a car cover that has a number of small weights or magnets attached to the periphery thereof to hold the cover in place when deployed, either by the force exerted by the weights or by magnetic attraction to the vehicle body if the body is comprised of a metal having a magnetic permeability, as is typical of steel alloys. The car cover has several panels on its underside that can be inserted into the vehicle doors before they are closed or into the vehicle trunk before it is closed, thereby providing additional mechanical stability against wind or theft. Additional side attachments that may be fixed to external rear-view mirrors may also be used for additional mechanical stability. When the car cover is fully deployed it will cover the front, back and all side windows as well as the vehicle top and all or part of the front (hood) and back (trunk) sections of the vehicle body. A deployment rod is provided to assist in the deployment and subsequent removal of the car cover from the vehicle and to provide a means for storing the car cover when not in use.  
         [0009]     An object of the present invention to provide a car cover assembly that can be deployed or removed quickly by one person and stored conveniently in any storage area available in the vehicle.  
         [0010]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a deployment device to hold any flexible material that can be folded to minimize the storage space required, with or without the flexible material in place.  
         [0011]     A still another object of the present invention is to provide a car cover that allows all windows to be covered and which is held in place by a combination of weights or magnets around the periphery of the cover and includes provision for being held in place by the doors and the truck of the vehicle, to accomplish stability against the wind and to discourage theft.  
         [0012]     A further object of the present invention is to provide a car cover that minimizes the buildup of interior heating within a vehicle that is parked in the sun, to protect the vehicle against the elements, such as interior or exterior damage from natural or artificial light, sap or other secretions from trees or other plans, bird or other animal droppings that might occur when the vehicle is parked under trees or other areas where birds or animals may inhabit, and to protect the vehicle from natural or unnatural damaging liquids, such as sea spray, paint spray, and chemicals that may be present in the surrounding environment etc. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a bottom plan view of the car cover of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a top and/or bottom plan view of the deployment rod of the present invention and illustrates the deployment rod in the extended orientation and with the support rod therein in the engaged and disengaged condition.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a top and/or bottom plan view illustrating the deployment rod of the present invention in the folded condition.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a top plan view of an alternate embodiment of the car cover of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a top and/or bottom plan view of an alternate embodiment of the deployment rod of the present invention and illustrates the deployment rod in both the extended orientation and in the folded orientation.  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a top and/or bottom plan view of another alternate embodiment of the deployment rod of the present invention and illustrates the deployment rod in both the extended orientation and in the folded orientation. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]     Referring now to the Figures where the illustrations are for the purpose of describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention and are not intended to limit the invention described herein,  FIG. 1  is a bottom plan view of the car cover  10  of the present invention. The car cover  10  can be formed from a single sheet of flexible material, such as Tyvek® distributed by the Dupont Corporation or NOAH® and BLOCK IT® Evolution, both distributed by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Small magnets or weights  12  are attached to the periphery of the car cover  10  to facilitate deployment and to hold the car cover  10  in place after deployment over the vehicle being covered. Two oppositely directed panels  14  of flexible material are attached to the underside of the car cover  10 . Panels  14  are held in place by the closed driver-side and passenger-side doors of the vehicle for increased stability. An additional panel  16  is attached to the end  18  of the car cover  10  permitting a portion of the panel  16  to be closed inside the trunk of the vehicle for the same purpose. A plastic tube or the like  20  can be attached to the end  22  of panel  16  to provide a hand-hold and to facilitate placing the end  22  of the panel  16  in the trunk of the vehicle. The use of panels  14 ,  16  is discretionary as they provide stability and security in addition to that provided by the magnets or weights  12 . Two fasteners  24 , such as hook-and-eye type fasteners commonly known as Velcro® fasteners, snap-type fasteners, clip-type fasteners, clasp-type fasteners, or the like, are attached in a spaced-apart relationship to the end  18  of the car cover  10  for attachment to a deployment rod, herein after described.  
         [0020]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a top and/or bottom plan view of a deployment rod  30  in the fully extended position is illustrated. The deployment rod  30  can be constructed of any suitable light weight hollow plastic or metallic material and is comprised of a first longitudinally extending portion  32  and a second longitudinally extending portion  34 . A flexible joining member  36  connects end  38  of first longitudinally extending portion  32  with end  40  of second longitudinally extending portion  34 . Complementary fasteners  42  are positioned in a spaced-apart relationship on first and second longitudinally extending portions  32 ,  34  so as to be aligned with and engageable with fasteners  24  on end  18  of car cover  10  permitting the end  18  of the car cover  10  to be attached and detached from the deployment rod  30 . A support rod  44  is slidingly movable within first, longitudinally extending portion  32 , joining member  36  and second longitudinally extending portion  34  minimizing bending of the deployment rod  30  about joining member  36  when the deployment rod  30  is in the fully extended position. The support rod  44  stiffens the deployment rod  30  facilitating the deployment or removal of the car cover  10  on a vehicle. Stop members  46 ,  48  are provided in first longitudinally extending portion  32  and second longitudinally portion  34 , respectively, to limit the lateral movement of support rod  44  therein. A cross-member  50  is attached to end  52  of first longitudinally extending portion  32  of deployment rod  30  and acts as a handle for the deployment rod  30  and assists in rolling the car cover  10  onto a vehicle or removing the car cover  10  from the vehicle. An elastic cord  54  is attached to first longitudinally extending portion  32  adjacent cross-member  50  and is utilized to retain the deployment rod  30  in the non-extended (folded) orientation, as hereinafter described. The flexible joining member  36  that interconnects the first and second longitudinally extending portions  32 ,  34  of the deployment rod  30  permits the deployment rod  30  to be folded with or without the car cover  10  thereon for storage purposes.  
         [0021]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the deployment rod  30  with the car cover  10  rolled thereon is placed at the front of the vehicle to be covered. Assuming that the cross-member  50  attached to the deployment rod  30  is on the driver&#39;s side of the car and that oppositely disposed panels  14  are in the downwardly directed position when the car cover  10  was rolled up onto the deployment rod  30 , then the panels  14  will also be on the underside of the deployed car cover  10 . The magnets or weights  12  hold the car cover  10  in place as it is being unrolled from the deployment rod  30  in the direction of the rear of the vehicle. When the car cover  10  is fully deployed on the vehicle, the deployment rod  30  is resting on the vehicle trunk area or hanging loosely in the case of a vehicle without a trunk (e.g., a van or hatchback vehicle) and the front and rear windows of the vehicle are completely covered. The deployment rod  30  is removed from the fasteners  24  on end  18  of cover  10 , and the deployment rod  30  can be folded about joining member  36  for storage purposes. Then, at the user&#39;s discretion, the panels  14  can be inserted into the vehicle by closing the driver side and passenger side doors on them and panel  16  can be inserted into the trunk area in a similar manner. The remaining portion of the car cover  10  can then be unfolded from the roof of the vehicle in order to cover the side windows of the vehicle. The width of the cover  10  is sufficient so that the magnets or weights  12  hang below the windows and assist in holding the cover  10  in position so as to cover all side windows. Thus, all windows are covered and depending on the size of the cover  10 , much of the vehicle hood and trunk exterior surface is similarly covered.  
         [0022]     Removal of the car cover  10  from the vehicle follows a similar procedure. The deployment rod  30  is oriented in the open position and is attached by the fasteners  42  thereon to the fasteners  24  on end  18  of car cover  10  and is oriented so that cross-member  50  of the deployment rod  30  is on the driver&#39;s side of the vehicle. The panels  14  and  16  are removed from the front doors and trunk, respectively. The portion of the car cover  10  hanging over the side windows of the vehicle is folded on top of the vehicle, with the magnets or weights  12  holding the cover loosely in place. Starting from the rear of the vehicle and using the cross-member  50  of the deployment rod  30  to facilitate rotation of the deployment rod  30 , the car cover  10  is rolled onto the deployment rod  30  while the user walks toward the front of the vehicle. After the car cover  10  is completely rolled onto the deployment rod  30 , the deployment rod  30  is folded onto itself about flexible joint  36 , and the deployment rod  30  with the cover  10  wound thereon can be stored within the vehicle or vehicle trunk.  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows the deployment rod  30  configured for folding and storage with or without the car cover  10  rolled thereon. In going from the open (fully extended) orientation as illustrated in  FIG. 2  to the closed and folded orientation shown in  FIG. 3 , the user would slide the support rod  44  into the first longitudinally extending portion  32  of the deployment rod  30 . The deployment rod  30  can then be folded about flexible joint member  36  and retained in the closed position by elastic cord  54 . To go from the closed and folded orientation to the open (fully extended) orientation, the user releases the elastic cord  54 , straightens the deployment rod  30  and moves the support rod  44  so as to be positioned within the first longitudinally extending portion  32 , the joining member  36  and the second longitudinally extending portion  34  stiffening the deployment rod  30  facilitating the deployment or removal of the car cover  10  from a vehicle.  
         [0024]      FIG. 4  shows an alternate embodiment of the car cover of the present invention to be used in the event that the car cover material is insufficiently flexible to accommodate the folding required for the closed and folded (storage) position. In this case the car cover is composed of two overlapping sheets  60  of material, joined by strips  62  of suitable flexible material at the front, back and several intermediate positions along their length. The fold will occur at the point of the sheet overlap, such that there will be sufficient flexibility for the folding to be accomplished in a convenient manner.  
         [0025]      FIG. 5  is an alternate design for the deployment rod  70  illustrated in both the extended and folded orientation. In this embodiment, the first longitudinally extending portion  72  has a yoke  74  at its distal end into which the second longitudinally extending portion  76  is received and attached thereto by a rotating joint member  78 . The yoke  74  and flexible joint member  78  are sized such that there is a reasonably tight friction fit between the first and second longitudinally extending portions  72 ,  76  so as to impart mechanical rigidity to the deployment rod  70  when in the extended orientation, but not so much friction as to prevent the first and second longitudinally extending portions  72 ,  76  from being folded about rotating joint member  78  so as to be adjacent to one another. The second longitudinally extending portion  76  has an elongated L-configuration, such that there is sufficient room to accommodate the car cover  10  when it is folded between the first and second longitudinally extending portions  72 ,  76 . The deployment rod  70  has complementary fasteners  80  in a spaced-apart relationship on the periphery thereof allowing the rod  70  to be attached to end  18  of cover  10 . A cross-member  82  is attached to end  84  of first longitudinally extending portion  72  of deployment rod  70  and acts as a handle for the deployment rod  70  and assists in rolling the car cover onto a vehicle or removing the car cover from the vehicle. An elastic cord  86  is attached to first longitudinally extending portion  72  adjacent cross-member  82  and is utilized to retain the deployment rod  70  in the non-extended (folded) orientation.  
         [0026]      FIG. 6  is another alternate design for the deployment rod  90  illustrated in both the extended and folded orientation. In this embodiment, the flexible joint member  92  is a yoke that accommodates both the first longitudinally extending portion  94  and the second longitudinally extending portion  96  of rod  90 . The yoke is sized such that there is a reasonably tight friction fit between the joint member  92  and the first longitudinally extending portion  94  and the second longitudinally extending portion  96  so as to impart mechanical rigidity to the rod  90  when the rod  90  is fully extended but not so much friction so as to prevent the first longitudinally extending portion  94  and the second longitudinally extending portion  96  from being folded onto one another when the rod  90  is in the folded orientation. The joint member  92  is sized such that there is sufficient room to accommodate the car cover  10  when the cover  10  is folded between the first and second longitudinally extending portions  94 ,  96 . The rod  90  has complementary fasteners  98  in a spaced-apart relationship attached to the periphery thereof allowing the rod  90  to be attached to end  18  of cover  10 . As in the previous embodiments, a cross-member  100  is attached to end  102  of first longitudinally extending portion  94  of deployment rod  90  and acts as a handle for the deployment rod  90  and assists in rolling the car cover onto a vehicle or removing the car cover from the vehicle. An elastic cord  104  is attached to first longitudinally extending portion  94  adjacent cross-member  100  and is utilized to retain the deployment rod  90  in the non-extended (folded) orientation.  
         [0027]     Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing. It is understood that all such modifications and improvements have been deleted herein for the sake conciseness and readability, but are properly within the scope of the following claims.