Abstract:
A tailgate topper for a pickup truck tailgate has a transverse horizontally extending cross-bar supported by a pair of vertically movable support members which allow positioning of the cross-bar at a desired height above the tailgate. A plurality of upwardly biased popup blocks are disposed below said cross-bar within the tailgate so exert pressure upwardly against cargo extending between the cross-bar and the popup block.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a vehicle tailgate such as a tailgate for a pickup type motor vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tailgate that has a system for restraining cargo extending beyond the tailgate. 
         [0002]    Pickup trucks are light trucks with an open body or cargo box having low sides and a tailgate. Pickup trucks are popular vehicles and are well adapted for transporting a variety of cargo including boards, conduit and other elongated items. The tailgate is at the rearward end of the cargo box and is adapted to be lowered or pivoted to one side to facilitate loading or off-loading of cargo and to be raised or pivoted to a closed position to thereby retain cargo in the box during the transportation of the cargo. Sometimes, however, the cargo is too long to fit within the length of the cargo box. In many cases long cargo can be transported by the pickup truck by positioning the cargo mostly inside the cargo box but with one end portion of the cargo resting on top of, and extending beyond, the tailgate. 
         [0003]    The practice of extending cargo beyond the length of a pickup truck cargo box in order to carry it is well known. Also well known are problems associated with the practice such as the problem of supporting the cargo during its transport while it extends beyond the cargo box. Tailgate extenders are known in the art for the purpose of supporting long cargo. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,671 Aug. 30, 2005 to Bruford et al. for “Vehicle Tailgate with Supplemental Tailgate Having Vertical Extension Mode” discloses a vehicle which has a tailgate with a supplemental tailgate that retracts within the tailgate and is extendable therefrom in order to provide different assist functions. Other tailgate extenders or auxiliary tailgates are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,364,392 Apr. 2, 2002 to Meinke for “Tailgate Extender”; 6,932,404 Aug. 23, 2005 to Vejnar for “Retractable Auxiliary Tailgate”; and 6,988,756 Jan. 24, 2006 to Meinke et al. for “Modular Extender Tailgate.” 
         [0004]    Another problem associated with the practice of transporting long cargo with pickup trucks is that of restraining the cargo to keep it in the bed while the truck is traveling over a rough road or uneven terrain. Although tailgate extenders are useful to provide support for long cargo items, there remains a need for a tailgate topper or system which has improved features the restraining cargo extending beyond the tailgate during its transportation. There also remains a need for a tailgate topper which can be provided during the original manufacture of the tailgate but can also be retrofit onto a tailgate after its manufacture. Still further, there remains a need for a tailgate topper which is easily used and can readily adapt to support and restrain cargo of different heights. And, of course, there remains a need for tailgate systems which are practical and economical to manufacture. 
         [0005]    Accordingly, the present invention provides a tailgate system which has improved features for restraining long cargo. The present invention also provides a tailgate topper which readily supports and/or restrains long cargo of different heights or thicknesses. Still further, the present invention provides a tailgate topper that can be economically incorporated into the original manufacture of a tailgate or retrofit onto an already manufactured tailgate. These and other advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following disclosure and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    In accordance with the present invention, a preferred embodiment of a pickup truck tailgate has a tailgate topper comprising a cross-bar supported by an adjustable vertical support assembly which is adapted to provide a clamping force on cargo between the cross-bar and an upper surface of the tailgate. A preferred embodiment of a tailgate topper system of the present invention has a cross-bar supported by an adjustable vertical support assembly and has a plurality of popup blocks spring biased upwardly against the cross-bar. Another preferred embodiment of he present invention is a kit for modifying an OEM tailgate, the kit comprising a cross-bar, vertical support assembly and a module having a plurality of spring biased popup blocks. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view, broken away, showing a pickup truck with a preferred embodiment of a tailgate of the present invention and showing the tailgate topper constraining long boards: 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view, broken away, taken along line  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view showing parts of a vertical support assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view, broken away, showing the vertical support assembly and horizontal crossbar of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view, broken away, taken along lien  5 - 5  in  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view, broken away, showing a preferred embodiment of a pop-up block module of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is a rear elevational view, broken away, further illustrating the use of a tailgate topper of the present invention to constrain long boards; 
           [0014]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view, broken away, showing a pickup truck with an alternative preferred embodiment of a tailgate of the present invention with an alternative tailgate topper; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view, broken away, showing the vertical support element and horizontal crossbar of the embodiment of  FIG. 7 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    Now referring to  FIG. 1 , a preferred embodiment of a tailgate topper of the present invention is indicated generally by the numeral  10  and is shown in combination with pickup truck  12 . Broadly speaking, pickup truck  12  has a cargo box  14  with a tailgate  16  extending transversely across the rear opening of cargo box  14 . Cargo box  14  is the payload or cargo area of pickup truck  12  and may be an open or closed cargo box but is illustrated herein as an open cargo box. Pickup truck  12 , cargo box  14  and tailgate  16  are conventional in the art except that tailgate  16  includes tailgate topper  10  of this invention which is described in more detail below. 
         [0017]    Tailgate topper  10  generally comprises an elongated horizontally extending cross-bar  18  which is supported by a pair of vertical support assemblies,  20  and  22  and preferably includes a plurality of popup blocks  24 . Vertical support assembly  20  has a vertical support rod  26  and vertical support tube  28 . An attachment plate  30  is welded or otherwise attached to the upper end of vertical support rod  26 . Attachment plate  30  has holes  32  and  34  and is secured to upwardly facing panel  36  of tailgate  16  by screws or other fastening elements extending through holes  32  and  34  and into panel  36 . Of course, attachment plate  30  can be otherwise attached to tailgate  16  such as by welding or the like and the lower end of vertical support tube  28  can be anchored to tailgate  16  for further stability if desired. 
         [0018]    Vertical support rod  26  has external threads  38  and vertical support tube  28  has internal threads  40 . Vertical support rod  26  is threadably located within vertical support tube  28  so that rotation of vertical support rod  26  effects a raising or lowering of vertical support rod  26  with respect to vertical support tube  28  to threreby raise or lower cross-bar  18 . Upper end portion  42  of vertical support rod  26  extends through hole  44  in horizontal crossbar  18  which is supported on shoulders  46  of vertical support rod  26 . Knob  48  is attached to upper end portion  42  of vertical support rod  26  by a set screw (not shown) or the like and has shoulder  45  which exerts a downward force on cross-bar  18  when vertical support rod  26  is lowered into clamping relationship with cargo or the top surface of tailgate  16 . Manipulation, i.e., rotation of knob  48  by the user thus raises or lowers vertical support rod  26  and hence cross-bar  18  with respect to tailgate  16 . 
         [0019]    Vertical support assembly  22  is analogous to vertical support assembly  20 . Of course, it is intended that vertical support assemblies  20  and  22  will be manipulated in cooperation with each other to obtain the desired height of cross-bar  18 . Also, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that while the present embodiment is illustrated with two vertical support assemblies  20  and  22 , tailgate topper  10  may comprise three or more vertical support assemblies if desired. 
         [0020]    Tailgate topper  10  also includes a plurality of spring biased popup blocks  24  which are adapted to project upwardly from tailgate  16  when cross-bar  18  is raised. As best shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , tailgate  16  has front panel  50  and rear panel  52  between which is hollow interior  54 . Of course, tailgate  16  can have a variety of designs within the scope of the present invention. Thus, pickup trucks, cargo boxes and tailgates of various sizes and shapes can be used in combination with a tailgate topper of the present invention. Popup blocks  24  are disposed within hollow interior  34  when in the down position but are biased upwardly towards cross-bar  18  by springs  56 . Popup blocks  24  are slidably disposed with respect to each other and can have a tongue and groove arrangement as is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . Upward movement of popup blocks  24  can be limited by limited spring length or other means so that cross-bar  18  can be raised above popup blocks  24  if desired. Also, popup blocks  24  can optionally have a look/release mechanism to allow a user to selectively release the blocks to allow their upward movement. It is preferred that popup blocks  24  will be biased upwardly to clamp cargo between the top of a block underneath the cargo and the cross-bar as is illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 7 . Of course, if the weight of the cargo exceeds the upward force of the spring or springs of the particular popup block or blocks underneath the cargo, the cargo will rest on top of the tailgate and be clamped in place by the cross-bar. In such a case, adjacent popup blocks will provide lateral restrictions against the cargo to prevent unwanted sideways movement of the cargo. 
         [0021]    Popup blocks  24  can be provided within tailgate  16  as shown in  FIGS. 1-5  or can be provided in the form of a popup block module as illustrated to  FIG. 6 . Thus, popup block module  60  carries a plurality of spring biased popup blocks  62  which are vertically slidably disposed with respect to each other and module  60 . Popup blocks  62  have a tongue and groove arrangement as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0022]    Further understanding of the present invention will be had from the following description of its use. It is intended that the tailgate topper  10  will be used in conjunction with the transport of long objects such as long boards which will extend beyond the length of truck bed  14  and which may be carried as illustrated in  FIG. 1  by extending one end of the boards over and beyond tailgate  16 . In use of tailgate topper  10 , cross-bar  18  is raised by manipulating knobs  48  and  64  to a position above the top of popup blocks  24 . Then, boards  66  and  68  are loaded into bed  14  by extending them between cross-bar  18  and popup blocks  24 . Preferably, but not necessarily, springs  56  are sufficiently strong to support the ends of boards  66  and  68 . Then cross-bar  18  is lowered down to boards  66  and  68 . Preferably, cross-bar  18  is lowered to the position shown in  FIG. 7  where boards  66  and  68  are shown well constrained against unwanted movement during transport. 
         [0023]    Now referring to  FIG. 8 , an alternative preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in operative association with pick-up truck  112  and tailgate  116  and is indicated generally by the numeral  110 . Tailgate topper  100  broadly comprises elongated horizontally extending cross-bar  118  which is supported by a pair of vertical support assemblies,  120  and  122 , and has plurality of popup blocks  124  analogous to those of tailgate topper  10 . As best shown in  FIG. 9 , vertical support assembly  120  has a vertical support rod  126  and vertical support tube  128 . Cross-bar  118  is supported by vertical support rod  126  in a manner analogous to that of tailgate topper  10 ; however, vertical support assembly  120  is adapted to be electrically operated. Thus, vertical support assembly  120  has a DC electric motor  170  which drives a gear  172  with teeth engaging corresponding gear teeth  174  in vertical support rod  126 . Vertical support assembly  122  is of a construction analogous to that of vertical support assembly  120  and it is intended that the motors of both assemblies will operate simultaneously to raise or lower cross-bar  118 . A suitable switch to control the motors can be provided on the tailgate or elsewhere in the vehicle. 
         [0024]    While the above invention has been disclosed in the context of preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is subject to modification and variation and such modifications and variations are within the broad scope of the present invention. Thus, the number of popup blocks may be varied as well as their installation. For example, the popup block module may be installed within the tailgate or on a front or rear face of the tailgate. Also, the number and types of springs and their spring force may be varied. Of course, the number of vertical support assemblies may be modified. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.