Patent Publication Number: US-9834161-B2

Title: Rock guard for highway vehicles

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/295,929 that was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Jun. 4, 2014. The completed disclosure of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/295,929 is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to protective rock guards for vehicles, such as highway trucks. 
     BACKGROUND 
     While driving on highways, highway vehicles, such as trucks, semi-trucks and the like, are often exposed to loose debris, rocks, and other elements that may become airborne due to other vehicles or weather. Rocks and debris that hit the front of the vehicle at a high speed may cause damage to parts of the vehicle behind the front grille, such as parts inside the engine compartment. Often, a radiator is located behind the front grille. Rocks and debris that are small enough to pass through the front grille or travel fast enough to damage the grille can cause damage to the radiator. Some currently available guards typically comprise a wire screen or perforated metal center section with a surrounding support frame. The support frame provides the guard with rigidity, structure, and mounting points that can be used to mount the guard to the vehicle, but also adds weight and manufacturing costs. Improvements are desired. As a rock guard is mounted onto a non-planar surface, the rock guard either needs to be formed to conform to the contours of the surface, or a deformation process is required to conform the rock guard. If the rock guard includes a support frame, the support frame has to be formed to match the contour of the surface the guard will be mounted on, further adding to manufacturing requirements and costs. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure relates to a guard for a vehicle, the guard having a main body with a self-supporting frameless structure extending between first through fourth sides. In one aspect, the main body includes a plurality of mounting apertures and fasteners that allow the guard to be mountable to a structure of the vehicle, such as the vehicle radiator or the front grille. In one aspect, the guard has a plurality of spaced apart openings having a first size, the main body being constructed to allow passage of an air flow stream through the main body openings while preventing passage of objects having a size greater than the first size of the openings. 
     In another aspect, and instead of utilizing a separate frame, the guard comprises a structural hem to impart structural integrity to the main body. The structural hem is a folded portion of the main body. The structural hem can be provided along each of the first through fourth sides and along at least a majority of the main body outer perimeter. The main body can also include a plurality of mounting apertures configured for mounting the unitary frameless guard to the vehicle, each of the plurality of mounting apertures extending through the main body and being located interiorly of the hem structure. The guard may be constructed of metal, plastic, carbon fiber, or a combination thereof. The main body of the guard may be constructed of metal wire screen. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of the guard installed on a grille of a highway vehicle. 
         FIG. 2  shows an embodiment of the guard according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  shows a cross sectional view of an embodiment of the guard of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  shows an embodiment of a guard prior to assembly according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5A  shows a front view of an embodiment of the guard according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5B  shows a bottom view of the guard of  FIG. 5A . 
         FIG. 5C  shows a back view of the guard of  FIG. 5A . 
         FIG. 5D  shows a side view of the guard of  FIG. 5A . 
         FIG. 5E  shows a perspective back view of the guard of  FIG. 5A . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The guard  1  disclosed herein protects the radiator and other parts inside the engine compartment of highway vehicles can be manufactured of various materials, such as metals, plastics, and fabrics. A guard  1  made from a metal material can be more durable than one made of plastic or fabric constructions. The guard  1  allows for air flow to pass through the guard  1  and into the radiator and engine compartment. The present disclosure provides for a guard  1  that has a self-supporting frameless structure, making it faster and more cost effective to produce and more pliable and lighter in weight, making the guard easier to install. Use of the term “frameless” is meant to differentiate over structures having a separate frame assembly or frame pieces that are attached to the main body of a screen that provide structural support to and/or mounting points for the screen.  FIGS. 1-4  show exemplary embodiments of the rock guard  1  according to the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of the guard  1  installed on a grille  100  of a highway vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment. The guard  1  can be installed or mounted by its mounting apertures  11  on a structure of the vehicle, such as the grille  100  (e.g., the front or back-side of the grille  100 ) of the vehicle. For example, the guard  1  can be configured to be mounted so that it is located between the grille  100  and the radiator of the vehicle. According to embodiments, the guard  1  has a plurality of openings that allow passage of an air flow but that are small enough to prevent rocks and debris that pass through openings  101  in the grille  100  from entering the engine compartment (e.g., the radiator). In exemplary embodiments, the openings in the guard are small enough to prevent rocks or debris with a diameter larger than about 4 mm, 3.4 mm, 2.9 mm, 2.4 mm, 2.0 mm, 1.7 mm, 1.4 mm, or 1.2 mm from going through the guard. According to a preferred embodiment, the openings in the guard will prevent rocks or debris with a diameter larger than about 2.4 mm from going through the guard. 
       FIG. 2  shows an embodiment of the guard  1 . According to embodiments, the guard  1  has a main body  10  extending between opposite first and second sides  10   a ,  10   b  and between opposite third and fourth sides  10   c ,  10   d  with a self-supporting frameless structure having a perimeter surrounded by a structural hem  12  and a plurality of mounting apertures  11  mountable to a structure of the vehicle. Various shapes of the main body  10  are possible. For example, the guard  1  can optionally have more than four sides, e.g., five sides, six sides, or eight sides. The guard  1  can also have notched or rounded corners, and can comprise an opening within the guard for allowing a vehicle component (such as a PTO shaft) to pass through the guard. 
     The main body  10  of the guard  1  may be constructed of a mesh or a perforated material. In exemplary embodiments, the main body  10  is constructed of a wire mesh, such as a metal wire mesh. The metal wire mesh may be of any suitable metal or metal alloy, such as aluminum or steel. The wire mesh may also be coated with a protective coating, such as paint, another metal, or a plastic coating. The wire mesh may be of any mesh size suitable for the purpose. For example, ASTM mesh sizes 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 may be used. According to a preferred exemplary embodiment, the body  10  of the guard  1  is constructed of ASTM mesh size 8 aluminum wire mesh coated with a protective paint coating. According to alternative embodiments, the main body  10  may be constructed of metal, plastic, fiber glass, carbon fiber, or combinations thereof. 
     The guard  1  can be sized to fit between the grille  100  and the radiator of the vehicle so that it protects the front of the radiation at least in the areas of the grille openings. The guard  1  can be cut and manufactured to fit to the size and shape of the grille  100  of any vehicle. For example, the main body  10  of the guard  1  may be generally rectangular in shape with a width W 10  and a height H 10 . According to exemplary embodiments, the width W 10  can be between about 903.5-911.5 mm, or about 907.5 mm, and the height H 10  can be between about 358.5-366.5 mm, or about 362.5 mm. Other shapes are also possible, as seen, for example, in  FIG. 5A-5E . 
     As seen in  FIG. 2 , the main body  10  of the guard  1  is circumferentially surrounded by a hem  12  that extends along at least a majority of the perimeter of the main body  10 . In the embodiments, the hem  12  is formed by folding a section of the material of the body  10  over onto itself.  FIG. 3  shows a detailed cross sectional view of the hem  12 . According to exemplary embodiments, the hem has a width W 12  that can be between about 7-50 mm, about 8-30 mm, about 9-15 mm, or about 12 mm. The folded hem  12  gives structural stability to the body  10  of the guard  1  without the need for supporting the main body  10  with a separate frame. 
       FIG. 4  shows an exemplary embodiment of material cut to prepare the main body  10 . The material for the guard  1  can be cut out as one continuous shape including material for the main body  10  and surrounding hem  12 . The material can comprise, for example, metal wire mesh. To prepare the guard  1 , the material for the hem  12  is folded over and onto the material for the main body  10 . According to a preferred embodiment, the hem  12  extends along at least a majority of the perimeter of the main body  10 , or along the whole perimeter of the main body  10 . The hem  12  may be further secured onto the main body  10 , although the embodiment presented has sufficient rigidity not to require securing of the free end  13  of the hem  12 . 
     The term self-supporting as used in this application is meant to define a structure that is generally capable of maintaining its shape and size without external support, e.g., without a separate supporting frame or other structure. On the other hand, the guard  1  is pliable so that it forms to the structure of the vehicle (e.g., the grille  100 ) when installed. The guard  1  is capable of following the contour of the grille  100  and thus forming to the curve of the grille  100 . According to embodiments, the guard  1  has improved structural stability (e.g., as compared to a simple mesh) supplied by the hem  12  that circumferentially surrounds the main body  10 . Together the main body  10  and the hem  12  provide the guard  1  with a semi-rigid quality. In the embodiments the main body  10  is constructed of material having at least a minimum stiffness (e.g., comparable to ASTM size 8 aluminum wire mesh) making it suitable for the purpose. For example, the self-supporting structure of the guard  1  is capable of holding its general shape even when held up by one point only, e.g., by one hand. The guard  1  can also be installed or mounted on a structure of the vehicle by holding the guard  1  in place with one hand and attaching the guard  1  to the structure with the other. 
     The guard  1  can be attached to the structure of the vehicle by a plurality of attachment mechanisms or fasteners  20 . The attachment mechanisms  20  are removably coupled with corresponding mounting apertures  11  on the main body  10  that are inset from the hem  12 , and with the structure of the vehicle (e.g., the grille  100 ). The mounting apertures  11  extend through the main body  10  and can be placed generally along the perimeter of the main body  10 . In the exemplary embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the attachment mechanisms  20  extend through the corresponding apertures  11  and clip onto horizontal bars  102  on the grille  100  of the vehicle. The mounting apertures  11  may be sized to fit any suitable attachment mechanism  20 , e.g., a clip (as shown in  FIG. 1 ), a Christmas tree fastener, or a nut-and-bold mechanism. The mounting apertures  11  may simply be holes or reinforced holes in the body  10  of the guard  1 . According to exemplary embodiments, the plurality of mounting apertures  11  may include from 3-10, or from 4-8 mounting apertures  11 . The mounting apertures  11  can be provided with a protective device/member to provide a bearing surface for the attachment mechanism and to hold the weave of the mesh in place, if necessary. The protective member can be held in place, for example, by a hook-and-loop fastener, or any other suitable fastening mechanism. 
     An alternative embodiment of guard  1  is shown in  FIGS. 5A-5E . As can be seen in  FIG. 5A , the guard  1  may have rounded corners  13  and angled sides  10   a ,  10   b . The guard  1  comprises five mounting apertures  11  that are aligned generally horizontally approximately along the center of the guard  1 .  FIG. 5B  shows a bottom view of the guard  1 , showing a slight curve in the contour of the guard  1 .  FIG. 5C  shows a back view of the guard  1 , showing the hem  12 . As can be seen in  FIG. 5C , the hem  12  does not extend all the way to the rounded corners  13  but stops some distance short of the corners  13 .  FIG. 5D  shows a side view of the guard  1 .  FIG. 5E  shows a perspective back view of the guard  1 . 
     Because the guard  1  has a frameless structure it is lighter in weight than an otherwise similar guard manufactured with a frame. The lighter weight and need for less material to construct the guard  1  provides cost savings in manufacturing without sacrificing the necessary stiffness and rigidity requirements for the guard  1 . The frameless guard  1  also requires fewer manufacturing process steps and is therefore faster and simpler to manufacture than a guard with a frame, providing further savings in manufacturing. 
     While certain embodiments of the invention have been described, other embodiments may exist. The specific features described above are disclosed as illustrative aspects and embodiments of the invention. Various other aspects, embodiments, modifications, and equivalents thereof which, after reading the description herein, may suggest themselves to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention or the scope of the claimed subject matter.