Patent ID: 8864212

Claim:
A drive unit for a tarpaulin cover system, comprising a gear arrangement configured to attach to an upper perimeter section of an open top structure, the gear arrangement including a left spur gear attached to a left cable holder/pulley for a left cable mounted to a tarpaulin cover, a right spur gear attached to a right cable holder/pulley for a right cable mounted to the tarpaulin cover, the left spur gear and the right spur gear being mounted on parallel axles and intermeshing with each other, a first bevel drive gear mounted coaxially to one of the spur gears for rotating that spur gear, a second bevel drive gear mounted to an axle perpendicular to the axle of the first bevel gear, the second bevel gear intermeshing with the first bevel gear, and a motion initiating device coupled to the gear arrangement and configured to impart a force that initiates rotation of the bevel drive gears and the spur gears to rotate the spur gears in opposite directions for simultaneously moving the left and right cables to thereby move the tarpaulin cover.