Patent ID: 8500190

Claim:
A roof bow for a commercial trailer body, the roof bow adapted to extend transversely across the roof of the trailer body and to support a roof panel affixed below the roof bow comprising: the roof bow in an elongated form having a uniform cross-sectional shape along its length, the cross-sectional shape defining a median plane aligned with the longitudinal axis of the bow and having a raised crown region having a flattened top and a pair of side walls, each of the pair of the side walls joining with an attachment pad at a joining area to form a pair of the joining areas and a pair of the attachment pads, and each of the pair of attachment pads forming at least one adhesive retention groove on a lower surface, each of the attachment pads extending both outwardly from one of the pair of joining areas and from the median plane, and inwardly from one of the pair of joining areas and toward the median plane to form a pair of leg extensions extending inwardly from the joining areas, the crown the pair of side walls and the pair of leg extensions cooperating to form an interior cavity opening between the pair of leg extensions, the interior cavity forming an inside corner at each of the pair of joining areas between the pair of side walls and the pair of leg extensions to form a pair of the corner areas, the interior cavity forming an interior width between the pair of inside corners greater than a separation distance between the pair of leg extensions.