Patent Application
20190217903
The field of the present invention falls within the automotive sector focusing particularly in the area of the industry dedicated to the manufacture of boxes for pick-up truck vehicles.
Currently, pick-up truck vehicles equipped with a cabin for the driver and one or more accompanying passengers, and a rear box delimited by two substantially vertical side panels, a front panel and a hinged rear tailgate for loading and unloading, are widely known.
Depending on the maneuverability of the vehicle, the loading and unloading operations through the rear area of the box may be especially difficult due to the lack of adequate space to access said rear area.
Therefore, the technical problem posed is the development of a box for pick-up truck vehicles having, in addition to a rear tailgate, at least one auxiliary gate to define a side loading and unloading area.
An object of the present invention relates to a box for vehicles, in particular pick-up truck vehicles, which provides a number of advantages and structural and constitutive features that will be described in detail below, and which involve an improvement over what is already known in the state of the art.
Specifically, the object of the invention focuses on a box for pick-up truck vehicles including features designed to facilitate loading and unloading through at least one side of the vehicle's box.
The box for vehicles proposed by the invention is configured as a novel item within its field of application, since it presents appropriate features to achieve the objective proposed, the characterizing details which distinguish it being defined in the appended claims.
Specifically, what the invention proposes is a box for vehicles, particularly pick-up truck vehicles, including a cargo bed delimited by two, substantially vertical, side panels, a front panel, and a movable tailgate for loading and unloading.
According to the invention, at least one of the side panels has an auxiliary gate attached to said side panel by supporting means and is able to be displaced between a closed position, in which said auxiliary gate is arranged coplanar with the rest of the side, and an open position, in which it defines, in said side panel, a space for loading and unloading.
In one embodiment of the invention the supporting means for the auxiliary gate comprise hinges for its side folding between a vertical closed position and a horizontal open position.
In order to minimize the space taken by the auxiliary gate in the open position, in one embodiment of the invention the vehicle box comprises, below the cargo bed, transverse guides for the displacement and concealment of said auxiliary gate in the horizontal open position.
In any case, the auxiliary gate can be manually operated, although the invention also contemplates the possibility that the box is provided with driving means for the displacement of the auxiliary gate between the open and closed positions.
In order to complement the description that is being carried out and with the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the features of the invention, the present description is accompanied by a set of drawings wherein, by way of a non-limiting example, the following has been represented:
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In this embodiment the box (1) also comprises driving means (4), represented by an electric driving cylinder, which when operated cause the displacement of the auxiliary gate (2) between the open and closed positions.
Once the nature of the invention as well as an example of preferred embodiment have been sufficiently described, it is stated for all pertinent purposes that the materials, form, size and arrangement of the elements described are susceptible to changes, provided these do not involve an alteration of the essential features of the invention that are claimed subsequently.
