Claims
- 1. A truck bed toolbox lid comprising:
a substantially flat metallic top sheet member having a depending front edge member, a depending rear edge member and depending lateral edge members; a substantially flat metallic liner sheet member joined to said top sheet member so as to define an internal cavity; and a rigid, expanded, cured foam disposed within said internal cavity and bonded to said top sheet member and said liner sheet member, characterized in that said foam is injected into said cavity in an uncured, unexpanded state and expands and cures so as to self-bond to the metallic surfaces of said top sheet member and said liner sheet member to form an integral, composite truck bed toolbox lid.
- 2. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, further comprising a hot melt adhesive sealing member disposed along the perimeter of said liner sheet member, whereby upon cooling said hot melt adhesive sealing member forms a seal between the inside surface of said top sheet member and the outer edge perimeter of said liner sheet member to retain said foam within said internal cavity.
- 3. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of stitch weld joints connecting the outer edge perimeter of said liner sheet member to said top sheet member.
- 4. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, wherein said foam is a high density polyurethane foam.
- 5. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, characterized in that said lid remains uncrimped with no permanent set upon deflection up to approximately 6.25 inches under up to approximately 480 psi when said lid is secured on a horizontal platform with approximately half said lid extending beyond said platform and subjected to center pressure adjacent one of said lateral edge members.
- 6. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, characterized in that said lid remains uncrimped with no permanent set upon deflection up to approximately 7.5 inches under up to approximately 490 psi when said lid is secured on a horizontal platform with approximately half said lid extending beyond said platform and subjected to corner pressure adjacent one of said lateral edge members.
- 7. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, wherein said top sheet member is formed of an aluminum sheet having a thickness of approximately 0.063 mil.
- 8. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, wherein said liner sheet member is disposed generally parallel to said top sheet member.
- 9. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, wherein at least one of said front edge member, said depending rear edge member and said depending lateral edge members is a hemmed edge.
- 10. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 1, wherein said internal cavity is approximately one half to three quarter inches in depth between said top sheet member and said liner sheet member.
- 11. A truck bed toolbox lid comprising:
a substantially flat metallic top sheet member having a depending front edge member, a depending rear edge member and depending lateral edge members, wherein an edge perimeter is formed along the depending front, rear and lateral edge members; a substantially flat metallic liner sheet member joined to said top sheet member in edge contact abutment with said edge perimeter so as to define an internal cavity having a funneled, gas permeable apex boundary; and a rigid, expanded, cured foam disposed within said internal cavity and bonded to said top sheet member and said liner sheet member, characterized in that said foam is injected into said cavity in an uncured, unexpanded state, expands toward said funneled, gas permeable apex boundary and cures so as to self-bond to the metallic surfaces of said top sheet member and said liner sheet member to form an integral, composite truck bed toolbox lid.
- 12. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of stitch weld joints that fixedly couple the perimeter of said liner sheet member with said edge perimeter, such that gas permeable, non-welded gaps remain between said plurality of stitch weld joints.
- 13. The truck bed toolbox lid of claim 11, wherein said edge perimeter is beveled.
- 14. A method for producing a truck bed toolbox lid comprising:
providing a metallic top sheet member having a depending front edge member, a depending rear edge member and depending lateral edge members, wherein an edge perimeter is formed along the depending front, rear and lateral edge members; providing a substantially flat metallic liner sheet member; joining said metallic liner sheet member to said metallic top sheet member in edge contact abutment with said edge perimeter so as to define an internal cavity having a funneled, gas permeable apex boundary; and injecting a self-expanding, self-curing foam into said internal cavity in an amount such that said internal cavity is completely filled upon expansion of said foam, wherein said foam expands toward said funneled, gas permeable apex boundary and cures, such that said foam adheres to said metallic top sheet member and said metallic liner sheet member, and such that said metallic top sheet member, said foam and said metallic liner sheet member form a rigid composite member.
- 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising applying a hot melt adhesive sealing member along the perimeter of said liner sheet member, such that upon cooling said hot melt adhesive sealing member forms a seal between the inside surface of said top sheet member and the outer edge perimeter of said liner sheet member to retain said foam within said internal cavity.
- 16. The method of claim 14, further comprising heating said metallic top sheet member and said metallic liner sheet member during said injecting step.
- 17. The method of claim 14, wherein said edge perimeter is beveled.
- 18. The method of claim 14, wherein said joining step is performed by stitch welding said metallic liner sheet member to said beveled edge perimeter.
- 19. The method of claim 14, wherein said joining step is performed by disposing said liner sheet generally parallel to said metallic top sheet member.
- 20. The method of claim 14, wherein said metallic top sheet member is produced by cutting, folding and welding a single sheet of aluminum.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This continuation-in-part application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/181,858, filed Feb. 11, 2000, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/799,288, filed Feb. 8, 2001.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60181858 |
Feb 2000 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09779228 |
Feb 2001 |
US |
Child |
10300968 |
Nov 2002 |
US |