AU2011265533B2

AU2011265533B2 - Assembly for attaching a flexible material to a support member

Info

Publication number: AU2011265533B2
Application number: AU2011265533A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Nathan Anthony Ennor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-12-23
Filing date: 2011-12-23
Publication date: 2016-01-21
Anticipated expiration: 2031-12-23
Also published as: AU2016100084A4; AU2011265533A1

Abstract

An assembly for releasably fastening a sheet of a flexible material to a support, the assembly including, a resilient longitudinal strip (30) having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion, and a rail member (10) having a mounting portion adapted to be rigidly mounted to a support, a shoulder (18) and an inclined flange (20) extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion (34) of the resilient strip, wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange (20) such that when the flange (20) is received within the hook portion (34), the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material.

Description

1 ASSEMBLY FOR ATTACHING A FLEXIBLE MATERIAL TO A SUPPORT MEMBER The present disclosure relates to an assembly and method for attaching a 5 marginal edge of a sheet of flexible material to a support member. In particular, the present disclosure relates to an assembly and method for attaching a tonneau cover to a cargo area of a utility vehicle. BACKGROUND 10 The present disclosure will be described with reference to a tonneau cover for covering a cargo tray of a utility vehicle. However, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure has wider application and may be used to mount a sheet of any suitable flexible material to a support and no limitation is 15 intended thereby. The present disclosure may find applications for boat covers, trailer covers, retaining or mounting an edge of an awning and the like. Tonneau covers that cover the cargo bay of utility vehicles are well known. 20 Tonneau covers are classed as either hard or soft. Hard covers are in the form of rigid panels that are hinged to the cargo bay to allow access to the interior. Soft covers are flexible which allows them to be rolled or otherwise folded when not in use or to allow access to the cargo bay. 25 Conventional methods for attaching a soft cover to a vehicle cargo tray employ elastic lugs or bungee cords attached to the cover that are stretched over hooks or buttons fixed to the vehicle tray. A well-known disadvantage of this system is that over time the elasticity decreases resulting in a loose fit. Eventually the elastic cords fail and must be replaced. Further, disengaging 30 and engaging the straps with the buttons or hooks is time consuming.

2 Accordingly there is a desire in the industry to provide alternative methods of fitting a tonneau cover to a vehicle tray. These methods generally involve after fitting a rail to the top of the walls of the tray with a means of engaging a modified edge of a soft tonneau cover. One method uses a hook and loop 5 type faster combination such as Velcro on the rail and cover. Another provides matching press studs on the rail and cover to provide a "snap fit". In a still further arrangement, a channel on the rail engages a thickened edge of the cover. 10 It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide an alternative method for attaching a flexible material such as a tonneau cover or the like to a support. SUMMARY 15 According to a first broad form of the present disclosure there is provided an assembly for releasably fastening a sheet of a flexible material to a support, the assembly including: a resilient elongate strip having a substantially planar body with 20 opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; and a rail member having a mounting portion adapted to be rigidly mounted to an elongate support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending 25 downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip; wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the 30 fastened material.

3 The assembly of the present disclosure can releaslably fasten a flexible material to a support member. The material can be any suitable material and in a preferred form of the disclosure, the material is a tonneau cover for a vehicle. Alternatively, the material may be a cover for a boat, trailer or 5 other suitable structure. The assembly includes a rail member adapted to be rigidly mounted a support. In the case of a tonneau cover, the support is a side wall of a cargo bay of a utility vehicle. The rail member is suitably an extruded material and 10 in a preferred form is an aluminium extrusion. The rail member may be mounted to the support by any suitable means and methods of mounting aluminium extrusions to supports are well known in the mechanical arts and include rivets, screws and the like. Typically, the rail 15 member has a flat base portion for mounting to the support. An advantage of a planar or flat base means that the base may be positioned at any desirable location on a support. In a preferred form of the disclosure, the rail member has a means for 20 indicating the preferred location of the fixing means. Suitably, the rail member has a longitudinal marker. The marker may be in the form of a groove. The rail member has a flange extending away from a shoulder. Suitably the 25 rail member has an upstanding portion that terminates at the shoulder. In an alternate form of the disclosure, the rail member may be integral with the support. For example a support may be extruded to have a shoulder and an extending flange. 30 4 According to a further broad form of the disclosure, there is provided in combination; a resilient elongate strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge 5 of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; and a rail member having a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip; 10 wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material. 15 According to a further broad form of the disclosure, there is provided a rail member having a mounting portion adapted to be rigidly mounted to an elongate support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder. 20 There is also disclosed an assembly for releasably fastening a sheet of a flexible material to a support, the assembly including: a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a 25 hook portion; and a rail member having a mounting portion having a substantially flat base with a lower surface that is received on the support and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, a shoulder and an 30 inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange 5 having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip. There is also disclosed a combination comprising: 5 a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; and a rail member having a mounting portion having a substantially flat 10 base with a lower surface that is received on the support and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the 15 resilient strip. The assembly includes an elongate resilient strip. The strip is suitably formed from an extruded plastics material such as high density polyethylene. The material suitably includes stabilizers against thermal and UV 20 degradation as is known in the art. The strip is resilient such that it can deform in response to stress without failing. The strip can be attached to the edge of a flexible material. Typically the material is attached by sewing. The strip has a curved edge that forms a 25 hook for receiving the flange of the rail member. When the strip is attached to a flexible material, engagement of the flange with the hook fastens the material to a support on which the rail member is mounted. Typically an opposed edge of the material is also fixed to a support such that when the edge of the material is fastened by inserting the flange into the hook, the 30 material is under tension. In this way, the material is fixed to the support.

6 The strip has an edge that is curved to define a hook portion that in use receives and can retain the flange of the rail member. Suitably the hook portion is of a thicker cross section than the planar body portion of the strip. This additional thickness reduces the resiliency of the hook portion such that 5 the hook portion is essentially non-resilient. The strip has a width that is wider than the length of the flange. Suitably, the width is at least two times the width of the flange, preferably three times. 10 When the assembly is in use and the strip is under tension, the strip will deform or bend about the shoulder. This has the effect of releasing a degree of tension in the material. The deformation also stores energy in a manner similar to a spring. This energy may be released when the flange is disengaged from the hook portion when the material is being released from 15 the support. Such a release of energy makes separation of the parts easier. This is an advantage for a user. A known disadvantage of attaching arrangements that rely upon tension to keep two parts together is that strong fingers are required to disengage the parts. 20 In a preferred form of the disclosure, the relative shape and dimensions of the terminal end of the flange and the internal face of the hook portion assist in releasing the two parts, again making it easier and simpler for finger operation. 25 The hook portion has an inner face defined by the terminal edge, the inner curve and an opposed portion of the inner side face of the body of the strip. The terminal end of the flange suitably has a complimentary curve to the inner curve so that it can be received snugly by the inner curve of the hook. The inner face of the terminal edge has an outward taper, suitably at an 30 angle between about 152 to about 302, suitably between about 182 to about 232 to the longitudinal axis of the strip. This allows the terminal edge of the 7 flange to "ride" along the inner face, facilitating disengagement of the two parts. According to a further broad form of the disclosure, there is provided a 5 method of releasably fastening a sheet of flexible material to an elongate support comprising: providing a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges wherein the first edge is attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook 10 portion; providing a rail member having a mounting portion adapted to be rigidly mounted to an elongate support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip; 15 wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material; mounting the rail member to the support; and 20 engaging the hook portion of the strip attached to the flexible material with the flange of the rail member. Another suitable method is provided for releasably fastening a sheet of flexible material to an elongate support that comprises: 25 providing a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges wherein the first edge is attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; providing a rail member having a mounting portion having a 30 substantially flat base with a lower surface that is received on the support 8 and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, ,a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the 5 hook portion of the resilient strip; fastening the rail member to the support by passing a mechanical fastener through the mounting portion and into the support; and engaging the hook portion of the strip attached to the flexible material with the flange of the rail member. 10 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figure 1 is a cross section of a preferred rail member and a preferred resilient strip of the present disclosure when joined together. 15 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Figure 1 shows an enlarged cross section of a rail member 10 of a preferred assembly of the present disclosure. The rail member is an aluminium 20 extrusion. The rail member 10 has a base 12 that can be attached to the top of a side wall of a tray of a utility vehicle. The base may be screwed, riveted or otherwise affixed to the top of the tray wall. The base 12 has a locating 25 groove 14 to allow an installer to align the fixing means. The rail member 10 has an upstanding portion 16 with an upper shoulder 18 with an outwardly extending downturned flange 20. The upstanding portion is triangular having one part 22 perpendicular to the base 12 and an inclined 9 arm 24 that provides structural support. The flange 20 is downturned at an angle of 702 to the shoulder 18. The terminal end 26 of the flange 20 is curved with a radius of 1.5mm. 5 Figure 1 also shows a cross section of a resilient strip 30. The strip is formed from a resilient but firm material such as high density polyethylene. The strip can be stitched to the underside of an edge of a tonneau cover. The strip 30 has a flat body section 32 in which opposed sides are parallel. The body section is 40mm in length and 2.5mm in width. The body section 10 terminates in a downturned portion defining a hook portion 34. The inner curved part 40 of the hook portion is curved with a radius of 1.5mm. This is complimentary to the shape of the terminal end 26 of flange 20. This allows the terminal end of the flange to be snuggly received within the innermost portion of the hook portion. 15 The terminal edge of the hook does not have parallel sides the inner face taper outwardly towards the mouth 42. The angle of the inner edge a relative to the longitudinal axis of the body section 32 is 21 . 20 The cross section of the hook is thickened relative to the body section. The outer radius of the U shape is 4.5mm. The width of the body section 32 is 2.5mm. This difference in width makes the hook portion less resilient than the body. In this way, the hook part resists deformation when engaged with the flange and is force is applied when in use. 25 In the figure, it may be seen that the body section 32 of the strip 30 extends beyond the flange 20 to an extent corresponding to about 3 times the length of the flange 20. When down pressure is applied to the free end of the strip a pivotal force is created on the body at the point where it no longer abuts 30 the flange, shown as point A on Figure 3. This pivotal force overtime causes 10 the resilient material to deflect slightly. This provides a working advantage as will be discussed below. It can be seen from Figure 1 that the terminal edge of the hook is spaced 5 from the flange 20. This allows the hook portion to disengage from the flange 20 by riding along the end of the flange. This may be compared to the situation where a flange engaging channel is completely complimentary to the flange. In this case, in order to disengage the two parts it is necessary to pull the engaging member completely away so as to clear the flange. 10 It will be appreciated that where there is a significant amount of tension holding the two parts together, this can be difficult, especially when the operator is only using their fingers. Also in view of the pivot point on the body of the strip where it contacts the shoulder, pressure on the other side of 15 the pivot point, facilitates the sliding movement of the hook portion around the edge of the flange. For example a user may grasp the strip and apply a downward force with the thumb on the strip body at a point B between the pivot point and the free 20 edge 44 whilst simultaneously exerting an upwards force with the fingers placed beneath the hook portion at point C. When used to releasably attach a tonneau cover to a tray of a utility vehicle, a rail member is attached to the upper part of the side walls of the tray and 25 optionally to the tail gate. Resilient strips are sewn onto opposing sides of a tonneau cover that is cut to a size matching the opening of the cargo tray. The strip on one side of the cover is placed over the flange on the rail member on one side of the tray. The cover is then stretched over the tray and the opposed strip likewise engaged. It is desirable that the cover is cut 30 to a size that the initial fitting will be very tight and may take some effort to fit. However, because of the resilience of the strip and that it extends over and 11 past the shoulder means that the strip deforms over the shoulder thereby releasing some of the induced tension. Thus, the assembly can self-adjust to the desired tension. After such self-adjustment, the cover will be easier to remove. Further, energy stored in the deformed strip acts as a spring to 5 enable a quicker and easier release. It is considered desirable that a tonneau cover is stretched as tight as possible across a tray. This is aesthetically pleasing and also reduces wind resistance when travelling at speed. 10 It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made to the disclosure as described and claimed herein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Claims

1. An assembly for releasably fastening a sheet of a flexible material to a support, the assembly including: a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; and a rail member having a mounting portion having a substantially flat base with a lower surface that is received on the support and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material.

3. The assembly of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the rail member is an aluminium extrusion.

4. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the exposed planar upper surface of the mounting portion has guide means for guiding the location of a fastener for fastening the member to a support. 13

5. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the flange is downwardly inclined at an angle of between about 60 to about 802.

6. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the planar body is more resilient than the hook portion.

7. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the hook portion has an inner curve that is complimentary to the terminal edge of the flange.

8. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the inner face of the curved portion of the hook is outwardly tapered.

9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the taper is at an angle of between about 182 to about 232 to the longitudinal axis of the body.

10. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the width of the strip is at least two times the width of the flange.

11. In combination; a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges, wherein the first edge is adapted to be attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; and a rail member having a mounting portion having a substantially flat base with a lower surface that is received on the support and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from 14 the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip.

12. The combination of claim 11 wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material.

13. A method of releasably fastening a sheet of flexible material to an elongate support comprising: providing a resilient longitudinal strip having a substantially planar body with opposed edges wherein the first edge is attached to an edge of a sheet of flexible material and the opposed edge is curved to define a hook portion; providing a rail member having a mounting portion having a substantially flat base with a lower surface that is received on the support and an exposed planar upper surface such that a mechanical fastener can pass through the base so as to mount the rail member to the support, ,a shoulder and an inclined flange extending downwards away from the shoulder, the flange having a terminal edge that in use is received by the hook portion of the resilient strip, fastening the rail member to the support by passing a mechanical fastener through the mounting portion and into the support; and engaging the hook portion of the strip attached to the flexible material with the flange of the rail member.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the strip has a width that is wider than the width of the flange such that when the flange is received within the hook portion, the strip abuts the flange and extends over and past the shoulder in the direction of the fastened material. 15

15. The method of claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the flexible material is a tonneau cover and the support is a cargo tray of a utility vehicle.