AU703978B2

AU703978B2 - Support rail for caravan awning side walls

Info

Publication number: AU703978B2
Application number: AU77425/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Charles Tebbs
Original assignee: Tebb Desmond Charles
Current assignee: Tebb Desmond Charles
Priority date: 1997-07-24
Filing date: 1998-07-21
Publication date: 1999-04-01
Anticipated expiration: 2018-07-21
Also published as: AU7742598A

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

(ORIGINAL)

e r Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: CHARLES TEBBS CHARLES TEBBS SANDERCOCK COWIE 69 Robinson Street, DANDENONG VIC 3175 SUPPORT RAIL FOR CARAVAN AWNING SIDE WALLS Details of Associated Provisional Application(s): No(s): Australian Provisional Application No. P08227 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: -1 1998-07-20.A M54tcbbs fil.

-la *e TITLE: SUPPORT RAIL FOR CARAVAN AWNING SIDE WALLS FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 This invention relates to a support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe located on the side of a caravan, mobile home or like vehicles.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Prior known canvas or like material side walls of roll out awning extensions to a caravan, mobile home or the like recreational vehicle to provide an annexe having weatherproof protection have comprised walls of suitable material clipped to the edges of the awning roof with the awning roof clipped over the outside of the wall. This method of fastening the side walls results in distortion and stretching of the edges of the awning roof with resultant damage and penetration by the clips to the edges of the awning. Furthermore 1998-01-23,A;\1511ebbs.cap,l -2the clips, as known, are difficult and awkward to use in assembly.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the known securing problem of attaching side walls of annexe structures in a manner providing ease of attachment of the side walls in a secure and positive weatherproof mainer, with no sag, shrink or any other distortion of the awning roof or the side wall upper edge.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an enclosed weatherproof area that is far superior to existing annexe structures, there being no attachments to the awning roof such as zips, hooks or clips that can cause either leaking or abrasion created by two fabrics allowed to rub together or draught and wind driven rain penetration. As there are no attachments used on the awning roof edges, there will be no stretch, sag, shrink or any other distortion of the awning roof edges caused by such attachments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe, an outer end of one part of the attachment being engageable in a locating and supporting bracket 20 secured to the wall of a caravan or like vehicle, the outer end of the other part of the attachment being engageable in an awning roller member at the rolled-out location of the awning, said two parts of the attachment being lockable in an extendable manner between said bracket and the roller member so as to support a canvas or other material side wall of the annexe structure, said attachment having a track for supporting and locating the 25 upper edge of the side wall.

PREFERRED ASPECTS OF THE INVENTION The elongated telescopic parts of the support rail attachment are preferably of square, round, or rectangular configuration or any other configuration capable of allowing telescopic adjustability whilst allowing attachment of a rope track for locating and supporting the upper end of the side wall.

1998-01-23,A:\15 1ltcbbs.cap,2 -3- The rope track is preferably of elongated slotted configuration for slidably accommodating a length of rope sewn into the upper end of the side wall.

The said outer end of the other part of the attachment is a pin member engageable in an aperture through the outer circumference of the awning roller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention and its manner of performance may be more fully understood, reference will now be made to an embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the standard awning support structure extending from the side of a caravan and showing the annexe side wall support rails; Figure 2 is a plan view of one end of the awning support arm with the support rail of the invention on the inside thereof; Figure 3 is a view of the illustration in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the support rail locating and supporting bracket in its attachment to the side of a caravan and the part of the support rail engageable therewith; Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6 of Figure 5 showing the engagement of the support rail with the bracket in its attachment to the side of a caravan; Figure 7 is a perspective view of an alternative to the bracket of Figure Figure 8 is a perspective view of the adjoining ends of the two parts of the support rail; and 199S-01-23,A:\151 bbs.cap,3 Figure 9 is a perspective view of the part of the support rail lower locating pin engageable through the circumference of the awning roller.

INTEGER LIST Awning uprights 6. Upper arms awning support 7. Awning roller 8. Side wall support rails 9. Side wall support rail section Side wall support rail section 11. Tubular square section of support rails 12. Tubular square section of support rails 13. Locking screw 14. Rope guide track 15. Angle members 16. Spacer pins 17. Space for awning material 18. Rail support locating pin 19. Flattened part of rail support U-shaped locating bracket 21. U-shaped locating bracket 22. Slot in bracket 21 23. Leg of angle bracket 25 24. Plate member for brackets 20 and 21 Awning rope track guide 26. Upturned end of flange 23 DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates the uprights 5, upper arms 6 and roller 7 of an awning roof. The side wall support rails are indicated generally at 8.

1998-01-23,A:\Sll cbbs.cap,4

I

The side wall support rails 8 comprise two elongated sections 9 and 10 adapted to be joined together in telescopic manner whereby tubular square section 11 of support rail section 9 is slidable in tubular square section 12 of support rail section 10; sections 11 and 12, being lockable in their extended form by a finger operated locking screw 13. A rope guide track 14 is secured to both sections 11 and 12 so as to locate and support the upper edges of the side walls of the annexe.

Angle members 15 are located over and secured to square sections 11 and 12 by spacer pins 16. Angle members 15 are spaced from their adjacent square sections 11 and 12 allowing entry of the side edges of the awning roof material to be inserted at the space 17 and the leg 23 extending above spaces 17 acts as a water overflow in use.

Rail section 9 is provided at its outer end with a pin 18 adapted to be located in an aperture in the circumferential wall of awning roller 7 adjacent one end thereof when the 15 awning is rolled out taut over the roller. At the outer end of support rail 10 there is provided a flattened part 19 adapted to engage in and on a U-shaped bracket 20 secured •at an upper location on the side of the caravan. Figure 5 shows one form of a U-shaped

B

*bracket and Figure 7 shows another embodiment of a bracket 21 providing a slot 22 for location of part 19.

Brackets 20 and 21 are secured to a plate member 24 extending horizontally along the side of the caravan and including a rope track guide 25 for locating the inner edge of the awning material. The angle members 15 have upturned leg parts 23 along their length to give more space for leading the awning roof into space 17, also to provide clearance above roller 7 and also provide a water overflow over roller 7. Roller 7 is also provided, on the underside thereof in the fully extended position of the awning roof, with a rope track guide to locate and support a front wall of t'-e annexe and the vertical side of the side walls and the vertical sides of the front wall have a zip fastener connection so as to close the outer comers of the annexe. A. similar type of connection may be provided in known manner between the side of the caravan and the inner vertical side of the side walls.

In use of the side wall support rails 8, the awning roof is rolled out until the awning cloth 1998-01-23,A:\151 is around the top of roller 7 so that rain may be shed more easily and the roller is then locked in position with the aperture for engagement with pin 18 at a 9 o'clock position.

Both sections 9 and 10 are attached toget her in sliding fashion and lightly locked at least 6 inches shorter than the distance between the caravan and the awning roller. Standing on a suitable support, the flattened end 19 is inserted into bracket 20 or 21, locking screw 13 is then released and rail section 9 is then moved outwardly until pin 18 is engaged in the roller 7 and the locking screw 13 is then securely tightened. Whilst this procedure is being carried out the side edges of the awning roof cloth must be inserted into the space 17 under a leg 23 of the angle member 15 of each side wall support rail.

The front wall is engaged in the rope track guide on the underside of roller 7 and then the side walls are fitted by first engaging the upper part of the side wall in the rope track guide 14 from halfway up to the side of the caravan, then inserting the remainder of the upper edge of the side wall in guide 14 down to the awning roller end where it can be connected to the front wall by a zip fastener or equivalent connector. At the caravan end the vertical edge of the side wall may be engaged in a vertical track guide and fed downwards or it may be connected to a vertical wall part by zip fastener or hooks and eyelets or in any known fashion. The front and side walls should then be pegged down firmly to the ground.

It will be appreciated that the invention may be applied to other situations than a caravan or like vehicle and could be applied, for example, to the ends of house verandahs with very little inventive modification.

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Claims

1. A two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe, an outer end of one part of the attachment being engageable in a locating and supporting bracket secured tco the wall of a caravan or like vehicle, the outer end of the other part of the attachment being engageable with an awning roller member at the rolled-out location of the awning, said two parts of the attachment being lockable in an extendable manner between said bracket and the roller member so as to support a canvas or other material side wall of the annexe structure, said attachment having a rope track for supporting and locating the upper edge of the side wall.

2. An adjustable support rail attachment according to Claim 1 wherein the elongated telescopic parts of the support rail attachment are of square, round, or rectangular configuration, or other configuration capable of allowing telescopic adjustability _whilst allowing attachment of the rope track for locating and supporting the upper end of the side wall.

3. An adjustable support rail attachment according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the rope track is preferably of elongated slotted configuration for slidably accommodating a length of rope sewn into the upper end of the side wall.

4. An adjustable support rail attachment according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the outer end of said other part of the attachment comprises a pin 25 member adapted to be engageable in a radial aperture through the outer circumference of the owning roller adjacent one end thereof.

An adjustable support rail attachment according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the outer end of said one part of the attachment is of flattened rectangular form and said locating and supporting bracket is U-shaped for locating and supporting said rectangular part of the attachment.

6. An adjustable support rail attachment according to Claim 5 wherein the locating

1998-01-23.AA 151 tebbs.cap,7 A -8- and supporting bracket is shaped to provide a slot to accommodate said rectangular flattened end of said one part of the attachment.

7. An adjustable support rail attachment according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said telescopic parts of the support rail attachment are each of square tubular section having a rope guide track attached thereto for locating and supporting the upper edges of the side walls of the annexe.

8. An adjustable support rail attachment according to Claim 7 wherein angle members are secured to and spaced from said square tubular sections by spacer pins so as to allow entry of the side edges of the awning roof material to be inserted in the space between the upper horizontal legs of said angle members.

9. An adjustable support rail attachment according to Claim 8 wherein the upper 15 horizontal legs of said angle members are upturned in part along their length to S. give more space for leading the side edges of the awning roof material into said ~space and to provide clearance above said awning roller member and to provide a water overflow over said awning roller member.

10. An adjustable support rail attachment according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the two telescopic support rail attachments are lockable in their desired locations by finger screws.

11. A method of securing a two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable 25 support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including the steps of securing a longitudinal plate member having a rope track guide along the side of a caravan or like vehicle, said plate member having locating and supporting brackets secured at the ends of the plate member attaching both said support rail attachments in sliding fashion and lightly locking same together some distance shorter than the distance between the side of the caravan and the awning roller member, inserting the end of said one part of the attachment into said locating and supporting bracket, releasing said locking means and moving the other part of the attachment outwardly so as to

199801-23,A\. 151 tlbbs.cap,8 engage in said roller member and locking both said attachments together whilst inserting the side edges of the awning roof cloth into the space under the legs of angle members secured to and spaced from each support rail attachment.

12. A method according to Claim 11 wherein when both side rail attachments are locked in their extended position a side wall is fitted by first engaging the upper part of the side wall in the supporting rope track from a position midway up to the side of the caravan and then inserting the remainder of the upper edge of the side wall in the rope track guide down to the awning roller where it can be connected to a front wall of the annexe.

13. A two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the acccmpanying drawings.

14. A method of securing a two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe substantiallI as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 2 0 th day of July, 1998 SANDERCOCK COWIE 25 PATENT ATTORNEYS FOR CHARLES TEBB 1998-01-23,A:\l15 Iebbs.cap,9 ABSTRACT According to the invention there is provided a two-part longitudinally and telescopically adjustable support rail attachment for the side walls of an awning annexe, an outer end of one part of the attachment being engageable in a locating and supporting bracket secured to the wall of a caravan or like vehicle, the outer end of the other part of the attachment being engageable with an awning roller member at the rolled-out location of the awning, said two parts of the attachment being lockable in an extendable manner between said bracket and the roller member so as to support a canvas or other material side wall of the annexe structure, said attachment having a rope track for supporting and locating the upper edge of the side wall. o* e e° S. 1998-01-23,A;\15 ebbs.