CA2161159A1 - Drawer unit for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

A slidable drawer unit for original or retrofit installation in vehicles, including pick-up trucks, station wagons and the like. Preferably, the entire assembly comprises three sets of components: a pair of beams for bolting to the floor of the vehicle; a pair of extendable roller tracks with a pair of transverse snap-in beams interconnecting the inner pair of tracks; a unitary drawer unit (molded of a composite plastic) having a pair of transverse grooves for receiving and retaining the equally spaced pair of snap-in beams.

Description

- 21611~i9 IMPROVED DRAWER UNIT FOR VEHICLES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention The present invention relates to drawers in general, and in particular to drawer units 5 for storage and haulage in vehicles. More particularly, it relates to an improved drawer unit that is mostly unitary in structure, having a relatively small number of independent parts. More particulary still, the unit is easy to install with as few as four bolts or screws to the floor at the rear of the vehicle. Further, once the tracks are installed, the draw unit proper may be easily tilted or removed and replaced 10 without any bolts or screws being removed or reinserted.

2. Prior Art of the Invention In United States Patent No. 2,784,027, granted March 5, 1957 to Temp, there is disclosed for use in a pick-up truck, having a bed with upst~n~ling sides and a false floor over the bed, a commi~ry drawer substantially the size of the bed and a height 15 to fit bc~lween the bed and false floor, means mounting the drawer in connection with the bed for fore and aft sliding movement relative to the bed whereby said drawer may be selectively disposed in a retracted position on the bed or a rearwardly extended and exposed position relative thereto, a flat top on the drawer throughout its extent on one side and across the rear portion to provide a continuous table, culllpalllllents in the drawer open to the top thereof, and lids on the colll~ llents 5 flush with said top and having depressed lid-manipulating elements.

United States Patent No. 4,573,731 granted March 4, 1986 to Knaak et al., discloses a drawer-type storage unit for use in a vehicle having a floor defining a floor space having a horizontally ~rcessihle access position. The storage unit defines a raised floor when installed on the vehicle floor which is adapted to support a load in a 10 lllaml~l similar to the vehicle floor itself. The storage unit includes a drawer formed of a plurality of U-shaped channels having the legs thereof welded together and having hemmed top edges. The drawer includes a front wall which is recessed within the storage unit housing in the closed position thereof and sealed to the top and sidewalls of the housing so as to effectively prevent passage of water and other ellvirol~"~ent~l 15 materials into the drawer in the closed position. The rear of the housing is sealingly closed. The storage unit includes a number of different rigidifying structures to provide a high strength and rigidity therein. The drawer is carried on a heavy duty roller bearing slider for facilitated movement thereof between the closed and open positions notwith~t~n(ling tools and the like in the drawer having substantial weight, 20 such as up to 500 pounds or more. The top wall of the unit is provided with a diamond plate surface for facilitated use as a raised floor. The unit is provided with suitable skids adapted for removable bolting of the unit to the vehicle floor for facilitated in~t~ tion and removal when desired.

United States Patent No. 4,733,898, granted March 29, 1988 to Williams, discloses a combination storage unit/auxiliary bed liner assembly adapted for nesting 5 engagement onto the bed of a pickup tNck. The storage unit covers the entire open area of the pickup bed, with the space between the auxiliary bed liner and the tNck bed being partitioned to provide multiple storage col~alllllents. A top-opening auxiliary storage colllpalllllent is formed on each side of the two rear wheel well regions. Two pull-out drawers are received within adjoining central compartments 10 and extend subst~nti~lly the entire length of the truck bed. The pull-out drawers provide secure storage colllpall llents for tools and e~luiplll~lll, and also serve as work tables. The auxiliary cargo deck liner is supported by interior side panels, a central partition and engagement of saddle/bridge deck portions onto wheel well flanges.

Finally, United States Patent No. 4,909,558, granted March 20, 1990 to Roshinsky, 15 discloses an extendable liner for a pickup tNck box which allows the load in the tNck to be extended from the rear of the tNck for easy access despite the presence of a cap over the box. The liner is supported and extended on a roller assembly. The roller assembly has a pair of tracks fixed to the liner, a pair of tracks fixed to the tNck box, and a carriage assembly having a plurality of rollers, one set rides in the tracks fixed 20 to the liner and one set rides in the tracks fixed to the tNck.

~161159 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention endeavours to provide a slidable drawer unit for original or retrofit in~t~ tion in vehicles, including sports utility vehicles, pick-up trucks, station wagons and the like. Preferably, the entire assembly comprises three sets of 5 components: a pair of beams for bolting to the floor of the vehicle; a pair of extendable roller tracks with a pair of transverse snap-in beams interconn~cting the inner pair of tracks; a unitary drawer unit (molded of a thermal or composite plastic) having a pair of transverse grooves for receiving and rel~il~illg the equally spaced pair of snap-in beams.

10 Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved drawer unit for vehicles and the like, comprising: a carrier floor having top and bottom surfaces, the bottom surface having at least one receptacle adapted to receive and retain a coope~ g member; said cooperating member mounted on an exten~l~ble track for supporting said drawer unit, extending it out of, and retracting it back into said vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The plcrellcd embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

'~ 2161159 Figure 1 is a bottom perspective showing the general shape of a drawer unit according to the present invention for snapping-in onto the sub-assembly shown in Figure 2;

Figure 2 is sch~m~tir showing a sub-assembly comprising a pair of transverse U-beams and a pair of longitll-lin~l ext~n(l~ble tracks rigidly fixed to and on top of the S transverse beams for receiving the snap-in drawer unit shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a blow-up of the circled partition in Figures 1 and 2 ~let~iling a groove portion for the snap-in engagement onto the sub-assembly of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a top perspective of the drawer unit shown in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a slidable barrier for closing the front or back of the drawer unit showing 10 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a pel~peclive of a side-pocket for insertion at either side of the drawer unit shown in Figure 4;

Figure 7 shows a bottom perspective of the fully assembled drawer unit in place in the back portion of a sports utility vehicle with the floor of the truck removed and 15 with the drawer extended partway;

"- 2161159 Figures 8a and 8b show in more detail the handle and its snap-in receptacle shown in Figure 7;

Figure 9 shows added detail (of the back portion of the drawer unit in bottom perspective) of a tilt-and-hold mech~ni~m according to an embodiment of the present 5 invention; and Figure 10 shows an enlargement of the molded part of the mech~ni~m shown in Figure 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, there is shown a thermal or composite plastic molded 10 drawer unit 11 in perspective from its bottom, having two transverse generally V-shaped grooves 12 and 13, adapted to engage by means of snap-in action two transverse cylindrical rigid rods 14 and 15, respectively, mounted between inner tracks 16 and 17 (by means of two rectangular members 18 and 19) of two extendable roller tracks 20 and 21 affixed to a pair of beams 22 and 23, which are bolted to the 15 floor of the vehicle (not shown) in which the drawer unit is installed. Figure 3 shows an enlargement of the circled region 24 in Figures 1 and 2, once the drawer 11 has been mounted and snapped-in onto the sub-assembly of Figure 2. As may be seen in more detail in Figure 3, only a short section 25 at the end of the groove 12 is actually '~ 2161159 more than semi-cylindrical, therefore narrower at its aperture than the rod 14, which rod snaps into the section 25, which, of course, has a cooperating cross-sectional profile, i.e. cylindrical (not shown). Thus, once the pair of beams 22 and 23 have been bolted or otherwise affixed to the vehicle floor with the roller tracks 20 and 21 5 on top, the drawer 11 is snapped-in into place by applying pressure at the floor end sections adjacent the ends of the rods 14 and 15.

In order to make the drawer 11 easily tiltable towards the rear of the vehicle, the end sections of the rear groove 13 (corresponding to the end section 25) are made slightly wider than the end section 25, in order to require less force to snap onto and out of 10 engagement with the rear rod 15. Thus, the drawer 11 may be tilted simply by lifting it at its back end, and a supporting block (not shown) may be placed underneath in order to keep it tilted.

Now with lc~lcllce to Figures 4, 5 and 6, the drawer 11 is shown in perspective from the top and comprises two integral side walls 26 and 27, le~ at, and rounding, its four corners. Vertical slot pairs 28/29 and 30/31 each receive a removal wall barrier 32 as shown in Figure 5. Of course, the barrier 32 may be made integral with drawer 11, either at the front, back or both. The barrier 32, at its bottom edge, has three small protrusions (not shown) to slot into three cooperating holes 33 and 34 once the barrier 32 is in place, thus lending rigidity to the barrier 32, when in place.

Figure 6 shows a pocket 35, for placement at either side of the drawer 11, adjacent the walls 26 and 27. All of the components are preferably made from a thermal plastic material such as MDTE (mr(lillm density polyethylene), and all may be made integral if desired.

5 Turning now to Figure 7, it shows in perspective the installed drawer 11, partly extended out of the back 36 of a vehicle (not shown), the bottom floor of which has been left out in order to show full assembly in place. As may be seen, the drawer 11 has a handle 37 for pulling the unit out, which cooperates with a metal lip 38, affixed to the beam 22, when the drawer is fully retracted in place. Detail of the handle 37 10 and how it engages the bottom of the drawer 11 are shown in Figures 8a and 8b. The handle 37, by means of two integral cylintlrir~l pivots 39 and 40 snap-in into a cooperating semi-cylin(lrir~l groove 41, integral with the bottom surface of the drawer 11 at the end near the back of the vehicle. The handle 37 is biased dowllwald by means of a spring (not shown) and has a ramped flange 42, which engages the metal 15 lip 38, when the drawer 11 is fully retracted into the vehicle. A slight lift upward of the handle 37 suffices to for the flange 42 to clear the lip 38 and permit the drawer 11 to be pulled out.

Referring now to Figures 9 and 10, a simple mechanism is shown, whereby the drawer may be tilted and held tilted at a small angle (say, up to 45 ~ or the permitted 20 m~ximllm) by spring action. To achieve spring action, integral notched wedges 43 -and 44 (shown in enlargement in Figure 10) are provided at the bottom of the drawer 11 on either side at the back end to be lifted. Two ends 45 and 46 of a generally U-shaped spring member 47 travel along the wedges 43 and 44 as shown by the arrows 48 and come to rest against edge 49 (of the first wedge). To lower the unit the back S is lifted again until the ends 45 and 46 clear the edge 50 (of the second wedge), and return to the original position. The spring member 47 is affixed to the beam 23 at two locations 51 and 52 by means of bolts or by being spot welded.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An improved drawer unit for vehicles and the like, comprising: a carrier floor having top and bottom surfaces, the bottom surface having at least one receptacle adapted to receive and retain a cooperating member; said cooperating member mounted on an extendable track for supporting said drawer unit, extending it out of, and retracting it back into said vehicle.