GB2068848A

GB2068848A - Horse-transporting vehicles with supplementary accomodation

Info

Publication number: GB2068848A
Application number: GB8003914A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: EQUESTRIAN TRANSPORT Ltd
Current assignee: EQUESTRIAN TRANSPORT Ltd
Priority date: 1980-02-06
Filing date: 1980-02-06
Publication date: 1981-08-19

Abstract

The vehicle has a door 9 hingedly connected about its top edge to the body 3 and movable to an open position, there being at least two side screens connectable to edges of the door and extending between the door and the ground to provide temporary accommodation against the rear of the vehicle. Preferably, the vehicle is a horsebox and three side screens 17,19,21 are provided, one connected to each of three edges of the rear door, so as to provide part of a tent, a fourth wall of the tent being provided by the rear of the vehicle and a tent wall portion extending between the bottom of the rear of the vehicle and the ground. One or more compartments may be provided in the vehicle separated off from the accommodation within the vehicle for use as a tack store, cooling area and the like, the space above the compartments being accessible to the interior of the vehicle to provide a false Luton. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to vehicles This invention relates to vehicles, and especially to horseboxes.

Nowadays, with more and more time becoming available for leisure, people tend to travel away from home more and more, and when they are at their destination, rather than go into a hotel or a restaurant, they like to be self-sufficient and have some form of temporary shelter in the event that the weather is or becomes bad. For example, when at a race meeting, or an agricultural show, or a football match, it is an advantage for those attending, e.g. as spectators, to be able quickly to erect temporary accommodation against their vehicle, to give protection against the weather, or just to give some degree of privacy.

In its broadest sense, the present invention seeks to meet this requirement. Hence, according to the present invention, we provide a vehicle having at least one door which is hingedly attached to the vehicle about its top edge, and means to support the door in an open position and wherein side screens are connectable to at least two edges of the door to provide temporary shelter or accommodation beneath the door when the latter is open.

The invention is more especially concerned with horseboxes. Nowadays, it is not unusual for people engaging in equestrian sports to spend nights away from home, and there has been a trend recently, therefore, to provide sleeping accommodation within horseboxes.

While such accommodation can be reasonably satisfactory, it does have its drawbacks, and the present invention seeks to overcome these.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, therefore, we provide a horsebox vehicle having a loading ramp for horses and including a door in a wall of the vehicle, hingedly connected to the vehicle about its top edge, means for supporting the door in an open position, and side screens connectable to at least two edges of the door to extend between the door and the ground when the former is in its open position, to provide temporary shelter or accommodation.

Preferably, the door is located at the rear of the vehicle and the loading ramp in the side of the horsebox. If desired, especially for 4 horse horseboxes, two loading ramps may be provided, one on each side of the vehicle.

Preferably, the side screens form part of a tent, the roof of which is provided by said door, there being a side screen connectable to each of the three free edges of the door, to provide three side walls of the tent and the fourth being provided by the rear of the vehicle, and a short wall portion connectable between the lower edge of the rear of the vehicle and the ground, and between the two tent side walls.

Preferably, at least one compartment is provided in the rear of the horsebox vehicle, separated off from the interior of the horsebox, and accessible by opening the door. Two compartments may be provided, at least one of which is for cooking purposes. A cooking stove may be supported on a tray, which can be slid out of the compartment for greater accessibility.

Preferably, the door does not extend to the full height of the vehicle, and the said compartment(s) extend(s) substantially the same height as the door, leaving a space above the compartment(s), forming part of the interior of the horsebox. Especially in the case of 4-horse horseboxes, this spce can provide a rear facing Luton for two rearwardly facing horses heads.

The invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a 2-horse horsebox, and Figure 2 is a perspective view of the rear of the horsebox, both views showing a tent erected against the rear of the vehicle.

Referring to the drawings, the horsebox shown therein is a largely standard self-propelled vehicle having a body 3 provided with a loading ramp 5 mounted on the side of the vehicle and hingedly connected to the bottom of the body about its lower edge 7. At the rear of the vehicle a door 9 is provided, hingedly connected to the body 3 about its upper edge at 11. It will be noted that the hinged connection 11 is a little above halfway up the rear of the body so as to be approximately 7 or 8ft. from the ground. The door is maintained in its open position illustrated by means of suitable support struts 1 4 connected between the door and side of the vehicle in known manner.

Connectable to the three free edges of the door 9 are three side screens 17, 19 and 21 forming three walls of a tent. These side screens may be formed in one piece or, alternatively, may be zipped or otherwise connected together along the edges but as shown, they are suitably tailored so that they flare outwards towards their base and at their lower edges they are provided with suitable weathering material 23 which can be splayed outwards as shown and can then be pegged to the ground in known manner. The material 23 can also act as a diaphragm which will accommodate any vertical movement of the horsebox when the side screens are erected.

Elastic stays 24 are also provided to hold down the screens. Suitable windows 25 are provided in the side screen 17, 19 and/or 21 and as shown, the side screen 1 7 is formed in two parts which can be connected together, e.g. by means of a zip at 27, terminating in a strengthening strip 1 5. A further wall portion 29 forming part of the fourth wall of the horsebox is connectable between the bottom of the rear of the horse, and the ground and at its side edges between the side screens 17 and 21. If desired this wall portion 29 can be formed integral with the other side screens.

Two compartments, 31, 33 are provided in the rear of the horsebox separated off from the accommodation for the horses, one of which may provide a tack store and the other of which can be a food storage and cooling area. If desired, lights 34 may be provided in the top of these compartments which are of course only accessible when the door 9 has been moved to its open illustrated position. As can be seen, the compartments 31, 33 extend approximately from the hinge line to the bottom of the body of the vehicle although of course they may have different dimensions or there may be a different number of compartments.As shown, however, because the compartments do not extend to the top of the body of the vehicle, a space 35 is provided above them which communicates with the remainder of the horse accommodation within the horsebox and this space 35 provides a rear facing Luton. In the case of four horse horseboxes this means that two horses canface forwardly with their heads in the traditional Luton and two can face rearwardly with their heads in the false Luton. In the case of a two horse horsebox it gives the user the option of having his horses facing forwardly or rearwardly and whichever Luton is not being used for the horses heads can be used for storage purposes or even for sleeping accommodation or of course for storing hay or the like.

It is envisaged that the side screens 17, 19 and 21 and the tent side wall portion 2Y could be permanently connected to tne noor 9 and to the rear sf the vehicle so as so be substantially self erecting when the door 9 is moved to its open position. In this case, it will merely be necessary to unfoid the side screens as necessary and peg out the weathering material 23 as necessary.Alternatively, of course, the side screens and wail portion 29 could be connected to the door and vh.cie by lacing, zipping or hooks and eyes Jr the like in known manner relatively easily. In either case. it will be appreciated that temporary accommodation for sleeping or enZsrtaiiling can be provided very easily against riie rear of the horse box and this temporary accommodation has many of the advantages of a caravan in that the compartments ::3-i and 33 in the rear of the vehicle are imrl.ediâteiy acesssibie from the interior of the .elîporarte accommo- dation meaning that the minimum of packing and unpacking is necessary. It is envisaged that the tent or temporary accommodation described above could be titted to horseboxes very cheaply thus making it unr.ccessary for horse owners to spend large sums of money on accommodation when they are competing or riding some way from their home.

It is of course envisaged that the side screens 1 7, 19 and 21 and the wall portion 29 would normally be formed of canvas or like tent material but it would not be outside the scope of this invention to manufacture these parts of other materials. They could easily be rigid in which case they might be hinged to various parts of the vehicle.

Although the invention is particularly designed for horseboxes with one or more side loading ramps, it will be appreciated that it can be applied to any vehicle, and the door, side screens and optional companment(s) can be provided on any vehicle, either at the side or at the rear, whether the vehicle is selfpropelled or not.

If desired, access to the or each compartment may be possible from the interior of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle having at least one door which is hingedly attached to the vehicle about its top edge, means to support the door in an open position and wherein side screens are connectable to at least two edges of the door to provide temporary shelter or accommodation beneath the door when the latter is open.

2. A horsebox vehicle having a loading ramp for horses in one wall of the vehicle and including a door hingedly connected to the vehicle about its top edge. means for supporting the door in an open position, and side screens connectable to at least two edges of the door to extend between the door and the ground when the former is in its open position to provide a temporary shelter or accommoda- tion.

3. A vehicle according to claim 2 wherein the loading ramp is in the side of the vehicle.

4. A vehicle according to claim 2 or 3 wherein two loading ramps are provided, one on each side of the vehicle.

5. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1-4 wherein the door is in the rear of the vehicle.

6. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1-5 wherein the side screens form part of a tent, the roof of which is provided by said door, there being a side screen connectable to each of the three edges of the door to provide three side walls of the tent and the fourth side wall being provided by the rear of the vehicle and a short wall portion connectable between the lower edge Ol the rear of the vehicle and the ground and between the two tent side walls.

7. A vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims er/hereill a least one comapartment is provided in ihe veh.cte, separated off frorn the interior of the vehicle and accessi ble by opening the door.

8. A vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. A vehicle according to claim 7 when dependent on claim 2 wherein the door does not extend to the full height of the vehicle and the said at least one compartment extends substantially to the same height as the door, leaving above the compartment a space forming part of the interior of the horse box.

9. A vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

CLAIMS (25 Feb 1981)

1. A vehicle for transporting horses and including a loading ramp in at least one wall of the vehicle, a door hingedly connected to the vehicle about its top edge, means for supporting the door in an open position, at least two side screens connectable to respective edges of the door to extend downwardly from the door when the door is in its open position to provide a covered area, and at least one compartment, separated off from the interior of the vehicle and accessible by opening the door.

2. A vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the loading ramp is in the side of the vehicle.

3. A vehicle according to claim 1 or 2 wherein two loading ramps are provided, one on each side of the vehicle.

4. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the door is in the rear of the vehicle.

5. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the side screens form part of the covered area, the roof of which is provided by said door, there being a side screen connectable to each of the three edges of the door to provide three side walls of the covered area and the fourth side wall being provided by the rear of the vehicle and a short wall portion connectable between the lower edge of the rear of the vehicle and the ground and between the two side walls of the covered area.

6. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the side screens are manufactured of a rigid material.

7. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the door does not extend to the full height of the vehicle and the said at least one compartment extends substantially to the same height as the door, leaving above the compartment a space forming part of the interior of the horse box.