GB2289243A - Shelter for a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A shelter (3) for a vehicle (1) comprises a roof part (5) mounted on the roof of the vehicle (1). Extending means is associated with the shelter (3) whereby the roof part (5) is extendable longitudinally of the vehicle (1) so as to provide shelter behind the vehicle (1). <IMAGE>

Description

SHELTER FOR A VEHICLE This invention relates to a shelter for a vehicle.

There are many occasions in which it is necessary or desirable to take a mobile workshop to a site needing to be worked at. Where the work to be carried out takes place indoors, the use of a mobile workshop is not usually adversely affected by weather conditions.

However, where the work takes place outside, there is the problem of working in adverse weather conditions such as rain and snow. If the work to be carried out can be undertaken in the mobile workshop itself, then the workers may be able to shelter within the workshop. However, this restricts severely the amount of tools or spare parts which can be carried by the workshop if space is being taken up to provide a workplace for one or more people.

A number of situations requiring a mobile workshop call for the work itself to be carried out in the open. This is particularly the case of repairs, for example, to the public utilities such as water supply, drainage, gas supply, electricity supply and telephones. In these cases it is quite usual for the workshop to carry erectable shelters which can be erected around the work area but these shelters are cumbersome, relatively difficult to erect and take up considerable storage space within the mobile workshop.

A further type of situation arises with vehicle repair services such as roadside rescue services. Here, the workshop must be reasonably small to enable it to move readily through traffic to places where the repair is needed while there is equally the requirement to carry as large a number of parts as possible since the vehicles to be repaired may be of many different types. In these circumstances, the only concession made to the weather is that the workshop or roadside rescue operators are provided with waterproof clothing. This makes working in the rain or snow very unpleasant and furthermore the waterproof clothing can be very cumbersome.

The present invention seeks to provide a shelter for a vehicle which can be used to provide the user with at least a minimum of shelter, which is easily set up and demounted and which does no require storage space within the vehicle.

According to the invention, there is provided a shelter for a vehicle comprising a roof part mounted on the roof of the vehicle, and extending means associated with the shelter whereby the roof part is extendable longitudinally of the vehicle so as to provide shelter behind the vehicle.

The roof part may be a single member slidable on and off the roof of the vehicle.

Alternatively it may be formed from a plurality of parts arranged telescopically or may be of concertina form.

Preferably the shelter is of channel shape having a roof part and two side parts. When located in the open position, one end of the shelter may be supported by the vehicle while the other end may be carried by legs. These legs may be foldable along the side parts when not in use and, in use they may be telescopic and adjustable for height.

The two side parts may be pivoted to the roof part and may be raisable from their usual vertical position to extend substantially in the plane of the roof part so as to increase the roof area of the shelter in a sideways direction.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a van carrying a first embodiment of a shelter in accordance with the invention in its stowed state; Figure 2 i a view of the rear end of the van shown in figure 1 with the shelter in its open position; Figure 3 is a rear view of the van of figures 1 and 2 showing the shelter in an extended position; Figure 4 is a view similar to figure 1 showing a second embodiment of a shelter in accordance with the invention; Figure 5 is a view similar to figure 2 but showing the second embodiment of the shelter in its open position; Figure 6 is a view similar to figure 1 but showing a third embodiment of a shelter in accordance with the invention, and Figure 7 is a view similar to figure 2 but showing the third embodiment of the shelter in its open position.

Referring firstly to figures 1 to 3, there is shown a van 1 carrying a first form of shelter 3 in accordance with the invention. The van 1 as shown is of a type and size commonly used for mobile workshops but it is to be understood that the principle of the various forms of shelter can be applied to any suitable vehicle.

The shelter as shown comprises a roof part S and two side parts 7 and 9 which are attached together to make a channel shaped shelter 3.

As can be seen particularly from figure 1, in its stowed state, the shelter 3 sits on top of the van 1 and extends downwardly on both sides to a position above the lower edge of the bodywork of the van so as not to obstruct the van's ground clearance and access to the van's wheels. At the position of the front end of the shelter 3 when it is stowed, the van 1 is provided with a positive stop abutment 11 located in front of the shelter 3 so as to prevent its further forward motion in which it might well obscure the driver's visibility.

Also, the abutment 11 may constitute a closure for the stowed shelter 3 to prevent air getting between the shelter and the van as the van travels along. This would have a tendency to raise the shelter 3 from the van 1 and to provide a drag on the van. Locking means, not shown, are provided to lock the shelter 3 in its stowed position to prevent movement due, for example, to acceleration and deceleration of the van 1.

The shelter 3 is slidable on the van 1 from the position shown in figure 1 to an extended or operative position 3a as shown in figure 2. To enable this sliding action, a number of possibilities exist. For example, the roof of the van 1 may be provided with tracks, the roof part 5 of the shelter 3 having a number of wheels running in the track. Alternatively, a pair of complementary slider tracks could be used. Where a rigid shelter 3 is used, it could be supported for sliding movement in guides running along the sides of the vanl Once the shelter is in its extended position, the rear or free end of the shelter is supported on feet 17. These feet are preferably carried in tubes 13 and are telescopically extensible to provide the necessary support. The legs 17 will normally be lockable in their extended position and may be adjustable for height. Since the front end of the shelter 3 never leaves the van 1, it will be supported by the van litself and will not require additional support.

While a relatively rigid shelter 3 has been described so far, it is possible to increase the cover provided if the side walls 7 and 9 are pivoted to the roof part 5 as is shown in figure 3.

Here, as can be seen, the side walls 7 and 9 are pivoted about the line 15 where they join the roof part 5 so that they can be raised so as to lie substantially in the same plane as the roof part 5, thus extending the cover on one or both sides of the roof part 5.

With this extensible cover, it is necessary to vary the support of the shelter 3. To this end, the legs 17 are pivoted at 19 to the bottom of the side walls 7 and 9 and are, as shown in three telescopic sectionsl7a, 17b, 17c. When not in use, the legs 17 are closed up and folded to lie alongside the side walls 7 and 9. For support with the side walls 7 and 9 down, the legs 17 are merely pivoted downwardly and left closed. With the side walls 7 and 9 raised, the legs 17 are pivoted to a position at 90" to the side walls 7 and 9 and fully extended. It may also be necessary to provide additional supports at the front end of the shelter 3 when the side walls 7 and 9 are raised.

The shelter 3 can be made of any suitable materials such as moulded plastics or plastic sheeting or canvas stretched on a framework. Where the van has windows in the sides thereof, the shelter material may be transparent or translucent at least in these regions so as to allow the ingress of light.

In use, the user drives the van to the place of work, backs the van to a position adjacent the work area and then unlocks the shelter and slide it backwards over the work area.

Once in position, the legs are extended to support the shelter. When the work is finished, the supporting legs are released and the shelter is pushed back onto the van roof and locked.

It will be seen that this construction is particularly suitable for use when repairing vehicles in bad whether. The van can be backed up to the front of the vehicle and the shelter drawn over the bonnet area.

A number of variations in the construction of the shelter are possible. Two such variants are shown in figures 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 respectively.

In the first variant of the shelter, instead of the shelter comprising a single section as in figures 1 to 3, figures 4 and 5 show a version in which the shelter 3 is made of two parts 21 and 23 telescopically arranged. As can be seen, the outer section 23 is slightly larger than the inner section 21 so that for stowage, the outer section 23 slides over the inner section 21 which itself slides over the van.

This arrangement has the advantage of obscuring less of the side windows of the van where these are present.

Figures 6 and 7 show a second variant in which the shelter 3 has a concertina construction 25. This arrangement has the advantage that the shelter 3 is only located at the rear of the van 1. It takes up less room on stowage and cause only a very minimum of interference with the side windows.

It will be appreciated that modifications or alterations may be made to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, with a suitable construction, the side walls in all embodiments may be raised to provide the described extra cover.

In the embodiment of figures 4 and 5, the number of telescopic sections can be increased as desired although this will add to the complexity of the shelter.

Claims (9)

1. A shelter for a vehicle comprising a roof part mounted on the roof of the vehicle, and extending means associated with the shelter whereby the roof part is extendable longitudinally of the vehicle so as to provide shelter behind the vehicle.

2. A shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roof part is a single member slidable on and off the roof of ihe vehicle.

2. A shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roof part is formed from a plurality of parts arranged telescopically.

3. A shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roof part is ofconcertina form.

4. A shelter as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the shelter is of a channel shape arrangement having a roof part and two side parts.

5. A shelter as claimed in claim 4, wherein, when the shelter is located in the open position, one end of the shelter is supported by the vehicle while the other end is carried by legs.

6. A shelter as claimed in claim 5, wherein the legs are foldable along the side parts when not in use.

7. A shelter as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein the legs are telescopic and are adjustable for height.

8. A shelter as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the two side parts are pivoted to the roof part and are raisable from their usual vertical position to extend substantially in the plane of the roof part so as to increase the roof area of the shelter in a sideways direction.

9. A shelter for a vehicle substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.