LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT PROTECTOR

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention refers to an assembly fitted in the luggage compartment of a bus as an improved protector having as main features that the luggage and packages inside the luggage compartment will not hit the luggage compartment door, thereby preventing a damaging deformation of the same, or damages either to the door mechanism or to the door itself. This damages may impair the correct opening of the door. Furthermore, the protector may be used both for inter-state busts and personnel transportation buses.

The present invention refers to the development of a luggage compartment protector to be fitted, preferentially, in interstate buses or in personnel transportation buses. The protector is of stylized shape and can be assembled in the same assembly line regardless of the kind of bus it is intended to be fitted to, either interstate or personnel transportation buses, or any other buses of the conventional kind.

As already known by anyone skilled in the art, suburban and inter-state buses are defined as buses with construction, design, use and accessories intended to the transportation of passengers and luggage along the highways network, either in short journeys between near cities or in long journeys along highways.

In view of their sizes and inner space this kind of buses can also be adapted to other needs, such as for moving homes, moving hospitals, etc., so they require a luggage compartment that is appropriate for said circumstances.

The luggage compartment is located at the lower part of the vehicle body taking advantage of the spaces being formed by the own structure of said body. In general, said spaces are big and are not always filled up with luggage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The luggage compartment protector object of this invention is located inside the luggage compartment of the vehicle and it works by opening a lock provided for that purpose, upon opening the lock it releases a latch which in turn allows the luggage compartment protector to be lowered outwards and at angle of 180 degrees, pivoting outwards by means of hinges located in the lower part of the luggage protector frame in order to prevent said frame from hitting the structure and the luggage compartment floor and damaging the vehicle, this is achieved by stops located in the hinges, said stops contact the structure first.

Another aspect of the present invention is to device a luggage compartment protector of the kind known as modular assemblies, since it can be manufactured by assembling sub-assembly parts which, in this case, are common to all the different models of interstate and personnel transporting buses as well as conventional buses. The protector is comprised of at least:

• a luggage compartment protector made up of a rectangular frame of curved corners and a reinforcement perpendicularly located between the two long sides of the rectangle and preferably being made of steel tubing, joined together by high resistance arc welding;
• two steel hinges, right and left, set up on the luggage compartment floor and on one of the sides of the frame; the luggage compartment has four bores used to mount the hinges to the corresponding side by means of screws and bolts of different rates and sizes;
• a frame front side on which a base plate is located at the top of it, the base plate is of irregular shape and will be processed with a tropical weather finishing, being preferably made of high resistance steel;
• a lock mounted on the base plate by means of rated screws and nuts, allowing the luggage compartment protector to be lowered outwards at an angle of 180 degrees;
• two stops preferably made of neoprene rubber and located on the hinges by means of rated screws and nuts, in order to prevent the frame from hitting the vehicle structure and damaging the floor moldings of the vehicle upon rotating 180 degrees to the open position;
• a latch holder being mounted on the top of the base plate of irregular shape and to be used as a complement for the lock;
• a latch mounted on the latch bolder by means of rated screws and nuts and high resistance welding, to be used to prevent the luggage compartment protector from opening when the vehicle is traveling.

The various parts making up the luggage compartment protector of the present invention are preferably manufactured from high resistance steel tubing and plates, being joined together by high resistance arc-welding or by any other appropriate bonding operation.

The parts making up the luggage compartment protector structure of the present invention contains bores to be used in attaching various sub-assemblies joined together or joined to the luggage compartment of the bus by means of screws and nuts of different sizes and rates.

The parts making up the luggage compartment protector of the present invention can also be manufactured from other high resistance materials, such as, but not limited to, aluminum and black rolled metal sheets.

Now, one embodiment of the invention will be described along with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 shows an isometric view at 30° of the luggage compartment protector in the open position;
• Figure 2 shows a side view of the luggage compartment protector showing the closed and open positions of the frame.

Making reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, an isometric view at 30° of the luggage compartment protector is shown, wherein the rectangular shaped frame (1) is comprised of two sides, bottom (15) and top (16), and two lateral sides, left (7) and right (8); connecting the bottom (15) and top (16) sides there is at least one central reinforcement (2) perpendicular to the bottom (15) and top (16) sides, thereby forming the main structure of the luggage compartment protector.

On the bottom side (15) two steel hinges are located, left (3) and right (4), which are also attached to the luggage compartment floor (5) of the vehicle, said luggage compartment floor (5) carries four bores (6) which will be used to attach the hinges to the corresponding side. On the left (3) and right (4) hinges a left stop (10) and a right stop (11) are respectively arranged.

On the right side (18), at the top, a base plate (7) is mounted, the plate has two bores (8) as shown in Figure 2, used to attach lock (9) by means of rated screws and nuts.

On the lateral side of the vehicle body (14), there is a latch holder (13) on which a latch (12) is mounted. The latch jointly with the lock (9) will prevent the luggage compartment protector from opening once the vehicle is moving.

Making reference to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings, a side view of the rectangular frame (1) is shown, indicating the closed position with solid lines and the open position with interrupted lines, wherein: in the close position, where the lateral side of the vehicle body (14) is appreciated, base plate (7) is secured by two bores (8); the rectangular frame (1) is shown with lock (9) set up on it, the luggage compartment floor (5) profile is shown having the right hinge (13) and the right stop (10) mounted thereon.

In the open position, that is when the rectangular frame (1) is lowered 180° outwards the vehicle, lock (9) is shown in the open position.

Since various modifications may be made to the present invention as already described and since many of them will apparently improve the scope and spirit of the claims, without departing from the true scope and the spirit of the invention, it is intended that all the subject matter contained in the specification be construed in an illustrative and not limitative way.