STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The various aspects and embodiments described herein relate to a truck bed closure.

Trucks are one of the most popular types of vehicles being sold in the United States and abroad. Users will accessorize the truck with a variety of functional components in order to fit their lifestyle and needs. However, in doing so, they may add certain functionality but also disable other functional aspects of the truck.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improvement in accessorizing trucks.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The various aspects and embodiments described herein address the deficiencies discussed above, discussed below and those that are known in the art.

A truck bed closure is disclosed herein which has a closure that may be moved between two configurations—a storage configuration wherein the closure is not disposed over the truck bed, and an extended configuration wherein the closure is disposed over the truck bed. The closure may extend across a width of the truck bed from one sidewall to another sidewall, and may block a user from accessing a portion of the truck bed from a location above the truck bed when the closure is moved to the extended configuration. When the closure is moved to the extended configuration, the truck bed closure may form a closed interior volume with the truck bed acting as a floor of the closed interior volume. The closure may be disposed under the roof of the cab in the storage configuration, and above the roof of the cab in the extended configuration, to form a closed interior volume that extends above the roof of the cab. When the closure is moved to the storage configuration, a full length of the truck bed may be accessible from a location above the truck bed. The closure may move between the configurations along a track or a rail that extends across the width of the truck bed.

The truck bed closure may have a front frame with an upper front track and a rear frame with an upper rear track. The front frame may be located above a front portion of the truck bed and the rear frame may be located above a rear portion of the truck bed. Opposing sides of the closure may be mechanically coupled to the upper front track and the upper rear track such that the closure spans the length of the truck bed. The closure may be configured to move along the upper front track and the upper rear track when being moved between the storage configuration and the extended configuration. The closure may be extended from the right sidewall to the left sidewall or from the left sidewall to the right sidewall depending upon the configuration.

The front frame and the rear frame may be shaped in an arc to match the shape of the roof of the truck cab, allowing for the extended closure be arch-shaped to closure the truck bed. The front frame and rear frame may be attachable to the truck in any suitable manner, for example by coupling to the rear surface of the truck cab, or by coupling to an upper surface of the sidewalls of the truck bed. The front frame may be attachable to a front section of the left sidewall and to a front section of the right sidewall, whereas the rear frame may be attachable to a rear section of the left sidewall and to a rear section of the right sidewall. The front frame and the rear frame may be attachable to the truck, for example by attaching to the cab of the truck or to the sidewalls of the truck bed such as the stake pockets at the top sides of the left and right sidewalls. Alternatively, the front frame and/or the rear frame may be integrated to the truck. For example, the front frame may be integrated into the rear wall of the cab of the truck, and the rear frame may be integrated into the sidewalls of the truck. The front and rear frames may also be removable from the left and right sidewalls. For example, the front and rear frames may be attached to the left and right sidewalls with a quick detach latch. The quick detach latch may only require one or two movements (e.g., push lever or button, pull lever or button, push-pull lever and/or button, pull-push lever and/or button) to detach.

The front frame and the rear frame may have a track that the closure follows when being moved between the storage configuration and the extended configuration. The closure may have one or more sliders that may be mounted to the tracks to help the closure slide between the storage configuration and the extended configuration. The closure may comprise any suitable material, such as a flexible fabric that unrolls into the extended configuration and rolls up into the storage configuration, or may comprise a plurality of rigid slats that are rotatably joined together by strut joints. A closure storage box may be used to house a portion of the closure when the closure is moved to the storage configuration. For example, a closure storage box may have a pin with a spring that biases the pin to pull the end of the closure to wrap the closure around the pin, allowing for the pin to naturally pull the closure into a storage configuration wrapped around the pin. A locking mechanism may be used to hold the closure in the extended configuration to prevent the spring from pulling at the end of the closure when the locking mechanism is engaged.

Alternatively, the closure storage box may be disposed along a sidewall and the base of the truck bed to hold a closure comprising a plurality of slats that are joined together by strut joints. The storage box may also have a lower front track and a lower rear track that may be used to guide the closure in and out of the storage box when moving the closure between the storage configuration and the extended configuration, respectively.

