A bunk arrangement in a truck cab

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a bunk arrangement in a truck cab, its bunk having at a free edge thereof substantially vertical safety belts, preferably attached to the ceiling of the cab, and a safety net.

Background of the Invention

A modern cab for a large truck or the like is normally provided with at least one bunk in a cab space behind the driver's seat. The bunk is meant to allow a second driver to sleep or rest, while a first driver is driving the truck, so that stops on a long journey can be kept at a minimum.

The bunk has to be provided with safety equipment of the kind mentioned initially, so that both the person in the bunk and the driver in front of him are reasonably protected in the event of a collision or the like.

In earlier designs, see for example document US-A-4368902 which disclosure covers the preamble features of claim 1, the safety net has normally been held up in its protective position by means of elastic straps or the like, preferably arranged at the safety belts. When not used the net can be held down towards the bunk edge by means of for example bands. Experience shows that the use of nets of this kind is somewhat awkward and that objects may be entangled with the net. Further, the appearance is not especially good.

The Invention

A bunk arrangement without the drawbacks mentioned above is according to the invention attained in that the bunk at its free edge has a longitudinal cartridge for the safety net and that a net rod at the upper edge of the net has a locking device at each safety belt, the locking device guiding the rod along the belt and locking it thereto unless manually released against spring bias.

When the net is not used, it is concealed in the cartridge. When it has to be used, it is simply lifted by the rod along the belts and automatically locked in the desired position by the locking devices.

The cartridge, which may be in the form of an aluminium profile, preferably has a spring biased shaft for rolling up the safety net.

In many cases it may be desired to pivot the bunk up for increasing the available space under it when not in use. For this purpose conventional retractors for the safety belts can be arranged in the cartridge, and release knobs for the retractors can be arranged on the cartridge.

The Drawings

The invention will be described in further detail below under reference to the accompanying drawings, in which <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>Fig 1 is a perspective view of a truck bunk arrangement according to the invention,</li><li>Fig 2 is a front view of the arrangement of Fig 1,</li><li>Fig 3 is a top view of the arrangement of Fig 1,</li><li>Fig 4 is a side view of the arrangement of Fig 1, and</li><li>Fig 5 is a section to a larger scale through a profile for a bunk arrangement shown in Fig 1.</li></ul>

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

A bunk 1 is to be mounted transversely in a cab of a truck behind the driver's seat. In the bunk 1 a second driver can sleep or rest, so that the truck can be driven with as few stops as possible. It is of great importance that the safety in the cab is satisfactory both for the driver and for the person resting in the bunk 1.

The bunk 1 can be pivotally attached to a back wall of the truck cab by means of lugs 2 (Figs 3 and 4).

At its opposite side, i e its front edge facing the driver's seat, the bunk 1 is suspended from the ceiling of the cab by means of preferably two support belts or safety belts 3. For this purpose these belts 3 have attachments 4 at their upper ends.

The bunk 1 is at this front edge provided with a profile 5, which appears in all Figures but is shown in section to a larger scale in Fig 5. The profile 5 is preferably made by extrusion of aluminium.

A conventional retractor for each belt 3 is arranged in the profile 5, in which a shaft 6 is rotatably arranged in a way to be described. Each retractor can be released from a locked position by means of a release knob 7 on the front side of the profile 5.

Wound on the rotatable shaft 6 in the profile 5 is a safety net 8 (Fig 1), which at its upper edge is attached on a net rod 9. The profile 5 thus functions as a cartridge for the net 8. The net is shown retracted into the profile or cartridge 5 in Fig 2.

The net rod 9 is provided with an upper locking device 10 for each belt 3. This locking device 10 is arranged on the belt 3 and thus has the two-fold purpose of guiding the rod 9 along the belt and automatically locking it thereto unless manually released by depression of a handle.

The rotatable shaft 6 in the profile 5 is spring biased, so that the net 8 is automatically wound into the profile or cartridge 5, when the upper locking devices 10 are released.

With the net 8 wound onto the shaft 6 in the profile or cartridge 5 and its net rod 9 in a rest position against the profile 5, as is shown in Fig 2, it is easy for a person to enter the bunk 1. The net 8 can then easily be lifted up to the position shown in Fig 1 by the net rod 9, which will automatically be locked to the belts 3 by the upper locking devices 10. In this position the net 8 will add to the security provided by the belts 3.

If the bunk 1 is to be pivoted up around the lugs 2 in order to provide more space thereunder, the unlocking knobs 7 are pressed so that the belt retractors in the profile or cartridge 5 can pull in the desired belt length. If the net 8 hereby is in its lifted position, it will at its lower portion be wound on the shaft 6 by the spring bias.

It is of great importance that the profile or cartridge 5 can withstand the forces to which it may be exposed at a possible collision. It appeared that due to the construction of the profile or cartridge 5 with a longitudinal slot for the net 8 and with comparatively long unsupported lengths difficulties were encountered.

The profile 5 is shown in section in Fig 5. It has a longitudinal slot 11 in its upper side for the net 8. A longitudinal brush for partly closing the slot 11 may be attached to a profile attachment 12. As already mentioned, a shaft 6 is provided in the profile 5 for the net 8 and for the belt retractors. The shaft 6 is journalled in the profile 5 by means of plastic inserts 13 having an external shape coping with the internal shape of the profile 5 and each having a preferably central hole for the shaft 6. In order to give the profile an increased strength in the area of the slot 11 at least some of the inserts 13 may have ears 14 introduced in corresponding channels of the profile at either side of the slot 11.

Practical tests have shown that the design with a profile as described above can withstand test values of at least 80 kg and 20 G.