Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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SPECIFICATION
Overland draya~e vehicles of the flat bed type common-
ly include a plurality of depending pockets along the truck
or trailer sides. Occasionally, depending upon the type of
cargo to be hauled, such pocketed flat bed vehicles are pro-
vided with temporary sidewalls comprising stakes uprightly
removably inserted into the flat bed pockets and elongate
upright paneling (usually of plywood material) ~eing up-
rightly removably supported by the intervening wall stakes.
Among the prior art wall stakes are those described in
United States Patents Nos. 3,097,880, 3,162,224, 3,794,375;
3,837,702; and 3,940,179. -
Wall stake constructions of the prior art suffer from
one or more of the following disadvantages and deficiencies.
Transversely shifting cargo loads can place a great deal of
stress upon the wall stakes and the intervening elongate
paneling. If wall stakes are made too rigid, a transversely
shifting cargo load can cause fracture or permanent deforma- ~ -
tion. Even localized deformation at the wall stake channel
will make subse~uent dismantling of the paneling sidewalls
extremely difficult, if not impossible. On the other hand,
if wall stakes are made too transversely resilient through-
out, they are unable to sustain the paneling and shifting
cargo weights. A seeming solution to this dilemma had been
to provide the wall stake preponderantly of base and alloy
metals. However, such metallic wall stakes under actual
roadway use conditions oftentimes fracture, or eventùally
become so corroded as to become practically impossible to
remove from the metallic flat bed vehicle. Another problem
common with prior art wall stakes is that they do not pro-
vide a reliable connector for the vehicle transversely ex-
tending topbow. Yet another problem associated with prior
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art wall sta~es is that t~ey cannot readily accommodate side-
wall paneling of different thickness.
It is accordingly the general object of the present
invention to provide an improved removable wall stake for flat
bed vehicles sidewall paneling which overcomes the several
disadvantages and deficiencies of prior art wall stakes.
The invention in one aspect provides a wall stake
adaptable for removable insertion into a flat bed vehicle provided
with a plurality of depending pockets, said wall stake being
adaptable for uprightly supporting vehicle sidewall paneling and ;~
comprising: a)an upright post extending along a vertical-axis
from a header at the post top-end to a foot at the post bottom-end,
said post having an upright periphery surrounding said vertical-
axis and including a uniplanar front-surface of a finite lateral-
width, a left-surface, and a right-surface, said post having a
cross-sectional size of at least about three square inches
whereby said post is semi-rigid in the transverse direction when ;
its foot is removably emplanted into a vehicle depending pocket;
b) a plurality of vertically separated and distinct tubular ~ -~
bushing spacers each located substantially halfway between the
post left and right surfaces and extending a given transverse-
length forwardly perpendicularly from the post front-surface; and
c) an upright structurally resilient guide-plate abutting said
spacers and being attached to the post with a plurality of
distinct fasteners each extending transversely through the post,
a tubular bushing spacer, and the guide-plate, said guide-plate
havin~ a finite given-thickness defined by a pair o~ transversely
separated broad faces one of which includes the rear-fact of
said guide-plate located at the spacers and the other of which
includes the front-face of said guide-plate, said guide-plate
having a bottom-edge located some finite height above the post
bottom-end and a top-edge located immediately below the post
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top-end, the ~uide-plate also having a pair of substantially
parallel upright edges including a left-edge and a right-edge
separated by a finite lateral-distance bearing a ratio of at
least two compared to the post lateral-width whereby said guide-
plate upright edges extend substantially like lateral-extensions
beyond the post left and right surfaces so as to provide a pair
of similar paneling channels defined by the post and the rear-
face of the guide-plate, the guide-plate given-thic~ness being
sufficiently thin such that the guide-plate is more transversely
resilient than is the emplanted post, and a vertical separation
between each of the respective distinct spacers sufficiently
great such that the entire guide-plate between said spacers is
transversely resiliently deflectable over the entire lateral-
distance thereof.
In the drawing, wherein like characters refer to
like parts in the several views, and in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a typical flat bed
vehicle having depending pockets and providing a typical
environment for the novel wall stakes of the present invention; ~-~
Figure 1~ is a typical prior art wall stake construc-
tion employed in the Figure 1 embodiment flat bed vehiclei
Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a representa-
tive embodiment of the wall stake construction of the present
invention;
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Figure 3 is a top plan view of the Figure 2 embodiment;
Figure 4 is a sectional plan view taken along lines
4-4 of Figures 2, 5 and 5A.
Figure 5 is a forward elevational view of the Figure
2 wall stake embodiment; and ~ ;
Figure 5A is a forward elevational view of a wall
stake embodiment differing from Figure 5 in that there is a
much shorter upright height for the guide-plate portion.
Referring initially to Figures 1 and lA which typify
prior art relative to upright wall stakes for supporting
sidewall paneling. A typical flat bed pocketed vehicle might ~ ~ -
take the form of trailer "T" having wheels "W", drawbar "Y",
and horizontal flat bed "F" rearwardly terminating at "R".
Incrementally spaced along the sides of flat bed "F", and
customarily at two-feet intervals, are depending pockets "P" ~
of a few inches finite-depth. The typical prior art wall ~ -
stake "H" depicted in Figure lA is of extruded metal having
a uniform H-shaped cross-section to provide two upright
channels for the upright terminii of removably supported
paneling 100. The upper and lower laterally extending hori-
zontal terminii of paneling 100 are respectively indicated~
as 105 and 106 (at flat bed "F"). The lower end foot part
of wall stake "H" is removably inserted into vehicle pocket
"P" while the upper portion is provided with an offset
tubular seat "J" for supporting the depending lower end "BB"
of the transversely extending topbow "B" which in turn sup- ~
ports a canopy (not shown). ~`
Figures 2-5 depict a representative embodiment 9 of
the wall stake concept of the present invention. Wall stake
9 comprises an upright post 10 extending along a vertical-
axis lOA from a header portion lOH at the post top-end 11 to -~
a foot lOF at bottom-end 12 and which is removably emplant-
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able into fl~-t bed ~ocket ~ n~erted post 10 is semi-
rigid in the transverse direct.i`on and preferably o~ non-
metallic construct~on whereby also corrosion at bed "F" does
not occur and the foot lOF is mechanicall~ shaveable to con-
form to the pocket shape and si~e encountered. Regularly
rectangular cross-sectional sizes and shapes for post 10 are
desireable, in which cases there are four upright elongate
surfaces including rear-surface 13, front-surface 14 of a
finite lateral-width "LW" a left-surface 15, and a right-
surface 16 of a finite transverse-width "TW". To provide a
transversely semi-rigid non-metallic emplanted post, which
i5 preferably of oak wood, the rectangular cross-sectional
area should exceed three square inches and with the TW/LW
ratio being within the range of one-half to two~
Canopy supporting topbows "B" are customarily sta-
tioned at four-feet intervals, and thus, one-half or more
the wall stakes used should have seating means e.g. "J",
for a topbow lower end ''BB'I. Herein, the post might be pro-
vided with a circular post-bore 17 extending downwardly from ~;
top-end 11 along vertical-axis lOA for a minor proportion
of the post upright height 11-12(which is typically a 4
feet height). A metallic pipe 18 having a circular pipe-
bore is frictionally secured within post-bore 17 to provide
a seat ~or topbow lower end "BB". Topbows "B" exert ap-
preciable transverse stresses upon its seating means e.g.
"J", but which the concentric and metallic pipe seat 18
herein is admirably suited to withstand. In this vein, a
twisted metallic wire 19 provides a girth-band located
immediately below and surrounding post top-end 11 and co-
elevational with pipe 18, which girth-band 19 prevents the
non-metallic post header portion lOH from being ruptured
by the forces exerted by topbow "B".
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Cooperating with and attached to post 10 and forward- :
ly transversely spaced therefrom a finite transverse-length
"TL" is a guide-plate 30 which in its lateral-distance
35-36 liberally exceeds the
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po9t lateral-wldth "LW" by a l~tiO of about two. Thus, the up~ight
left-edge 35 and ri~ht-edge 36 Or guide-plate 30 might protrude llke
lateral-extents "LE" beyond the po~k lertward and rightward terminii
15 and 16. Guide-plate 30 1~ necessar~ly ~truekurally re~iliently
~lexible a~ by having a relativel~ thln dimen310n "GT" between lts
rearward 33 ~nd it~ rorward 34 broad ~ur~aces, which 6iven-thicknes~
"GT" mi~ht b~ o~ the order Or about 16-~auge ~or ~heet metal material.
It 1~ noked that 14-gauge 3h~et metal i8 mar~inally ln~u~iclently
~lexible. Gu~de-plate 30 i~ pre~erably o~ rectansular ~hape ineludlng
horlzontal top-edge 31, horlzontal bottom-edge 32, and two ps.rall~l
ver~ical edges 3~ and 36. Thus, ~ulde-plate 30, 9paCer ~an~ 20, and
po~t 10, t~ogether define a pal~ of upright ¢hannels lo~ated on OppO8-
ite ~ide~ o~ ~pacer~ 20. Cro~s-~ectionally, ea¢h wall stake channel
ha~ a tran~ver~e-len~th "TL", a rear lateral dlmen~ion o~ about one-
hal~ "LW", and a ~rontal la~eral dlmen~ion of ~ubstantlally one-half "LW"
plu~ "LE", ~h~reby panellng 100 1~ e~eptionally well ~ecurable there-
in, Becau~e of the stru~tural re~iliency of ~ùlde-plate 30, it i~ re~-
l~tant to permanent deformatlon by transversely shi~ting cargo laad~ and
ready removal of panellng 100 rrom the wall atak~ ¢hannel~ i~ pract-
lcally en~ured~ The ~uide-plate top-ed~e 31 i~ located a ~ew inche~
belo~ post top-end 11 and nearer thereto than to the post bottom-end 12.
For the wall xtake embodiment 9 sho~n in Figure 5, the guide-plate
height 31-32 is appropriats to the panelin~ uprlght terminii edges lOl,
~hl¢h is ~ubstantlally the channel helght or about four feet ~or 3tand-
ardlz0d ply~ood type ~ldewall pa~elln~.
The forwardly transver~ely e~tendln~ spaoer means and the
attachment mean~ between post lO and gulde-plate 30 are preferably
located at v~rti~ally separated and di~tlnctly lsolated location~.
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Accordingly, between each distinct spacer means station
(20), the guide-plate 30 is desireably transversely resilient
for its entire lateral-distance 35-36 as indicated in
phantom line "D". Herein each distinct spacer means station
20 comprises a tubular cylindrical bushing 21 having a rear-
ward inner-end 22 abutting post front-surface 14 and a for- ;~
ward outer-end 23 abutting guide-plate rear-face 33, trans-
verse distance 22-23 being "TL". A headed fastener bolt 24
at each spacer station 20 passes horizontally through post
10, thence bushing 21, and finally guide-plate 30 midway
edges 35 and 36. Completing the fastener arrangement for-
wardly of guide-plate 30 and surrounding bolt 2~ are: wash-
er 25, lock-washer 26, and finally nut 27 threadedly engaged
with bolt 24. Accordingly, with such removably secured
fastener means 24-27, the bushing 21 can be readily replaced
with another bushing 21 but of a different transverse-length
"TL". This allows a selectable transverse-length "TL" for
the two wall stake channels and equivalent to the transverse -
thickness of the paneling (e.g. 100) available for or other-
wise appropriate to the flat bed cargo carrying vehicle.
Preferably, the inside diameter of removahly secured cylin-
drical spacer bushing 21 slightly exceeds the diameter of
bolt 24, this loosely surrounding relationship facilitates
ready removal of paneling from the two upright channels of
each wall stake.
For the Figure 5 wall stake embodiment having the ~
quide-plate bottom-edge 32 nearer post bottom-end 12, the ;
wall stake channels secure the upright endward terminii 101
of elongate paneling. However, sidewall paneling utilized
is oftentimes of four-feet and even eight-feet lateral
lengths. As previouslyEointed out, pockets "P" are commonly
spaced at two-feet increments along the flat bed cargo- - ' `
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carryin~ vehicle. Accordingly, paneling (100) is oftentimes
additionally supported by wall stakes (99) located inter-
mediate the paneling endward terminîi 101, such as at verti-
cally notched portions 102 extending downwardly of panel top-
edge 105. For such purpose, and as indicated in Figure 5A,
with intermediately employed (102) wall stakes 99, the guide-
plate bottom-edge 32 is located much nearer to post top-end
11 than to bottom-end 12. For example a guide-plate height
31-32 about twelve-inches would be typical. In such situa-
tions, the spacer means e.g. 21, are located within the down-
wardly notched intermediate portions 102 of paneling 100.
After many re-insertions and removals of sidewall
paneling from the wall stake channels, the upright terminii
101 might eventually become worn drastically thinner than
the channel transverse-length "TL". To compensate for such
panel wearing, one might select a bushing of appropriately
shorter transverse-length (e.g. 22-23), or even select a
softer structural material for the post 10 whereby further
tightening of nut 27 will partially embed bushing 21 therein
which effectively shortens the transverse-length between
post and guide-plate.
From the foregoing, the construction and operation of
the wall stake for vehicle sidewall paneling will be readily
understood and further explanation is believed to be un-
necessary. However, since numerous modifications and
changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it
is not deslred to limit the invention to the exact construc-
tions shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable
modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling
within the scope of the appended claims.
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