Trailer, wall construction and manufacturing method

1. A vehicle wall construction, which includes:

multiple wall sections each including: first and second faces positioned in spaced relation; a wall section cavity between said faces; a first edge with a tongue; a second edge with a groove; and first and second ends;

said wall sections being fastened together with respective tongues being received in respective grooves of adjacent wall sections;

a wall formed by said interconnected wall sections;

two of said walls intersecting to form a corner; and

a corner post located at said corner and including a pair of vertical channels each receiving multiple said wall section ends of a respective wall.

2. The wall construction according to claim 1 wherein said corner post includes:

a radiused, outer wall;

an inner wall spaced from said outer wall;

a cavity formed between said inner and outer walls;

each said corner post channel being connected to said inner and outer walls; and

said corner post channels and said walls being oriented approximately 90° with respect to each other.

3. The wall construction according to claim 1 wherein:

each said tongue includes one of a ridge and a channel;

each said groove includes the other of a ridge and a channel; and

said ridges are adapted to snap into said channels with said tongue received in said groove.

4. The wall construction according to claim 1 wherein said wall section tongues are fastened in said wall section grooves by fastening means chosen from among the group consisting of adhesive, welding, press-fit and mechanical fasteners.

5. A trailer, which comprises:

a bed including a floor structure comprising multiple crossbeams extending transversely in spaced, juxtaposed relation and a floor deck mounted on said crossbeams;

a king pin hitch mounted on said bed;

a wheel truck mounted on said bed;

a superstructure mounted on said bed and enclosing an interior, said superstructure comprising a pair of sidewalls, a front wall, a rear wall with a door opening, a door movable between open and closed positions with respect to said rear wall door opening; a top rail mounted on top of said walls and forming an upper rim of said superstructure; a rub rail connecting said walls with said floor structure; and corner posts forming corner intersections of said sidewalls and said front wall;

said sidewalls and said front wall each comprising multiple, horizontal wall sections including: first and second faces; multiple spacers extending between said faces and forming corresponding wall section hollow compartments; first and second ends; a first edge with a groove; and a second edge with a tongue;

each said corner post including a pair of channels oriented at approximately 90° with respect to each other and receiving respective wall section ends at an intersection of adjacent walls;

said top rail including a chamber and a passage open upwardly into said chamber;

top-most wall sections of said sidewalls and said front wall extending through said top rail passage and into said compartment thereof;

said rub rail including a channel receiving the tongue of the bottom-most wall sections of said sidewalls and said front wall;

said rub rail being connected to said sidewalls, said front wall and said floor structure; and

said wall sections, corner posts, top rail and rub rail being connected by one or more of the fastening means chosen from among the group comprising adhesive, welding, snap-fit and mechanical fasteners.

6. The trailer according to claim 5 , which includes:

each said floor structure crossbeam having a front leg attached to said floor deck, a rear leg attached to said floor deck and a bottom leg connected to said front and rear legs and located in spaced relation below said floor deck; and

said front leg having a configuration angled upwardly and forwardly from said bottom leg to said floor deck.

7. The trailer according to claim 5 , which includes a discharge system chosen from among the group comprising a moving floor, a tipping bed and superstructure and an ejector mechanism.

8. A method of manufacturing a trailer, which comprises the steps of:

providing a bed with a floor structure including multiple cross members extending transversely across said bed and a floor plate mounted on said cross members;

providing a superstructure mounted on said bed and including a pair of sidewalls, a front wall and a rear wall;

enclosing a superstructure interior with said walls and said floor structure;

constructing each said wall with multiple, horizontal wall sections each having a first edge with a tongue and a second edge with a groove;

inserting said wall section tongues in said wall section grooves to connect the wall sections associated with each wall;

providing multiple corner posts with pairs of corner post channels oriented at approximately 90° angles;

locating said corner posts at corners of said superstructure;

inserting said wall section ends into the corner post channels; and

forming intersections of said walls at said superstructure corners.

9. The method according to claim 8 , which includes the additional steps of:

forming a double-thickness extension of each said wall section second face at said groove;

forming a ridge with said extension and projecting said ridge into said groove;

forming a channel along each said tongue; and

snap-fitting multiple said tongues into a respective grooves with said channels receiving said ridges.

10. The method according to claim 8 , which includes the additional steps of:

providing said superstructure with an upper rim;

providing each said wall with a top rail at said upper rim;

providing each said top rail with a chamber and a downwardly-open passage into said chamber; and

extending an edge of the top-most wall section of each said wall through a respective passage and into a respective chamber.

11. The method according to claim 8 , which includes the additional steps of:

providing each said wall with a bottom rail;

providing each said bottom rail with an upwardly-open bottom rail channel, a horizontal extension and a bottom rail beveled leg extending at an angle upwardly and outwardly from said extension;

extending a respective edge of the bottom-most wall section of each wall into said bottom rail channel; and

mounting said bottom rail extension on said floor structure.

12. The method according to claim 8 , which includes the additional steps of:

providing each said floor structure cross member with a front leg; and

angling each said cross member front leg downwardly and rearwardly from said floor panel.

13. The method according to claim 8 , which includes the additional steps of extruding said wall sections, corner posts, top rail and rub rail.

14. A vehicle wall construction, which includes:

multiple wall sections each including: first and second faces positioned in spaced relation; a wall section cavity between said faces; a first edge with a tongue; a second edge with a groove; and first and second ends;

said wall sections being fastened together with respective tongues being received in respective grooves of adjacent wall sections;

a wall formed by said interconnected wall sections;

each said tongue includes one of a ridge and a channel;

each said groove includes the other of a ridge and a channel;

said ridges are adapted to snap into said channels with said tongue received in said groove;

each said wall section groove is defined by a double-thickness extension of said first face and a single-thickness extension of said second face;

said extensions are adapted to receive a respective tongue therebetween;

said double-thickness second face extension forming said ridge; and

a spacer extending between said extensions and forming a base of said groove.

15. The wall construction according to claim 14 , which includes:

said tongue being recessed at said first and second wall section faces for receiving said extensions of an adjacent wall section whereby said wall section faces are substantially flush.

16. A vehicle wall construction, which includes:

multiple wall sections each including: first and second faces positioned in spaced relation; a wall section cavity between said faces; a first edge with a tongue; a second edge with a groove; and first and second ends;

said wall sections being fastened together with respective tongues being received in respective grooves of adjacent wall sections;

a wall formed by said interconnected wall sections;

a top rail including a chamber and a passage open upwardly into said chamber;

a top-most wall section of said wall extending through said passage and into said chamber; and

said top rail forming an upper rim of said wall construction.

17. The wall construction according to claim 16 wherein said top rail includes:

first and second top rail faces;

a top rail spacer extending between said top rail first and second faces;

said chamber comprising a lower top rail chamber located below said spacer;

an upper top rail chamber located above said spacer;

a top panel located above said upper chamber;

an upper beveled face extending from said top panel to said second face; and

a lower beveled face extending from said second face to said passage.

18. A vehicle wall construction, which includes:

multiple wall sections each including: first and second faces positioned in spaced relation; a wall section cavity between said faces; a first edge with a tongue; a second edge with a groove; and first and second ends;

said wall sections being fastened together with respective tongues being received in respective grooves of adjacent wall sections;

a wall formed by said interconnected wall sections;

a rub rail including a channel receiving the tongue of a bottom-most wall section; and

said rub rail being adapted for connection to a vehicle floor structure.

19. The wall construction according to claim 18 wherein said rub rail includes:

a rub rail inner face located adjacent to the first face of said bottom-most wall section;

a lip located adjacent to the second face of said bottom-most wall section;

a bottom spacer extending between said rub rail first face and said lip and closing said rub rail channel;

a horizontal face extending inwardly from said rub rail first face; and

a beveled rub rail face extending between a respective wall section first face and said horizontal face extension.