IP Library Granted Patent US 8,240,737
Granted Patent B2
US 8,240,737 · App. 12/646,041 · Granted Aug 14, 2012

Pick-up style utility vehicle with expandable cargo bed

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,240,737
App. No.
12/646,041
Granted
Aug 14, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A pick-up style utility vehicle with an expandable cargo bed, including a front seat, a rear seat, a stationary bottom plate serving as a bottom face of the cargo bed, an expansion bottom plate for expanding the bottom face of the cargo bed, and a shared linkage mechanism for holding the rear seat at a use position where the rear seat is positioned on the upper side of the stationary bottom plate and a shunting position where the rear seat is shunted into a rear leg room provided in front of and below the stationary bottom plate. The shared linkage mechanism also holds the expansion bottom plate at a storage position where the expansion bottom plate is above the stationary bottom plate and an expansion position where the expansion bottom plate is positioned over the leg room.

Claims (9)

1. A pick-up style utility vehicle with an expandable cargo bed, comprising:

a front seat;

a rear seat;

a stationary bottom plate serving as a bottom face of the cargo bed; and

a linkage mechanism movably connecting the rear seat to the stationary bottom plate,

wherein the linkage mechanism includes an expansion bottom plate as a second link, a first link rotatably connecting the rear seat to the expansion bottom plate and a third link rotatably connecting the expansion bottom plate to the stationary bottom plate so that the linkage mechanism can hold the rear seat at a use position where the rear seat is positioned above the stationary bottom plate and a shunting position where the rear seat is positioned below the expansion bottom plate.

2. The pick-up style utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the rear seat is shunted, at the shunting position, into a rear leg room provided forward of the stationary bottom plate and below a level of a lower surface of the stationary bottom plate.

3. The pick-up style utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein, at the shunting position, the expansion bottom plate is positioned forward of a front end of the stationary bottom plate such that the expansion bottom plate and the stationary bottom plate are aligned in a horizontal direction.

4. The pick-up style utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein, at the shunting position, the rear seat hangs from the expansion bottom plate, and, at the use position, the rear seat is positioned over an upper surface of the expansion bottom plate and the expansion bottom plate is positioned over an upper surface of the stationary bottom plate.

Assignments (2)
NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT Recorded Jun 2, 2022
From: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
To: KAWASAKI MOTORS, LTD.
Reel/Frame 060300/0504 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 30, 2010
From: TAKAYA, SATOSHI; INOUE, MASAFUMI; TANBA, SHINICHI; TAKAGI, DAISUKE; KOGA, MASAHIRO; NISHIKAWA, YOSHITAKA; KAWABATA, TAKAO; REINKE, DAVE
To: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 024315/0787 →