TITLE

A CAMPERVAN

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a campervan. Particularly, it relates to a campervan including a part of the body of the campervan (top of the campervan) rising up and down hydraulically.

BACKGROUND

Campervans are known for the past more than four decades. Various campervans with an additional floor are known to exist for a long time. A common roof lift system is the cable and pulley system via a cranking mechanism or hydraulic cylinder, which lifts vertical assemblies on each corner of the roof. Another very common roof lift system is one which incorporates flexible rods which push up all me four corners of the roof and lift it straight up. These can also be crank or hydraulic cylinder actuated. The exterior linkage system is one of the older styles of lift system incorporating mechanical bars and pivots exterior to the trailer box. This often requires manual pivoting and lifting in order to raise the roof. This system is probably the easiest to troubleshoot during a failure, although probably one of the easiest to damage, too.

Prior Art

U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,414, teaches a camper body in which the camper top is ϊaised by hydraulic or screw jacks located at the four corners of the camper body. The jacks are attached directly to the moveable roof without the use of a linkage system. No system is disclosed for operating the hydraulic or screw jacks.

US Patent No. 4103958 discloses a camping vehicle body having a collapsible peripheral side wall and a roof, liftable means including hydraulic cylinders and an intercoupling system including a rack adjacent to each hydraulic cylinder. The jack systems disclosed in the above patent are inefficient as means for lifting a roof section as opposed to an entire roof, since the jacks would intrude into and restrict the useable living space.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,979 discloses an expandable rooftop camper that utilizes articulated arms located at each of the four corners of the camper. The articulated arms are pushed into an open position by jacks operated by either, a spring, air pressure or hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic jack is a single acting self-contained system with no sdparate hydraulic system disclosed. Articulated arms as disclosed above are not compact and will also be intrusive as they do not fold completely flat.

U.S. Pat. No, 3,575,460 discloses a portable sleeping mechanism mounted to thereof of a vehicle which is raised or lowered by a linkage system. The linkage system provides simultaneous lateral and vertical movement and may be operated by a double acting

hydraulic piston. The lever system provides simultaneous vertical and lateral movement. The lateral movement is detrimental when raising a roof section where it is much more efficient to lift in a vertical direction only. The more lateral movement permitted the more wasted space that will result. US Patent No. 5769485 discloses on a vehicle having a top position a lift mechanism including an internal pulley-systems.

These known camping vehicles comprises of the expandable body separate from the body of the vehicle. It is not integrated into the vehicular body. Vehicles with integrated expandable body have liftable mechanisms comprising of cross-toothed members (known as scissor lift arrangement) to lift the roof and the slideable peripheral sides.

The present invention obviates the aforesaid drawbacks by providing a vehicle, which comprises of an expandable body integrated into the body of {he vehicle.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a campervan which includes an expandable roof and a second floor defining a second storey or livable space upon elevation or lifting of the roof. This is achieved using hydraulic means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a campervan comprising of a vehicle body and an expandable body integrated into said vehicle body such that said expandable body comprises of a roof and side walls, wherein said roof and said side walls are capable of being lifted by hydraulic cylinders using a combination of gears.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described with reference to the figures accompanying the specification wherein the same numerals denote the same parts and wherein:

Figure 1 shows the line diagram of the side view of the expandable body.

Figure 2 shows the line diagram of the side view of the expandable body in a raised condition.

With reference to the figures, the improved campervan comprising of a vehicle body (not shown in the figure) and an expandable body (1) integrated into the vehicle body. The expandable body comprises of a body (2), ari expandable roof (3), and flexible side walls (4). The roof and side walls are raised and lowered with the help of hydraulic cylinders. The hydraulic cylinders use a combination of gears through which oil is passed under pressure generated by the hydraulic pump, This controls the concerted movement of the hydraulic cylinders (synchronizes the upward and downward movement of all the cylinders.) the side walls fold into the body (2) on lowering ύe roof. The aforesaid

expansion and/or retraction is made with the help of an electric motor and push button switches for upward and downward movement.

The double acting hydraulic cylinders keep the roof in the locked position and attached to the vehicle body at all times, during travel and does not need any kind of external clamping arrangement, which is otherwise generally used.

The campervan also includes solar panels (energy cells), which takes care of the camper van's electrical requirement, which would otherwise need an external source of charging the batteries when the vehicle is in stationary position with the vehicle engine shut off. Thus eliminating a plug-in source of electricity to charge the camper batteries as is conventionally used.

Additional optional features include a spare wheel storage/fitting arrangement eliminating any kind of heavy lifting during a tire change operation.