The object of the present invention is a manufacturing process for a multi-purpose van for a pick-up type vehicle, which is suitable for replacing the traditional open load body with a structure capable of containing first aid, research, analysis or fire- fighting equipments, and being used as a "mobile workshop", "mobile shop", for animal transportation, etc .

The family of off-road vehicles (4x4 and 4x2) is comprised of vehicles only used to transport people and of "mixed transport" vehicles, i.e. used to transport people and objects.

The latter are usually referred to as "pick-ups" and are vehicles with either a single (2 seats) or double (4/5 seats) cab, behind which an open box of varying length is placed, with a top-loading configuration which confers the name "pick-up" thereto.

The qualities of the pick-up consist of its high versatility of use and simplicity of loading, which mainly takes place from the top (beyond the tailgates) or from the rear pull-down tailgate.

The limits of the pick-up are the intrinsic nature of its function, i.e. being open and thus exposing the load to weather, to man's actions (theft, tampering etc.), and exposing the whole vehicle to traveling problems (aerodynamics, stability, barycentre of the load, etc . ) .

It has been sought to obviate these limitations, so far, by means of approximate solutions, which are sometimes empirical and however unsatisfactory in resolving the limitations while maintaining the qualities of the original vehicle. The two main solutions adopted are as follows:

1) centering the open box and consequently covering with a tarpaulin;

2) covering the open box with a "hard-top" made of various materials.

Both solutions are inadequate due to various reasons: neither of them ensures a perfect water-tight seal; both allow loading/unloading operations only from the rear tailgate; being applications on the body, neither of them is free from problems of vibration, resonance, turbulence and fragility, and in short, they eliminate the advantages of the pick-up, being restricted to only partially reducing the limitations.

A metal structure is also known from US 5593201, which is adapted to be inserted and installed into the rear body of a pick-up, which is equipped with rear and side openings with openable doors.

A first problem with this known solution is due to the available loading space being extremely reduced as compared to the external size of the pick-up. In fact, the useful volume of the body is further reduced due to the presence of the structure itself which, being installed therein, necessarily reduces the volume thereof and the surface available for loading.

A second problem with the aforementioned known solution is due to the weight of the additional structure applied in the body being added to the weight of the body . itself, contributing to further reducing the useful load transportable by the pick-up.

The main object of the present invention is to overcome the problems and disadvantages of the aforementioned systems, providing a new solution capable of ensuring both the versatility of the pick-up load and its perfect "carriageability" .

This was obtained, according to the invention, providing a manufacturing process for a self-supporting multi-purpose van made of composite material, specifically conceived to be installed to replace the normal open containment structure (body) placed behind the passenger compartment of vehicles, suitable for transporting goods, technical, first-aid or research equipments, or even animals, which substantially consists of a self-supporting shell provided with rear and lateral openings, through each of which all or part of the load surface may be accessed, even by means of sliding extractable containers and/or shelves and/or drawers manufactured so that the goods, materials and animals can be translated outside the profile of the vehicle and here made available to the operator.

According to the invention, said self-supporting structure is preferably made of fiberglass by means of a mould and is equipped with a bottom made of marine plywood, or of other material with similar or superior characteristics of resistance and non-deformability .

According to the invention, the rear and lateral openings are preferably provided with shutter-type closures.

The present invention will now be described by way of illustrative, non-limiting example according to a preferred embodiment thereof, with particular reference to the figures in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a general schematic view of the monocoque van according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a possible embodiment using load and support surfaces;

Fig. 3 shows the invention installed on a pick-up, in a closed configuration.

With reference to Fig. 1, a schematic embodiment of the multi-purpose van 1 according to the invention is shown, in which the latter clearly integrates with vehicle 3 by means of the support surface 2 of the vehicle chassis, which is left free due to the complete removal/absence of the original rear body installed by the vehicle manufacturer.

It is worth noting how the profile of multipurpose van 5 may easily follow the original profile of vehicle 4 without generating edges or shape errors with regard to both the cross and longitudinal sections. It also appears obvious that, due to different and particular requirements, other shapes and dimensions may be assigned to the multi-purpose van without this limiting in any way the object of such invention.

With reference to Fig. 2, two lateral openings 6 and one rear opening 7 are provided on multi-purpose van 1, which allow two folding surfaces on two sides of vehicle 3, and a removable surface 9 to be accessed, respectively. Rear opening 7 and lateral openings 6, the latter two not necessarily the same, may be simultaneously present or not, according to the use assigned to vehicle 3.

Fig. 3 depicts one of the possible systems for closing the lateral openings 6 and the rear opening 1, which in the illustrated case includes shutters 10 and 11 which act to close the multi-purpose van once the load has been placed therein or unloaded from vehicle 3. The single shutters 10 and 11 may be equipped with internal or external closures so as to ensure the safety of the contents of vehicle 3.

Advantageously, the multi-purpose van thus manufactured immediately resolves the typical limitations of pick-up vehicles, such as:

a. the water-tightness of the load compartment, which is now closed;

b. the suppression of turbulence, due to the connection between the load compartment profile and that of the passenger compartment;

c. the suppression of vibrations and resonance for the continuity of the load compartment with the passenger compartment, which is also improved by means of elastic connection solutions therebetween.

Providing the lateral openings 6, in addition to the rear opening 7, which are also watertight and protected by shutters, ensures the possibility of lateral loading as well, which is denied or made difficult instead by the current covering systems.

The greatest limitation of vehicles with open load surfaces has been also overcome, represented by the inaccessibility from ground level of the points farthest from the vehicle profile, which situation often generated safety problems for the operators dealing with loading and unloading goods and equipments .

Although such a limitation has been greatly reduced by the possibility of lateral access, it was further improved by the invention adopting one or more sliding platforms 9 which, translating at the bottom of the van 1, allow the whole floor of the load compartment to be turned -outward to allow loading/unloading operations as with an old pick-up without tailgates: once the loading/unloading operations have been completed, load surface 9 may be translated again within van 1 so as to protect it from weather while ensuring better carriageability and better distribution of the loads within the vehicle.

The present invention arises from the need to transport, guard, protect and make readily available materials and equipments loaded on the body of a "pickup" vehicle.

In order to achieve this result, using tarpaulins or "hard-tops" to be placed on the load compartment was not sufficient, since the former do not ensure tightness of the closures nor protection from bumps or violations; the latter do not allow lateral loading and are often not aerodynamic.

Finally, neither allows the load placed in the innermost part of the body to be quickly accessed.

In addition, with the external size and the total weight at fully loaded vehicle being equal, providing the maximum load capacity was fundamental, both in terms of useful load volume and allowable weight for the load itself. The solution described herein substantially provides a monocoque van manufactured to provide the following features.

Monocoque 1 made of reinforced and fire- resistant fiberglass perfectly joins with the silhouette of the vehicle, thus suppressing problems of aerodynamics and turbulence.

• The three openings (two lateral openings 6 and one rear opening 7) provided with sliding shutters 10 and 11 with lock, allow the load compartment to be easily accessed from three sides, due to the lower height from ground level of the bottom edge of the compartment with respect to the normal body, and to the absence of outwardly protruding parts which could prevent the operator from completely approaching the vehicle .

• The shutter lock allows a theft-proof closure .

The sliding or roto-translating load surfaces 8 and 9, placed within the openings - as proper "stowage modules" - allow the load to be extracted in a few seconds, in whichever location of the compartment it is placed.

• The presence of "stowage modules" allows maximum customization of the fitting options, making the invention adaptable to countless uses and transformable by interchanging the modules.

The process according to the invention is the result of a careful study on the carriageability of vehicles, an in-depth analysis of the adoptable solutions, a targeted choice of the materials used and an open approach to the evolution of operational uses.

Unlike known solutions, the present invention provides for totally and completely suppress the original steel body of the vehicle and manufacture a self-supporting monocoque which exactly refers to the profiles and external size of the steel body, completing it with the missing parts to join it to the rest of the passenger compartment.

The described monocoque 1 was constructed by manufacturing two half-body shells made of fibreglass obtained through a specifically manufactured mould. The mould is the result of a modelling process starting from the steel body of the vehicle and completed with wood and resin parts in order to obtain the "mock-up" of the finished piece.

The "mock-up" was used to manufacture the definitive mould, in two pieces.

According to the invention, the two fibreglass half-shells obtained from the so-constructed mould are firmly joined and connected by gluing fibreglass strips so as to make the joint between the two parts invisible. The result is a monocoque made of fire- resistant fibreglass.

A peculiar feature of the invention consists in that the monocoque thus obtained is free from the bottom to carry out the subsequent machining operations, which include cutting the lateral 6 and rear 7 openings, specifically dimensioned according to the needs of the final user.

Another peculiar feature of the invention is that, in order to obtain a monocoque van with a load surface considerably, lowered with respect to the vehicle's original body, closing the bottom of the compartment by means of a surface made of pre-impregnated, marine plywood is required.

This choice was made for the following reasons:

A) The wood is easily embedded into fibreglass, elastically joining thereto and giving rise to a rather durable "unicum", as shown by the extensive use in nautical constructions;

B) The wood forms an ideal elastic anchoring to the chassis of a small floor, as it is light, flexible and cushioned, even without using an interposed "silent block";

C) The wood is more easily mouldable and therefore adaptable to the not-always symmetrical profiles of the underlying chassis and of the vehicle wheel arches.

The thus obtained van, having become an ex-novo fit-out, is therefore fixed to the chassis of the vehicle by means of steel nuts and bolts dimensioned so as to be adaptable to the original anchoring points, therefore without the risk of altering the reaction to torsions and tractions of the load compartment, such as in the original design by the vehicle manufacturer.

To promote the elastic play between the passenger compartment and the new closed load compartment while avoiding noisy vibrations, the thin space between the two components is cushioned with small elastic plugs made of plastic material and lined along the whole perimeter with a rubber cable cover, having a lip inserted into the crack and a T-shaped, rounded surface, overhanging such a space.

Once it has become an integral part of the vehicle, "stowage modules" arranged according to the user's needs are fitted in the internal compartment of the van 1. For example, said modules may consist of removable and partially folding racks, upon which firefighters' breathing apparatus cylinders may be hooked, so that once removed, each cylinder is maintained in a position so as to allow the fire-fighter to put it on his/her shoulders even without the help of a colleague, so as to speed up intervention operations.

Said "stowage modules" are advantageously adapted to rationalize the distribution of the on-board loads to the greatest extent, both because they are structured and divided into sections so as to provide housings, receptacles and retainers for the specific objects to be transported (tools, instruments, etc.), and because they are designed so as to equally divide the on-board weights, in order to allow a uniform distribution of the load.

According to the invention, the "stowage modules" are removed from the load openings by means of a translation system through shelves resting on telescopic steel rails, capable of supporting even highly heavy loads. Said telescopic rails are preferably of the type commercially available for setting up industrial shelving. Other shelves, instead, are made by means of a "roto-translating" system which provides for the translation of the shelf out of the compartment and the subsequent rotation to make the load more accessible. As already mentioned, the openings to access the "stowage modules" are closed by metal rolling shutters provided with a key, which cause the shutter to disappear within the roof. This solution was designed to limit to the maximum the size which affects other shutter systems employing rollers. In the present invention, in fact, each shutter preferably slides in the section below the roof and partially falls in the longitudinal center line of the fit-out, in the partition compartment between the left and right "stowage modules".

Another peculiar feature of the invention consists in that said "stowage modules" are installed so as to be removed and replaced, if needed, with other modules equipped to stow different materials or equipments. To this end, using metal supports provided with quick- assembling stainless steel nuts and bolts is included.

It is worth noting that the adoption of fiberglass, for manufacturing the van described so far, is not a mere constructional choice among those possible, but was utilized in order to take advantage of the protective "gel-coat" film which finishes the semi-finished product just extracted from the moulds: said protective film, in fact, is an ideal support for the subsequent operations of painting and finishing the van to be fitted out, which can therefore have the same color as the original vehicle. This is a feature which may not be exhibited by any other structure made of light alloy, considering the well-known phenomena of corrugation of metal sheets which are centered or however moulded in rounding shapes. In the light of the above description, it is worth noting that according to the invention, localized reinforcing elements or stiffening ribs - suitably positioned in the self-supporting monocoque - may be provided, consisting of wood or metal inserts, for example, submerged in the fiberglass when manufactured in the mould.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that, again according to the present invention, as an alternative to fiberglass, other materials suitable for the purpose may be used, such as for example ABS, carbon fiber- reinforced resins, composite materials of other types, etc .

The present invention has been described by way of illustrative, non-limiting example according to a preferred embodiment thereof, but it should be understood that variations and/or modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from its scope of protection, as defined by the appended claims.