"PROTECTIVE COVER EQUIPMENT FOR VEHICLES."

This descriptive report of the utility model patent refers to the protective equipment for covering vehicles, which is manufactured in varied sizes and shapes from metal, glass, rubber, plastic, timber and/or other synthetic and/or natural material that can be useful for the desired purpose, and is preferably used for covering a vehicle dump body.

The protective equipment for covering vehicles may also be used at any other place and/or in any other system as well as contain the most varied kinds of material, either in conjunction or separately, such as tarpaulin, vinyl, latex, rubber, plastic, metal, glass, rubberized cloth, metallic cloth and/or the like inasmuch as they do not uncharacterized it by losing the characteristics initially claimed in this report.

The protective equipment for covering vehicles has been developed and projected from a set of rails installed on the lateral edges or on the floor of a vehicle dump body where the movable parts that move in a synchronized manner in the longitudinal direction of the rails, slide on the rails. These movable parts are shifted in a manual or automatic manner by means of motors and are connected to spools, belts, cables, rack rails connected to each other and/or to any other similar equipment intended for the same purpose.

The protective equipment for covering vehicles also has a moving bar installed over the dump body next to and/or over the vehicle cab, and

a bar connected to the movable parts that shifts in such a manner that, when in a resting position, this, in the frontal position of the dump body, makes the two parts acquire a single aspect in the shape of a safety bar. And, when activated, the equipment makes the moving parts shift the bar and/or bars resulting in two supporting components, forming a rack in varied positions; these bars may be of different sizes and shapes allowing a cover made of flexible and/or inflatable flexible material to be stretched over them, thus forming a top.

Besides, the set formed by the equipment may be composed of a bar and a movable component installed on the same level of the dump body edges. These components are then connected to a flexible and/or impermeable inflatable flexible cloth so that, when activated, the system moves the movable bar stretching in a manual or automatic manner the said cloth forming a cover such as a high top and/or sea hood, either inflatable or not inflatable.

The high top and/or sea hood, either inflatable or not inflatable, may be of tarpaulin, vinyl, rubber, plastic, rubberized cloth, impermeable cloth, metallic cloth and/or the like interconnected with each other, and, also, may be inflated section by section, in part or in whole with air, gas, fluids, foam, gel, liquids, and/or the like interconnected with each other, and, also may or may not have metallic, plastic reinforcements and/or the like.

The retractable products once they are opened, that is, when they are moving, they are inflated, and, once they retract, they are deflated

section by section, in whole or in part. They may have parts in high and/or low relief in varied configurations and, even, they may have openings on the sides, in the front, and in the rear such as windows and/or doors which may be of transparent material or the like. The sea hood may be turned into a high top whose edges may have compartments where the sides, the front, and the rear are housed, which, once they are opened, are transformed into the sides, the front, and the rear of the high top. The sea hood is the upper part of the high top, and, in the compartments, there are the parts which, once they are inflated, form the rest of the high top.

The present utility model may contain other devices aggregated to its functionality inasmuch as it is not uncharacterized by losing the characteristics initially claimed in this report.

The state-of-the-art of devices of this nature is quite developed, there being an assortment of models of covers for the dump body of vehicles; however, some observations should be made with relation to them.

In general, on the consumer market, there is an assortment of models of dump body covers that may be separated into either rigid or flexible covers for dump bodies.

In spite of fulfilling the role it is intended for, that is, to cover a vehicle dump body, the equipment found in the state-of-the-art requires a structure for a cover which, in case of rigid covers, is the cover itself

making the process of installing it, removing it, and conditioning it very complex. In case of flexible covers, a complex structure over which the cover can be stretched becomes necessary.

The great advantage of the protective equipment for covering vehicles, either inflatable or not inflatable, is in having a piece of equipment capable of closing, when necessary, in an automatic and/or manual manner, the dump body of a vehicle with no need for any other structure, providing it with better resistance, sustainment, sealing, and thermal isolation, which results in more practical, efficient and safer equipment when compared to the similar equipment found in the state-of- the-art.

Therefore, this system is innovative with relation to protective equipment for covering vehicles, either inflatable or not inflatable, since it provides a piece of equipment capable of closing, when necessary, in an automatic and/or manual manner the dump body of a vehicle with no need for any other structure, ensuring better resistance, sustainment, sealing, and thermal-acoustic isolation, which results in more practical, efficient and safer equipment when compared to the similar equipment found in the state-of-the-art. In order for the protective equipment for covering vehicles, subject matter of the present patent to be clearly understood and put into practice by any specialist in this technological sector, it can be described in a clear, concise, and objective manner, having as a basis a set of illustrative

drawings concerning the model proposed herein, which is presented only as an illustration with no intention to provide it with characteristics limiting the protection scope of the patent serving only as a more detailed analysis of the characteristics to be claimed. However, the present model must not be limited to the form presented herein, and other configurative concepts may be considered since they keep the same distinctive functional characteristics of the present basic model.

These drawings rely on numeric references mentioned in the report where:

- Fig.l is an exploded isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it being fitted into a vehicle dump body;

- Fig.2 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with a movable part partially shifted; - Fig.3 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with one movable part totally shifted;

- Fig. 4 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body covered with a flexible cover, either inflatable or not inflatable; - Fig.5 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with one movable part of the equipment partially shifted and covered by a top;

- Fig. 6 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that

shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with a sea hood, either inflatable or not inflatable, stretched over it with the low bars that form a rack;

- Fig.7 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with one movable part partially shifted, and a cover of an inflatable sea hood kind being closed together with the movable part and/or if it is deflated;

- Fig.8 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body with one movable part partially shifted and with a rigid cover fitted over it; - Fig. 9 is an isometric perspective view of the equipment that shows it fitted into a vehicle dump body covered with a top with one rigid part and the sides of the top of flexible material, either inflatable or not inflatable.

The model consists of a set of rails (1) on which the movable components connected to a set of bars shift, the equipment containing a bar (2) installed next to the vehicle cab, and a bar (3), both of which are connected to the movable components so that, when in a resting position, it makes both parts function as one resulting in a safety bar, and, when activated, the equipment makes the movable components shift the bar (3) resulting in two supporting components that form a rack, that may be connected to a bar (2), a bar (3), and a cover (4) made of flexible, either inflatable or not inflatable material as a high top and/or sea hood, considering that this flexible, either inflatable or not inflatable sea hood

may turn into a high hood as it contains compartments on its edges, where the sides, the front and the rear are housed, and the rigid sea hood (5) which, when installed on the high bars, transforms into a high top with the sides, the front, and the rear made of flexible, inflatable or not inflatable material, which are installed in the compartments in the lower part of the edges of the rigid sea hood (5).

As may be seen, the patent of the utility model in question comprehends an innovation in the current system applied to equipment for dump bodies of vehicles since it provides a piece of equipment that may close, when necessary, in an automatic and/or manual manner, a vehicle dump body; as it is inflatable, it does not need any other structure ensuring excellent sealing and thermal-acoustic isolation for it, resulting, therefore, in more practical, efficient and safer equipment when compared to the similar equipment found in the state-of-the-art. These protective equipment compositions may be used separately and/or in conjunction depending on a vehicle.

Certain aspects of the model presented herein may be altered such as: materials, shape, etc. without changing what has initially been claimed.