DOOR APPARATUS
A multi-piece door assembly including a first door portion and a second door portion, which are removable to create a partially open-air experience or fully open-air experience. A pin pocket design is provided for selectively attaching the first door portion to a variety of different types of second door portions. A blow-out tab is provided to keep the multi-piece door assembly from blowing outwardly away from the vehicle with the increase of internal pressures at high speeds or crosswind situations.
Latest Bestop, Inc. Patents:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/400,406, filed Sep. 27, 2016. The disclosures of the above application are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to door panels for UTVs, Jeeps, SUVs or any other vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-piece door which is at least partially removable for an open-air feel.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONA typical UTV lower half door assembly is known which requires a robust method of attaching an upper half door wire frame or composite cassette with sliding tempered or soft zip polyvinyl chloride (PVC) glass to complete the door enclosure. The enclosure needs to be robust enough to handle rollover protective structure(s) (ROPs) preload and internal pressure traveling at speeds of over 100 mph.
Typical vehicle doors are 1-piece and do not require the same fastening mechanism or design.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for a door design that is multi-piece with a robust design and quick attachment features as well as incorporating a mechanism to prevent the door from pulling away from the ROP of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to a two-piece door assembly for off-road vehicles, 4-door and 2-door sport utility vehicles (SUVs), Jeeps™, utility task vehicles (UTVs), or any other motor vehicle. There is provided a robust design to quickly attach a first door portion (such as an upper half door or “upper enclosure”) to a second door portion (such as a lower half door or “lower enclosure”). This attachment system is utilized on many different lower door materials (and/or upper door materials same or different as lower) and designs, such as, but not limited to composite molded doors, cast alloy doors, thermoplastic materials, cassette, reinforced fiber composites, lightweight materials, tube construction doors, wire frame fabric doors, tube frame, wire frame, mesh, molded ABS, graphite sheet or the like, etc, and any combinations thereof. A “Blow Out Tab” is provided to keep doors from pulling away from any sport bar, ROPs member sealing surface, frame or other predetermined component surface(s), etc.
In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, a 2-piece door is provided. Removing the first door portion (e.g., the upper half door removed) creates an open-air experience of the first door portion of the door.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.
Referring to the figures generally, a two-piece door assembly of the present invention is shown generally at 10 including a first door portion shown generally at 12 (e.g., such as an “upper half door” or “first half portion” or “upper enclosure”) and a second door portion shown generally at 14 (e.g., such as a “lower half door” or “second half portion” or “lower enclosure”). The first and second door portions 12,14 are connectable by an attachment system shown generally at 16. In a preferred embodiment, the attachment system 16 includes a plurality of attachment portions shown generally at 18 (e.g., typically two or more attachment portions, most preferably three attachment portions). Most preferably, the attachment portions 18 have a pin pocket design. In addition, the pin pocket design is a universal attachment arrangement, which allows for attaching first door portions 12 to a variety of second door portions 14 of various designs and materials.
According to one embodiment, referring generally to
The attachment member 22 is connected to the second door portion 14 with a plurality of fasteners, e.g., screws, bolts, rivets, etc secured through a plurality of apertures 24 formed in the attachment member 22. Preferably, a mounting bracket 26 is sandwiched and held between the second door portion 14 and attachment member 22, e.g., by the plurality of fasteners or is an integrated feature of the second door portion 14, for mounting the attachment member 22 to the second door portion 14. A plurality of mounting brackets 26 are contemplated (one mounting bracket 26 for each attachment member 22), and, alternatively, the mounting bracket 26 is an elongated plate or a cross-bar or tubing on which the plurality of attachment members 22 are mounted (e.g., see
According to another embodiment of the present invention referring generally to
The attachment member 22 is connected to the second door portion 14 with a plurality of fasteners, e.g., screws, bolts, rivets, etc secured through a plurality of apertures 30 formed in the attachment member 22, which are preferably elongated apertures. Preferably, a mounting bracket 32 is sandwiched and held between the second door portion 14 and attachment member 28, e.g., by the plurality of fasteners or is an integrated feature of the second door portion 14, for mounting the attachment member 28 to the second door portion 14. A plurality of mounting brackets 32 are contemplated (one mounting bracket 32 for each attachment member 28), and, alternatively, the mounting bracket 32 is an elongated plate or cross-bar or tubing on which the plurality of mounting plates are mounted (e.g., see
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, referring generally to
Referring to
Other fastening mechanisms and arrangements suitable for connecting the first and second door portions 12,14 depending on the particular applications are contemplated without departure from the scope of the present invention.
The first and second door halves 12,14 can be selectively disconnected when desired and one or more of the door halves 12,14 can be removed for a partially open or open-air feel.
Referring generally to
Referring now to
It is understood that the left side and right side doors are generally mirror-image.
It is understood that the door assembly may be any alternative multi-piece door assembly with at least one attachment system depending on the application without departure from the scope of the present invention.
The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A two-piece door assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising:
- a first door portion;
- a second door portion connectable to the first door portion;
- an attachment system including a plurality of attachment portions for connecting the first and second door portions together when desired.
2. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, wherein at least the first door portion is removable from the vehicle to create a partially open-air experience.
3. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an off-road vehicle or utility task vehicle.
4. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of attachment portions are pin pocket designs.
5. The two-piece door assembly of claim 4, wherein the plurality of attachment portions each include an attachment member operably connected to one of the first or second door portions and each include a fastener member operably connected to the other of the first or second door portion.
6. The two-piece door assembly of claim 5, wherein the fastener member is a pin which is received within the pin pocket design.
7. The two-piece door assembly of claim 6, wherein the attachment member is a pin pocket, and, the pin is received and held within the pin pocket.
8. The two-piece door assembly of claim 6, wherein the attachment member is a clamp that receives the pin and is operably connected to one of the first or second door portions.
9. The two-piece door assembly of claim 8, further comprising a tube section, wherein the clamp straddles the tube section to secure the tube section against the one of the first or second door portions.
10. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one mounting bracket operable to connect to one of the first or second door portions and to the plurality of attachment portions for connect the plurality of attachment portions to the one of the first or second door portions.
11. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one blow-out tab that engages the vehicle structure to keep the two-piece door assembly from pulling away from the vehicle with increased internal pressures at higher speeds or crosswinds.
12. The two-piece door assembly of claim 11, wherein each of the at least one blow-out tabs is welded to the first and/or second door portions.
13. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a 4-door or 2-door sport utility vehicle.
14. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, wherein the first and/or second door portions include a wire frame.
15. The two-piece door assembly of claim 14, further comprising at least one blow-out tab welded to a wire frame of the first and/or second door portions include a wire frame to keep the door assembly from blowing outwardly under higher speeds or crosswinds.
16. The two-piece door assembly of claim 1, further comprising a door frame including an upper frame with at least one bracket, wherein said bracket is operably connected to a vehicle frame.
17. A multi-piece door assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising
- a first door half having a plurality of fastener members;
- a second door half having a plurality of cooperating attachment members selectively coupled to the plurality of fastener members, wherein said second door half is selectively removable from the motor vehicle when desired; and,
- at least one blow-out tab that engages the vehicle structure to keep the two-piece door assembly from pulling away from the vehicle with increased internal pressures at higher speeds or crosswinds.
18. The multi-piece door assembly of claim 17, wherein the plurality of attachment members are pin pockets that receive a respective pin.
19. The multi-piece door assembly of claim 18, further comprising a plurality of mounting brackets operably coupled to the plurality of attachment members, respectively, said plurality of mounting brackets operably connected to a second frame assembly of the first door half.
20. A multi-piece door assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising
- an upper door portion having a plurality of fastener members;
- a lower door portion having a plurality of mounting plates operably connected to a plurality of receiving members, respectively, wherein said plurality of fastener members are selectively slidably received within respective receiving members to connect said upper and lower door portions together;
- at least one blow-out tab operably connected to said upper door portion and, when in the motor vehicle installed position, is immediately adjacent a rollover protective structure of said motor vehicle to prevent the multi-piece assembly from pulling outward from the motor vehicle by vacuum generated by airflow.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 15, 2021
Publication Date: Apr 7, 2022
Applicant: Bestop, Inc. (Louisville, CO)
Inventors: George C. Stickles (Thornton, CO), Frank A. Borke (Greeley, CO)
Application Number: 17/552,042