Pickup truck bed tonneau cover support structure and method

摘要

Pickup truck bed tonneau covers and varieties thereof are manufactured using universal components. An outer frame is made from rails cut from universal rail stock. Universal, adjustable corner brackets can be fixed into a desired position to accommodate all different angles at the corners of the tonneau cover. Intermediate cross car rails are cut from universal rail stock and all are coupled to the outer frame via universal intermediate rail brackets. Opposing pairs of universal hinge brackets are used for all hinges of the tonneau cover. Thus, the tooling required to make a variety of tonneau covers is greatly reduced. An elongated step is adjacent to, and protrudes downwardly beyond, a seal coupling channel with a compressible seal extends along the outer frame. The downwardly protruding elongated step member acts as a continuous elongated stop, limiting compression of the seal member.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a pickup truck bed tonneau cover from universal components comprising:
cutting universal cross-section outer frame rail stock to appropriate lengths to create all front, rear, and side frame rail members of the tonneau cover; providing first and second universal corner bracket members that can be coupled together in a plurality of angular corner positions; adjusting pairs of the first and second universal corner bracket members relative to each other and coupling each pair of first and second universal corner bracket members together fixing the pair into one of the angular corner positions to create all corner brackets of the tonneau cover; cutting universal cross-section intermediate rail stock to appropriate lengths to create all intermediate rails of the tonneau cover; providing universal intermediate rail brackets that can be coupled to the intermediate rails at a plurality of angular bracket positions; coupling universal intermediate rail bracket to each side rail member to provide opposing pairs of the universal intermediate rail brackets; adjusting each end of each intermediate rail into one of the plurality of angular bracket positions and coupling each end of each intermediate rail to a corresponding opposing pair of universal intermediate rail brackets to affix the intermediate rails into one of the angular bracket positions; providing the universal cross-section outer frame rail stock with a side fastener retention channel; inserting a head of a plurality of fasteners into the side fastener retention chamber of the front, rear, and side frame rail members where the head is retained by the side fastener retention channel; providing each of the first and second corner bracket members and each of the intermediate rail brackets with an aperture receiving one of the fasteners; and securing each of the fasteners.