Collapsible trailer

Claim 2

A collapsible rigid walled housing for use with a vehicle, comprising: a base having a floor and parallel, opposed sidewalls; a substantially flat roof movable between a raised and a lowered horizontal position; sidewall panels longitudinally hinged to opposed walls of the base and the roof; means interconnecting the roof and the base to raise and lower the roof whereby when the roof is lowered the side panels are foldable inwardly to a position underlying the roof and when the roof is raised the side panels are unfoldable outwardly into a vertical plane, said means being adapted to maintain the housing rigid when the roof is in raised position; the base, sidewalls and roof of the housing being divided in a vertical transverse plane into two separable sections, said two sections being interconnected by a first and a second hinge one fixed on each side of the housing to the contiguous sections of the sidewalls and the contiguous sections of the roof being interconnected by a third hinge adapted to maintain the roof sections in horizontal coplanar position as the roof is raised and lowered, the pivotal axes of the first and second hinges being coaxial one with the other, and being coaxial with the pivotal axis of the third hinge when the roof is in a lowered position, the two separable sections being foldable 180* about the third hinge whereby when the roof is in lowered position one of the sections is pivotable about the third hinge to a position overlaying the other section.

Claim 3

A housing as claimed in claim 1 in which the base is rectangular and includes end walls, end panels overlaying the roof and hinged thereto, the end panels being foldable downwardly and engageable with the end walls of the base, when the roof is in raised position, to form end walls of the housing.

Claim 4

A housing as claimed in claim 1 in which the means to raise and lower the roof, and to maintain the housing rigid, comprises a pair of articulated braces, one located on each side of the housing, each brace comprising upper and lower arms, the lower arms of the braces being pivotally mounted at their free ends to the base and the upper arms being mounted at their free ends to the roof, means to move the arms of each brace into and out of alignment and releasable means adapted to hold the arms of each brace in rigid vertical alignment.

Claim 5

A housing as claimed in claim 3 in which the lower arms are fixed at their free ends to a torsion bar mounted transversely on said housing, the torsion bar being rotatable about the longitudinal axis thereof.

Claim 6

A housing as claimed in claim 4 including crank means interconnecting the base of the housing and the lowEr arm of one of the braces, the crank means being adapted to pivot said lower arm about the axis of the torsion bar whereby the roof of the housing is raised and lowered.

Claim 7

A housing as claimed in claim 5 in which the crank means comprises a rod threaded in an apertured flange which is pivotably mounted on the base, one end of the rod being pivotally connected to said lower arm and the other end of the rod carrying a crank handle.

Claim 8

A housing as claimed in claim 1 including a chassis having running wheels journaled thereon and a forwardly extending hitch, the housing carrying a plurality of downwardly extensible supporting legs.

Claim 9

A housing as claimed in claim 1 including an end panel hinged to the floor of the base along the vertical transverse plane of separation and pivotable to cover the transverse openings of the sectioned base portion when said sections are in folded position one over the other.

Claim 10

A housing as claimed in claim 6 in which the forwardly extending hitch is retractable beneath the housing when in folded position.

Claim 11

A housing as claimed in claim 1 in which the two separable sections of the housing are interconnected by a first and second hinge one fixed on each side of the housing to the contiguous sections of the sidewalls, and the contiguous sections of the roof are interconnected to a third hinge, The pivotal axes of the first and second hinges being coaxial one with another, and being coaxial with the pivotal axis of the third hinge when the housing is in a folded position, the roof sections being unfoldable 180* about the third hinge whereby the roof sections are maintained in horizontal coplanar position as the roof is raised and lowered.

Claim 12

A collapsible rigid walled housing for use with a vehicle, comprising: a base having a floor and parallel, opposed sidewalls; a substantially flat roof movable between a raised and a lowered horizontal position; sidewall panels longitudinally hinged to opposed walls of the base and to the roof; means interconnecting the roof and the base to raise and lower the roof whereby when the roof is lowered to the side panels are foldable inwardly to a position underlying the roof and when the roof is raised the side panels are foldable outwardly in a vertical plane, said means being adapted to maintain the housing rigid when the roof is in raised position and comprising a pair of articulated braces, one located on each side of the housing, each brace comprising upper and lower arms the lower arms of the braces being pivotally mounted at their free ends to a torsion bar mounted transversely on the base of said housing, the torsion bar being rotatable about the longitudinal axis thereof, the upper arms of the braces being mounted at their free ends to the roof, means to move the arms of each brace into and out of alignment and releasable means adapted to hold the arms of each brace in rigid vertical alignment; the base, sidewalls and roof of the housing being divided in a vertical transverse plane into two separable hinged sections, the sections of the base being hinged one to the other whereby one of said sections is pivotable about the horizontal axis to a folded position overlying the other section when the roof is in lowered position.

Claim 13

A collapsible rigid walled housing for use with a vehicle, comprising: a base having a floor and parallel, opposed sidewalls; a substantially flat roof movable between a raised and a lowered horizontal position; sidewall panels longitudinally hinged to opposed walls of the base and to the roof; means interconnecting the roof and the base to raise and lower the roof whereby when the roof is lowered to the side panels are foldable inwardly to a position underlying the roof and when the roof is raised the side panels are foldable outwardly in a vertical plane, said means being adapted to maintain the housing rigid when the roof is in raised position and comprising a pair of articulated braces, one located on each side of the housing, each brace comprising upper and lower arms the lower arms of the braces being pivotally mounted at their free ends to a torsion bar mounted transversely on the base of said housing, the torsion bar being rotatable about the longitudinal axis thereof, the upper arms of the braces being mounted at their free ends to the roof, means to move the arms of each brace into and out of alignment and releasable means adapted to hold the arms of each brace in rigid vertical alignment; the base, sidewalls and roof of the housing being divided in a vertical transverse plane into two separable hinged sections, the sections of the base being hinged one to the other whereby one of said sections is pivotable about the horizontal axis to a folded position overlying the other section when the roof is in lowered position.