Air deflector

Claim 2

An air deflector for use with a road vehicle of the kind which is adapted for travel forwardly along a path of travel and which has a cab and a load-carrying body section disposed rearwardly of and extending above said cab, said deflector having a streamlined air deflecting face and being adapted to be mounted on said cab in front of said body portion with said air deflecting face facing generally forwardly and with said face disposed generally transversely of said path of travel, said face having the following features, which are defined with reference to an orientation of said face forwardly and disposed generally across said path of travel and oriented for movement along a horizontal said path of travel: (a) a bottom leading edge, (b) a first region extending from said bottom leading edge and sloping generally rearwardly and upwardly therefrom, said first region having an upper section sloping upwardly and rearwardly at a relatively steep angle to the horizontal, (c) a second region extending from the upper margin of said upper section and sloping upwardly and rearwardly therefrom at a relatively shallow angle to the horizontal, (d) a third spoiler region formed by a flange-like portion of said deflector, said spoiler region extending from the upper margin of said second region and forming an upper margin of said deflector, said spoiler region being disposed in a generally upright position so that air flowing over said face is deflected upwardly by said spoiler region as the air leaves the deflector.

Claim 3

An air deflector as claimed in claim 1, which is symmetrical about a longitudinal median plane of the deflector, wherein said regions of the air deflecting face extend across a central portion of the deflector and merge laterally of said median plane and rearwardly of said face into a transverse vertical plane containing said spoiler region of the deflector, said deflector being of generally triangular shape in side view and plan view, and said deflector further comprising an integral flange extending rearwardly of said air deflecting face from said bottom leading edge, said flange being oriented in a horizontal plane.

Claim 4

An air deflector as claimed in claim 1, which is symmetrical about a longitudinal median plane of the deflector, wherein said regions of the air deflecting face extend across a central portion of the deflector and merge laterally of said median plane and rearwardly of the deflector into a transverse vertical plane containing said spoiler region of the deflector.

Claim 5

A deflector as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a pair of mounting brackets for attaching the deflector to the cab of a road vehicle, said brackets each comprising first and second limbs pivotally coupled to one another and each coupled to the deflector, a first one of said limbs being disposed in a generally upright position rearwardly of the deflector, and a second one of said limbs extending forwardly from said first limb below said leading edge of the deflector so as to space the deflector slightly above the cab of the road vehicle in use, said brackets each being adapted to be coupled to the roof of the road vehicle.

Claim 6

An air deflector as claimed in claim 1, which is symmetrical about a longitudinal median plane of the deflector and is of a shape represented by the co-ordinates in the following table, denoted Table 1, in which: the eight columns denoted 1 to 8 represent the profile of the air deflecting face as viewed on eight longitudinal planes spaced transversely of the face from said median plane, column 1 representing the profile of the face on said median plane; the letters d and h in the heading of each column represent the depth and height respectively of points on the air deflecting face at the position of the relevant longitudinal plane as measured from a datum base plane containing said leading edge of the air deflecting face, and a rear datum plane normal to said base plane; the letters A to G represent the spacings between the planes denoted 1 to 8 and have the following values: ______________________________________ A B C D E F G ______________________________________ 5 10 10 5 2 2 7/8 ______________________________________ the figures both in Table 1 and above represent distances in inches: TABLE 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ← A → ← B → ← C → ← D → ← E → ← F → ← G → d h d h d h d h d h d h d h d h 1/4 19 1/4 39 1/2 39 13/16 39 1/2 18 1/2 18 3/4 18 1 38 1 1/2 38 1/2 1 1/2 37 3/4 1 17 1/2 7/8 17 1/2 7/8 37 1/2 1 1/8 37 1/2 1 1/2 38 1 1/2 35 1/2 2 9/16 17 2 3/16 17 1 1/2 37 1 3/8 37 1 1/2 37 1/2 1 7/8 35 3 1/4 16 1/4 3 36 3/4 2 1/16 16 3/4 1 3/4 36 3/4 1 1/2 37 2 3/8 34 5 1/8 15 5 15/16 35 4 1/2 35 3 3/8 35 1 1/2 36 3/4 2 5/8 33 7 11/16 12 1/2 7 1/4 32 1/2 5 5/8 32 1/2 4 1/4 32 1/2 2 5/8 35 2 7/8 32 1/2 1 1/2 32 8 5/8 10 4 1/8 30 6 1/2 30 5 30 3 1/2 32 1/2 3 7/16 30 2 1/16 30 9 5/16 29 1/2 8 7/8 27 1/2 7 1/4 27 1/2 5 5/8 27 1/2 4 1/8 30 4 1/8 27 1/2 2 5/8 27 1/2 10 3/16 25 9 5/8 25 8 1/8 25 6 7/16 25 4 3/4 27 1/2 4 1/2 25 3 1/4 25 11 1/4 22 1/2 10 1/2 22 1/2 9 22 1/2 7 1/4 22 1/2 5 3/8 25 5 22 1/2 3 5/8 22 1/2 12 1/8 20 11 5/8 20 10 1/8 20 8 1/8 20 6 22 1/2 5 3/8 20 3 7/8 20 11 1/2 17 1/2 12 7/8 17 1/2 11 3/8 17 1/2 9 17 1/2 6 1/2 20 5 7/8 17 1/2 4 3/8 17 1/2 15 15 14 1/4 15 12 3/8 15 9 3/4 15 6 7/8 17 1/2 6 1/4 15 4 1/2 15 16 3/8 12 1/2 19 3/4 12 1/2 13 1/2 12 1/2 10 1/2 12 1/2 7 3/8 15 6 1/2 12 1/2 4 5/8 12 1/2 19 1/8 10 17 3/8 10 14 5/8 10 11 1/8 10 7 7/8 12 1/2 6 7/8 10 5 10 19 3/4 7 1/2 18 7/8 7 1/2 15 3/4 7 1/2 11 3/4 7 1/2 8 10 7 1/2 7 1/2 4 5/8 9 1/2 21 9/16 5 20 3/8 5 17 5 12 1/8 5 8 1/2 7 1/2 7 1/8 6 1/2 1 1/2 9 22 3/8 4 21 1/2 4 17 3/8 4 12 1/4 4 8 3/4 5 1 1/2 5 1 1/2 5 23 3/8 3 22 3/4 3 18 1/2 3 12 7/8 3 7 7/8 4 1 1/2 4 1 1/2 4 3 3/8 15 22 1/16 2 24 1/2 2 20 3/8 2 14 1/4 2 9 1/4 3 1 1/2 3 1 1/2 3 3 5/9 11 25 9/16 25 1/8 21 16 3/8 10 3 1/2 10

Claim 7

An air deflector as claimed in claim 1, which is symmetrical about a longitudinal median plane of the deflector and is of a shape represented by the co-ordinates in the following table, denoted Table 2, in which: the eight columns denoted 1 to 8 represent the profile of the air delfecting face as viewed on eight longitudinal planes spaced transversely of the face from said median plane, column 1 representing the profile of the face on said median plane; the letters d and h in the heading of each column represent the depth and height respectively of points on the air deflecting face at the position of the relevant longitudinal plane as measured from a datum base plane containing said leading edge of the air deflecting face, and a rear datum plane normal to said base plane; the letters A 1 to G 1 represent the spacings between the planes denoted 1 to 8 and have the following values: ______________________________________ A.sup.1 B.sup.1 C.sup.1 D.sup.1 E.sup.1 F.sup.1 G.sup.1 ______________________________________ 5 5 10 10 5 21/2 15/8 ______________________________________ the figures both in Table 2 and above represent distances in inches: TABLE 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ← A.sup.1 → ← B.sup.1 → ← C.sup.1 → ← D.sup.1 → ← E.sup.1 → ← F.sup.1 → ← G.sup.1 → d h d h d h d h d h d h d h d h 0 33 0 33 0 33 0 33 0 32 0 32 0 32 0 32 3/4 31 1/2 7/8 31 1/2 7/8 31 1/2 9/16 31 1/2 33 32 1/2 31 3/4 0 3 31 2 15/16 31 2 7/16 31 1 5/16 31 0 32 31 1/2 0 29 7/8 9/16 4 3/8 30 1/2 4 3/8 30 1/2 3 3/4 30 1/2 2 3/8 30 1/2 3/8 31 1/2 0 31 1/2 29 1 3/4 20 5 7/16 30 5 3/16 30 4 11/16 30 3 3/16 30 7/8 31 1/2 30 1/2 1 28 2 17 1/2 6 3/8 29 6 3/16 29 5 3/4 29 4 1/8 29 1 1/2 30 1/2 1 1/8 30 1 3/8 27 2 1/2 15 6 7/8 28 6 3/4 28 6 5/16 28 4 5/8 28 2 1/8 30 1 7/9 29 1 7/8 25 2 3/4 12 1/2 7 7/16 27 7 1/4 27 6 3/4 27 5 1/6 27 2 3/4 29 2 3/16 28 2 7/16 22 1/2 3 10 8 5/16 25 8 25 7 1/2 25 5 3/4 25 3 1/8 28 2 1/2 27 2 7/8 20 3 3/16 7 1/2 10 3/8 20 10 1/8 20 9 1/2 20 7 13/16 20 3 1/2 27 3 1/8 25 3 7/16 17 1/2 3 3/8 5 11 1/2 17 1/2 12 7/16 15 11 3/4 15 8 7/8 17 1/2 4 1/8 25 4 3/8 20 3 7/8 15 3 1/2 4 12 11/16 15 13 3/4 12 1/2 12 5/8 12 1/2 10 3/16 15 5 7/8 20 5 17 1/2 4 1/8 12 1/2 3 3/4 3 14 12 1/2 15 1/4 10 14 7/16 10 12 3/16 10 6 7/8 17 1/2 5 1/2 15 4 7/16 10 3 7/8 2 16 1/2 10 16 3/4 7 1/2 16 3/16 7 1/2 13 1/4 7 1/2 7 3/4 15 5 3/4 12 1/2 4 3/4 7 1/2 4 17 5/8 7 18 3/8 5 17 7/16 5 14 5 8 1/2 12 1/2 6 3/8 10 4 7/8 5 18 7/8 5 19 3/16 4 18 3/8 4 14 5/8 4 9 1/8 10 6 5/8 1/2 5 1/8 4 19 5/8 4 19 7/8 3 18 3/4 3 15 5/16 3 9 7/16 7 1/2 6 7/8 5 5 1/4 3 20 3/8 3 20 7/8 2 19 11/16 2 16 3/8 2 9 3/4 5 6 7/8 4 5 3/4 2 21 2 22 1 21 1/16 1 16 15/16 1 1/2 10 4 7 1/4 3 6 1/4 1 22 1/8 1 23 22 7/16 19 3/4 10 3/8 3 7 5/8 2 1/2 6 1/4 23 1/4 0 10 11/16 2 8 2 1 1 13 1/4 9 1/4

Claim 8

An air deflector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first region of the air deflecting face includes a lower section having said bottom leading edge, said lower section being angled at a relatively shallow angle to the horizontal to guide and scoop up air impinging on said lower section, and said upper section being inclined upwardly at a steeper angle than said lower section.

Claim 9

An air deflector as claimed in claim 7, wherein said sections are inclined at the following angles with respect to the horizontal: lower section: 55° deflecting section: 75°.

Claim 10

In combination: a road vehicle adapted for travel forwardly along a path of travel and having a cab and a load-carrying body section disposed rearwardly of and extending above the cab; and an air deflector mounted on the cab in front of the body section and spaced vertically from the top of the cab to allow air to flow below the deflector in use, the deflector having a streamlined air deflecting face which faces forwardly and is disposed generally transversely of said path of travel, said face having the following features which are defined with reference to a horizontal said path of travel: (a) a bottom leading edge, (b) a first region extending from said bottom leading edge and sloping generally rearwardly and upwardly therefrom, said first region having an upper section sloping upwardly and rearwardly at a relatively steep angle to the horizontal, (c) a second region extending from the upper margin of said upper section and sloping upwardly and rearwardly therefrom at a relatively shallow angle to the horizontal, (d) a third spoiler region formed by a flange-like portion of said deflector, said spoiler region extending from the upper margin of said second region and forming an upper margin of said deflector, said spoiler region being disposed in a generally upright position so that air flowing over said face is deflected upwardly by said spoiler region as the air leaves the deflector.

Claim 11

In combination: a road vehicle adapted for travel forwardly along a path of travel and having a cab and a load-carrying body section disposed rearwardly of and extending above the cab; and an air deflector mounted on the cab in front of the body section and spaced vertically from the top of the cab to allow air to flow below the deflector in use, the deflector having a streamlined air deflecting face which faces forwardly and is disposed generally transversely of said path of travel, said face having the following features which are defined with reference to a horizontal said path of travel: (a) a bottom leading edge, (b) a first region extending from said bottom leading edge and sloping generally rearwardly and upwardly therefrom, said first region having an upper section sloping upwardly and rearwardly at a relatively steep angle to the horizontal, (c) a second region extending from the upper margin of said upper section and sloping upwardly and rearwardly therefrom at a relatively shallow angle to the horizontal, (d) a third spoiler region formed by a flange-like portion of said deflector, said spoiler region extending from the upper margin of said second region and forming an upper margin of said deflector, said spoiler region being disposed in a generally upright position so that air flowing over said face is deflected upwardly by said spoiler region as the air leaves the deflector.