Pivotal slidable vehicle end enclosure

Claim 1

An end enclosure for a transport vehicle having a floor and two side walls defining a vehicle interior therebetween terminating in an end opening, at least one elevated deck spaced above said floor and having lateral edges spaced inwardly from said side walls and a front edge juxtaposed said end opening, said enclosure comprising a pair of door assemblies adapted to be displaced between a closed position overlying said end opening and an opened position spaced outwardly of a respective one of said deck lateral edges and disposed fully within said vehicle interior, said door assemblies each including a plurality of vertically disposed adjacent panels bounded by an inner and outer panel, hinge means intermediate and pivotally joining adjacent ones of said panels, an elongated support member disposed within said vehicle interior in a horizontal plane, said support member having an end portion disposed outwardly beyond said deck front edge and joined in a continuous curved manner with side portions respectively disposed above and outwardly of said deck lateral edges, means fixedly mounting said support member relative said deck, means suspending said door assemblies from and outwardly of said support member, said suspension means including a plurality of hanger assemblies attached to said panel hinge means, said hinge means including male and female hinge elements joined by a hinge pin, said hanger assemblies each provided with a pair of opposed horizontal offset elements projecting outwardly toward each said door assembly and engaging opposite ends of said hinge pins to captively support said door assemblies, said hanger assemblies each provided with a tracking element disposed within said support member, and panel guide means carried by the bottom of said door assemblies cooperating with guide means adjacent said vehicle floor, said guide means adjacent said vehicle floor including an upstanding rail extending substantially continously throughout the extent of displacement of said two door assemblies, said panel guide means including a plurality of individual spaced-apart guide pins projecting downwardly from said panels and straddling said rail, forward and rearward bumpers projecting inwardly from said inner and outer panels respectively, forward and rearward stops mounted inwardly of said vehicle side walls adjacent said floor guide means and respectively engaged by said forward and rearward bumpers when each said door assembly is fully disposed in said opened position, said forward stop mounted at a position selected to engage said rearward bumper when each said door assembly is fully disposed in said closed position wherby, lateral force applied to any one of said panels concurrently displaces all said panels of its respective said door assembly between said closed and opened positions.