Trucks and tool boxes seem to go together inasmuch as tradesmen and craftsmen carry the tools of their trade around with them. Flatbed trucks pose a special problem for carrying tool boxes because of the need to store the tool box off the truck bed. Past efforts to carry flatbed tool boxes have centered around the use of mounting systems that attach the tool box directly to the truck underframe. Such a mounting requires the use of a tool box design that employes a sliding or side-hinged door, as opposed to an upwardly-opening hinged lid. Because such mounting designs confine the tool box beneath the truck structure, there is no room for opening a top, hinged lid. The result is that side door tool boxes must be employed.
With side door tool boxes, however, access to the tool box interior is limited. Tools stored in the back of the box are hard to reach without removing material nearer the side door. Consequently, such tool boxes are inconvenient to use if filled to capacity. Moreover, heavy tools and other objects are difficult to insert and remove from a side-opening tool box. Such material is often, therefore, not stored in such tool boxes.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds