Tailgate Retractable Platform with Stabilizer Bar
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tailgate accessories for pickup trucks do not provide a hingedly articulating platform with a stabilizer bar and lateral extensions to increase structural integrity and surface area, limiting their functionality for supporting various activities like eating, writing, or resting.
Innovation Solution
A tailgate retractable platform apparatus featuring a mounting plate, hinged arm, and a panel with a stabilizer bar that extends from the panel's underside, allowing the platform to pivot and slide laterally, providing a supportive surface that can be easily extended or retracted for use directly from the tailgate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If a platform is added to the tailgate to provide additional surface area for activities like eating, writing, or resting, then the functionality and surface area are improved, but the device complexity and structural integrity requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The platform is divided into multiple panels that can be independently positioned and configured. The hinged arm is segmented into multiple sections that can articulate at different angles, allowing the platform to achieve various surface areas and configurations without requiring a single complex rigid structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform structure incorporates hinges and articulation points that allow dynamic adjustment of the platform's configuration. The hinged arm can articulate between stowed and operational positions, and panels can be adjusted to different angles, enabling the same structure to provide both compact storage and expanded surface area as needed.
2Area of moving object
If the platform is extended outward from the tailgate to provide more working surface, then the surface area and functionality are improved, but the stability and structural integrity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilizer bar is positioned and configured in advance to provide support before the platform is fully extended or loaded. The lateral extensions are pre-positioned to broaden the base of support, preventing instability before it occurs during platform operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabilizer bar acts as an intermediary element between the platform and the ground/ground surface, providing additional support and reducing the burden on the hinged arm's articulation points. The lateral extensions serve as intermediaries that broaden the support base and distribute loads more effectively.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the platform structure is made more robust with stabilizer bars and lateral extensions to improve stability, then the structural integrity is improved, but the device complexity and storage space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilizer bar and lateral extensions are designed as separable or collapsible components that can be detached or folded away when not needed. This allows the platform to maintain enhanced stability during operation while reducing to a simpler, more compact configuration for storage, effectively extracting the stability-enhancing elements only when required.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabilizer bar and lateral extensions are designed to nest within or alongside the main platform structure when in the stowed position. The components fold into each other or align with the tailgate, creating a compact nested configuration that minimizes storage space while maintaining full functionality when deployed.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the hinged arm is designed to articulate between stowed and operational positions to improve versatility, then the adaptability is improved, but the ease of operation and force required for articulation may worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The hinged arm structure incorporates counterbalancing elements or spring mechanisms that offset the weight and inertia of the platform panels. This reduces the force required by the user to initiate and complete articulation between stowed and operational positions, making the versatile articulating structure easier to operate despite its multiple moving parts.
Data Source
AI summary
A retractable tailgate table provides a folding table structure that is operable from the tailgate of a vehicle, so as to expand the functionality of the vehicle by providing a supportive and adjustable table that can be retracted for stowage or folded out from the tailgate for operational usage from the tailgate. The table comprises a mounting plate that fixedly mounts to the tailgate. The mounting plate may include a channel that enables a strap to wrap around the tailgate and through the channel for detachable attachment. A hinged arm hingedly articulates from the tailgate to move the table between a stowed position and an operational position. A platform pivotally joins the hinged arm, providing a supportive surface therefrom. The platform pivots to a desired slope and slides to and from the tailgate. A stabilizer bar extends from the platform to the ground surface to provide vertical and lateral stability.