The present subject matter described herein, relates to a structure of parcel shelf of vehicle, and, in particular, to parcel shelf having movable portion and locking arrangement for avoid rattling noise during vehicle movement. 5
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART:
[002] In automobile industry, parcel shelf is well known. The parcel shelf is placed substantially horizontally between the rear end of the back passenger seat and a front edge of the back door. The parcel shelf covers the opening of the boot space area and provides another space for placing luggage. 10
[003] Fig. 1 illustrates position and mounting of a parcel shelf at rear end inside the vehicle cabin, in particularly to hatch back type vehicle is illustrated. The parcel shelf/tray is provided to cover the boot area/ luggage area. The rear end of the vehicle cabin 100 comprises rear passenger seats 101 and back door 103. A parcel shelf 102 is provided in between rear end of the rear passenger seats 101 15 and the front edge of the back door 103. Further, the parcel shelf 102 is mounted with a pin arrangement 104 at back side of the rear passenger seat 101. The parcel shelf 102 rotates about the pin arrangement 104 or pivot arrangement 104 when the rear door 103 is opened. As shown in the figure 2, the parcel shelf 102 is placed/positioned on the parcel shelf side body trim which is mounted on C pillar 20 of the hatch back vehicle. The parcel shelf 102 is mounted on both right hand side and left hand side with the parcel shelf side body trim at rear end of the vehicle cabin. As shown in the figure 3, a rubber cushion 105 is provided in between the parcel shelf 102 and the rear door 103 to avoid direct hitting of the rear door 103 with the parcel shelf 102 while closing the rear door 103. The rubber cushion 105 25 absorbs impact energy of the rear door. Further, the rubber cushion 105 is in abutment with some interference with the rear door 103 while vehicle is in running condition. The abutment of the rubber cushion of the parcel shelf 102 does not allow movement of the parcel shelf 102 along with the vibrations of the
3
vehicle during vehicle movement and the rear door 103. Over the time rubber cushion 105 starts degrading which create rattling sound at back end of the vehicle cabin.
[004] All manufacturing components have some tolerance which needs to be adjusted while mounting of the component on the final assembly. Due to extra 5 tolerance, i.e., positive tolerance when size of the part is more than the required size. Further, addition of the rubber cushion 105 on the parcel shelf 102 towards the front edge or inner edge of the rear door 103 increases size which disturbs the interference of the parcel shelf 102 and the rear door 103. The rear door 103 pushes the parcel shelf 102 inside and further heat from the rear door window 10 bends the parcel shelf permanently. Bending of the parcel shelf creates decreases the cushion interference with back door surface and cause rattling sound when it hits the side body trim A due to vibrations during vehicle movement.
[005] In other condition where manufacturing tolerance is on negative side means size of the part is less than the required part size. Small size parcel shelf 15 creates decreased interference issue with the rear door and there is a gap between the rear door and the parcel shelf. This gap creates rattling sound when vehicle is in moving condition.
[006] Conventionally, in order to avoid rattling noise which created by interference of the parcel shelf and the rear door, a rubber cushion is provided. 20 The rubber cushion is not sufficient to avoid the rattling noise.
[007] In order to avoid rattling noise of the parcel shelf, there is need to remove the abutment between the parcel shelf and the rear door. Further, there is need to fix the parcel shelf so that the parcel shelf does not move when vehicle is in running condition. If there is no relation between the rear door and the parcel 25 shelf, there should be a mechanism which allows opening and closing of the parcel shelf to access the luggage area. Therefore, the present invention provides a parcel shelf which avoids the rattling noise and provides manual opening and closing mechanism which do not depend on the rear door.
4
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
[008] The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a parcel shelf having no abutment with rear door.
[009] Another object of the present subject matter is to provide a parcel shelf having openable feature to access luggage area. 5
[0010] Another object of the present subject matter is to provide parcel shelf which can be locked with parcel shelf side body trim.
[0011] Yet another object of the present subject matter is to provide a simple, effective, and cost efficient parcel shelf structure to avoid rattling noise at rear end of the vehicle cabin. 10
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
[0012] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a parcel shelf structure which is adapted to cover luggage area at rear side of the vehicle cabin. The parcel shelf structure comprises two parts, i.e., front fixed portion and rear movable portion. The front fixed portion is fixed with parcel shelf side body trim of the vehicle. the 15 rear movable portion is hingedly connected with the front fixed portion via a hinge line. The hinge line can be made integrated with the parcel shelf. Further, the hinge line may be any hinge joint arrangement which is well known. The rear movable portion has a snap locking device at both rear end of right hand side and left hand side. There are two parcel shelf side body trim on left hand side and 20 right hand side which are mounted on the vehicle structure to support the parcel shelf. The right hand side parcel shelf side body trim and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim has receiving means to receive forwardly projecting lugs of the snap locking device to lock the parcel shelf with the parcel shelf side body trim. In the present arrangement, there is no interference in between the parcel 25 shelf and the rear door. Also parcel shelf is firmly locked with Side body trim (A) through snap locking mechanism. Further, opening and closing of the parcel shelf is possible by providing a hinge line which divides the parcel shelf in fixed portion and movable portion.
5
[0013] In order to further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit scope of the present subject matter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 5
[0014] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number 10 identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: 15
[0015] Fig. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate structure and mounting of parcel shelf as known in the art; and
[0016] Fig. 4, 5, and 6 illustrate structure and mounting of parcel shelf, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0017] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the 20 purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: 25
[0018] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a parcel shelf structure which is adapted to cover luggage area at rear side of the vehicle cabin. The parcel shelf structure comprises two parts, i.e., front fixed portion and rear movable portion. The front fixed portion is fixed with parcel shelf side body trim of the vehicle.
6
The rear movable portion is hingedly connected with the front fixed portion via a hinge line. The hinge line can be made integrated with the parcel shelf. Further, the hinge line may be any hinge joint arrangement which is well known. The rear movable portion has a snap locking device at both rear end of right hand side and left hand side. There are two parcel shelf side body trim on left hand side and 5 right hand side which are mounted on the vehicle structure to support the parcel shelf. The right hand side parcel shelf side body trim and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim has receiving means to receive forwardly projecting lugs of the snap locking device to lock the parcel shelf with the parcel shelf side body trim. In the present arrangement, Parcel shelf movement during vehicle movement 10 vibration is prevented through a snap locking mechanism instead of cushion interference with back door surface as in prior art. There is no interference in between the parcel shelf and the rear door. In the absence of any abutment of the parcel shelf with the rear door, there is no rattling noise. Further, opening and closing of the parcel shelf is possible by providing a hinge line which divides the 15 parcel shelf in fixed portion and movable portion.
[0019] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the 20 same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various assembly that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the 25 reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, 30 together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the
7
following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.
[0020] These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject 5 matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.
[0021] Fig. 4, 5, and 6 illustrate structure of a parcel shelf and mounting of parcel shelf at rear end of the vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present 10 subject matter. In the present assembly 400, a parcel shelf 402 is provided in between rear end of rear passenger seat 401 and front edge of rear door 403. Further, there is no abutment in between the parcel shelf 402 and the rear door 403 by means of a rubber cushion. The parcel shelf 402 is positioned over parcel shelf side body trim 404 on both right hand side and left hand side. The parcel 15 shelf side body trim 404 provides fixing arrangement and locking arrangement to the parcel shelf 402.
[0022] Referring to figure 6, the parcel shelf structure 402 is divided into two portions, i.e., front fixed portion 402a and rear movable portion 402b. The front fixed portion 402a comprises one mountable lug in horizontal direction at both 20 right end side and left end side. The mountable lugs slide into C-section cavity of the parcel shelf side body trim 404 to fix the front fixed portion 402a with the vehicle structure. In the figure 5, 405 indicate the mounting of fixed front portion 402a with the C-section cavity of the parcel shelf 404. Further, this type of mounting is present at both right hand side and left hand side. The rear movable 25 portion 402b is connected with the front fixed portion 402a by a hinge line 402c. The hinge line 402c can be integrated with the parcel shelf structure 402. In another terms, the parcel shelf structure 402 is a single part which has two portions which are connected by an integrated hinge line. In another embodiment of the present subject matter, the hinge line 402c can be any hinge joint 30
8
arrangement which is known. The hinge joint can be metal joint or plastic joint. The present parcel shelf structure 402 is a single mold structure. The hinge line 402c is provided in the structure during molding of the parcel shelf structure. Further, the parcel shelf structure can be prepared by joining two parts with same concept using the hinge joint. 5
[0023] As shown in the figure 5 and 6, the rear movable portion 402b has a snap locking device 402c at both left hand side and right hand side which is placed over the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 and the right hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404, respectively. The snap locking device 402c has a forwardly projecting lug 402ca which engages with receiving arrangement which 10 is a female part in the right hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 to lock the rear movable portion 402c of the parcel shelf structure 403 with the vehicle structure. Once the rear movable portion 402b is snap locked with the parcel shelf side body at both right hand side and left hand side, the parcel shelf structure 402 does not move in any direction 15 during running condition of the vehicle. The rear movable portion 402b is rotatable in upper direction. The rear movable portion 402b is manually locked and unlocked by the user with the parcel shelf side body trim while accessing the luggage area of the vehicle.
[0024] The rear movable portion 402b is bigger than the front fixed portion 402a. 20 The front fixed portion 402a is about approximately 1/6th of the complete parcel shelf structure 402. Further, the present parcel shelf structure 402 is independent from the rear door interference, therefore there is no possibility of rattling noise in the present structure.
[0025] The present parcel shelf structure is simple to manufacture in single mold. 25 Further, the present parcel shelf structure has an integrated hinge line to allow rotation of one part of the parcel shelf structure.
[0026] The term “vehicle” as used throughout this detailed description and in the claims refers to any moving vehicle that is capable of carrying one or more human occupants and is powered by any form of energy. The term “vehicle” is a motor 30
9
vehicle which includes, but is not limited to: cars, trucks, vans, minivans, hatchback, sedan, MUVs, and SUVs.
[0027] It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one-step or component may be split among plural steps 5 or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated 10 embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention. The present invention also encompasses intermediate and end products resulting from the 15 practice of the methods herein. The use of “comprising” or “including” also contemplates embodiments that “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the recited feature.
[0028] Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present 20 subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/component of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations 25 which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.

Claims:We claim:
1. A parcel shelf structure (402) adapted to cover luggage area at rear end of vehicle, the parcel shelf structure (402) comprising:
a front fixed portion (402a);
a rear movable portion (402b) connected to the front fixed portion (402a) by a hinge line (402c), wherein the rear movable portion (402b) is adapted to rotate about the hinge line (402c) in upper direction.

2. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hinge line (402c) is a hinge joint which is integrated with the parcel shelf structure (402).

3. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hinge line (402c) is a hinge joint arrangement which is separately provided in the parcel shelf structure (402).

4. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front fixed portion (402a) is fixed with C section cavity (405) of parcel shelf side body trim (404) which is mounted at C-pillar of the vehicle.

5. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rear movable portion (402b) comprises a snap locking device (402d) at right hand and at left hand side to lock the rear movable portion (402b) with the parcel shelf side body trim (404).

6. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the snap locking device (402d) has a forwardly projecting lug which is snap fitted with corresponding receiving arrangement in right hand side parcel shelf side body trim (404) and left hand side parcel shelf side body trim (404) to lock the rear movable portion (402b) with the parcel side body tri (404).

7. The parcel shelf structure (402) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front fixed portion (402) comprises one mountable lug in horizontal direction at both right end side and left end side, wherein the mountable lug slide into C-section cavity of the parcel shelf side body trim (404) to fix the front fixed portion with the vehicle structure.
, Description:PARCEL SHELF STRUCTURE TO AVOID RATTLE NOISE
FIELD OF INVENTION:
[001] The present subject matter described herein, relates to a structure of parcel shelf of vehicle, and, in particular, to parcel shelf having movable portion and locking arrangement for avoid rattling noise during vehicle movement.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART:
[002] In automobile industry, parcel shelf is well known. The parcel shelf is placed substantially horizontally between the rear end of the back passenger seat and a front edge of the back door. The parcel shelf covers the opening of the boot space area and provides another space for placing luggage.
[003] Fig. 1 illustrates position and mounting of a parcel shelf at rear end inside the vehicle cabin, in particularly to hatch back type vehicle is illustrated. The parcel shelf/tray is provided to cover the boot area/ luggage area. The rear end of the vehicle cabin 100 comprises rear passenger seats 101 and back door 103. A parcel shelf 102 is provided in between rear end of the rear passenger seats 101 and the front edge of the back door 103. Further, the parcel shelf 102 is mounted with a pin arrangement 104 at back side of the rear passenger seat 101. The parcel shelf 102 rotates about the pin arrangement 104 or pivot arrangement 104 when the rear door 103 is opened. As shown in the figure 2, the parcel shelf 102 is placed/positioned on the parcel shelf side body trim which is mounted on C pillar of the hatch back vehicle. The parcel shelf 102 is mounted on both right hand side and left hand side with the parcel shelf side body trim at rear end of the vehicle cabin. As shown in the figure 3, a rubber cushion 105 is provided in between the parcel shelf 102 and the rear door 103 to avoid direct hitting of the rear door 103 with the parcel shelf 102 while closing the rear door 103. The rubber cushion 105 absorbs impact energy of the rear door. Further, the rubber cushion 105 is in abutment with some interference with the rear door 103 while vehicle is in running condition. The abutment of the rubber cushion of the parcel shelf 102 does not allow movement of the parcel shelf 102 along with the vibrations of the vehicle during vehicle movement and the rear door 103. Over the time rubber cushion 105 starts degrading which create rattling sound at back end of the vehicle cabin.
[004] All manufacturing components have some tolerance which needs to be adjusted while mounting of the component on the final assembly. Due to extra tolerance, i.e., positive tolerance when size of the part is more than the required size. Further, addition of the rubber cushion 105 on the parcel shelf 102 towards the front edge or inner edge of the rear door 103 increases size which disturbs the interference of the parcel shelf 102 and the rear door 103. The rear door 103 pushes the parcel shelf 102 inside and further heat from the rear door window bends the parcel shelf permanently. Bending of the parcel shelf creates decreases the cushion interference with back door surface and cause rattling sound when it hits the side body trim A due to vibrations during vehicle movement.
[005] In other condition where manufacturing tolerance is on negative side means size of the part is less than the required part size. Small size parcel shelf creates decreased interference issue with the rear door and there is a gap between the rear door and the parcel shelf. This gap creates rattling sound when vehicle is in moving condition.
[006] Conventionally, in order to avoid rattling noise which created by interference of the parcel shelf and the rear door, a rubber cushion is provided. The rubber cushion is not sufficient to avoid the rattling noise.
[007] In order to avoid rattling noise of the parcel shelf, there is need to remove the abutment between the parcel shelf and the rear door. Further, there is need to fix the parcel shelf so that the parcel shelf does not move when vehicle is in running condition. If there is no relation between the rear door and the parcel shelf, there should be a mechanism which allows opening and closing of the parcel shelf to access the luggage area. Therefore, the present invention provides a parcel shelf which avoids the rattling noise and provides manual opening and closing mechanism which do not depend on the rear door.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
[008] The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a parcel shelf having no abutment with rear door.
[009] Another object of the present subject matter is to provide a parcel shelf having openable feature to access luggage area.
[0010] Another object of the present subject matter is to provide parcel shelf which can be locked with parcel shelf side body trim.
[0011] Yet another object of the present subject matter is to provide a simple, effective, and cost efficient parcel shelf structure to avoid rattling noise at rear end of the vehicle cabin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
[0012] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a parcel shelf structure which is adapted to cover luggage area at rear side of the vehicle cabin. The parcel shelf structure comprises two parts, i.e., front fixed portion and rear movable portion. The front fixed portion is fixed with parcel shelf side body trim of the vehicle. the rear movable portion is hingedly connected with the front fixed portion via a hinge line. The hinge line can be made integrated with the parcel shelf. Further, the hinge line may be any hinge joint arrangement which is well known. The rear movable portion has a snap locking device at both rear end of right hand side and left hand side. There are two parcel shelf side body trim on left hand side and right hand side which are mounted on the vehicle structure to support the parcel shelf. The right hand side parcel shelf side body trim and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim has receiving means to receive forwardly projecting lugs of the snap locking device to lock the parcel shelf with the parcel shelf side body trim. In the present arrangement, there is no interference in between the parcel shelf and the rear door. Also parcel shelf is firmly locked with Side body trim (A) through snap locking mechanism. Further, opening and closing of the parcel shelf is possible by providing a hinge line which divides the parcel shelf in fixed portion and movable portion.
[0013] In order to further understand the characteristics and technical contents of the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only but not used to limit scope of the present subject matter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0015] Fig. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate structure and mounting of parcel shelf as known in the art; and
[0016] Fig. 4, 5, and 6 illustrate structure and mounting of parcel shelf, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0017] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
[0018] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a parcel shelf structure which is adapted to cover luggage area at rear side of the vehicle cabin. The parcel shelf structure comprises two parts, i.e., front fixed portion and rear movable portion. The front fixed portion is fixed with parcel shelf side body trim of the vehicle. The rear movable portion is hingedly connected with the front fixed portion via a hinge line. The hinge line can be made integrated with the parcel shelf. Further, the hinge line may be any hinge joint arrangement which is well known. The rear movable portion has a snap locking device at both rear end of right hand side and left hand side. There are two parcel shelf side body trim on left hand side and right hand side which are mounted on the vehicle structure to support the parcel shelf. The right hand side parcel shelf side body trim and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim has receiving means to receive forwardly projecting lugs of the snap locking device to lock the parcel shelf with the parcel shelf side body trim. In the present arrangement, Parcel shelf movement during vehicle movement vibration is prevented through a snap locking mechanism instead of cushion interference with back door surface as in prior art. There is no interference in between the parcel shelf and the rear door. In the absence of any abutment of the parcel shelf with the rear door, there is no rattling noise. Further, opening and closing of the parcel shelf is possible by providing a hinge line which divides the parcel shelf in fixed portion and movable portion.
[0019] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various assembly that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.
[0020] These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.
[0021] Fig. 4, 5, and 6 illustrate structure of a parcel shelf and mounting of parcel shelf at rear end of the vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. In the present assembly 400, a parcel shelf 402 is provided in between rear end of rear passenger seat 401 and front edge of rear door 403. Further, there is no abutment in between the parcel shelf 402 and the rear door 403 by means of a rubber cushion. The parcel shelf 402 is positioned over parcel shelf side body trim 404 on both right hand side and left hand side. The parcel shelf side body trim 404 provides fixing arrangement and locking arrangement to the parcel shelf 402.
[0022] Referring to figure 6, the parcel shelf structure 402 is divided into two portions, i.e., front fixed portion 402a and rear movable portion 402b. The front fixed portion 402a comprises one mountable lug in horizontal direction at both right end side and left end side. The mountable lugs slide into C-section cavity of the parcel shelf side body trim 404 to fix the front fixed portion 402a with the vehicle structure. In the figure 5, 405 indicate the mounting of fixed front portion 402a with the C-section cavity of the parcel shelf 404. Further, this type of mounting is present at both right hand side and left hand side. The rear movable portion 402b is connected with the front fixed portion 402a by a hinge line 402c. The hinge line 402c can be integrated with the parcel shelf structure 402. In another terms, the parcel shelf structure 402 is a single part which has two portions which are connected by an integrated hinge line. In another embodiment of the present subject matter, the hinge line 402c can be any hinge joint arrangement which is known. The hinge joint can be metal joint or plastic joint. The present parcel shelf structure 402 is a single mold structure. The hinge line 402c is provided in the structure during molding of the parcel shelf structure. Further, the parcel shelf structure can be prepared by joining two parts with same concept using the hinge joint.
[0023] As shown in the figure 5 and 6, the rear movable portion 402b has a snap locking device 402c at both left hand side and right hand side which is placed over the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 and the right hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404, respectively. The snap locking device 402c has a forwardly projecting lug 402ca which engages with receiving arrangement which is a female part in the right hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 and the left hand side parcel shelf side body trim 404 to lock the rear movable portion 402c of the parcel shelf structure 403 with the vehicle structure. Once the rear movable portion 402b is snap locked with the parcel shelf side body at both right hand side and left hand side, the parcel shelf structure 402 does not move in any direction during running condition of the vehicle. The rear movable portion 402b is rotatable in upper direction. The rear movable portion 402b is manually locked and unlocked by the user with the parcel shelf side body trim while accessing the luggage area of the vehicle.
[0024] The rear movable portion 402b is bigger than the front fixed portion 402a. The front fixed portion 402a is about approximately 1/6th of the complete parcel shelf structure 402. Further, the present parcel shelf structure 402 is independent from the rear door interference, therefore there is no possibility of rattling noise in the present structure.
[0025] The present parcel shelf structure is simple to manufacture in single mold. Further, the present parcel shelf structure has an integrated hinge line to allow rotation of one part of the parcel shelf structure.
[0026] The term “vehicle” as used throughout this detailed description and in the claims refers to any moving vehicle that is capable of carrying one or more human occupants and is powered by any form of energy. The term “vehicle” is a motor vehicle which includes, but is not limited to: cars, trucks, vans, minivans, hatchback, sedan, MUVs, and SUVs.
[0027] It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one-step or component may be split among plural steps or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention. The present invention also encompasses intermediate and end products resulting from the practice of the methods herein. The use of “comprising” or “including” also contemplates embodiments that “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the recited feature.
[0028] Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/component of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.