Hinge and connection assembly for removable truck topper

Abstract

A hinge and connection assembly kit is used in combination with an open vehicle box covered by a cap or topper and having a pair of opposed parallel sidewalls, each with a channel rail along the interior of the upper edge of the sidewall. The vehicle cap for covering the open vehicle box also has a pair of opposed parallel sidewalls, each of which has a base rail along its lower margin for resting on the channel rails of the vehicle box. The kit comprises a plurality of hinge connection assemblies connected between the channel rails of the box sidewalls and the adjacent base rails of the cap sidewalls. Each hinge/connection assembly grasps the channel rail of a box sidewall. A lower hinge plate is connected to the channel grasping structure and has a first, downwardly concave hinge channel at its outer edge. A corresponding upper hinge plate is connected to a cap base rail above the lower hinge plate. The upper hinge plate has a releasable capture latch for releasably capturing the first hinge channel to form a hinge axis within the first hinge channel, whereby the upper hinge plate and the cap base rail to which it is connected can rotate in an abbreviated arc about the hinge axis when the capture means is not released and the upper hinge plate can be vertically separated from the lower hinge plate when the capture means is released.