This class includes patents relating to that portion of a land vehicle, secured to the running-gear thereof, which operates as a receptacle or load carrier, together with the top or cover therefor.
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
This class is subordinate to Class 280, Land-Vehicles, and is distinguished therefrom as set forth in the above definition.
Patents for bodies or load carriers for special purposes will be found in this class unless there exist other devices for the same purposes, in which devices a running gear is an essential feature, in which latter instance they have been placed in Class 280, Land Vehicles, subclasses 4, 8+ or unless such bodies are for such purposes as would place them in a more specialized class, as Classes 180, Motor Vehicles; 212, Traversing Hoists; 298, Land Vehicles: Dumping; or 414, Material Or Article Handling.
Patents for attachments for vehicles will be found in this class only when their functions limit them for use with vehicle bodies and tops; otherwise they will be found in Class 280, Land Vehicles, unless they are for such purposes as would place them in a more specialized class, as Classes 180, Motor Vehicles; 212, Traversing Hoists; 224, Package and Article Carriers; or 414 Material or Article Handling.
Seats in vehicles will be found in this class only when some part of the body is modified to cooperate with the seats; otherwise they are classified in Class 297, Chairs and Seats.
A door (access barrier or closure) in a vehicle body is found in this class (Class 296) when an accessory (e.g., trim, armrest, visor, etc.) or a feature correlated to a vehicle body is included. In the absence of such defining accessory or feature, a singular door structure is classified elsewhere. However, the feature of plural doors in a vehicle body is provided in this class.
REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSESSEE OR SEARCH CLASS
15, Brushing, Scrubbing, and General Cleaning,
250.001+, for an optical-member-attachable cleaner (e.g., windshield wiper, etc.).
49, Movable or Removable Closures, appropriate subclasses for particular car door structure when no defining accessory or feature correlated to a vehicle body is present.
52, Static Structures (e.g., Buildings), appropriate subclasses for enclosures and related components of more general application. In general a box-like structure or a related component thereof is in Class 52 even though defined or disclosed as used in a vehicle. Also a vehicle having means, e.g., an earth anchored brace or guy, to convert a vehicle to an in situ structure is also in Class 52.
62, Refrigeration,
239+, for refrigeration means combined with a vehicle feature.
105, Railway Rolling-Stock, for vehicle bodies adapted for use on railways.
135, Tent, Canopy, Umbrella, or Cane,
88.01+, for sun and rain protectors adapted for use with the type of vehicle indicated. Where there is a plurality of independent supports or a bow construction hinged at each end upon the body, such patents will be found in this class (296).
160, Flexible or Portable Closure, Partition, or Panel, for (1) panel units in which a flexible fabric or other flexible sheet material forms the panel portion, (2) panel units formed of plural strips, slats, or panels, interconnected for relative motion (excluding those connected only by a common operator or mounted only in a common frame or on a common support), (3) panel units in the form of portable partitions,
and (4) parts (1)-(3) combined with each other or with rigid closures or other panels. Such devices, even though disclosed as parts of land vehicle bodies or tops have been placed in Class 160 (with only the exceptions set forth below and in the notes to particular subclasses in Class 296). These exceptions are: (A) where organized to form a vehicle body enclosure, claimed in combination with particular additional features of vehicle body structure (as connections between vehicle top or bottom and sides, body bracing, etc.) or in a particular relation to the vehicle other than merely in a vehicle opening and (B) claimed in combination with vehicle accessories (as windshield wipers, seats, steps, rear view mirrors, etc.). In all cases where flexible filled fabric frames are solely disclosed, they have been placed in Class 160, Flexible or Portable Closure, Partition, or Panel, whether or not the fabric has been claimed. 212, Traversing Hoists,
180+, for a traversing hoist attachment for a vehicle body.
362, Illumination,
459+, for vehicles combined with illuminating means, where the vehicle structure is altered only to the extent necessary to provide for the vehicle lighting.
428, Stock Material or Miscellaneous Articles, appropriate subclasses for a stock material product in the form of a single or plural layer web or sheet, which may be used in the construction of a vehicle body or top.