Hitch and method of manufacture
AssigneeGen-Y Creations, LLC
InventorCarl J. Borkholder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A ball mount is formed from a plurality of components that are only cut from flat sheet metal. The components are two identical sides, two identical bridge plates, and one ball mount plate that are assembled and then welded together to form a rigid assembly. The sides have a plurality of slots to receive complementary tabs located on the bridge plates, along with apertures to locate the ball mount plate. The bridge plates have lateral edges that set the distance between the sides. A stacked receiver can be used with the ball mount that is also formed without bending. The stacked receiver has sides and partition plates that are cut from sheet metal, along with a length of tubing that are assembled and then welded together.
Claims13
A ball mount, comprising:
- an identical pair of unbent flat sides having a first thickness, each said side having:
- a top edge and a bottom edge parallel thereto;
- a ball mount slot extending through said first thickness, a top edge of said ball mount slot is coplanar with an upper ball surface and parallel to said top and bottom edges, a ball support ledge is coplanar with a bottom edge of said ball mount slot;
- and
- a plurality of slots extending through said first thickness;
- an identical pair of unbent flat bridge plates, each said bridge plate having:
- parallel lateral edges spaced from each other by a first distance;
- and
- tabs extending beyond said lateral edges;
- an unbent flat ball mount plate having an upper surface and lower surface to define a second thickness, said second thickness is greater than said first thickness, said ball mount plate having a narrowed portion having a width equal to said first distance;
- and
- said ball mount plate and said bridge plates affixed to and located between said sides, said tabs located in said slots, said lower surface contacting said ball support ledge and said top surface coplanar with said upper ball surface.
A ball mount, comprising:
- a first side and a second side formed from planar material having a first planar surface and a second planar surface to define a first thickness, said side having a top edge and a bottom edge parallel thereto, a ball mount slot extending through said side with an upper edge of said ball mount slot being coplanar with an upper ball surface, said side having a ball support ledge being coplanar with a lower edge of said ball mount slot, said side having upper bridge apertures and lower bridge apertures;
- a bridge plate formed from planar material, said bridge plate having parallel lateral edges spaced from each other by a first distance, said bridge plate having tabs extending beyond said lateral edges;
- a ball mount plate formed from planar material having an upper planar surface and lower planar surface to define a second thickness, said second thickness is greater than said first thickness, said ball mount plate having a narrowed portion with lateral edges spaced from each other by a width equal to said first distance, said narrowed portion located between an anchoring portion and a ball mount portion, said anchoring portion having posts extending beyond said lateral edges;
- a first said bridge plate affixed between a first said side and a second said side, said tabs located in said upper bridge apertures of said sides;
- a second said bridge plate affixed between said first side and said second side and parallel to said first said bridge plate, said tabs located in said lower bridge apertures of said sides;
- said ball mount plate affixed between said first side and said second side;
- and
- said lateral edges of said bridge plates and said lateral edges of said ball mount plate abutting one of said planar surfaces on each of said sides.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.