Pivotal trailer hitch
OwnerCharles J. MacKarvichinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pivotal hitch assembly (14) includes a housing (22) that is pivotally coupled to mounting plates (57) and (58) that are rigidly attached to a draw bar (60) of a trailer. The housing includes a pair of connector tubes (56) that receive pins (63), (64) that couple the housing (22) to the mounting plates (57), (58). The housing (22) is manufactured from a single blank of material. The connector tubes (56) are formed by bending or rolling a portion of the blank into a generally tubular shape. Bending or folding of the blank forms the housing such that the housing is generally U-shaped.
Claims10
A pivotal trailer hitch assembly for pivotally coupling a socket for receiving a hitchball to a tongue of a trailer, the pivotal hitch assembly comprising:
- a housing made from one piece of material,
- said housing having a front end and a rear end with an upper wall extending therebetween, opposed first and second sidewalls extending parallel to each other from said upper wall,
- a ball receptacle mounted to said front end of said housing,
- each said side wall integrally including a connector tube with a longitudinal axis, said connector tubes being generally horizontally opposed each other and having parallel longitudinal axes oriented in upwardly extending attitudes,
- said connector tube of said first side wall being characterized by having been formed by bending a first stub of said first side wall into a generally tubular shape, and
- said connector tube of said second side wall being characterized by having been formed by bending a second stub of said second side wall into a generally tubular shape.
A pivotal trailer hitch assembly for coupling a socket for receiving a hitch ball to a draw bar of a trailer, comprising:
- a coupling sized and shaped to receive a hitch ball of a trailer hitch assembly,
- a housing formed from sheet metal mounted to said coupling,
- said housing having a pair of open ended connector tubes formed from said sheet metal, with said connector tubes characterized by having been rolled into their shapes and having parallel longitudinal axes,
- a pair of mounting plates for mounting to a draw bar of a trailer in spaced parallel relationship for receiving said connector tubes there between,
- said mounting plates having pin openings spaced apart the same distance as the spacing of said connector tubes so that said pin openings become aligned with said connector tubes when said draw bar and said housing are aligned, and
- connector pins sized and shaped to extend into said pin openings of said mounting plates and into said connector tubes to lock said housing and said coupling to said draw bar,
- whereby one of said connector pins can be removed from said mounting plates and said connector tubes to permit the housing and coupling to pivot with respect to the draw bar.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.