Trailer with protective rail and tie-down anchors
AssigneeTitan Trailers Inc.
InventorsMichael KLOEPFER, Rick LEES
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A protective rail for a trailer is formed of an extension or ridge projecting outwardly from a wall of the trailer and extending along at least a part of a length of the wall. The protective rail is provided with tie-down anchors for coupling with tie-downs having couplers such as rings, eyes, or loops. The anchors may tongues formed in the protective rail when the protective rail is cut-out at selected locations along the protective rail. The anchors may be sized and shaped such that the surrounding portion of the protective rail prevents or tends to prevent other trailers or objects contacting the protective rail from damaging or becoming caught on the anchors.
Claims18
A trailer comprising:
- a container supported by a wheeled suspension, the container comprising two opposing sidewalls defining a top opening;
- and
- on at least one of the opposing sidewalls:
- a protective rail extending along a length of the sidewall, the protective rail comprising a mounting flange mounted to a vertical face of the sidewall between a top edge and a bottom edge of the sidewall, and an integral ridge projecting outwardly from the face of the sidewall, wherein the protective rail is provided entirely between the top edge and the bottom edge of the sidewall;
- and
- a plurality of tie-down anchors, wherein each tie-down anchor is formed by adjacent notches in the ridge to provide a downwardly-extending tongue shaped for engagement with an eye or hook of a tie-down to extend the tie-down upwardly for securing a covering to enclose the top opening of the container,
- wherein the ridge is provided on the sidewall at a predetermined height between the top edge and the bottom edge of the sidewall, and has a contoured shape with an outermost curved edge, for contacting and deflecting objects for preventing contact by the objects with the face of the sidewall and to deflect the objects from the tie-down anchors to prevent accidental snagging of the objects by the tie-down anchors.
A trailer comprising:
- a container supported by a wheeled suspension, the container comprising a wall;
- a protective rail extending along at least part of a length of the wall, the protective rail comprising a mounting flange mounted at a substantially vertical face of the sidewall between a top edge and a bottom edge of the sidewall, and an integral ridge projecting outwardly from the face of the wall between the top edge and the bottom edge of the wall;
- and
- a tie-down anchor comprising a tongue formed in the ridge, shaped for engagement with an eye or hook of a tie-down.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.