Step member for tractors
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorVincas Urbaitis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A step member for attachment to a frame of a tractor that includes a single flexible cable having the opposite ends thereof provided with bracket members which serve to attach the cable to the tractor frame so as to form the cable into a generally U-shaped configuration and provide a pair of vertically oriented arcuate legs and a substantially horizontal base the latter of which has a foot supporting plate secured thereto of a length substantially less than the distance between the coupling members.
Claims3
In a tractor having an exposed lower frame portion susceptible to encountering obstacles and having a vertically oriented outer surface, a step member attached to and depending from said frame portion, said step member comprising a continuous flexible cable having opposed end portions, a bracket member for each end portion of said cable, each of said bracket members serving to connect the associated end portion of said cable to said outer surface of the frame portion so as to form said cable into a bowed configuration so that said step member has a pair of vertically oriented curved legs and a horizontal base, a pivotal connection for connecting one part of the bracket member to said outer surface with another part of said bracket member being rigidly fixed with the associated end portion of the cable so as to laterally space said cable from the outer surface, a foot supporting plate secured to said horizontal base, the arrangement being such that said foot supporting plate is free to pivot in a vertical plane about the pivotal connections when the tractor is moving in a fore or aft direction and the foot supporting plate encounters an obstacle.
In a tractor having an exposed lower frame portion susceptible to encountering obstacles and having a vertically oriented outer surface, a step member attached to and depending from said frame portion, said step member comprising a continuous flexible cable having opposed end portions, a bracket member secured to each end portion of said cable, each of said bracket members serving to connect the associated end portion of said cable to said outer surface of the frame portion so as to form said cable into a generally "U" shape so that said step member has a pair of vertically oriented curved legs and a horizontal base, each of said bracket members having a vertical leg and a horizontal leg, a pivotal connection for connecting the vertical leg to said outer surface with the horizontal leg being rigidly fixed with the associated end portion of the cable so as to laterally space said cable from the outer surface, a foot supporting plate secured to said horizontal base, the arrangement being such that said foot supporting plate is free to pivot in a vertical plane about the pivotal connections when the tractor is moving in a fore or aft direction and the foot supporting plate encounters and obstacle.
In a tractor having an exposed lower frame portion susceptible to encountering obstacles and having a vertically oriented outer surface, a step member attached to and depending from said frame portion, said step member comprising a continuous flexible cable having opposed end portions, and L-shaped bracket member secured to each end portion of said cable, each of said bracket members serving to connect the associated end portion of said cable to said outer surface of the frame portion so as to form said cable into a generally "U" shape so that said step member has a pair of vertically oriented curved legs and a horizontal base, each of said L-shaped bracket members having a vertical leg and a horizontal leg, a pivotal connection for connecting the vertical leg to said outer surface with the horizontal leg being rigidly fixed with the associated end portion of the cable so as to laterally space said cable from the outer surface, a foot supporting plate secured to said horizontal base, said foot supporting plate having a length substantially less than the distance between the pivotal connections when the step member is attached to said frame portion of the tractor, the arrangement being such that said foot supporting plate is free to pivot in a vertical plane about the pivotal connections when the tractor is moving in a fore or aft direction and the foot supporting plate encounters an obstacle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.