Controlled-articulation trailer with synchronized steering and a travelling top link tool bar hitch

Abstract

A controlled articulation trailer with synchronized steering and a traveling top link three point tool bar hitch is disclosed. The controlled articulation trailer comprises a box-frame carriage having two separate but laterally aligned, wheeled axles near the back of the carriage. The aligned axles are mechanically angularly controlled by, or ‘synchronized to’, the movements of the draft vehicle. A tongue attaches to the draft vehicle via a hitch plate bolted to the draw bar of the draft vehicle. The tongue receiver fits onto a ball hitch and an adjustable stabilizer arm is bolted to the hitch plate and extends at an angle back to a tongue attachment. The tongue connects through the front of the carriage to a pivot point located on a bridge across the front-middle of the carriage and extends beyond this pivot point to connect, through doubly-pivoting tie-rods, to the wheels, thus controlling the articulation such that the trailer's wheels turn in synchronization to turns made by the draft vehicle. A hydraulic ram-bolt and V-mount system is located near the front of the carriage such that the ram-bolt, riding along the tongue, may be moved in and out of the V-mount thereby allowing the manual override of the synchronization which further controls the degree of articulation and to some extent allows the operator to further control the position of the trailer relative to the draft vehicle. A weight-bearing front axle may be pivotally mounted near the front of the carriage to help reduce tongue weight on the tongue. A three point tool bar hitch system is mounted near the back of the carriage above the back wheels, the top link of which may be hydraulically or otherwise moved along a rail which is rigidly-mounted to the frame so to enable the operator to ‘pull’ or ‘push’ the fulcrum of the lifting three point hitch as desired.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.