Method for securing a motor vehicle to a transporter
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorDavid Brian Glickman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for transporting a vehicle having a wheel and a flexible underbody component, such as an air dam or skirt, adjacent the wheel. A chock including at least one wheel positioning bump is placed on a deck of the transporter vehicle (railway car, road vehicle, ship, aircraft, etc.) with the bump projecting upwardly from the deck to contact the wheel when the vehicle is in a pre-tie-down position. The chock further includes a sloped portion extending from positioning bump(s) to be located between the flexible underbody component and the deck. As the vehicle is urged downwardly to a tied-down position, the flexible underbody component contacts the sloped portion and is deflected either away from or toward the wheel to protect it from damaging contact with the deck.
Claims5
A method of securing a vehicle to a transporter deck, the method comprising:
- placing a chock on the deck;
- rolling the vehicle to a pre-tie-down position wherein a vehicle wheel contacts the chock and an aerodynamic underbody component of the vehicle is spaced above the chock;
- and
- tightening a tie-down member attached to the deck and to the vehicle to compress a vehicle suspension until the underbody component contacts the chock and is deflected to a protected position.
A method of securing a vehicle to a transporter deck comprising:
- placing a chock on the deck;
- rolling the vehicle onto the deck such that a vehicle wheel contacts the chock and an aerodynamic underbody component extending downward from a vehicle body is above and spaced from the chock;
- and
- urging the vehicle body downward to compress a vehicle suspension until the underbody component contacts the chock and is deflected thereby.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.