Material or article handling – Traversing hoist type – Tow truck type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-18
2002-09-03
Bratlie, Steven A. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Traversing hoist type
Tow truck type
C280S402000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06443685
ABSTRACT:
This patent application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application 11-295515 filed on Oct. 18, 1999.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
A towing device that employs a contact beam and a rotating bracket that allows for adjustment of the vehicle towing device without having to move the entire tow truck for pulling, raising, lowering, and towing of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Most towing devices on tow trucks use hooks and wires on a winch to raise a vehicle or a wrecked car, which had run off the road, with a pulley on the front part of a beam of the vehicle towing mechanism. Normally, when a wrecked car was directly behind and properly positioned behind a tow truck, the vehicle towing mechanism could pick up and tow the wrecked car.
However, when an accident required “horizontal pulling” or pulling from the side of the tow truck towards the tow truck, normal tow trucks encountered problems. When a wrecked car was pulled horizontally, the tow truck had to be moved to align it with the position of the wrecked car because the towing mechanism on most tow trucks did not allow for adjustment of the towing mechanism without moving the entire truck.
Additionally, when there were obstacles such as trees, buildings, and even other vehicles around the vehicle, the tow truck had to be very careful in making any slight adjustments so that the obstacles were not damaged in any way when the wrecked car was pulled horizontally. Finally, as the wrecked car was being moved and lifted, the tow truck had to be repositioned and moved.
As a result, the tow truck itself had to be moved slightly over and over again more than once in order to lift up a single wrecked car, which made for extremely poor operability. The present invention was originated taking these problems into consideration and provides a vehicle towing device for a tow truck which does not require slight movements when pulling a wrecked car horizontally and lifting it.
From the preceding descriptions, it is apparent that the devices currently being used have significant disadvantages. Thus important aspects of the technology used in the field of invention remain amenable to useful refinement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle towing device that will allow a tow truck to make adjustment before and during the lifting and towing of a vehicle without having to move or to reposition the tow truck. This vehicle towing device employs a power source such as a hydraulic cylinder to engage a telescoping beam that comprises a first beam and an extendable second beam to allow for easy adjustment, such as raising, lowering, extending, and collapsing of the towing mechanism without having to move the truck for the lifting, pulling, lowering or towing of a vehicle. In addition, this invention allows for a rotating bracket that has a pulley that further allows for the pulling, lifting or towing of a vehicle that is at an angle or that is not directly behind the tow truck.
The present invention introduces such refinement. In its preferred embodiments, the present invention has several aspects or facets that can be used independently, although they are preferably employed together to optimize their benefits. All of the foregoing operational principles and advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated upon consideration of the following detailed description, with reference to the appended drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2928557 (1960-03-01), Cline
patent: 3951280 (1976-04-01), Peck
patent: 4383807 (1983-05-01), Bubik
patent: 4797057 (1989-01-01), Shoup et al.
patent: 5816765 (1998-10-01), Pijanowski
patent: 5984614 (1999-11-01), Weber
patent: 63184534 (1988-07-01), None
Bratlie Steven A.
Numazu Yuki
Trojan Law Offices
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