Motor vehicles – Motor-carrying attachments
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-05
2004-07-06
Hurley, Kevin (Department: 3611)
Motor vehicles
Motor-carrying attachments
C180S019100, C180S218000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06758291
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices used to move trailers about when they are not attached to a towing vehicle. Specifically, it relates to small lightweight portable trailer moving devices operated by an individual.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Unless they can be driven to the desired spot and simply dropped from the trailer hitch, trailers usually need to be moved after being separated from their towing vehicle. Sometimes the task might be as simple as moving the trailer from the street to the far end of the driveway because the driver lacks the ability to skillfully back a trailer up. Another example: where municipal ordinances allow continuous parking of unattached trailers on the public streets, it is usually necessary to move the trailer at least once a week and sometimes more. One cannot always find a spot near the house, and backing a trailer into a parallel parking space is difficult at best and more often than not, impossible.
Aside from the need for a device for moving trailers in the above situations, it is often necessary to move a trailer, any kind of trailer, around in various situations such as a utility trailer or a horse trailer around the premises, or a construction trailer on a job site. This often is done in cramped areas such as driveways, parking spaces, parking lots, stables, and the like. Bringing a horse trailer to a fair for a show or a rodeo can often be a problem as is bringing a trailer loaded with the owner's wares to a swap meet or other kind of outdoor sales event, at which spaces are very tight and many other vehicles and people are around. When such situations exist, it is frequently found that a trailer must be squeezed into a space. The inventor witnessed such a problem while writing this application: His neighbor across the street was having his house upgraded. One of the small contractors he hired had a box trailer about 12 feet long and packed with tools and gear. Each day he had difficulty in positioning this portable workshop. One day the only way he could do so was to drive into the driveway and he could not pull any further than just even with the sidewalk. As a result, his rear door, which doubled as a ramp, totally blocked the sidewalk all day long, making pedestrians noticeably unhappy. With this Tug, he could have left his truck in the street and put the trailer anywhere, including the lawn.
Disabled persons will appreciate having a trailer mover that can be used anywhere.
Outside of the city there are many times a trailer must be moved, such as backing a large boat into a spot at a motel with cars on either side, and with travel trailers at campgrounds that do not have drive-through sites, but require backing in. Many natural campground sites have hills, trees, etc. that must be circumvented. There is where the moving is most difficult. It is rare to see a person drive into a campground and leave their trailer connected to the towing vehicle for any length of time. Even going into town to get groceries is reason enough to leave the trailer parked if it is a large one and the terrain is difficult.
Such tasks and many others require some other means of moving the trailer.
At present, there are but three kinds of devices suitable for the tasks. Most trailers are equipped with a front swivel or caster wheel which is mounted on the lower telescoping tube of a screw jack attached to the tongue of the trailer just behind the hitch coupler. When the trailer is being towed, this front caster wheel is either elevated out of contact with the ground or it is removed from the jack, or both. When parking the trailer, the jack is lowered to bring the caster wheel into supporting contact with the ground. To move the trailer by hand without the aid of its towing vehicle, the trailer jack is lowered by means of its crank, thus raising the tongue to release the trailer from the vehicle. The trailer is then supported entirely by its main wheels and the front caster wheel. The trailer may then be maneuvered into a desired parking position by pushing and/or pulling on the trailer in such a way as to roll the trailer on its main wheels and caster wheel. This method is laborious, difficult and time consuming and could pose serious consequences for persons in poor physical health or persons who are simply weak. Many travel trailer users are seniors to whom employing such means as above is, in many cases, out of the question.
One inconvenience, or aggravation of such built in trailer jacks is the fact that they are made with a screw that has a large mechanical advantage. As a result, it takes a great many turns to raise or lower it only a short amount. Often there is a differential in heights between the location of the trailer tongue when it is on the towing vehicle and where it needs to be when it is parked or when it is hooked up to a device to move it. It can be an arduous task to crank that distance when one is trying to move the trailer or secure the campsite. It can take 100 revolutions or more to get it where it is wanted, which can be strenuous for many people.
Another means of moving a trailer independently of its towing vehicle is a hand-powered dolly. Such dollies generally have a pair of wheels mounted on a frame with a long handle. A cross bar or beam rises up and terminates in a trailer hitch ball. To use such a device, it is tipped forward, lowering the ball, rocked under the trailer coupler, and then rocked back to raise the tongue, and the latch on the coupler is tripped to secure it to the ball. It is then possible to roll the trailer around by pushing and pulling on the handle and turning it. These are an improvement over the crank-up trailer jack with a caster wheel, but still requite great exertion in many situations and again, pose a health threat to certain persons, this inventor included. They are also generally too large to be easily stored in a trailer or a car trunk without some disassembly. And there is always the possibility with these types of devices that the user might forget to lock the tongue to the ball so that if the dolly rocks forward, under the right conditions, the trailer could break loose and cause great damage or injury.
The sole other kind known to the inventor is taught in U. S. Pat. No. 3,439,764 to Kimball (1969) commercially known as the “Power Caster.” It is a dolly powered by a 120-volt AC motor and requires a 100′ extension cord. Both the hand powered variety of dollies above and the “Power Caster” by Kimball have significant limitations. Depending on the weight of the trailer, the hand-powered dolly requires a level of strength that not every person has. And using a hand-powered dolly on hilly or rough terrain is generally out of the question.
Among its other limitations, the Kimball device and its clone, the “Powermover” precludes such operations as moving a trailer on a public street in all but the most narrowly defined circumstances, and is significantly limited in most other situations as well, including but not limited-to the 100-foot restriction of the power cord, the dangers of a publicly exposed electrical cord—particularly on the street, and the tasks of finding an AC receptacle or of using a portable generator if one is traveling.
My Tug is the answer in all situations, including at wilderness campgrounds or, for that matter, in the wilderness itself. It is completely independent from a power cord and therefore can be used anywhere a trailer can go, significantly increasing both the number and the nature of places the trailer owner can bring his trailer, and also increases the activities the user can engage in when he gets there if he uses the accessory cart that is a part of this invention.
It is uniquely different in almost every way from prior art powered by AC motors with all of their limitations. This is because it operates on small lightweight, fast-charging batteries with specialized power curves, uses high RPM motors with large gear reduction assemblies, is guided by a Joystick controller at the end of an electronics cable
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