Land vehicles – Wheeled – Articulated vehicle
Patent
1990-11-02
1992-01-14
Hill, Mitchell J.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Articulated vehicle
280511, B60D 106
Patent
active
050803867
ABSTRACT:
A ball and socket hitch between a towing vehicle and a towed trailer which is self-aligning and self-connecting. The hitch ball is provided with an underlying base supporting an upstanding housing having rearwardly diverging walls which guide the tongue on the towed vehicle to align the ball socket on the tongue with the hitch ball. A slide plate is operatively associated with the base and oriented in a vertically inclined position and has a bifurcated forward end engaging the hitch ball. The slide plate combined with the housing walls guides and lifts the tongue of the towed vehicle upwardly into overlying, aligned relation to the hitch ball. The slide plate pivots to a generally horizontal position as the ball socket on the tongue moves into overlying aligned relation to the hitch ball and then drops downwardly towards the base plate to enable the ball socket to drop downwardly onto and thus be connected with the hitch ball. The slide plate, housing walls, base and hitch ball have a unique relationship by which the slide plate will guide and lift the tongue and ball socket upwardly as the towing vehicle moves rearwardly toward the tongue of the towed vehicle to elevate the ball socket above the hitch ball with the housing walls aligning the tongue and ball socket with the hitch ball with the slide plate then automatically dropping downwardly to enable gravity to move the ball socket downwardly onto the hitch ball.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4417748 (1983-11-01), Dortch
patent: 4657275 (1987-04-01), Carroll
patent: 4903978 (1990-02-01), Schrum, III
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