Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-07-17
Hurley, Kevin (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C254S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260882
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the field of mechanical motor vehicle accessories, and more specifically to an improved apparatus for raising and lowering the landing gear of semi trailers. The predominant current usage of the present inventive landing gear lifting apparatus is for raising and lowering the landing gear of large commercial semi trailers, wherein it is desirable to provide a reliable and inexpensive alternative to hand cranking the landing gear thereof.
BACKGROUND ART
Trailers of tractor/trailer combinatinations have conventionally used landing gear, generally consisting of a pair of retractable legs, at the front ends of the trailers to support such front ends when the tractor is to be detached from the trailer.
FIG. 1
depicts a conventional landing gear assembly
10
. As can be seen in the view of
FIG. 1
, the landing gear
10
has a driven shaft
12
which passes through the upper ends of a pair of telescoping legs
14
. Each leg
14
has an outer rectangular body
16
in which an inner rectangular portion
18
is telescopically received. Conventional gear mechanisms (not shown) cause the inner rectangular portion
18
to raise or lower, depending upon the direction of rotation of the driven shaft
12
. A gear reduction box
20
is conventionally provided as depicted in FIG.
1
. The gear reduction box will generally provide two gear ratios, which are generally 1/1 (meaning one inch of lift per rotation of a driving shaft
22
) or 40/1 (meaning one inch of lift per forty rotations of the driving shaft
22
). On the prior art conventional devices, a crank handle
24
is affixed to the driving shaft
22
by a removable pin
26
. Accordingly, rotation of the crank handle
24
will selectively raise or lower the legs
14
of the landing gear
10
.
As can be appreciated, raising and lowering the landing gear
10
using the manual crank handle
24
is both laborious and time consuming. A number of devices have been devised for raising and lowering the landing gear
10
by powered devices. Most of these have been hydraulically powered, although other power means have been used for the purpose. However, the fact that the old fashioned hand crank still predominates in the field speaks to the fact that known devices are, for one reason or another impractical.
The copending U.S. patent Application Ser. No. 09/075,494, having an inventor in common with this present application, has taught a pneumatic and/or electrical device for raising and lowering the landing gear
10
. While this invention has achieved its goals admirably, it is accepted that a simpler, or less expensive, or more reliable alternative is generally desirable. Indeed, it is often the simpler alternatives which are less obvious, becoming understood only after experience with earlier, more cumbersome, devices is accrued. Accordingly, although the device taught by the '494 Application has provided an improvement over the manual method, which has been the standard mode of operation for many years, there remains the desirability to provide an even more effective alternative.
SUMMARY
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a landing gear actuating apparatus which is reliable in operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a landing gear actuating apparatus which is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a landing gear actuating apparatus which is easy to use.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a landing gear actuating apparatus which is safe to use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a landing gear actuating apparatus which can be adapted for use with essentially any type of trailer landing gear.
Briefly, one embodiment of the present invention is a replacement gear housing cover which replaces the conventional cover of a trailer landing gear assembly. The replacement gear cover has a motor with a drive gear attached for electrically raising and lowering the trailer landing gear. Power for this embodiment is provided by a battery which is kept charged from the trailer electrical system. An alternative is to power the inventive apparatus directly from the trailer electrical system. An electrical control system controls the inventive trailer landing gear lifting apparatus, and provides safety features therefore.
An advantage of the present invention is that it is sufficiently simple to be inexpensive enough such that it provides a viable alternative to hand cranking.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it is powerful and will quickly and easily raise and lower even the heaviest trailers.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that it is simple and reliable in operation.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it is generally permanently affixed to a trailer, and thus cannot be readily stolen or lost. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear to those skilled in the art in view of the description of modes of carrying out the invention, and the industrial applicability thereof, as described herein and as illustrated in the several figures of the drawing. The objects and advantages listed are not an exhaustive list of all possible advantages of the invention. Moreover, it will be possible to practice the invention even where one or more of the intended objects and/or advantages might be absent or not required in the application.
Further, those skilled in the art will recognize that various embodiments of the present invention may achieve one or more, but not necessarily all, of the above described objects and advantages. Accordingly, the listed objects and advantages are not essential elements of the present invention, and should not be construed as limitations.
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Henneman & Saunders
Henneman, Jr. Larry E.
Hurley Kevin
Quest Transportation Products, Inc.
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