Patent ID: 9440577
Filing Date: 2016-09-13
CPC Classification: B60P,B66C

Claim Text:
1. A wrecker-type recovery vehicle for recovering other, disabled vehicles, comprising: a vehicle frame extending along a longitudinal axis, the vehicle frame supporting a vehicle body and carrying an extensible and retractable boom; and manually-manipulable wrecker controls located on and supported by a control panel stored within an interior compartment of the wrecker supported by the vehicle body, the wrecker controls configured to control movement of one or more wrecker components useful in vehicle recovery, wherein the control panel has a base end and a distal end opposite the base end; and the control panel moveable from a first, storage position within the interior compartment of the vehicle body, wherein the control panel in the first position is operable to close off the interior compartment from an operator of the wrecker controls, to a second, operable position displaced from and outside the compartment and remote from the vehicle exterior, in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, wherein the control panel in the second position provides an open interior compartment in which the wrecker controls are located in a position where they may be manipulated by the operator, and wherein in the second position the control panel is downwardly-angled relative to ground such that the distal end is located remote from the vehicle body and below a horizontal axis parallel to ground and intersecting the base end, and wherein the control panel remains supported by the vehicle body while in the second position, whereby the displacement of the control panel to the second position comprises a strategic location of the wrecker controls, providing an operator with an ergonomically-enhanced work surface.