Patent ID: 9694850
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: B62D

Claim:
1. A method of controlling the direction of a towed trailer that has a length that can be measured, that is connected to a tow vehicle by a jointed connection, and that is being pushed with the jointed connection by the tow vehicle, and where the tow vehicle has a front set of wheels and a rear set of wheels with the two sets of wheels being separated by a distance and an angle of at least one of the two sets of wheels is changeable to effect steering, comprising the steps of: I.) determining a jointed connection angle, the jointed connection angle being formed at the intersection of a centerline of the tow vehicle and a centerline of the trailer, II) determining a value representative of the steering of the tow vehicle, this steering value being related to the angle of the set of wheels that is changeable to effect steering, III.) using an electronic computing device for determining a turning value whereby inputs to the turning value determination comprise (i) the determined steering value for the tow vehicle, (ii) the separation distance of the two sets of wheels of the tow vehicle, and (iii) the length of the towed trailer, and IV.) using an electronic computing device for determining a potential change in direction of either the tow vehicle or the towed trailer by using the turning value to look up an angular value indicating where the trailer and the tow vehicle will become generally in-line from a fixed table, by looking up within the table where the turning value would be and locating a corresponding potential change in direction value on an axis.