Patent ID: 6234510
Filing Date: 2001-05-22
Classification: B60D

Abstract:
A trailer hitch guide for guiding a socket mounted on a trailer tongue into alignment with a ball hitch attached to a tow bar on a towing vehicle, the guide comprising:a) a base plate having a hole defined therein, the hole being adapted for receiving a stud depending from a ball hitch, the base plate being adapted for attachment to a towing vehicle by clamping the base plate between the ball hitch and a towing bar;b) a pair of elongated, hollow cylindrical tubes fixedly attached to said base plate; andc) a V-shaped fence, the fence being formed by two plates joined at a line to define a dihedral angle, each plate having a stud depending from a bottom edge of the plate, the fence being slidably and removably mounted on said base plate by inserting the studs into said cylindrical tubes, the vertex of the V-shaped fence pointing towards a front of the towing vehicle and a ball hitch being disposed between the plates adjacent the vertex of the dihedral angle formed by said plates when the V-shaped fence is mounted on said base plate; andwherein said base plate further comprises a U-shaped member fixedly attached to a pair of opposing sides of said base plate, the U-shaped member having a crossbar connecting a pair of side plates at opposite ends of the crossbar, said base plate and the U-shaped member defining a rectangular collar, said base plate being adapted for attachment to the towing vehicle by sliding said collar onto the tow bar and fastening said base plate to the tow bar; andwherein said cylindrical tubes are fixedly attached to the side plates of said U-shaped member, said cylindrical tubes having a top rim substantially coplanar with a top surface of said base plate so that a socket of a trailer tongue may rotate freely about a ball hitch when said fence is removed from said base plate.