Patent ID: 6619693
Filing Date: 2003-09-16
Classification: B60S

Abstract:
Apparatus for automatically leveling a vehicle, comprising: a right front leg, a left front leg, a right rear leg, and a left rear leg mounted to the vehicle, each leg being independently adjustable between a stowed position and an extended position wherein the leg engages the ground; a sensor mounted to the vehicle to sense the pitch and roll of the vehicle relative to a reference level plane, the sensor producing an orientation signal representing the vehicle pitch and roll; a controller coupled to the legs and the sensor, the controller responding to an operator command to automatically level the vehicle relative to the reference level plane by sequentially actuating the legs such that they move from their stowed position to their extended position, interpreting the orientation signal to determine an end and a side of the vehicle which are below the reference level plane, then alternating between adjusting the end and the side upwardly by sequentially extending the legs at the end and sequentially extending the legs at the side, each leg being extended for a first predetermined period of time during each upward adjustment, and wherein the controller includes a memory for storing data corresponding to the reference level plane and is configured to write data representing an orientation signal to the memory to replace the reference level plane data with orientation signal data.