Patent ID: 8366137
Filing Date: 2013-02-05
Classification: B60D

Abstract:
1. In a tow bar having a tow bar leg with an inner member telescopingly displaceable in an outer member, the improvement comprising: a locking mechanism having (a) a shuttle device secured to a proximal end of the inner member, the shuttle device having a tapered rearward end, a tapered forward end, and a peripheral groove; (b) a pair of openings through the outer member; (c) a housing mounted on the outer member and having a pair of opposing slots superimposed over the pair of openings through the outer member; and (d) a pair of latch elements, each latch element having a shuttle-engaging portion and being pivotally and biasingly mounted in a respective one of the opposing slots of the housing; (c) wherein, as the peripheral groove of the shuttle device is disposed adjacent to the pair of openings through the outer member, the shuttle-engaging portions of the pair of latch elements are automatically biased into the peripheral groove thereby locking the inner member relative to the outer member by the pair of latch elements cooperatively interacting with opposing sides of the inner member via the shuttle device.