Abstract:
A trailer hitch pin of the present disclosure has a magnet disposed on an end of a shaft for coupling the shaft to an opening in a trailer hitch, the shaft for insertion into the opening to retain the trailer hitch in a receptacle coupled to a vehicle. In addition, the trailer hitch pin has a lever pivotally attached to the shaft for disengaging the magnet and decoupling the shaft from the opening to remove the trailer hitch from the receptacle.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Oftentimes, a trailer hitch is a removable hitch and is held in place on a vehicle with a hitch pin. Such hitch pins typically have either a handle on one end that is larger than the apertures of the removable hitch or a bend in the shaft to prevent the pin from sliding through the apertures, and a cotter key (also called a cotter pin) or similar locking mechanism disposed through the other end for holding the pin in place during transport. This is designed to prevent the pin from being jostled out of place during transport which would allow the trailer to come free from the vehicle. 
     Cotter keys are often very difficult to remove from the hitch pin, which encourages many people to disregard them and use the hitch pin with no locking mechanism to secure it in place. This is very dangerous because trailers often shift and bounce a great deal during transport, and the likelihood of losing or displacing the hitch pin becomes increasingly high as the distance traveled increases. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure is directed to a trailer hitch pin. A trailer hitch pin in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a magnet disposed on an end of a shaft for coupling the shaft to an opening in a trailer hitch, the shaft for insertion into the opening to retain the trailer hitch in a receptacle coupled to a vehicle. In addition, the trailer hitch pin comprises a lever pivotally attached to the shaft for disengaging the magnet and decoupling the shaft from the opening to remove the trailer hitch from the receptacle. 
     These and other embodiments of the present invention will also become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiment(s) disclosed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. Furthermore, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the figures. 
         FIG. 1  depicts a perspective view of a disengaged magnetic trailer hitch pin in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  depicts a perspective view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  engaged. 
         FIG. 3  depicts a side plan view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  engaged but unlocked and just prior to disengagement. 
         FIG. 4  depicts a side plan view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  just after disengagement. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a side view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  engaged and locked. 
         FIG. 6  depicts a top plan view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  depicts a side plan view of a lever of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 8  depicts a side perspective view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  without the lever of  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 9  depicts a front perspective view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin of  FIG. 1  without the lever of  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  depicts a magnetic hitch pin  10  in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The hitch pin  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 1  in a disengaged position, i.e., not installed to secure a trailer hitch  6  to a hitch receptacle  2  on a vehicle  1 . The trailer hitch  6  is secured to the vehicle  1  by inserting a male protrusion  3  of the trailer hitch  6  into the hitch receptacle  2 . 
     When inserting the male protrusion  3  into the hitch receptacle  2 , a user (not shown) manually aligns an opening  5  of the trailer hitch  6  with an opening  4  of the hitch receptacle  2 . The user inserts the magnetic hitch pin  10  through the opening  4  of the hitch receptacle  2  and the opening  5  of the trailer hitch  6  in order to secure the trailer hitch  6  to the vehicle  1 . 
     In this regard, the male protrusion  3  of the trailer hitch  6  is inserted into the hitch receptacle  2  and the opening  5  of the male protrusion  3  is manually adjustably aligned with the opening  4  of the hitch receptacle  2 . The hitch pin  10  secures the trailer hitch  6  to the vehicle  1  by fitting within the opening  4  of the hitch receptacle  2  and the opening  5  of the male protrusion  3  and magnetically coupling to the outer surface of the hitch receptacle  2 . 
       FIG. 2  depicts a perspective view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  installed in the hitch receptacle  2  of the vehicle  1 . Notably, the hitch pin  10  shown in  FIG. 2  is in an engaged and locked position. 
     The term “engaged” refers to when the hitch pin  10  is inserted into the opening  4  ( FIG. 1 ) and the opening  5  ( FIG. 1 ) and the hitch pin  10  is magnetically coupled to the receptacle  2 . The term “locked” refers to when the hitch pint  10  is manually actuated and positioned such that the hitch pin  10  cannot be readily removed, as described further herein. 
       FIG. 3  depicts a side view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  engaged, but unlocked and prior to disengagement. The term “unlocked” refers to when the hitch pin  10  has not been positioned such that the hitch pin cannot be readily removed. 
     The hitch pin  10  comprises a shaft  12 , a magnet  13 , a collar  14 , a lever retaining pin  15 , a lever retainer  19 , and a lever  11 . The magnet  13  is affixed to bottom of the collar  14 , and the lever retainer  19  extends vertically from the top of the collar  14 . The shaft  12  fits through the opening  4  of the hitch receptacle  2  and the magnet  13  couples to a surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 . 
     The lever  11  comprises a lever handle  27 , a sliding opening  16 , a lever head  17 , and a hitch-contacting portion  26 . The lever  11  is coupled to the hitch pin  10  by aligning the sliding opening  16  with the lever retainer  19  and inserting a lever retaining pin  15  through both the lever retainer  19  and the lever  11 . 
     In operation, a user (not shown) grasps the lever handle  27  and slides the lever  11  in a direction indicated by reference arrow  23 , such that the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  is unlocked.  FIG. 3  depicts the magnetic hitch pin  10  unlocked. 
     By sliding the lever  11  in the direction indicated by reference arrow  23 , the hitch-contacting portion  26  of the head  17  moves away from the collar  14  and is in contact with the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 . The sliding opening  16  allows the lever  11  to be slid a sufficient distance from the collar  14  in the unlocked direction indicated by reference arrow  23  for the lever  11  to be operable to disengage the pin  10  from the receptacle  2 , as described further herein. The hitch-contacting portion  26  abuts the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2  to provide leverage for disengaging the magnet  13 . 
       FIG. 4  depicts a side view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  as the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  is being disengaged. When force is applied to the lever handle  27  in the pivotal direction indicated by reference arrow  18 , the head  17  applies pressure to the surface  7  of the receptacle  2  in the opposite direction, such that the hitch-contacting portion  26  is pressed firmly against the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 . This contact creates a force on the lever retaining pin  15  (and thus on the pin  10 ) in a direction indicated by reference arrow  22 . This force overcomes the magnetic force of the magnet  13  and causes the magnet  13  to disengage from the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 . The lever handle  27  can move in the pivotal direction  18  only when the lever  11  is unlocked, i.e., the user slides the lever  11  in the direction indicated by arrow  23  as depicted in  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 5  depicts a side view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  engaged and locked. Once the magnet  13  engages the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 , the user (not shown) slides the lever  11  in a direction indicated by reference arrow  28 . Once the user slides the lever  11  as far as the lever  11  will slide, the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  is locked. 
     When the user has slid the lever  11  as far as it will go, the generally vertical collar-contacting surface  25  of the head  17  is brought into contact with the side of the collar  14  and magnet  13 . Further, the generally horizontal collar-contacting surface  24  of the lever  11  is brought into contact with the top of the collar  14 , and the hitch-contacting portion  26  is brought into contact with the surface  7  of the hitch receptacle  2 . When the lever  11  is in this locked position, movement of the lever  11  in the direction  18  will not cause the magnet  13  to disengage. 
       FIG. 6  depicts a top plan view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10 . The lever  11  is fitted between the lever retainers  19 ,  20 , and the lever retaining pin  15  is inserted through the lever retainers  19 ,  20  and the sliding opening  16  ( FIG. 3 ) of the lever  11  to secure the lever  11  to the magnetic hitch pin  10 . The lever retainers  19  and  20  are integrally formed with the collar  14  and shaft  12  in one embodiment. 
       FIG. 7  depicts a side view of the lever  11 . The lever  11  comprises the sliding opening  16 , the head  17 , the lever handle  27 , the hitch-contacting portion  26 , the generally vertical collar-contacting surface  25 , and the generally horizontal collar-contacting surface  24 . 
     The surfaces  26 ,  25 , and  24  contact the surface  7  ( FIG. 5 ), the side of the collar  14  ( FIG. 5 ), and the top of the collar  14  ( FIG. 5 ), respectively, when the lever  11  has been moved in the direction indicated by reference arrow  28  ( FIG. 5 ) via the sliding opening  16 . The contact between the surfaces  26 ,  27 , and  24  and the surface  7 , the side of the collar  14  and the top of the collar  14 , respectively, ensure that the trailer hitch pin  10  remains locked, until a user actuates the lever  11  in the direction indicated by reference arrow  23  ( FIG. 3 ). 
       FIG. 8  depicts a side perspective view of the trailer hitch pin  10  when the lever  11  is not coupled to the to the trailer hitch pin  10 . The trailer hitch pin  10  has openings  29  in the lever retainers  19  and  20  ( FIG. 6 ) through which a lever retaining pin  15  ( FIG. 3 ) is inserted. 
     The lever retainers  19  and  20  are fixedly coupled to a top surface  32  of the collar  14 , and the collar  14  is fixedly coupled to the magnet  13 . The shaft  12  is fixedly coupled to the magnet  13 , and extends from the surface  33  of the magnet  13  such that the shaft  12  can be inserted through the openings  4 ,  5  of the receptacle  2  and the male protrusion  3 , respectively. In one embodiment, the lever retainers  19  and  20 , the shaft  12 , and the collar  14  are machined from a solid material, such as stainless steel or steel, and the magnet  13  is a disk-shaped cylinder that is slid onto the shaft  12  and affixed to the shaft  12  with an adhesive. 
       FIG. 9  depicts a front perspective view of the magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  when the lever  11  is not coupled to the trailer hitch pin  10 . The magnetic trailer hitch pin  10  comprises the collar  14 , the magnet  13 , the shaft  12 , the lever retainers  19 ,  20 , the openings  29 , and a channel  21 . The channel  21  is formed by inner walls  30  and  31  of the lever retainers  19 ,  20 , respectively, contiguous with a top surface  32  of the collar  14 . 
     The shaft  12  extends below the magnet  13 , which is attached to the collar  14 , and the lever retainers  19 ,  20  protrude from the top surface  32  of the collar  14 . 
     The lever retaining pin  15  ( FIG. 6 ) is inserted through the opening  29  and the sliding opening  16  ( FIG. 7 ) of the lever  11  in order to secure the lever  11  to the hitch pin  10 . The channel  21  provides a space for the lever  11  to slide between the lever retainers  19 ,  20 . 
     This disclosure may be provided in other specific forms and embodiments without departing from the essential characteristics as described herein. The embodiment described is to be considered in all aspects as illustrative only and not restrictive in any manner.