Abstract:
A guide is provided for aligning a trailer hitch on a draft vehicle with a receiving socket on a towing load such as a trailer, for assisting a driver of the draft vehicle in connecting the trailer hitch to the receiving socket for towing. The guide comprises a support structure mountable to the draft vehicle, containing a reflective surface on a moveable structure supported at an inclination relative to the trailer hitch. The guide captures an image of the trailer hitch on the draft vehicle so that the driver may view the image of the trailer hitch from the driver&#39;s seat of the draft vehicle.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to vehicle guiding devices, and in particular to devices that assist in the alignment of towing interconnections between draft vehicles and towing loads such as trailers. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to devices that assist in the vertical alignment of a trailer hitch on a draft vehicle with a corresponding receiving socket on a trailer tongue. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The alignment of interconnection points on a towing load and a draft vehicle is usually a difficult process. Very commonly the driver&#39;s seat of the draft vehicle is remote from the site of the interconnection point. Examples include the driver&#39;s seat in a pick-up truck having a trailer hitch mounted on the rear bumper, and the driver&#39;s seat of an aircraft docking vehicle, which seat is generally at the rear of such vehicle while the towing interconnection point is on a tongue extending forward from the front. Even in the docking vehicle example, where the hitch interconnection point may be visible to the driver, a vertical view for precise alignment is not available. Commonly, then, the driver of the draft vehicle must either guess at the proximity of the receiving socket, dismount the draft vehicle for closer inspection and then remount the draft vehicle to adjust its position, or have a second person stand at a strategic location and provide signals. Often, such a second person is not available, and the alternative of guessing and adjusting the position of the draft vehicle is a repetitive and inexact process. Frequently, the process results in the driver of the draft vehicle attempting to manually maneuver the tongue of the towing load to complete the interconnection. Just as commonly, however, such maneuvering is not possible for a single man due to the weight of the towing load. 
   A number of devices have been provided for assisting the driver in an alignment such as this. In some of the prior art, an attempt to increase the field of vision resulted in the use of a curved reflective surface. See, e.g., Neeley (U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,376), Rutkowski (U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,292) and Strokmeier (U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,701). Such a curved reflective surface merely aggravates the image size problem. Thus, the driver cannot see an image of the trailer hitch ball that approximates the size of the image of the receiving socket until the two are relatively close to each other, and neither image remains fixed in apparent size throughout the operation. 
   Other efforts to solve the alignment problem include Lowell (U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,966) which employs an indicator element (similar to a weather vane) that points in the direction of adjustment as the draft vehicle approaches the trailer load. This device, however, relies upon a tether to the draft vehicle, requiring at least one entry and exit of the draft vehicle by the driver to hook up the tether once the draft vehicle has been maneuvered to within its range. 
   SUMMARY 
   The present invention is a trailer hitch guide for aligning a trailer hitch of a draft vehicle with a towing load. A moveable structure is hingeably connected to a support structure at the top of each frame. Thus, the moveable structure is angularly moveable relative to the support structure from a storage position to an operational position at an angular displacement. A reflective surface is affixed to the moveable structure. A brace is connected to both the moveable structure and the support structure, which locks the moveable structure in the operational position. A mounting structure is attached to the support structure to mount onto the draft vehicle with the reflective surface facing the trailer hitch. 
   Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a means by which a single driver operating a draft vehicle can precisely align a trailer hitch with a receiving socket on a towing load without the assistance of a second person. 
   Another object of this invention is to provide the driver of the draft vehicle a view of the trailer hitch from the vertical. 
   Another object of this invention is to provide an alignment device that mounts to the draft vehicle rather than to the towing load, thereby avoiding the requirement of multiple mounting operations for instances where multiple towing jobs are needed. 
   Another object of the present invention is to provide a flat reflective surface that can be mounted onto the draft vehicle, at a fixed distance from the eye of the driver of the draft vehicle, thereby permitting the driver of the draft vehicle constantly to keep within his view an image of the trailer hitch of constant size. The driver will thereby be enabled to witness an image of the receiving socket of a size comparable to that of the trailer hitch come into view in the reflecting surface as he maneuvers the draft vehicle to approach the towing load. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a side view of one embodiment of the present invention mounted to the rear of a pick-up truck and having a trailer hitch on the rear bumper. 
       FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of the same embodiment of the present invention. It depicts the fixed frame as a rectangle with two attachment arms extended perpendicular thereto. 
       FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of the same embodiment of the present invention folder for storage. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein the reference numerals designate the same or identical parts throughout several views,  FIG. 1  shows a guide  10  vertically mounted to a draft vehicle  20  by mounting structure  60 . The guide  10  comprises a support structure  34  shown in a substantially vertical orientation and a movable structure  36  diagonally positioned and hingably attached at the top portion of the support structure  34 . The reflective surface  32  is contained in the movable structure  36  shown braced against the support structure  34  that rests against the tailgate  22  of the draft vehicle  20 . The movable structure  36  is held in position by a brace  40  pivotally attached at a point along the side of the movable structure  36  and slideably cooperating at its opposite end with a channel  52  in the side of the support structure  34  by means of a flange  48  having a pin  50  that extends into and cooperates with the channel  52 . Further, this slideable interconnection of the brace  40  with the support structure  34  is held in a locked position by a securing means comprising a latch  44  attached to the brace  40  that cooperates with a latch receiver  46  provided on the support structure  34 . 
   In  FIG. 1 , the guide  10  is positioned on the draft vehicle  20  at its tailgate  22 , shown in phantom in the drawing (dashed lines). The mounting structure  60  holds the support structure  34  against the draft vehicle  20  by means of hooks  60  comprising a mounting arm  62  and a retainer arm  64 , which extend forward of the front side (as defined by the front and rear of the draft vehicle  20 ) of the guide  10  to a point where the retainer arm  64  drops below the top of and forward the tailgate  22 . The retainer arm  64  is slideably adjustable along the length of the mounting arm  62 , and the retainer arm  64  is held in a fixed position relative to the mounting arm  62  by a fastener  66 . In this mounting position, the image of the trailer hitch  24  and the receiving socket  26  attached to the trailer tongue  28  is reflected horizontally forward the tailgate to within the view of the driver seated in the driver&#39;s seat of the draft vehicle  20 . 
     FIG. 2  shows a brace  40 , comprising two rigid members  42  and a crosspiece  43  that interconnect the two rigid members  42 , each rigid member having a flange  48  and a pin  50  which extend into and cooperate with the channel  52  on the side of the support structure  34 . The reflective surface  32  is shown contained in the moveable structure  36 . 
   Reference to  FIG. 3  reveals that this embodiment of the present invention can be folded into a storage position by reducing the angular displacement of the moveable structure  36  from the support structure  34  to an angular displacement of zero degrees, thereby bringing the moveable structure  36  into a parallel juxtaposed relationship to the support structure  34 . In this position, the brace  40  also is parallel and juxtaposed to the support structure  34  and likewise parallel and juxtaposed to the moveable structure  36 . The latch  44  is held in storage position by a latch tether  45  comprising an elastic material that pulls the latch against the face of the support structure  34  regardless of the angular displacement of the moveable structure  36  relative to the support structure  34 . It can also be seen that the mounting structure  60 , comprising the mounting arm  62  and slideable retainer arm  64  with fastener  66 , can be folded for storage into the interior of the plane form by the support structure  34 . 
   In operation, the guide  10  would be removed from storage, mounted on the tailgate  22  of the draft vehicle  20  by use of the mounting structure  60  and unfolded by lifting the bottom edge of the movable structure  36  opposite its hinged attachment point to the support structure  34  to increase the angular displacement of the moveable structure  36  relative to the support structure  34 . At a predetermined angular displacement, the latch  44  would ride up over the latch receiver  46  and be caused to snap into place by the elastic latch tether  45 , thus fixing the position of the moveable structure  36  at a predetermined angular displacement. At such predetermined angular displacement, the driver of the draft vehicle  20  could view from the driver&#39;s seat of the draft vehicle  20  an image of the trailer hitch  24  in the reflective surface  32 . This enables the driver to maneuver the draft vehicle  20  into position to permit precise alignment of the trailer hitch  24  and the receiving socket  26  without the driver having to repeatedly exit and reenter the draft vehicle  20  for alignment inspection. Once the towing operation is complete, the guide  10  would be removed from the tailgate  22  of the draft vehicle  20 , collapsed to its storage position as shown in  FIG. 3 , and stored for later use. 
   The guide  10  effectively gives the driver a view of the trailer hitch  24  from the vertical, simultaneously showing both longitudinal and transverse alignment. The images of the trailer hitch  24  and receiving socket  26  visible in the reflecting surface  32  remain constant in size as and when seen by the driver of the draft vehicle  20  over the entire time of the maneuvering operation, and the image of the trailer hitch  24  is visible at all such times. The guide  10  may be mounted once on the draft vehicle  20  for a multiplicity of towing operations involving multiple towing loads  29  without requiring remounting the guide for each such operation. This would be an advantage in, for example, a trailer yard such as that utilized in a trailer rental or a mobile home business. Finally, the guide  10  may be removed from the draft vehicle  20  when not in use and stored in the fashion shown in  FIG. 3  which minimizes its effective volume. 
   The invention has been shown in only one of its forms. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, in another embodiment of the invention, the mounting structure  60  for mounting the support structure  34  to the tailgate  22  of the draft vehicle  20  comprises a plurality of suction cups attached to the front face of the support structure  34  and cooperating with the tailgate  22 , rather than mounting arms  62  and retainer arms  64  as shown in the embodiment depicted by the drawings. Also, the securing means for the brace  40  could be enhanced to provide adjustments to the predetermined angular displacement by including a plurality of latch receivers  46  positioned along the support structure  34  or by replacing the fixed latch receiver  46  with a slideable, vertically adjustable latch receiver. 
   Obviously, many other modifications and variations of this invention are possible in light of the foregoing teachings, including variations in the type of draft vehicle  20 . It is therefore understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.