Abstract:
An improved trailer hitching system adaptable to quick coupling with both ball and pintel hook trailer couplers without the need to remove the pintel hook trailer coupler. The system incorporates an improved trailer hitch ball capable of meeting or exceeding all the Class I-V trailer hitch ball load requirements and dimensional tolerances yet with enhanced protection against crack development at the ball/ball stem. The ball can be sized for different purposes without being removed from the tow vehicle. It also includes a removable trailer hitch alignment system that can align both pintel hooks and the various sizes of trailer tongues.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a vehicle hitch system adapted to provide both safety and convenience for the user. More particularly, to a trailer hitch and alignment system that adapts to receive, in a guided fashion, the most common, commercially available trailer hitches. 
         [0002]    Trailering different loads requires different towing connections between the vehicle and the trailer. These connections differ in both design and in their load capacities. Not all companies can afford to have a separate vehicle dedicated to pulling a trailer with a single hitch. Changing hitches and or adapter plates is time consuming as is the time taken to align the hitch with the trailer to be coupled. Misaligned couplings frequently result in broken or damaged equipment. These can weaken the trailer balls as well causing small crack propagations to begin at the interface at the intersection of the ball and the ball stem. Increasing the size of these balls is not an option as there are industry standards set for these dimensions, generally Class I-V utilize 1⅞″, 2″ and 2 5/16″ diameter balls. Using exotic steels for the construction drives the prices up considerably and increases the chance of theft. 
         [0003]    Henceforth, a trailer hitch system that would quickly adapt to receive different purpose hitch devices, allow for the precise alignment of a trailer tongue or pintel hook, and simplify their alignment would fulfill a long felt need in the trailer towing industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a complete solution to the above mentioned trailer coupling issues including a multi use base plate, an interchangeable multi function coupling guide and a quick change, crack propagation resistant ball assembly. 
         [0005]    It has many of the advantages mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new heavy duty vehicle multi hitch and alignment system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof. 
         [0006]    In accordance with the invention, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved trailer hitching system adaptable to quick coupling with both ball and pintel hook trailer couplers without the need to remove the pintel hook trailer coupler. 
         [0007]    It is another object of this invention to provide an improved trailer hitch ball capable of meeting or exceeding all the Class I-V trailer hitch ball load requirements and dimensional tolerances yet with enhanced protection against crack development at the ball/ball stem interface. 
         [0008]    It is a further object of this invention to provide a trailer hitch ball that can be sized for different purposes without being removed from the tow vehicle. 
         [0009]    It is still a further object of this invention to provide for a trailer hitch alignment system that can accommodate both pintel hooks and the various sizes of trailer tongues. 
         [0010]    It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a trailer hitch alignment system that is easily attached to or removed from an existing receiver setup and can accommodate the various sizes and configurations of trailer hitches. 
         [0011]    The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements. Other objects, features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of the coupling between a pintel hook and a pintel hook coupler with the pintel hook alignment wedge installed; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a front perspective view of a pintel hook coupler with the pintel hook alignment wedge installed; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a front perspective view of the coupling between a ball and trailer tongue with the pintel hook coupler still in place, the pintel hook alignment wedge installed and the ball mount alignment plate inserted; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of a ball with the pintel hook coupler still in place, the pintel hook alignment wedge installed and the ball mount alignment plate inserted; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a front perspective view of the base plate, the pintel hook alignment wedge installed and the ball mount alignment plate inserted; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is an exploded front perspective view of the base plate, the pintel hook alignment wedge and the ball mount alignment plate inserted; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a top view of the pintel hook alignment wedge; 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a rear perspective view of the pintel hook alignment wedge; 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is a side view of the pintel hook alignment guide; 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a front view of the pintel hook alignment wedge; 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a top view of the base plate; 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a side view of the base plate; 
           [0024]      FIG. 13  is a front view of the base plate; 
           [0025]      FIG. 14  is a top view of the ball mount alignment plate; 
           [0026]      FIG. 15  is a side view of the ball mount alignment plate; 
           [0027]      FIG. 16  is a front view of the ball mount alignment plate; 
           [0028]      FIG. 17  is a top view of the interchangeable ball assembly; 
           [0029]      FIG. 18  is a side perspective view of the interchangeable ball assembly; 
           [0030]      FIG. 19  is a rear view of the interchangeable ball assembly; 
           [0031]      FIG. 20  is a side view of the interchangeable ball assembly; and 
           [0032]      FIG. 21  is an exploded perspective view of the interchangeable ball assembly. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0033]    There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
         [0034]    In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0035]      FIG. 4  shows the heavy duty vehicle multi hitch and alignment system  2  installed onto a trailer hitch receiver tube  4  with a mounting plate  6 . The various components of the system can best be seen looking at the exploded views of  FIGS. 6 and 21 . The system  2  consists of a base mount  8 , a removeable pintel hook alignment wedge  10 , a ball mount alignment plate  12 , an interchangeable ball  14 , two ball locks  16 , a ball mount stud  18  and a nut  20 . When utilized properly, this system allows a vehicle to couple to a trailer with a pintel hitch or a conventionally dimensioned ball hitch without removing the ball and ball mount stud from the towing vehicle. 
         [0036]    The base mount  8  is a planar hitch support plate  22  with an orifice cutout  24  thereon that intersects the front peripheral edge of the hitch support plate  22 . It can best be seen in  FIGS. 11-13  and  FIG. 6 . The orifice cutout  24  is partially circular in configuration with greater than 180 degrees of the circle existing on the support plate  22 . An additional trough is cut at the back of the cutout to allow for the clearance of the pintle hook coupler. The hitch support plate  22  has two tab receiving orifices at the rear. Partially about the side and rear peripheral edges of the support plate  22  is a flange  28  to guide the installation of the pintel hook alignment wedge  10  such that when in place, the tabs  30  of the alignment wedge will seat into the tab receiving orifices  26  of the support plate  22 . Extending normally from the support plate is the mounting flange  32 . This flange  32  may be welded to the support plate  22  or they may be formed from a single piece of steel. The flange  32  has bolt receiving orifices formed therethrough that are aligned with the commercial pattern of bolt receiving orifices on the trailer hitch receiver tube&#39;s mounting plate  6 . (Shown in phantom lines.) 
         [0037]    The removeable pintel hook alignment wedge  10  as best illustrated in  FIGS. 7-10  is a generally U shaped steel walled wedge with a wall strengthening support connected to and spanning between the two sides of the U along the top peripheral edge of the sides. This serves to prevent inelastic deformation of the side walls  36  when the side walls  36  are contacted by a misaligned trailer hitch. At the back of the wedge  10  is dado  48  to allow the wedge  10  to fit over the trailer hitch receiver tube&#39;s mounting plate  6 /mounting flange  32  combination. From each side of the walls  36  is affixed locking arm posts  38  that receive the pivotable locking arms  40 . The locking arms  40  are bent cylindrical rods that pivotally, partially reside in the locking arm posts  38 . The locking arms  40  are bent so as to have a tail  42  and a handle  44  that extend from the central vertical post section  46  of the locking arm posts  38 . When the alignment wedge  10  is matingly engaged into the base mount  8  (such that it resides adjacent the flange  28  with its tabs  30  seated into the tab receiving orifices  26 ) the locking arm handles  44  are pulled towards the front of the alignment wedge  10  until they contact the sides  36  of the alignment wedge  10 . This causes the post section  46  to rotate in the locking arm posts  38  such that the tail  42  frictionally contacts the bottom of the hitch support plate  22  and locks the alignment wedge  10  to the base mount  8 . It is to be noted that the tails do not extend truly horizontal from the vertical axis of the post section  46 , but rather they have a slightly downward taper so that as the locking arms  40  are rotated the alignment wedge  10  is drawn into tighter frictional engagement with the support plate  22 . Along the top peripheral edge of each wall  36  a locating slot  50  is cut. The locating slot  50  is cut into the walls  36  at an acute angle with respect to the bottom peripheral edge of the walls  36  such that that the locating slot  50  leans toward the open side of the U shaped pintel hook alignment wedge  10 . 
         [0038]    Looking at  FIGS. 14-16  the ball mount alignment plate  12  can best be seen. This plate  12  is a V shaped steel plate with two locating tabs  52  extending approximately normal (90 degrees) from its peripheral sides  54  at the intersection of the top and side peripheral edges such that it appears to a have a W shape when viewed from the top. These locating tabs  52  are received into the locating slots  50  in the walls  36  of the wedge  10  so that the majority of the ball mount alignment plate resides within the U shaped void created by the wedge  10 , below the top peripheral edge of the wedge  10 . Because of the forward angled pitch of the locating slots  50 , the ball mount alignment plate  12  resides on an angle within the wedge  10 , having its bottom surface closer to the vertical cutout  48  of the wedge  10 . This downward angle serves to aid in the coupling of a trailer&#39;s ball mount hitch. ( FIG. 5 ) There is a cutout at the top of the ball mount alignment plate  48  to accommodate the pintel hook locking mechanism. 
         [0039]    The interchangeable ball mount can best be seen in  FIGS. 17-20 . It is made of an interchangeable ball  14 , two ball locks  16 , a ball mount stud  18  and a nut  20 . The ball  14  is made in the different outside dimensions of 1 and ⅞″, 2″ and 2 and 5/16″ diameters to accommodate the standard industry ball receiving hitches. The ball  14  is generally spherical with a stopped cylindrical recess formed therein and extending upwards from the bottom face of the ball. The stopped cylindrical recess is sized to accommodate the ball connection peg  58  therein such that the top end of the ball mount stud  18  contacts the bottom of the inner recess in the ball  14 . 
         [0040]    The ball mount stud  18  is a unitary, cylindrical piece of steel having a threaded distal end  62  to engage the nut  20  and a ball connection peg  58  formed at the proximate end. There is a partially conical seating flange  64  located between the distal and proximate ends extending from the root diameter of the stud  18 , and two stopped bores  66  formed into the ball connection peg with their axes at 90 degrees to the linear axis of the stud  18 , and located 180 degrees apart. Where the bottom face of the seating flange  68  meets the unthreaded shaft portion  70  there is a radiused, circumferential stress relief groove  72  cut. This stress relief groove  72  removes any sharp interface (90 degrees or less) between the flange  64  and the unthreaded shaft portion  70 . This eliminates any crack initiation and propagation at this interface. The groove eliminates any point loading encountered when a sideways force is exerted on the ball  14  and acts to spread out such forces over enough of the steel at this radiused interface to drastically raise the level of tensile loading without failure of the assembly. The diameter of the stress relief groove  72  generally is limited to a maximum of 25% of the diameter of the unthreaded shaft portion  70 . 
         [0041]    There are two threaded ports  60  extending normally from the stopped cylindrical recess of the ball  14  at approximately 180 degrees apart on the surface of the ball  14  that align with the two stopped bores  66  formed into the ball connection peg  58 . The ball locks  16  are essentially partially threaded heavy duty set or grub screws  16  that threadingly engage the threaded ports  60  such that the non threaded portion extends into the two stopped bores  66  formed into the ball connection peg  58 . In this way any of the various diameter balls  14  can be quickly locked onto the ball stud  18  without removing the ball stud  18  from the vehicle. 
         [0042]    In operation, the base mount  8  is bolted to the mounting plate  6  on the trailer hitch receiver tube  4 . For a conventional ball hitch coupling, ( FIGS. 3 and 4 ) a trailer hitch receiver tube  4  with a mounting plate  6  is attached to the tow vehicle. A pintel hook coupler  75  is also bolted onto the mounting plate  6  so that it resides atop of the rear of the support plate  22 . An appropriately sized ball&#39;s stopped cylindrical recess is placed onto the ball connection peg  58  such that the top end of the ball mount stud  18  contacts the bottom of the inner recess in the ball  14 . Both ball locks are threadingly engaged into the threaded ports  60  such that the non threaded portion extends to their maximum extents into the two stopped bores  66  in the ball connection peg  58  thus locking the ball  14  onto the ball stud  16 . The ball stud  16  is placed through the orifice cutout  24  in the support plate  22  until the bottom face of the seating flange  68  meets top face of the support plate  24  and the unthreaded shaft portion  70  resides below the bottom face of the support plate. The nut  20  is engaged onto the threaded portion of the ball stud  62 . From this point on the ball stud  16  never needs to be removed again, rather only the ball  14  needs to be switched with a different sized ball as the situation requires. 
         [0043]    The pintel hook alignment wedge  10  is placed onto the support plate  22  of the base mount  8  with its tabs  30  seated into the tab receiving orifices  26  of the support plate  22 . The pintel hook coupler  75  extends through the dado  48  of the wedge  10 . The locking arm handles  44  are pulled towards the front of the alignment wedge  10  until they contact the sides  36  of the alignment wedge  10  causing the post section  46  to rotate in the locking arm posts  38  such that the tail  42  frictionally contacts the bottom of the hitch support plate  22  and locks the alignment wedge  10  to the base mount  8 . The ball mount alignment plate&#39;s locating tabs  52  are placed into the locating slots  50  in the walls  36  of the wedge  10  so that the majority of the ball mount alignment plate  12  resides within the U shaped void created by the wedge  10 , below the top peripheral edge of the wedge  10 . Now, as a vehicle is backed up, the trailer&#39;s ball mount hitch will contact the V shape of the alignment plate  12  and will be guided by the forward angled pitch of the plate  12  into the bottom or crotch of the alignment plate  12  directly above the ball  14 . When the trailer is lowered, the ball mount hitch will drop onto the ball  14  and can be coupled. Now the alignment plate  12  is removed and the locking arm handles  44  are pulled towards the back of the alignment wedge  10  thus rotating the post sections  46  in the locking arm posts  38  such that the tail  42  disengages from the bottom of the hitch support plate  22  and unlocks the alignment wedge  10  from the base mount  8  such that it can be lifted off of the support plate  22 . 
         [0044]    For a pintle hook coupling ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ) the above procedure is followed except that there is no need for the ball mount alignment plate  12 . When the vehicle is backed up the pintel hook contacts the sides of the alignment wedge  10  and stops when it is centered over the ball  14 . The trailer is then lowered until the pintel hook passes over the ball  14  and the pintel hook look can be engaged. 
         [0045]    The above description will enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention. It also sets forth the best modes for carrying out this invention. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.