Abstract:
A releasing hanger for mud flaps for trucks includes a rotatable release bar supported on a support plate and having flap lugs for supporting a mud flap. A tension spring encircling the release bar cooperates with retaining pins mounted on the releasing bar to yieldingly hold the release bar in a rotatable position at which the flap legs extend outwardly from the support plate. Under a modified embodiment, the retaining pins are releasably held by a bracket having resilient legs.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/196,873 filed Oct. 21, 2008. 
    
    
     The present invention is directed to a releasing hanger for mud flaps for trucks. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     All commercial trucks, tractors and trailers are equipped with mud flaps which are mounted behind the tires to mitigate the spray effect on wet roads and to prevent the ejection of stones and road debris. Mud flaps normally measure 24 inches wide and generally extend from above the tire to approximately 5 inches above the road. 
     Presently mud flaps are attached to a bracket by means of bolts. Mud flap damage occurs most often when the flap becomes lodged between the tire and the driving surface. This can occur when the equipment is in reverse on an unstable surface or when the truck encounters debris or other obstruction on the driving surface such as parking bumpers. Once the flap is lodged under the tire, either the flap is torn from the bracket or the bracket is broken from its mounting. 
     All trucks fall under the jurisdiction of both state and federal departments of transportation. All trucks are required to maintain mud-flaps and it is illegal to drive on a roadway without one. While the cost of mud flap is minimal, generally between five and twenty five dollars, the cost of replacing a mud flap is much more expensive than the cost of the mud flap. 
     Generally drivers do not carry replacement mud flaps nor the tools necessary to replace them. This means that a service call can be necessary to replace a mud flap, with the normal cost of a service call running between one and two hundred dollars. If the truck is able to navigate the roadways legally to replace a mud flap, it will entail out of route miles. Routing to a repair facility will generally add at least twenty-five miles to the scheduled route. The cost of operating a truck/trailer combination averages in excess of one dollar per mile. 
     If a truck is discovered to have missing or faulty mud flaps by any law enforcement agencies or the department of transportation, it is possible that the truck will be put out of service at that location until arrangements have been made to repair the mud flap on the road. 
     In addition all interstate carriers are governed by the Interstate Commerce Commission and as part of that governance, the government maintains Safe Stat statistics on each carrier, which utilize the information generated from roadside and weigh scale inspections. Missing or damaged mud flaps will generate a negative finding and adverse impact on the Safe Stat numbers. These numbers are extremely important to a trucking company as they are given a major weighting in the determination of insurance rates. 
     Trucks also run a liability risk if improper mud flaps cause road debris or stones to impact other vehicles. 
     The other major cost to mud flap failures is the time to repair. Under DOT regulations, a driver is limited on the number of hours worked in a day and aggregate hours worked in a seven or eight day period. Time spent in having a mud flap repaired or replaced is counted against the allowable hours worked in any one day or seven day period. The average revenue lost due to one hour of waiting for a repair is $87.50. Repairs can easily take two or three hours. While on average, trucks and trailers lose several flaps in a year, and in some applications may lose up to that many in a week, the cost of a slip flap bracket would be less than the loss of one hour&#39;s revenue. 
     Accordingly, it is important to be able to immediately and easily replace the mud flap in order to minimize the length of time the semi tractor and trailer are delayed from proceeding. 
     A number of prior art mud flap holders and mounting systems have been patented including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,044,667; 7,040,662; and 7,226,086. However, it does not appear that any of these has gained wide spread use. Some of the prior art mud flap holders have moldable parts which can be lost or damaged when the mud flap is violently torn therefrom while others require a mud flap having enlargements or other configurations different from the standard mud flaps which have parallel front or back surfaces such that the mud flap has a substantially uniform thickness. It is unlikely that truck stops would be willing to stock mud flaps having configurations other than ones with a uniform thickness between the front and rear panels. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a toggle bracket for holding mud flaps for trucks and trailers. The bracket of the present invention has a releasing mechanism that permits the rapid replacement of a mud flap which has been released from a truck or trailer. It uses a set of lugs on a bar that are maintained in a horizontal position by means of a two torsion springs or under another embodiment, by means of a snap-in holder. The releasing mechanism is adequate to maintain the flap in place through any driving conditions that may be encountered but allows release of a flap lodged under a tire before any damage is done to the flap, the holding device or any brackets. 
     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       IN THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of the hanger with the mud flap in place held by the flap lugs and retained by the cover. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view illustrating the mechanism without the cover. There is a release bar with the flap lugs and retaining pins that set on the pin rests. In this view, the flap lugs are held by the springs in a horizontal position for flap installation. 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  which shows the mechanism at the point of release where the pressure caused by the flap being lodged under the tire has brought the flap lugs to a downward vertical position thereby releasing the flap. 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom view showing the mechanism in the retracted position with the lugs in a horizontal position extending through the cover. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view showing the flap lugs extended in the retracted position and the mud flap extending out from the hanger. 
         FIG. 6  is a front view illustrating a modified embodiment of mud flap hanger without the cover. There is a center bar with the flap lugs and retaining pins along with the pin brackets. In this view, the retaining pins are locked for flap installation. 
         FIG. 7  is a view similar to  FIG. 6  which shows the hanger after the retaining pins have been released from the pin brackets. 
         FIG. 8  is a front view of the modified embodiment with the cover and showing the flap lugs extended. 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of the modified embodiment with the mud flap in place, held by the flap lugs, with the cover closed. 
         FIG. 10  is a bottom view showing the modified embodiment in locked position with the retaining pins in the brackets and the lugs extending through the cover. 
         FIG. 11  is a side view of the modified embodiment showing the flap lugs extended in the holding position and the mud flap extending out from the hanger. 
         FIG. 12  is a front view of a retaining pin bracket for the modified embodiment. 
         FIG. 13  is a top view of the retaining pin bracket for the modified embodiment. 
         FIG. 14  is a view similar to  FIG. 13  showing the retaining pin bracket with the retaining pin positioned therein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings there is shown the releasing mud flap hanger  1  of the present invention which is designed to hold a mud flap  16 . The mud flap  16  ( FIG. 1 ) is supported by the flap lugs  5  on the releasing bar  4  of the present invention. The releasing hanger  1  has a main support plate  2  with a plurality of apertures  9  for fastening the releasing hanger to a structural member of a truck or trailer. 
     The support plate  2  has two sides  3  welded or otherwise attached thereto which are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the mud flap  16  and a top plate  10  which, preferably, is also attached thereto. As can be seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5 , the releasing bar  4  extends through holes in the sides  3  and is held in place with retaining washers  15  ( FIG. 5 ), thereby allowing the releasing bar to rotate from the holding position ( FIG. 2 ) to the releasing position ( FIG. 3 ). 
     As can be seen most clearly in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  there are four flap lugs  5  that are mounted on the releasing bar  4  in a spaced apart relationship conforming to the standard hole placement found on mud flaps  16 . The flap lugs  5  may be welded on the releasing bar  4  or attached as threaded bolts into the releasing bar. 
     Two retaining pins  7  are also attached to the releasing bar  4 . The retaining pins  7  are yieldingly held against retaining pin rests  8  by means of torsion springs  6 . The retaining pin rests  8  are engaged to the support plate  2  by welding or other well known attachment means. Each torsion spring  6  encircles the releasing bar  4  and has a first end extension  6 A in contact with and pushing the adjacent retaining pin  7  against its respective retaining pin rest  8  and a second end extension  6 B in contact with the support plate  2 . As can be seen in  FIG. 2 , when the flap lugs  5  are in the mud flap  16  support position extending outwardly from the support plate  2 , the first end extension  6 A is on the opposite side of the releasing bar  4  from the second end extension  6 B. This assembly maintains the flap lugs  5  in a horizontal position for mounting and supporting the mud flap  16  unless and until a downward force acting on the mud flap  16  and, thus, on the flap lugs  5 , overcomes the force of the torsion springs  6 . 
     The torsion springs  6  are manufactured of heavy gage wire and are wound on the release bar  4  creating approximately 100 pounds pressure for each spring. Thus, the ends  6 A of each spring  6  will be urging each retaining pin  7  against its respective pin rest  8  with a minimum force of 100 pounds. The force of the torsion springs  6  on the retaining pins  7  will maintain the flap lugs  5  in a generally horizontal position to support a mud flap  16  hanging downwardly therefrom, as best seen in  FIG. 2 . 
     There is a cover  11  attached to the top plate  10  by a hinge pin  14 , as can be seen in  FIG. 5 . The cover  11  extends beyond the sides  3  by approximately one-half inch (see  FIG. 4 ). As seen in  FIG. 1 , the cover  11  has four cover slots  12  that allow the flap lugs  5  to protrude through the cover  11  and has a leg  11 A (see  FIG. 5 ) at its lower end opposite the hinge  14 , which leg is generally perpendicular to the front having the slots  12 . If desired, the cover  11  could have a solid face without slots. As seen in  FIG. 2  the cover  11  has been omitted in order to more clearly reveal the underlying components. The mud flap  16  is placed on the flap lugs  5  and the cover  11  is closed allowing the flap lugs  5  to protrude slightly through the slots  12  of the cover  11 , thereby securing the mud flap  16  on the flap lugs  5  as best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . The cover  11  is secured by sliding cover slide bolts  13  which are affixed to the sides  3  through holes in the leg  11 A of cover  11  as seen in  FIG. 5 . 
     The force exerted on the retaining pins  7  by the torsion springs  6  will hold the retaining pins  7  against retaining pin rests  8  ( FIG. 2 ) to hold retaining the flap lugs  5  in a generally horizontal position and thereby retaining the mud flap  16  in place, hanging downwardly therefrom through any normal driving conditions. When the mud flap  16  is subject to extreme force, such as when it becomes lodged between the tires of the vehicle and another surface, downward pressure will be exerted on the mud flap  16 . This force will pull the flap lugs  5  in a downward direction and the torsion springs  6  will contract/tighten until the flap lugs  5  are in or close to a vertical downward position ( FIG. 3 ). At that time, the mud flap  16  will release from the mud flap hanger  1  and fall to the ground, without damage to the mud flap  16  or the releasing mud flap hanger  1 . Once the mud flap  16  has released from the mud flap hanger  1 , the torsion spring  6 , will retract causing the first end  6 A of each spring  6  to return the retaining pins  7  to the respective retaining spring rests  8 , thereby returning the release bar  4  to the holding/flap supporting position with the flap lugs  5  generally horizontal. At this point, the mud flap  16  is retrieved undamaged, the cover  11  is unsecured by releasing the cover slide bolts  13  and the cover  11  is raised. The mud flap  16  is replaced on the flap lugs  5  and the cover  11  is secured. 
     The spring rests  8  are mounted on the main support plate  2  and extend outwardly therefrom a short distance (on the order of ⅜″) so that when the retaining pins  7  are in the upright, substantially vertical position shown in  FIG. 2 , the flap lugs  5  will be in a substantially horizontal position for supporting the mud flap  16 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6-14  there is shown another embodiment of releasing mud flap hanger  120  of the present invention which is designed to hold a mud flap  111 . The mud flap  111  ( FIGS. 9 and 11 ) is supported by the flap lugs  106  on the releasing bar  101  of the present invention. The releasing hanger  120  has a main support plate  102  with a plurality of apertures  103  for fastening the releasing mud flap hanger  120  to a structural member of a truck or trailer. 
     The support plate  102  has a pair of sides  107  which are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the mud flap  111 . As can be seen in  FIGS. 6 ,  7  and  11 , the releasing bar  101  extends through holes in the sides  107  and is held in place with a retaining washer  112  ( FIG. 11 ), thereby allowing the releasing bar to rotate from the holding position ( FIG. 6 ) to the releasing position ( FIG. 7 ). 
     As can be seen most clearly in  FIGS. 6 ,  7  and  9  there are four flap lugs  106  that are mounted on the releasing bar  101  in a spaced apart relationship conforming to the standard hole placement found on mud flaps  111 . The lugs  106  may be welded on the releasing bar  101  or cast as a unitary integral part of the releasing bar  101 . 
     Three retaining pins  105  are also welded on or cast as a unitary integral part of the releasing bar  101 . The flap lugs  106  are placed and held in a horizontal position by placing the retaining pins  105  into retaining pin brackets  104 . The retaining pin brackets  104  are constructed of a flexible material that will allow legs of the bracket to expand to accept the retaining pins  105  and then contract to hold the retaining pins  105 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 12-14 , each retaining pin bracket  104  has a generally U-shaped cross section with a wall  125  having a pair of apertures  126  for receiving screws, rivets or other fastening devices for fastening the brackets to the support plate  102 . Extending outwardly from the wall  125  are a pair of spaced apart legs  128  which are generally parallel to each other in the area close to the wall  125  and are contoured inwardly toward one another to define inwardly facing convexities  128 A in the area adjacent the respective distal ends  129  of the legs  128 . 
     The retaining pin bracket  104  is manufactured from spring steel or other resilient material with sufficient strength to releasably retain the retaining pin  105  therein while a mud flap  111  is supported on the flap lugs  106  during normal operation of a truck/trailer on the highway. As can be seen in  FIG. 14 , when there is no outward pressure on the legs  128 , the distance between the respective inner surfaces at the innermost portions of convexities  128 A is less than the diameter of the retaining pin  105 . The distance between the respective legs  128  in the area adjacent the distal ends  129  and in the area adjacent the wall  125  is greater than the diameter of the retaining pin  105 . Due to the resiliency of the material used to manufacture the retaining pin bracket  104 , when the retaining pin  105  is moved from a position adjacent the distal ends  129  into contact with the wall  125 , it will slide against the inner surfaces of the convexities  128 A and urge the legs  128  apart to permit the retaining pin  105  to move to the retained position shown in  FIG. 14 . As a result of the resiliency of the retaining pin bracket  104 , following insertion of the retaining pin  105  to the position shown in  FIG. 14 , the legs  128  will then move back toward one another so that the inwardly facing convexities  128 A will retain the pin  105  in the position shown in  FIG. 14  until such time as a force urging the pin  105  toward the distal ends  129  is sufficiently great as to spread the legs  128  apart a distance sufficient to permit the pin  105  to slide past the convexities  128 A thereby releasing the pin  105 . The distance between the respective convexities  128 A at their closest points coupled with the strength of the retaining pin bracket  104  including its leg  128  is such that a force of at least 100 pounds would be required to remove a retaining pin  105  from a bracket  104 . Upon release of the retaining pins  105  from their respective brackets  104 , the flap lugs  106  are free to move from a generally horizontal supporting position to a generally vertical position at which the mud flap  111  will be released. As previously mentioned, this can happen when the mud flap becomes lodged between the tires of the vehicle and another surface. 
     With the releasing bar  101  in the locked position with the retaining pins  105  in the brackets  104  and the flap lugs  106  generally horizontal, a mud flap  111  is placed on the flap lugs  106 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 11 , a cover  108  is connected to the support plate  102  by means of a hinge  113  ( FIG. 11 ) mounted on the support plate  102 . Following placing a mud flap  111  on the lugs  106 , the cover  108  may then close over the assembly of the support plate  102  and the sides  107  such that the flap lugs  106  protrude through slots  110  in the cover  108 . The mud flap is retained on the flap lugs  106 . The cover  108 , when closed may be secured to the support plate sides  107  by means of two cover clasps  109 . 
     The mud flap  111  will remain secured within the releasing mud flap hanger  120  through all normal driving conditions. If significant pressure is applied to the mud flap, such as the mud flap  111  being caught between the rear wheels and the driving surface, the retaining pins  105  will release from the retaining pin brackets  104  thereby allowing the flap lugs  106  to fall downward to a generally vertical position and the release the mud flap  111  without damage to the mud flap  111  or the releasing mud flap hanger  120  or its retaining pin bracket  104 . 
     The released mud flap  111  can be retrieved, the cover claps  109  released, the cover  108  lifted and the retaining pins  105  reset in the retaining pin brackets  104 . At that point, the mud flap  111  can be replaced on the flap lugs  106  by simply shutting and clasping the cover  108  with the mud flap  111  back in position. 
     The above detailed description of the present invention is given for explanatory purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the whole of the foregoing description is to be construed in an illustrative and not a limitative sense, the scope of the invention being defined solely by the appended claims.