Abstract:
An adaptation to coach landing legs of a recreational vehicle, trailer or the like improves vehicle stability through the use of crossed and clamped stabilizer rods attached by pins or by magnet attachment to the landing legs.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/230,147, titled “The Boss RV Stabilizer,” filed Sep. 5, 2000, incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF TE INTENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to stabilization mechanism, and more specifically, it relates to an apparatus for stabilizing storage, transportation and recreational vehicles.  
           [0004]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0005]    A fifth wheel recreational vehicle (RV) rides on a suspension system suitable for supporting the RV as it is pulled by another vehicle. Motorized RVs are also carried on a suspension system suitable for their transport on roadways. Such suspension systems do not provide adequate stability to support internal comfort of people once the RV has been parked.  
           [0006]    Various devices are known in the art that provide a means of stability for a broad class of vehicles including recreational vehicles, cargo trailers, cabin trailers, vehicles designated as fifth wheel trailers, and the like.  
           [0007]    A commonly used stabilizer utilizes jack stands that are extended under the RV. The extensions are held in place with pins. This type of stabilizer is heavy, difficult to operate and to store.  
           [0008]    Other stabilizers are intended as complete (i.e., with landing legs and pads) and are mounted as stabilizing and leveling systems. These have frame attachments, e.g., bolts and nuts or screws with flanges, plus ways to deploy and adjust them. The mechanism is typically a manually driven jackscrew (the usual method), or by electric (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,103,869 and 6,224,102) or hydraulic drives (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,226).  
           [0009]    Other inventions are intended to temporarily support and stabilize an unattached fifth wheel trailer, and do so by extending a footing to the fifth wheel connector pin. Generically, they have two to four telescoping legs with various pads and interconnecting devices using rods or chains.  
           [0010]    Some inventions are intended to temporarily stabilize a vehicle with or without leveling the vehicle, including heavy-duty equipment besides the above-mentioned trailers. These inventions are primarily jacks or telescoping footings that attach to couplings or flanges, or they clamp or bolt to the frame of the vehicle. Multiple footing devices are constrained by chains, rods or straps.  
           [0011]    Each of these inventions is predominantly installed as a stand-alone system to support, stabilize and optionally level the trailer. Consequently, they are bulky, often difficult to install or to store and require tools for tightening bolts or drilling mounting fixtures. They are not intended for use on trailers with existing landing leg support systems.  
           [0012]    It would be desirable if the invention were easy to attach to the existing landing leg supports, be satisfactory in function, simple to detach and easy to store for use.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for stabilizing the landing legs of a fifth wheel or other recreational vehicle (RV).  
           [0014]    It is another object of the invention to provide an RV stabilization device that provides stability, is easy to install and easy to store.  
           [0015]    These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the disclosure herein.  
           [0016]    In one embodiment, the landing leg clamps of the device are affixed around the top of upper telescoping landing legs. The clamps are aligned so that a threaded pin projects outwardly from the clamp and points inwards to the other landing leg. Long pins are inserted through the alignment holes of the landing pads such that the flat end of the pin also projects inward to the other landing leg.  
           [0017]    Each stabilizer rod comprises a pair of rods, one end of which is hollow and the other end is indented or it forms a hole. An all-thread rod is used onto which a nut with a welded lever is placed. The all-thread rod is either pressfitted into the hollow ends of the other rods, or has nuts welded into the hollow ends into which the rods screw.  
           [0018]    The stabilizer rods are placed over the leg clamp pin and the similarly configured opposing end of the stabilizer rod slides over the projecting end of the other landing leg pad pin. The levered nut on the center all-thread rod is used turnbuckle fashion to tension the stabilizer rod against the opposing pins. The second stabilizer rod is similarly affixed across the opposite ends of the two landing legs so that the stabilizer rods form an X-configuration. A C-style clamp is placed in the center at the crossover of the stabilizer rods to reduce flexing of the rods.  
           [0019]    Another embodiment of the invention replaces the pin attachment of the landing leg clamps with a magnetic clamp and the stabilizer rods are placed through holes in the leg clamps and are magnetically held in place.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention connected to the coach landing legs of a recreational vehicle.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 shows the adjustment pins of the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the center clamp for placement at the crossover point of the stabilizer rods.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the landing leg clamps of the present invention.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the stabilizer rods of the present invention.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6 shows an alternate leg clamp 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0026]    Referring to FIG. 1, the coach landing legs  10  and  10 ′, which are part of the recreational vehicle (RV) coach itself, are extended down to the ground and held in their vertically expanded position with an adjustment pin  12  and  12 ′. A foot  14  and  14 ′ is placed on each landing leg and held thereon with a pin  16  and  16 ′. A leg clamp  30  and  30 ′ with an extending portion  32  (shown in FIG. 4) and  32 ′ is placed around the upper portions of each of the landing legs  10  and  10 ′ respectively. One end of a first stabilizer rod  22  is attached to the extending portion  32  of the leg clamp  30  that is attached to landing leg  10 . The other end of stabilizer rod  22  is attached to the inwardly positioned portion of an adjustment pin  16 ′ that holds the foot  14 ′ onto landing leg  10 ′. In like manner, a second stabilizer rod  20  is attached to the extending portion  32 ′ of the leg clamp  30 ′ that is attached to landing legs  10 ′. The other end of stabilizer rod  20  is attached to the inwardly positioned portion of an adjustment pin  16  that holds the foot  14  onto landing leg  10 . A center clamp  23  (shown in FIG. 3) is placed around the crossing portion of stabilizer rod  20  and  22  to rigidly support the RV.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 2 shows details of an embodiment of adjustment pin  16 . A securing pin  17  is provided to ensure that the adjustment pin  16  and the foot  14  are not inadvertently removed from the landing leg. As briefly discussed above, each adjustment pin  16  is connected to the end of a stabilizer rod. The adjustment pin may be replaced with alternate means for connecting the stabilizer rods to the lower portion of the landing leg. Such alternate means will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the teachings of the present invention. For example, in embodiments where the landing legs operate without feet or where the feet are pre-attached or attached by alternate means to the landing legs, a lower leg clamp similar to leg clamp  30 , or an equivalent, may be place on the lower portion of the landing legs.  
         [0028]    Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the stabilizer rods  20  and  22  may each comprise a steel tube that cross and are held rigidly in place with a center clamp  24  (FIG. 3). The Center Clamp is shown with its two gripping fingerlike extensions and the bolt and wing nut for tool-less tightening. Alternate clamping mechanisms may be substituted for the center clamp  24 . See, e.g., C-clamps, K-body clamps, pivot clamps, etc.  
         [0029]    As discussed above, leg clamps  30  (FIG. 4) and  30 ′ are attached around the upper end of each coach landing leg. Each leg clamp includes an extending portion  32  or  32 ′. An embodiment of the extending portion  32  is fabricated by threading a hole through the wall of the leg clamp  30  and putting a nut onto a piece of all-thread that is threaded into the hole. Alternately, a nut may be thread onto a setscrew that is threaded into the threaded hole. Leg clamp includes a pair of securing bolts to tighten the leg clamp around the coach landing leg. FIG. 6 show an alternate means of rigid attachment to the upper portion of the landing legs. The C shaped structure  34  is formed to surround three sides of the landing legs and is rigidly connected to the landing legs with permanent magnets  36 . Extending portion  38  is provided to function in a manner similar to extending portion  32  of leg clamp  30 .  
         [0030]    Referring to FIG. 5, one end  48  of an embodiment of stabilizer rods  20 , which is usually identical to stabilizer rod  22 , has an indented portion or a hole to allow it to be inserted onto either the inner face of the adjustment pin  16  or onto the extending portion  32  of a leg clamp  30 . The other end  49  of stabilizer rod  20  is hollow to receive a stabilizer rod adjustment end  50 , which includes a length (e.g.,  12 ″ by {fraction ( 5 / 8 )}″) of all thread  52  onto which is screwed an (e.g., {fraction ( 5 / 8 )}″) adjusting nut  56  that has a piece of flat stock  58  welded thereto. Alternately, the stabilizer rod may include an inner thread on end  49  to receive the all thread. One end of the stabilizer rod adjustable end  50  has a metal tube  54  threaded thereon which has an end  60  that has an indented portion or a hole. Accordingly, each stabilizer rod  20  and  22  can be extended to a desired position and locked into place using the adjusting nut  56 . One end of the stabilizer rod is press fit onto the extending portion  32  of the leg clamp and the other end is press fit onto the inner face of the adjustment pin  16 . The other stabilizer rod is likewise emplaced and when the center clamp is tightened, the entire structure further rigidities, providing a stable support for a fifth wheel or other recreational vehicle.  
         [0031]    One embodiment of the present invention is made of two steel tubes of ¾ inch electrical metallic tubing (EMT). The end pieces of the EMT are machined on a lathe (e.g., a CNC lathe) for precision and then are pressed into the end rods. The end rods are made with a 12 inch all-thread rod with a ⅝ inch nut on which a  3 ″ by ¾″ piece of flat stock is welded. This provides for adjustment The device fits between the landing legs and acts as a scissors truss.  
         [0032]    The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best use the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications suited to the particular use contemplated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the following claims.