Patent Publication Number: US-10787359-B1

Title: Fuel nozzle retaining apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to fueling devices and more particularly pertains to a new fueling device for securing a fuel nozzle in place on a freight truck with side fairings. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a retainer body having a front side separated from a back side, a top edge separated from a bottom edge, and a left edge separated from a right edge. The bottom edge has a notch having a left face, a top face, and a right face. The notch extends towards the top edge of the retainer body and is configured to receive a fuel nozzle of a gas pump. The retainer body is configured to engage a fairing of a freight truck within a fuel cutout of the fairing. A width of the retainer body from the left edge to the right edge is configured to be greater than a width of the fuel cutout, and a thickness of the retainer body to conform to an orthogonal distance between an inner face of the fairing and a nozzle head of the fuel nozzle when engaged within a fuel tank aperture of the truck. The apparatus thus retains the fuel nozzle within the fuel tank aperture. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure 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 additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a fuel nozzle retaining apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom plan view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new fueling device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the fuel nozzle retaining apparatus  10  generally comprises a retainer body  12  having a front side  14  separated from a back side  16 , a top edge  18  separated from a bottom edge  20 , and a left edge  22  separated from a right edge  24 . The retainer body  12  may have rounded corners to prevent accidental injury. The bottom edge  20  a notch  26  extending towards the top edge  18  of the retainer body and configured to receive a fuel nozzle  28  of a gas pump. The notch  26  has a left face  30 , a top face  32 , and a right face  34 . The top face  32  may be semicircular to best accommodate the fuel nozzle  28 . The retainer body  12  is rectangular excepting the notch  26 . The left face  32  and the right face  34  of the notch are parallel and each lies in a plane parallel to a plane of the left edge  22  and the right edge  24  of the retainer body. The left face  32  and the right face  34  of the notch each may have a faceted portion  36  adjacent the bottom edge  20  of the retainer body to guide the fuel nozzle  28  into the notch  26 . The faceted portion  36  may lie in a plane forming a 45° angle with a plane of the bottom edge  20 . 
     The retainer body  12  is configured to engage a fairing  38  of a freight truck  40  within a fuel cutout  42  of the fairing. A body width  44  of the retainer body from the left edge  22  to the right edge  24  is configured to be greater than a cutout width  46  of the fuel cutout. A thickness  48  of the retainer body is configured to conform to an orthogonal distance between an inner face  50  of the fairing and a nozzle head  52  of the fuel nozzle when engaged within a fuel tank aperture  54  of the truck. 
     In use, once the fuel nozzle head  28  is inserted into the fuel tank aperture  54  of the truck, the retainer body  12  is engaged with the nozzle head  28  inserted into the notch  26  and pressed between the inner face  50  of the fairing and the nozzle head  52 . The apparatus  10  thus retains the fuel nozzle  28  within the fuel tank aperture  54  while fueling. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.