Patent Publication Number: US-10773561-B2

Title: Hitch assembly

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 hitch devices and more particularly pertains to a new hitch device for lowering a front end of a trailer such that a boat positioned thereon will clear a doorway of a garage as the trailer is moved therein. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a support to be extended into and removably coupled to a receiver tube attached to a vehicle. A sleeve has a top end and a bottom end. A bracket is attached to the sleeve and is releasably engageable with the support such that the sleeve is vertically orientated. A piston is positioned in the sleeve and extends outwardly of the bottom end. The piston has a lower end that is moveable toward or away from the bottom end. An actuator is mounted on the sleeve and is mechanically coupled to the piston. The actuator is actuated in a first direction to lower the lower end relative to the bottom end and actuated in a second direction to raise the lower end relative to the bottom end. A ball mount is removably attached to the piston adjacent to the lower end. A hitch ball is attached to the ball mount and engages a hitch coupler of a trailer. 
     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 a rear perspective exploded view of a hitch assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view a hitch ball of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a rear perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom exploded view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a side 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 6  thereof, a new hitch 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 6 , the hitch assembly  10  generally comprises a support  12  that is configured to be extended into and removably coupled to a conventional receiver tube  14  attached to a vehicle  16 . The support  12  has a first end  18  and a second  20 . The second end  20  extends outwardly of the receiver tube  14  when the first end  18  is positioned within the receiver tube  14 . The support  12  has a bend  22  therein positioned between the first  18  and second  20  ends to define a foot portion  24  extendable into the receiver tube  14  and a leg portion  26  extending upwardly from the foot portion  24 . The leg portion  26  includes a plurality of holes  28  therein that are vertically aligned with each other. The foot  24  and leg  26  portions are orientated perpendicular to each other. A conventional fastener  30  may be extended through the receiver tube  14  and the foot portion  24 . 
     A sleeve  32  is provided that has a top end  36  and a bottom end  34 . A bracket  38  is attached to the sleeve  32  and is releasably engageable with the support  12  such that the sleeve  32  is vertically orientated. The sleeve  32  has a height between 1.0 feet and 3.0 feet. The bracket  38  is attached to and supported on the leg portion  26 . The bracket  38  receives pins  40  that extend through the holes  28  in the leg portion  26  and allows the bracket  38  to be selectively positioned nearer to the bend  22  or nearer to the second end  20  such that a distance between the bottom end  34  and the support  12  is adjustable. 
     A piston  42  is positioned in the sleeve  32  and extends outwardly of the bottom end  34 . The piston  42  has a lower end  44  that is moveable toward or away from the bottom end  34 . An actuator  46  is mounted on the sleeve  32  and is mechanically coupled to the piston  42 . The actuator  46  is actuated in a first direction to lower the lower end  44  relative to the bottom end  34  and actuated in a second direction to raise the lower end  44  relative to the bottom end  34 . The actuator  46  may, for example, comprise a handle  48  coupled to a conventional screw drive  50  that is mechanically coupled to the piston  42  wherein the piston  42  is lowered or raised depending on the direction of rotation of the handle  48  and corresponding screw drive  50 . However, any piston  42  lowering and raising mechanism may be utilized including electric motors, chain driven systems, pneumatic actuators and the like. 
     A ball mount  52  is removably attached to the piston  42  adjacent to the lower end  44 . The ball mount  52  includes a connector  54  having openings  56  therein that are alignable with apertures  58  in the piston  42 . A pin  60  is extendable through aligned ones of openings  56  and apertures  58  to secure the ball mount  52  to the piston  42 . A hitch ball  62  is attached to the ball mount  52  and is configured to engage a hitch coupler  64  of a trailer  66 . As can be readily understood from the Figures, the ball mount  52  may be attached directly to the leg portion  26  if desired by aligning the openings  56  with the holes  28 . 
     In use, the assembly  10  is typically used where a person requires additional clearance between the top of an object on a trailer  66  and the head  72  of a garage or storage space door opening. More specifically, a windshield  70  of a boat  68  may require additional clearance and therefore it is advantageous to be able lower the front end of the trailer  66  to also lower the upper edge of the windshield  70  as the trailer  66  is moved into a garage. Generally, the trailer  66  is backed at least partially into the garage  76  and then removed from its standard ball hitch which is replaced with the support  12  and sleeve  32 . The ball mount  52  is then coupled to the piston  42  and the trailer  66  attached to the hitch ball  62 . The piston  42  is lowered as needed and so that the windshield  70  will clear the opening  74  and then the trailer  66  is further backed into the garage  76 . 
     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.