Patent ID: 8348562

Claim:
A wheel chock assembly for a tire of a wheel of a vehicle on a deck of a transporter, said wheel chock assembly comprising: a first chock configured to be an anchor chock which is securely attachable to a chock-rail on the deck on a first side of the tire, said first chock including: (a) a first frame sized and shaped to be mounted within a first safe zone under the vehicle on the first side of the tire, and (b) an elongated anchoring element disposed in the first frame along a first axis, said first axis being transverse to the chock-rail when the first chock is attached to the chock-rail; and a second chock configured to be an active chock which is securely attachable to the chock-rail on the deck on a second side of the tire, said second chock including: (a) a second frame sized and shaped to be mounted within a second safe zone under the vehicle on the second side of the tire, (b) a torque tube rotatably disposed in the second frame and configured to rotate about an axis, said axis being transverse to the chock-rail when the second chock is attached to the chock-rail, and (c) a wheel harness configured to be deployed around an upper surface of the tire, the wheel harness including (i) a strap having a first terminal end inserted into and wound on a surface of the torque tube so as to have at least one layer of strap wrapped therearound to provide a wrap surface, said strap having a second terminal end, (ii) a hook secured to the second terminal end and configured to be releasably hooked to the elongated anchoring element of the first chock, and (iii) a plurality of tire blocks secured to the strap, each tire block configured to engage a tread portion of the tire, said second frame, said torque tube and said strap configured such that, when the harness is wrapped around the tire and secured to the elongated anchoring element, an active side strap lower portion which commences at a tangent to a first point at which the strap leaves the tire's tread and ends at a second point defined by a tangent at the wrap surface nearest the tire is in the second safe zone, and said first frame, said elongated anchoring element, and said strap configured such that, when the harness is wrapped around the tire and secured to the elongated anchoring element, an anchor side strap lower portion which commences at a tangent to at a first point at which the strap leaves the tire's tread to a second point defined by a tangent at a surface of the elongated anchoring element where the hook contacts the surface is in the first safe zone.