Patent ID: 8888120

Claim:
Apparatus for guiding an operator of a towing vehicle being backed toward a hitch-mating position with respect to a vehicle to be towed, comprising: (a) a rearwardly directed video image forming device carried on the towing vehicle; (b) an alignment indicating light beam projecting device mounted on the towing vehicle and aimed to project a beam of light directly upward; (c) a video display device located in view of the operator of the towing vehicle and arranged to display an image generated by the video image forming device; and (d) a target mounted on the vehicle to be towed, in a position directly beneath a coupler portion of a trailer hitch, the target including an inclined target plate and the light beam projecting device being mounted on a hitch ball and said target plate being located so as to be struck by a beam of light projected directly upward from the light beam projecting device, and the video image forming device being mounted where the target will be within the field of view of the video image forming device, when the towing vehicle is near a hitch-mating position with respect to the vehicle to be towed.