Patent ID: 6860503

Claim:
A retractile trailer hitch comprising: a tube shaft extending along an axis and fixed on a motor-vehicle frame; an arm having a tubular inner end pivotal on the tube shaft and an outer ball end, the arm being pivotal on the tube shaft about the axis between two angularly offset arm end positions, the arm inner end being limitedly axially displaceable on the tube shaft between a locked position and an unlocked position; interengageable formations on the frame and on the arm inner end for angularly arresting the arm in the arm end positions in the locked position of the arm inner end, the formations being unengageable with each other in the unlocked position of the arm inner end, whereby the arm can pivot freely between its arm end positions in the unlocked position but is angularly nonmovable on the shaft in the locked position; a lock element axially displaceable inside the tube shaft between a holding position and a freeing position; means including balls inside the arm inner end coupled to the lock element for axially displacing the arm into the locked position on displacement of the lock element into the holding position and for displacing the arm axially into the unlocked position on displacement of the lock element into the freeing position; and an actuator connected to the lock element for axially displacing the lock element between its holding and freeing positions.