Patent ID: 7219915

Claim:
A trailer ball raising and lowering apparatus, comprising: vehicle attachment means, a first hitch-support unit connected to said vehicle attachment means, a raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit, continuously movable first-to-second connector means connected between said first hitch-support unit and said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit, unit-to-unit lock means for locking said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit to said first hitch-support unit, and a hitch member connected to said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit, wherein said continuously movable first-to-second connector means provide for continuous raising and lowering of said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit with respect to said first hitch-support unit, and wherein: said vehicle attachment means is a horizontal vehicle attachment strut received in a complementary strut-reception bracket in the motor vehicle, said first hitch-support unit is a first hitch-support bracket connected to said horizontal vehicle attachment strut, said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support unit is a raisable and lowerable second hitch-support bracket, said continuously movable first-to-second connector means are comprised of bracket-to-bracket interconnector arm members hingedly connected between said first hitch-support bracket and said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support bracket, said unit-to-unit lock means include a lock pin, first lock-pin-reception channels in said first hitch-support bracket, and second lock-pin-reception channels in said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support bracket, and said hitch member includes a hitch ball unit connected to said raisable and lowerable second hitch-support bracket.