Patent ID: 8366134

Claim:
An apparatus for connecting a kingpin of a gooseneck or fifth wheel trailer to a towing vehicle, the apparatus comprising: (a) a fifth wheel hitch including: (1) a base platform having rails and being mountable on a bed of a towing vehicle, and (2) a hitch platform having a hitch head and being slidably mounted on the rails of the base platform, the hitch platform being displaceable to and from a forward towing station and a rearward towing station relative to the base platform; (b) an articulating mechanism pivotally connecting the hitch platform to the base platform and being structured to displace the hitch platform to and from the forward towing station and the rearward towing station; and (c) a latch mounted to the base platform about a latch axis and being structured to: (1) automatically and releasably lock the hitch platform at the forward and rearward towing stations when the hitch platform is displaced to the forward and rearward towing stations, and (2) subsequently when the hitch platform is released from the forward or rearward towing station, automatically prevent the latch from re-locking the hitch platform at that forward or rearward towing station until the hitch platform has been displaced away from that forward or rearward towing station.