Patent ID: 7044698

Claim:
A method of restraining a road vehicle on a vehicle support surface of a transport vehicle comprising the steps of: i) securing four primary wheel restraining devices, having an arresting surface, to said support surface with said arresting surface thereof being positioned adjacent a thread face of a tire of front and rear pairs of wheels of said road vehicle and on outward sides of said pairs of wheels thereby establishing a transport location of said road vehicle on said vehicle support surface between said four primary wheel restraining devices, ii) securing a catcher tire abutment device, having an arresting surface thereof spaced an approximate predetermined distance adjacent said thread face on inward sides of each tire of said front and rear pair of wheels, iii) restraining said road vehicle in said transport location when said road vehicle is subjected to an impact force from either a front or a rear direction by absorbing kinetic energy from said impacted vehicle sequentially by (a) contact of said tires of one of said front and rear pairs of wheels against said arresting surface of one of said primary wheel restraining devices and (b) by said tires of the other pair of wheels contacting said arresting surface of one of said catcher tire abutment devices, and wherein said catcher tire abutment device being provided with clamping means in a bottom surface thereof and arresting means, said step (ii) comprising firstly engaging said clamping means in said vehicle support surface, and thereafter engaging said arresting means in said vehicle support surface, said arresting means being constituted by a plurality of rearwardly sloping teeth extending rearward of said bottom surface for engagement with a plurality of transverse rods of a metal rod grating which forms said vehicle support surface, said sloping teeth transmitting said impact force on said catcher tire abutment device into said grating, said clamping means being constituted by frontward sloping teeth engageable with one or more transverse rods of said grating, said step of firstly engaging comprises causing displacement of said frontward sloping teeth to engage or disengage said frontward sloping teeth from said one or more transverse rods.