Patent ID: 8562014

Claim:
Adaptors for use in connecting aircraft tow bars having an end terminating in a pair of spaced, parallel arms adapted to extend on opposite sides of an aircraft's nose wheel supported on an axle, with the opposed inner, facing sides of each arm having projecting bosses adapted to extend into complementary sockets formed in each end of the nose wheel axle, the axle supporting a wheel carrying a tire that extends by a distance L in an axial direction beyond each end of the axle, each said adaptor comprising: a cylindrical rod having a first end configuration complementary to the axle end sockets and having a coaxial cylindrical hub of greater diameter than the rod formed at a second end of the rod, the hub having a central socket configured to receive one of the projecting bosses connected to and extending from an inner facing side of an arm, and the length of the second end of the rod from the end of the axle when the first end of the rod engages the axle socket exceeding L, whereby, the first ends of a pair of adaptors may be inserted into the sockets at the opposed ends of the axle and the second ends connected to the projecting bosses at the inner, facing sides of the arm ends, with the parallel arms clearing the tire, allowing the nose wheel to freely rotate during towing and avoiding damage to the tire.