Patent ID: 8919863

Claim:
A drag reduction structure for trailers that are towed by vehicles along a roadway or highway, where the trailer has a box-like construction having a bottom, top, front, back, and sides, and at least one wheel set near the back end thereof and below the bottom of the trailer structure, wherein said drag reduction structure comprises: a drag reduction plate comprising a rigid or semi-rigid plate secured to and depending vertically downwardly from the bottom of the trailer and being disposed along a portion of the length of the trailer and forwardly of said at least one wheel set; and a pair of deflector plates secured to and depending substantially vertically downwardly from the bottom of the trailer and meeting, abutting, and/or overlapping with respect to said rigid or semi-rigid plate at each side thereof and at the rear end thereof, but wherein a forward portion of said deflector plates can move relative to a rearward portion of said rigid or semi-rigid plate during normal flexing of said trailer, and wherein each of said pair of deflector plates extends outwardly and rearwardly from the rear end of said rigid or semi-rigid plate in a region which is forward of the at least one wheel set, and wherein at least the outer portion of each of the pair of deflector plates is curved rearwardly in the region of the respective outer edges thereof, and the inner portion of each of the pair of deflector plates is curved outwardly, in the region of said rigid or semi-rigid plate.