Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of trailers and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a boat trailer which incorporates a cover for the trailer to enclose a stored boat upon the trailer. The cover is selectively raised by a winch mechanism to facilitate the loading and off loading of the boat from the trailer. However, the present invention is not limited to boat trailers, but may find applicability across a wide range of trailers to provide a movable cover for many different types of goods to be covered. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In their desire to maintain their boats in a pristine condition, many people will cover a small boat when it is stored on a trailer. Most notably, covers are of a canvas-like material and are fitted to the upper outline of the boat and then secured to the boat by strapping the cover to the boat and/or to the trailer. Obviously, canvas-like material is somewhat fragile in nature and will degrade over time from sunlight and weather elements. In the past, boat owners have resorted to incorporating hard covers to boat trailers due to the derogation of the canvas material. The hard covers will resist the elements and provide not only protection to the boat from the elements, but will also provide security to the boat and its associated equipment. 
     Various forms of hard covers are known in the prior art, but, generally, the prior covers have suffered from one or more deficiencies which the present invention seeks to overcome. 
     A hard boat cover attached to a trailer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,132 granted to Avery which shows a hard cover mounted to a boat trailer, which cover, however, is not removable and the boat must be placed on the trailer by moving the boat in and out of a opening rear door. This obviously is a cumbersome procedure not easily accomplished with the boat and trailer in the water. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,414 granted to Dickson, a fitted hard cover is attached to a boat trailer and has a mechanism for raising the cover from a front position of the trailer in a clam shell manner. This particular cover overcomes some of the problems of U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,132, but adds a complicated mechanism for raising the cover and only fits one style of boat. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,302 granted to Harper discloses another type of fitted boat hard cover attached to a boat trailer with a mechanism to raise the cover from the front position in a clam shell manner. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,946 granted to Faber, another hard shell fitted boat cover is shown also mounted for operation from the front of the trailer, but this particular cover is designed specifically for a particular type of boat and is not adaptable to a wide variety of boats. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention and the contemplated problems which have and continue to exist in this field, the objectives of this invention are to provide an enclosed trailer for boats wherein the enclosure is a hard cover which will fit a variety of boats and is easily lifted above the boat from a position at the front of the trailer, thereby permitting easy launching and retrieval of the boat. The invention is simple in scope, is easily executable and adapted to any boat trailer, and is easily operable by a single person without having to get into the water to operate the invention. 
     This invention accomplishes the above and other objectives by taking a relatively standard boat trailer and fitting the trailer with a plurality of vertical telescoping cover support members which are generally affixed to the trailer by suitable support members and to attach to the telescoping support members a hard boat cover which will cover the trailer and any associated boat placed on the trailer. The hard cover is capable of being raised and lowered by action of the vertical telescoping cover support members which are integrally attached to a winch cable, which cable is adapted to be mounted upon the trailer tongue for operation by any operator. The cable is operatively engaged with a series of pulleys attached to both the trailer and to the telescoping cover support members thereby permitting the cover to be raised and lowered as desired. 
    
    
     Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing the preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an enclosed trailer, according to the present invention, showing the hard cover partially raised; 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the trailer showing the hard cover in phantom lines; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective diagrammatic representation of the cable and pulley apparatus for raising and lowering the hard cover; 
     FIG. 4A is a sectional view of one of the vertical telescoping cover support members in a closed position; and 
     FIG. 4B is a vertical section view of a vertical telescoping cover support member showing the member is a raised position. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures, reference is made first to FIG. 1. A cover for a boat and trailer is identified by numeral  11  and is so configured that it is mounted to trailer  12 , and is capable of vertical movement by an operator turning winch handle  13  which engages winch system  14  to operate the cable system  15  which effects the raising and lowering of cover  11 . It should be noted that this invention contemplates substituting for the winch  14 , any of several types of activating systems such as an electrical winch or one which is operated by a hydraulic system. 
     The trailer  12  is essentially a conventional boat trailer having a hitch coupling  16  connected to the trailer tongue  17 , which connects generally to the trailer frame  18 . The trailer frame  18  has a wheel assembly comprising an axle  19  attached to the frame  18 , and the axle  19  has a pair of wheels  21  attached to the outer ends of the axle. Associated with the frame  18  are several boat hull cradle members  22  which support a boat placed thereupon in a conventional manner. It should be noted that various types of trailer designs may be utilized with the present invention and the trailer design will typically be dictated by the type, size and weight of the boat to be placed on the trailer. 
     The cover  11  is sized and generally shaped to fit a boat which would be carried upon the trailer  12  and may take various forms in order to fit both the trailer and the desired boat. The cover, as shown in FIG. 1, is of a boxy appearance. However, it is contemplated that the cover could be of a streamlined nature as the situation may dictate. The shape and size of the cover  11  is relatively immaterial as long as it fits the boat and the trailer and is capable of being raised and lowered in the intended manner. As seen in FIG. 1, the cover  11  generally comprises a top  23 , a pair of side panels  24  (only one is shown), a pair of forward quarter side panels  25  (only one is shown), a front  26  and a back (not shown). It is anticipated that the cover may be manufactured of any suitable material such as wood, metal, fiberglass and the like. 
     In order to support the cover l,the entire cover support frame  27  is placed upon and fixed to the trailer frame  18 . The cover support frame  27  generally comprises the forward transverse cover support frame  28  and the aft transverse cover support frame  29 . Each of the frames  28  and  29  have respective transverse connecting members  28   a  and  29   a , which interconnect the respective forward port cover stanchion  31  and forward starboard cover support stanchion  32 . On the aft portion of the trailer, the transverse cover support frame  29   a  connects to and supports the aft port cover support stanchion  33  and the aft starboard cover support stanchion  34 . 
     Each of the support stanchions  31 - 34  include telescoping members comprising an inner stanchion and an outer stanchion which telescope together, and are further identified respectively as  31   a  and  31   b  for the forward port cover support stanchion,  32   a  and  32   b  for the forward starboard cover support stanchion,  33   a  and  33   b  for the aft port cover support stanchion, and  34   a  and  34   b  for the aft starboard cover support stanchion. As is noted in FIGS. 4 a  and  4   b , the inner support stanchions are a somewhat smaller in cross-sectional area than the outer support stanchions in order to accommodate the cable system which raises and lowers the cover  11 . 
     Referring now to the cable system  15  as more particularly shown in FIGS. 2,  3 ,  4 A and  4 B, it can be seen that the common cable  35  is wound around the winch  14  and then extends rearwardly to forward pulley array  36  at which point it is coupled with the forward port lifting cable  37  and the forward starboard lifting cable  38  by means of a suitable cable clamp  39 . The forward pulley array  36  will typically be mounted to the transverse connecting member  28   a  and the forward port lifting cable  37  will be positioned operatively around pulley  36   a  and then will extend to pulley  37   a , which is suitably connected to the forward port cover support frame  28 , and is then directed to the forward port upper lifting pulley  37   b  connected to the uppermost portion (as seen in FIG. 4A) of forward port cover support inner stanchion  31   a . Thence, the lifting cable  37  is positioned around pulley  37   b  and depends down slot  41  between inner stanchion  31  a and outer stanchion  31   b  where it then terminates at a fixed point  42  in the lower portion of outer stanchion  31   b.    
     It should be noted that the various support stanchions, namely,  31 ,  32 ,  33  and  34 , are of equivalent construction and, as such, only the forward port cover support stanchion is shown in detail in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Obviously, the outer cover of each stanchion is affixed to the inside of the cover  11  so that the cover is fully supported at four places to effect the lifting procedure as needed. Consequently, the details of support stanchions  32 ,  33  and  34  are not fully shown as they will be structurally equivalent to support stanchion  31 . Therefore, it can be seen that forward starboard lifting cable  38 , being connected to common cable  35 , is positioned around pulley  36   b , pulley  38   a  and pulley  38   b , and then terminates to its respective outer stanchion in the manner shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. 
     Common cable  35  continues aft towards aft pulley array  40  and connects to aft port lifting cable  43  and aft starboard lifting cable  44  by means of a suitable clamp  39 . In the manner described with respect to the forward lifting cables, the aft port lifting cable  43  is positioned around pulley  40   a  and thence around the aft port lower lifting pulley  43   a  and the aft port upper lifting pulley  43   b , which then terminates in its respective outer stanchion in the manner shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Similarly, the aft starboard lifting cable  44  is positioned around pulley  40   b  and thence around the aft pulley array  40  and thence engages aft starboard lower lifting pulley  44   a  and aft starboard upper lifting pulley  44   b , and subsequently terminates in its respective outer stanchion in the manner shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. 
     In operation, if an operator desires to load a boat upon trailer  12 , and assuming that the boat is in the water, the operator would typically operate the winch handle  13  to wind the winch cable  35  upon the winch  14  which would pull the common cable  35  forwardly thereby acting upon lifting cables  37 ,  38 ,  43  and  44  and, because these cables are attached to the their respective outer stanchions, the cover  11  would be lifted vertically above the trailer to give access to the cradle members  22  for the purpose of loading a boat thereupon. At this point, typically the operator would then back the trailer into the water, float the boat into position upon the cradle members, and then remove the trailer from the water, and then firmly secure the boat to the trailer. At this point, the operator would then lower the cover  11  by reversing the winching procedure and since the cover  11  has some inherent weight it will lower itself to enclose the boat and secure all boat equipment within the cover. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, various modifications may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art and which are set forth in the appended claims.

Technology Category: 7