PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15965783
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2019-10
Patent Classification: ["414", "401000"]

Abstract:
The present invention is an impact vehicle restraint with a hook and auxiliary locking mechanism that combine to secure the RIG bar of a trailer to a loading dock. A motor rotates the hook between retracted and extended positions. When extended, the hook secures and holds the RIG bar to the dock. When the hook is extended, the auxiliary locking mechanism is also extended to and held at a set position by a biasing mechanism. When the hook is blocked by an obstruction, forward movement of the trailer causes the RIG bar and the obstruction to slide into engagement with the auxiliary locking mechanism, which accepts the RIG bar and obstruction and moves to a locked position to secure the RIG bar. The retraction of the hook by the motor overpowers the biasing mechanism and causes the retraction of the auxiliary locking mechanism.

Claim (Index 1):
An impact trailer restraint for securing a trailer to a loading dock during the loading/unloading of the trailer, the loading dock having a front wall and the trailer having a RIG bar with front and bottom surfaces and an obstruction with front and bottom surfaces, where forward movement of the trailer away from the dock wall results in a forward movement of the RIG bar and obstruction, said trailer restraint comprising:\n a track anchored proximal the front wall of the dock; a carriage movably joined to said track, said carriage having an upper surface adapted to allow flush sliding engagement with the bottom surface of one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction when the trailer is in the loading dock, said carriage having a rotatable hooking mechanism and a rotatable auxiliary locking mechanism, said hooking mechanism being rotatably secured to said carriage about a motor driven axis of rotation and selectively rotatable between a retracted position and a range of raised positions, said hooking mechanism being adapted to engage one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction when in said raised positions, said auxiliary locking mechanism being rotatably secured to said carriage about a biased axis of rotation and biased by a biasing mechanism from a stored position to a raised set position, said biased axis of rotation being located forward said motor driven axis of rotation, said auxiliary locking mechanism being adapted to engagingly receive the front surface of one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction when in said set position; a motor having a drive shaft drivingly connected to said hooking mechanism, and said motor being adapted to rotate said hooking mechanism in a first rotational direction during a deployment phase of operation and rotate said hooking mechanism in a second opposite rotational direction during a retraction phase of operation; wherein said motor rotates said hooking mechanism in said first rotational direction to move said hooking mechanism from said retracted position to one of said raised positions to engage one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction prior to loading/unloading of the trailer, said auxiliary locking mechanism moving with said hooking mechanism as said auxiliary locking mechanism moves between said stored position and said set position; and, wherein the forward movement of the RIG bar results in a forward sliding movement of the bottom surface of one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction along said upper surface of said carriage, said forward sliding movement moving the front surface of one of either the RIG bar and the obstruction into abutting engagement with said auxiliary locking mechanism, said abutting engagement placing the RIG bar and said auxiliary locking mechanism into a locked position preventing further forward movement of the trailer during the loading/unloading of the trailer.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 16.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.59322
- Patent Class: 414.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['12655339', '15079969', '11327986', '15013579', '13330209']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.868240311851825
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5596583452953101
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8373821151961736
- Mean Citation Score: 358.77870199999984
- Max Citation Score: 465.35052
- Similarity Product: 396.40536085986616

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test