Patent Application
20180194263
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The disclosure and prior art relates to trailer mounted boat guide devices and more particularly pertains to a new trailer mounted boat guide device for assisting a person in guiding their boat while they are loading the boat onto a trailer.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a trailer including a frame having a first lateral member, a second lateral member, a front end, a rear end, and a plurality of supports extending between the first and second lateral members. The trailer has a longitudinal axis extending through the front and rear ends. A first wheel is rotatably attached to the frame adjacent to the first lateral member and a second wheel is rotatably attached to the frame adjacent to the second lateral member. A trailer hitch is attached to the front end. A mount is attached to a primary support of the plurality of the supports and is aligned with the longitudinal axis. An axle is attached to the mount. The axle is horizontally orientated and is orientated perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A pair of arms each has a first end and a second end. The axle extends through each of the arms adjacent to the first ends. With respect to the trailer, the arms only extend forwardly from the first ends to the second ends. The arms are pivotable to form an angle with respect to a top side of the primary support between 85° and 5°. The arms remain above a bottom side of side primary support when the arms are in an engaged position abutting a keel of a boat. A guide roller extends between and is rotatably coupled to the arms adjacent to the second ends. The guide roller has a rotational axis orientated perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A biasing member engages the mount and the arms. The biasing member biases the second end of the arms upwardly above the top side of the primary support and toward a deployed position.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A first fixed keel roller 32 and a second fixed keel roller 33 are each rotatably coupled to the trailer 12 and are aligned with the longitudinal axis. The term “fixed” herein is defined to mean that the first 32 and second 33 fixed keel rollers are fixed in location relative to the frame 14 and only rotate within place. Each of the first 32 and second 33 fixed keel rollers has an axis of rotation orientated perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The first fixed keel roller 32 is positioned rearward of the first 26 and second 28 wheels and the second fixed roller 33 is positioned forward of the first 26 and second 28 wheels.
A mount 34 is attached to a primary support 36 of the plurality of the supports 24 and is aligned with the longitudinal axis. The mount 34 includes a pair of vertical walls 38 that are laterally displaced from each other. The mount 34 will typically be positioned forward of the first 26 and second 28 wheels as well as positioned forward of the first 32 and second 33 fixed keel rollers. An axle 40 is attached to the mount 34. The axle 40 is horizontally orientated and furthermore is orientated perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The axle 40 extends through the vertical walls 38.
A pair of arms 42 is provided and each has a first end 44 and a second end 46. The axle 40 extends through each of the arms 42 adjacent to the first ends 44. The arms 42 are positioned between the vertical walls 38. Relative to the trailer 12, the arms 42 only extend forwardly from the first ends 44 to the second ends 46. That is, from the mount 34, the arms 42 extend outwardly away from the rear end 22 and toward the front end 20 so that they are continuously angled forwardly as shown in
A guide roller 52 extends between and is rotatably coupled to the arms 42 adjacent to the second ends 46. The guide roller 52 has a rotational axis orientated perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A central area 54 of the guide roller 52 is aligned with central areas of the first 32 and second 33 fixed keel rollers. The central area 54 of the guide roller 52 has a smaller diameter than a pair of outer edges of the guide roller 52. Thus, the first fixed keel roller 32, the second fixed keel roller 33 and the guide roller 52 may all comprise conventionally constructed keel rollers configured for receiving a keel of a boat as the boat is moved onto and off of the trailer 12.
A biasing member 56 engages the mount 34 and the arms 42. The biasing member 56 biases the second ends 46 of the arms 42 upwardly above the top side 48 of the primary support 36 and toward a deployed position. More specifically, the biasing member 56 may include a wound spring having a first free end 58 abutting the mount 34 and a second free end 60 engaging the arms 42, either directly or on bracing extending between the arms. Alternate biasing members 56 may be utilized such as a spring attached to the mount 34 or primary brace 36 which is also attached to the arms 42 to pull the arms 42 upwardly, or a spring embedded within the axle 40 wherein the arms 42 are fixedly attached to the axle 40 and the spring urges rotation in one direction relative to the vertical walls 38.
A stop 62 is attached to the mount 34 and abuts the arms 42 when the arms 42 are in the deployed position. The stop 62 prevents an angle between the arms 42 and the top side 48 of the primary support 36 being greater than 85°. The stop 62 thereby prevents the arms 42 from over-rotating relative to the primary brace 36 so that the arms 42 are not extended rearwardly and directed toward a boat being moved onto the trailer 12.
In use, the trailer 12 is used in a generally conventional manner for transporting a boat. However, as a user of the system 10 approaches the trailer 12 in a boat, the user can align the front of the boat with the guide roller 52. Because the guide roller 52 extends upwardly from the trailer 12 when in the deployed position, as shown in
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
I hereby claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 14/859,297 filed on Sep. 19, 2015.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14859297 | Sep 2015 | US |
| Child | 15913578 | US |
