The invention relates to couplers to attach accessories to vehicles, such as, couplers to attach heavy accessories, such as snow plows, to the front or back of a tractor vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,195 concerns a tractor accessory quick hitch. With reference to FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,195, the rectangular portion on the left is the portion which is provided on the tractor. It ends in a conical portion 26B, shown in FIG. 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,195 (male portion). The tractor accessory, for example a snow plow, is provided with a corresponding conical portion 20, as shown in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,195, which is adapted to surround the conical portion of the tractor adaptor (female portion). It is secured therein using a pin which travels from inside the tractor adaptor through a central superior opening of both the conical portion of the tractor adaptor and of the accessory adaptor and back towards the tractor using a handle 40 to be manipulated by an operator. FIG. 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,195 shows the mechanism used to travel the pin. A safety lock is placed in the pin once in place.
The conical portions allow to easily align the two adaptors together and facilitate hitching of different accessories. The accessory is placed on the ground with the female conical portion of the accessory adaptor ready to receive the male conical portion of the tractor adaptor and the tractor is simply driven forward until the male portion enters the female portion. The operator then exits the tractor and manipulates the handle to secure the accessory in place.
The problems associated with prior art couplers and hitches include vibrations and displacements of the accessory because there is only one anchor point securing the accessory to the tractor, difficulties in aligning the two conical portions to allow the pin to travel through a small opening in each conical portion which must be precisely aligned, strength of the operator needed to bring the pin back toward the tractor and lock the pin in place and deformation of the pin after multiple uses.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to address the above mentioned issues.
According to a general aspect, there is provided a coupler assembly for coupling an accessory to a vehicle chassis. The coupler assembly comprises a male portion, a female portion and two pins.
According to a general aspect, there is provided a male portion for use with a female portion and two pins.
According to a general aspect, there is provided a female portion for use with a male portion and two pins.
The male portion has a male attachment end and a conical male portion, the male side walls each have a male pin aperture.
In an embodiment, the male conical portion also comprises a double pin displacement mechanism adapted to displace the pins to one of the retracted configuration and the extended configuration.
The female portion has a female attachment end and a conical female portion, the conical female portion is adapted to at least partly receive the conical male portion, the female side walls each have a female pin aperture, the female pin apertures are adapted to be aligned with the male pin apertures when the conical male portion is at least partly received in the conical female portion.
The pins are adapted to be displaced from a retracted configuration wherein the pins are one of fully contained within the conical male portion and outside the conical female portion and an extended configuration wherein the tip ends of the pins extend through both the male pin apertures and the female pin apertures when the conical male portion is at least partly received in the conical female portion.
According to a general aspect, there is provided a coupler assembly for coupling an accessory to a vehicle chassis. The coupler assembly comprises: a male member securable to one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the male member having a male frame with male side walls and at least one male aperture defined in each of the side walls; a female member securable to the other one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the female member having a female frame with female side walls and at least one female aperture defined in each of the side walls, the female frame defining a cavity, the male member being at least partially insertable in the cavity with the male side walls and the female side walls being juxtaposed to one another and the male apertures and the female apertures in registry; and at least one pin insertable in the juxtaposed male and female apertures to secure the male and female members together.
According to another general aspect, there is provided a coupler assembly for coupling an accessory to a vehicle chassis, comprising: a male member having a male attachment end securable to one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, a conical male portion having a male enlarged end near the male attachment end and an opposed male tapered end, and two pins slidably mounted to the male member, the male tapered end having male side walls with a male pin aperture defined therein, the pins sliding between a retracted configuration wherein the pins are contained within the conical male portion and an extended configuration wherein a tip end of the pins extends outwardly of the conical male portion through a respective one of the male pin apertures; and a female member having a female attachment end securable to the other one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis and a conical female portion having a female tapered end near the female attachment end and an opposed female enlarged end, the female tapered end having female side walls with a female pin aperture defined therein, the conical male portion being at least partly receivable in the conical female portion in an engaged configuration wherein the female pin apertures are in registry with a respective one of the male pin apertures, the pins extending through the male and female pin apertures in the extended configuration thereof to secure the male member and the female member together in the engaged configuration.
According to another general aspect, there is provided a coupler assembly for coupling an accessory to a vehicle chassis, comprising a male portion having a male attachment end and a conical male portion, the male attachment end adapted to be affixed to one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the conical male portion having a male enlarged end near the male attachment end and an opposed male tapered end, the male tapered end having male side walls, the male side walls each having a male pin aperture; a female portion having a female attachment end and a conical female portion, the female attachment end adapted to be affixed to the other one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the conical female portion adapted to at least partly receive the conical male portion, the conical female portion having a female tapered end near the female attachment end and an opposed female enlarged end, the female tapered end having female side walls, the female side wails each having a female pin aperture, the female pin aperture of the female side walls adapted to be aligned with the male pin aperture of an adjacent one of the male side walls when the conical male portion is at least partly received in the conical female portion; and two pins each having a tip end and a rear end, adapted to be displaced from a retracted configuration wherein the pins are one of fully contained within the conical male portion and outside the conical female portion and an extended configuration wherein the tip ends of the pins extend through both the male pin apertures and the female pin apertures when the conical male portion is at least partly received in the conical female portion.
According to another general aspect, there is provided an accessorized vehicle comprising: a vehicle chassis having one of a male member and a female member mounted thereto; and an accessory having the other one of the male member and the female member mounted thereto; the male member having a male frame with male side walls and at least one male aperture defined in each of the side walls and the female member having a female frame with female side walls defining a cavity and at least one female aperture defined in each of the side walls, the male member being at least partially removably insertable in the cavity in an engaged configuration wherein the male side walls and the female side walls are juxtaposed to one another and the male apertures and the female apertures are in registry, the male and the female members being securable together in the engaged configuration with at least one pin inserted in the juxtaposed male and female apertures.
According to a further general aspect, there is provided a method for coupling an accessory to a vehicle chassis. The method comprises: securing a male member to one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the male member having a male frame with male side walls and at least one male aperture defined in each of the side walls; securing a female member to the other one of the accessory and the vehicle chassis, the female member having a female frame with female side walls and at least one female aperture defined in each of the side walls, the female frame defining a cavity; at least partially inserting the male member inside the cavity of the female member with the male side walls and the female side walls being juxtaposed to one another and the male apertures and the female apertures in registry; and engaging a pin in each of the juxtaposed male and female apertures to secure the male and female members together.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.
Referring now to the drawings and, more particularly, referring to
As it will be readily understood, the male portion does not need to be affixed to the vehicle and the female portion does not need to be affixed to the accessory. The matching of the portions of the coupler to the vehicle or the accessory could be switched.
Referring now to
In the retracted configuration (
For translating the pins 42 between the retracted and the extended configurations, the coupler 38 includes an double pin actuator 44. The actuator 44 includes a rod 47, a linkage arm 50, and two pivoting arms 52. The rod 47 has a handle section 46 which extends outwardly of the conical section of the male portion 40 and a curved section 48 extending between both side walls 45. The handle section 46 can be seized and manipulated to translate the pins 42 between both configurations and, simultaneously, engaged and disengaged the male and the female portions 40, 60.
The rod 47 can rotate between a distal configuration (
As with the male portion 40, the female member has a frame with an enlarged end, an opposed tapered end and female side walls 63 extending between both ends to define a substantially conical shape. Female pin apertures 62 are defined in each female side walls 63 and the pins 42 can be slidingly inserted therein, when the male and female apertures 43, 62 are in registry.
In
Alternatively, the female conical portion 60 can also be provided with a slot 64 to ensure compatibility of the female portion 60 with both the prior art and the improved male conical portions.
The female conical portion 60 is therefore attached to the male conical portion 40 using two opposed pins 42 while keeping the basic concept of the handle which is simple to manipulate for an operator and the conical portions which can easily be aligned and inserted into one another.
With the improved version, a less precise alignment is required, less strength is required by the operator, there is less vibration and shimmy of the accessory.
Referring now to
In this embodiment, the linkage arm 150 is not attached to the curved section 48 of a rod 47. On the opposite, it can be directly seized and displaced, by the operator, as a sliding lever, along a translation motion to configure the male portion 140 in the retracted and extended configurations of the pins 142 (
In an embodiment, the translation guide 158 can include an upper portion 159 which covers the linkage arm 150 and prevents its removal from the groove. Additionally, the linkage arm 150 can be provided with a handle 166, such as a protuberance, at its end to allow the operator to more easily grab and translate the latter. A safety pin 168 is inserted into linkage arm 150 to secure the pins 142 in the extended configuration and prevent the pins 142 from being displaced back into the retracted configuration upon lateral movement of the coupler 138.
Referring now to
The female portion 160 is similar to the female portion 60 (
Referring now to
In this embodiment, the double-pin actuator 44, 144 including the linkage arm 50, 150 and the pivoting arms 52, 152 is replaced by an double pin actuator 244 including a linkage arm 250 with a tapered end 251, opposite to the rod 247, and the pins 42, 142 are replaced by spring-loaded pins 242. Moreover, the straight rear end of pins 42, 142 is replaced by a tapered rear end 252. The tapered end 251 of the linkage arm 250 abuts on the tapered end 252 of the spring-loaded pins 242. It is appreciated that the pins 242 could have a straight rear end; however, the position of the pins 242 having a tapered end 252 is more precisely controlled by the linkage arm 250.
The actuator 244 also includes a rod 247, similar to the one described above in reference to
Translation guides 256, 258 guide the translation movement of the pins 242 and the linkage arm 250 respectively. Translation guides 256 differ from translation guides 56, 156. Translation guides are plates having a guiding aperture defined therein in which the pins 242 are slidably inserted.
Stoppers 254 can be mounted to the pins 242 and juxtaposed to the spring members 264. The stoppers 254 are designed to abut the translation guides 256 in the retracted configuration of the male portion 240 and prevent the pins 242 to be further retracted in the male portion 240.
The spring members 264 are provided between the side walls 245 of the male portion 240 and the stoppers 254. They are contracted against the male side walls 245 in the extended configuration of the pins 242 and they are in an extended configuration in the retracted configuration of the pins 242, i.e. the stopper 254 abuts against the translation guide 256.
Thus, in the extended configuration of the pins 242 (
In the retracted configuration of the pins 242 (
In use, and as apparent from comparing
Referring now to
In the embodiment shown in
Referring now to
As will be readily understood, the handle, if present, can be provided on either side of the male portion. It could also extend on both sides of the male portion. Similarly, the handle could be provided so that the pins are in the extended configuration when the handle is rotated towards the female portion or, alternatively, the pins could travel to the extended configuration when the handle is rotated away from the female portion towards the vehicle.
As it will be readily understood, the safety mechanism shown to be a safety pin inserted in a hole could be replaced by other safety mechanisms such as a spring loaded push button adapted to be pushed within a piece before displacing the piece and adapted to be released when the push button has traveled within a passage and reached the other side of the passage.
In an embodiment, the pins can include a stopper provided at a rear end thereof. The stopper can be a ring affixed to the rear end of a diameter greater than a diameter of the male pin aperture. Thus, the stopper abuts the male side wall in the extended configuration and prevents the pin from further translating in the extended configuration.
It is appreciated that in alternate embodiments the accessory coupler can include only one pin to secure the male member and the female member in the engaged configuration. The pin can be simultaneously insertable in male and female apertures provided in opposite side walls or the pin can be insertable in only one couple of male and female apertures.
Moreover it is appreciated that the male attachment can be mounted either to the accessory attachment section or the vehicle attachment section. The female attachment is mounted to the other one of the accessory attachment section or the vehicle attachment section.
It is appreciated that the double pin actuator can be replaced with two single pin actuators. Thus, each pin is actuated independently.
The embodiments described above are intended to be exemplary only. The scope of the invention is therefore intended to be limited solely by the appended claims.
This application claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/892,697, filed Mar. 2, 2007, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60892697 | Mar 2007 | US |