Patent Application
20240383289
Not Applicable
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Not Applicable
The disclosure relates to hitch apparatuses and more particularly pertains to a new hitch apparatus for mounting a hitch-mountable device on a front end of a vehicle.
The prior art describes several hitch apparatuses for mounting a hitch-mountable device to a front of a vehicle. Some such hitch apparatuses comprise a device which is integral to a bumper of the vehicle. Others are integral to a grill guard of the vehicle. However, the prior art does not describe such an apparatus which may hook onto an extrinsic grill guard, nor does it describe such an apparatus which may further secure to the extrinsic grill guard via locking pins, cable locks, or other fasteners. Such an apparatus would be advantageous over the prior art, because the apparatus is detachable from the grill guard and positionable as desired in a plurality of positions on the grill guard.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a base plate with a front surface and a back surface each extending between a top edge and a bottom edge of the base plate and between a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge of the base plate. A hook is coupled to the top edge of the base plate. The hook extending rearwardly and downwardly from the top edge and is configured for engaging a top of the vehicle grill guard to attach the base plate to the vehicle grill guard. A receiver hitch tube is coupled to and extending forwardly from the front surface of the base plate.
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
The plurality of cable holes 26 is positioned on a lower portion 28 of the base plate 12 and adjacent to the first lateral edge 22. A cable lock 30 is insertable through each one of a selected pair of cable holes 26 of the plurality of cable holes 26. The cable lock 30 is configured to secure the lower portion 28 of the base plate 12 against a vehicle grill guard 32. The plurality of cable holes 26 may also receive other fasteners therethrough to secure the lower portion 28 of the base plate 12 against the vehicle grill guard 32, such as zip ties, threaded fasteners, pins, or the like.
A hook 34 is coupled to the top edge 18 of the base plate 12. The hook 34 extends rearwardly and downwardly from the top edge 18 and is configured for engaging a top 36 of the vehicle grill guard 32 to attach the base plate 12 to the vehicle grill guard 32. The hook 34 extends from the first lateral edge 22 of the base plate 12 to the second lateral edge 24 of the base plate 12 and further extends laterally past each of the first lateral edge 22 and the second lateral edge 24. The hook 34 has an L-shaped cross-section taken along a vertical plane extending through the hook 34.
A receiver hitch tube 38 is coupled to and extends forwardly from the front surface 14 of the base plate 12, the receiver hitch tube 38 has a locking pin hole 40 extending therethrough configured for receiving a locking pin 42 to attach a hitch-mountable device 44 to the receiver hitch tube 38.
The base plate 12 and the hook 34 each have a pair of securement pin holes 46 extending therethrough. Each securement pin hole 46 of the pair of securement pin holes 46 of the base plate 12 align with an associated one of the pair of securement pin holes 46 of the hook 34. A securement pin 48 is insertable into a selected one of the pair of securement pin holes 46 of the base plate 12 and the associated securement pin hole 46 of the hook 34 to form a closed loop with the base plate 12 and the hook 34. The closed loop is positionable such that the closed loop is configured for receiving a crossbar 52 of the vehicle grill guard 32. The pair of securement pin holes 46 of the base plate 12 and the pair of securement pin holes 46 of the hook 34 may also receive threaded fasteners, zip ties, or the like to form the closed loop.
In use, the hook 34 is positioned in engagement with the top 36 of the vehicle grill guard 32 to hang the base plate 12 onto the vehicle grill guard 32. The securement pin 48, cable lock 30, or other fasteners may be inserted through one or more cable holes 26 of the plurality of cable holes 26 or one of the pair of securement pin holes 46 of the base plate 12 and the associated securement pin hole 46 of the hook 34 to further secure the base plate 12 to the vehicle grill guard 32. The plurality of cable holes 26 are particularly adapted for preventing rotation of the base plate 12 around the top 36 of the vehicle grill guard 32 due to sporadic movements of the vehicle grill guard 32 such as those caused by driving over rough terrain. The hitch-mountable device 44 is mounted to the receiver hitch tube 38, and the locking pin 42 is inserted through the receiver hitch tube 38 to lock the hitch-mountable device 44 to the receiver hitch tube 38. Thus placed, the hitch-mountable device 44 may be moved around by a vehicle 56 to which the vehicle grill guard 32 is attached. The hitch-mountable device 44 may, for example, be a feed broadcasting device 54, and mounting the hitch-mountable device 44 onto the vehicle grill guard 32 frees the rear of the vehicle 56 from being obstructed.
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.
