Patent Application
20120318597
The present disclosure relates to a portable winch and more particularly to a portable winch stow plate mounting system.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Winches are commonly used with off-road recreational vehicles to assist a user in freeing a vehicle from being stuck or for assisting the vehicle up a hill or out of a ditch. In many off-road recreational vehicles, the winch can be mounted to a front bumper or to a winch carrier mounted to the front of a vehicle. Off-road motorcycles and other vehicles may not have adequate space or weight balancing to accommodate a winch being mounted to a front end thereof. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device for securely stowing a portable winch while not in use.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
A vehicle is provided including a vehicle body and at least two wheels supporting the vehicle body. A motor is provided for driving at least one of the at least two wheels of the vehicle. A stow plate is mounted to the vehicle body and a winch is releasably mounted to the stow plate. The stow plate can be mounted directly to the vehicle body via body panels or the frame, or can be mounted to a storage rack, luggage carrier, or other accessory on the vehicle. A luggage carrier includes, but is not limited to, a Pannier, tail bags, or tank bags. The vehicle can include a motorcycle.
According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, a stow plate is provided for supporting a winch having a pair of drum supports, at least one tie rod extending between the pair of drum supports, a drum rotatably supported between the pair of drum supports and a motor for rotatably driving the drum. The stow plate includes a plate having at least one hook extending from a surface of the plate. At least one mounting flange extends from the plate at a spaced location from the hook, wherein the hook is adapted to be engageable with the at least one tie rod of the winch and the at least one mounting flange includes a first aperture adapted to be aligned with a second aperture associated with at least one of the pair of drum supports. A mounting pin is adapted to be removably received in the first and second apertures for securing the winch to the stow plate.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
With reference to
The winch 16 generally includes a pair of drum supports 20, a drum 22 rotatably supported between the pair of drum supports 20, and a motor 24 for rotatably driving the drum 22. One or more tie rods 26 can extend between the pair of drum supports 20. A cable 28 is wound onto, and can be reeled from, the drum 22, and can support a hook 30 at a distal end thereof. A clutch lever 32 is mounted to a gear box of the winch 16. The winch 16 can be designed to be portable, and can include a handle to assist in its portability. As best shown in
The stow plate 18, as best illustrated in
As illustrated in
The stow plate 18 can be mounted to a vehicle such as the motorcycle 10 in
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
