The present disclosure relates to a winch and, more particularly, to a winch having improvements to protection and functionality.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Winches are used for many purposes. Winches have a drum that rotates to tighten a line or cable attached thereto. The drum, upon rotation, pulls the cable or rope and winds the cable or rope around the drum.
One use for a winch is in off-roading. Off-road vehicles may be placed in difficult positions due to the terrain. To remove the vehicle from the difficult position, a winch may be used to pull the vehicle in a desired direction and out of the difficult position so the vehicle can continue travelling. When in an undesirable position, the rope or cable is secured around a stationary object and the winch rotates to pull the vehicle in the desired direction.
The winch may also be used to pull another vehicle from an undesirable position. Because winches are used in a hostile environment, damage to the winch may occur. An electric or hydraulic winch has control parts such as motor and a transmission or set of gears that operate the winch. Damage to those components may render the winch unusable. Therefore, prevention of damage to the winch is desirable.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosures, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
The present disclosure provides improved configurations for a winch having protective and useful features.
In one aspect of the disclosure, a winch includes a winch body having a first drum support, a second drum support and a drum rotatably coupled to the first drum support and the second drum support. The winch further comprises a plurality of gears coupled to the second drum support and the drum. A motor is coupled to the drum through the plurality of gears. A motor cover is coupled to the first drum support. A gear cover is coupled to the second drum support and houses the plurality of gears therein. A supplemental cover covers at least a portion of the motor cover or a portion of the gear cover or both.
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 examples and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Examples will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the following description includes several examples of a sport utility vehicle, it is understood that the features herein may be applied to any appropriate vehicle, such as motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, utility vehicles, moped, scooters, etc. The examples disclosed below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the examples are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize their teachings.
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The vehicle 10 is generally orientated so that the front of the vehicle 10 is in a plane that is normal or perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 14. As will be described in more detail below, a winch 30 has a longitudinal axis 34 that is parallel to the lateral axis 16 of the vehicle and is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 14 of the vehicle 10.
A fairlead 36 may be attached to the bumper 32 and receive and guide the rope or cable from the winch 30.
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The controller 200 is used to control a drum motor 204 used for rotating a drum 205 to tighten or release cable or rope attached to the drum 205.
The controller 200 may also be used for controlling various features such as a drum light 206. The drum light 206 will be illustrated in further detail below. The drum light 206 may be an incandescent or light emitting diodes directed to the drum 205 so that the cable or rope may be viewed or visible during operation of the drum 205. The drum light 206 may illuminated when the drum motor 204 is rotating.
A daytime running light 208 may also be controlled by the controller 200. The daytime running light 208 may be coupled to the vehicle power source 202 in the ignition-on position. The daytime running light 208 may also be controlled with an independent switch 209 which may be located within the vehicle 10. The switch 209 may be part of the vehicle 10 and thus when the vehicle lights are activated by the switch 209 the daytime running lights 208 are activated. For example, other daytime running lights within the vehicle 10 may be coupled to the daytime running light 208 of the winch 30. For convenience the switch 209 is located within a contactor box 210. However, if switch 209 may also be included within the vehicle itself.
The contactor box 210 may include various components and is located on a winch body, described below. The contactor box 210 may include the controller 200, the drum light 206, the daytime running light 208 and a transmitter 212 and or a receiver 213, or both. The transmitter 212 and receiver 213 in combination may be referred to as a transceiver 214. The transceiver 214 may be a wireless transceiver or a wired transceiver. The wireless transceiver 214 may include an antenna 216. The antenna 216 communicates with a wireless remote control 218. The wireless remote control 218 may communicate signals through the antenna 219 for activating the winch 30 and for rotating the drum motor 204 in a forward or reverse direction (wind and unwind).
The controller 200 may also have a wired remote control 220 coupled thereto. The wired remote control 220 may be used in place in of the wireless remote control 218. The wired remote control 220 may be connected to a connector 222. By providing the remote controls 218, 220, the winch may be activated from afar and thus the conditions of the vehicle 10 and the winch 30 may be monitored from a safe distance.
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The winch activate switch 512 may be used to activate or enable the winch 30 and generate a winch activation signal which is communicated through the transmitter 513 and antenna 219. The winch direction switch 514 may generate a signal corresponding to the desired winch direction. The winch direction may be wind or unwind in relation to the drum 205 of the winch 30. Ultimately the transmitter or transceiver 516 may communicate the drum direction signal to the winch 30 for control of the winch motor.
The power source 500 of the wireless remote 218 may be in communication with a light 520. The light 520 may be coupled to the power source 500 through a switch 522. The light 520 may be used for illuminating the environment around the wireless remote control 210.
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The release handle 614 may be generally planer in shape and include a first indicia 616 and second indicia 618. In this example the release handle 614 is generally planer and is normal to the longitudinal axis 614 of the vehicle such that the first indicia 616 and the second indicia 618 are facing outward from the body of the vehicle 10 so that the indicia may easily be viewed during the operation of the winch. That is the proper indicia for engaged gears or disengaged ears are forward pacing relative to the vehicle. In
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The drum 205 is supported by a first drum support 720 and a second drum support 722. The drum supports 720 and 722 are extremely strong due to the forces that act on them. For example, the drum supports 720, 722 may be cast. That is, the drum 205 is rotatably coupled to the drum supports 720 and 722. A motor cover 726 is used to cover the motor housing 710 and the motor 204 when assembled. The motor cover 726 may be formed of various materials including plastic or metal. The motor cover 726 is secured to the first drum support 720 by way of a plurality of fasteners but not limited to screws, bolts, clips, hook and loop fasteners and the like.
The second drum support 722 is coupled to a gear cover 730. The gear cover 730 is also fixedly coupled to second drum support using a plurality of fasteners 741 such as but not limited to screws, clips, bolts or hook and loop fasteners. The gear cover 730 incases the gears 610. The release handle 614 may extend from the gear cover 730. Appropriate seals may be used to prevent outside environmental conditions from entering the gear cover and fouling the gears.
A supplemental cover 740 may be used to cover at least a portion of the motor cover 726 and the gear cover 730. The supplemental cover 740, in this example, is formed from a motor side supplemental cover 740A and a gear side supplemental cover 740B. However, although the components are illustrated as separate, the components may joined across the drum 205 as described in
The winch 30 is illustrated having a longitudinal axis 742 and a front side 744. The top side 746 is also illustrated. The rear side (toward the vehicle) is opposite from the front side 744. The bottom side is opposite the top side 746. The winch 30 is mounted at the bottom side.
The motor side supplemental cover 740A extends at least partially covering the top side 746 of the motor cover 726 and the top side of the first drum support 720. The motor side supplemental cover 740A also covers at least a portion of the front side 744 of the motor cover 726. In this example, the motor side supplemental cover 740A extends also partially circumferentially around to cover a portion of the rear side which is opposite the front side 744. In this example the gear side supplemental cover 740B also is coupled to the second drum support 722. The gear side supplemental cover 740B covers at least a portion of the top sides of both the second drum support 722 and the gear cover 730. In this example a portion of the rear side opposite the front side may also be covered by the gear side supplemental cover 740′. In
The contactor box 720 has a contactor box cover 750. The contactor box cover 750 may have openings or covered openings 752 and 754 for coupling the contactor box 720 to the vehicle power and for providing auxiliary power to other components desired by the user. The covered openings 752 and 754 cover respective connectors 756, 758 that are used to make an electrical connection. A daytime running light 208 may be formed by a separate component or by a translucent shield formed as part of the contactor box cover 750. As mentioned above, daytime running light may be controlled from within the vehicle or outside the vehicle depending upon the desired vehicle configuration.
The contactor box cover 750 may include a lens cover 760 used for covering the daytime running light 208. That is, the lens cover 760 may be a transparent or translucent portion of the contactor box 750 behind which a light source such as the daytime running light 208 may be placed. Thus, when the light is desired to be illuminated it shines through the lens cover 760.
The supplemental covers 740A, 740B may have ribs 754 in various patterns thereon. The ribs 754 may be used to strengthen the cover 740A and 740B and also add rigidity thereto. The ribs 754 may also be used for ornamentation. The supplemental covers 740A, 740B may have various shapes and colors to be aesthetically pleasing.
As is best shown in the bottom view of
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Side 914C is also a lateral side and may house the winch direction switch 514. In this example, the winch direction switch 514 are disposed in longitudinal sides directly adjacent to the side 914C. The winch direction switch 514 may be slid in a direction perpendicular or lateral to the side 914C so that in one direction the winch turns the drum and in a first direction (wind) and while in a second direction turns the drum in the second direction (unwind). The winch direction switch 514 extends partially from one side corresponding to a first direction and out the other side in direction of the winch operating in a second direction.
Side 914D has a winch activation switch 512 coupled therein. That is, the winch activation switch 512 is within the interior of the generally hollow housing. The fourth side 914D may also have finger grips 916 for receiving a user's fingers so that the remote control 910 may be comfortably gripped. The outside of side 914D may have an indicator 920 indicating a load of the winch.
The fifth side 914E is used to connect the second side 914B and fourth 914D. Sides 914A-E may be referred to as lateral external sides. Sides 914A′-914E′ may be referred to as lateral internal sides. Sides 911A and 911B are longitudinal sides between which the lateral internal and lateral external sides extend. The internal sides are internal to the polygon.
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Examples 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 examples of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that examples may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some examples, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The foregoing description 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 example are generally not limited to that particular example, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected example, 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.