CA2133669A1 - Wheel-retainer and cross-bar-pivot for tow-trucks - Google Patents

Abstract

1. My "Lifting by the wheel" invention in 1975 started a trend in the towing industry to tow ve-hicles lifted and held by its wheels. A second invention of mine was a big improvement on the previous one which is shown on the attached 3 pa-ges of the patent. N° 4,637,623.

2. This new invention is a further improvement of the wheel-retainer and the Cross-bar pivot see patent N° 4,637,623 - Fig. 1-2-6-7.
There are various wheel retainers on the market now, but the most successful one is still my above mentined design, however I have fond solutions and different ways and came up with a better so-lution.

A second part of this invention is the cross-bar pivot. The requirements are such that it is not easy to design a good one which fulfills all the requirements, mainly because within a restricted hight there is a substantial moment to be counter-acted. Here again my previous design shown in pa-tent N° 4,637,623 is the most successful one pre-sently on the market. My new inventin is a new approach to this problem improving considerably the previous design. It cost less to make, it is lighter an has better, replacable bearings.

3. I have found a solution whereby the wheel-re-tainer can be split in two, without loosing its necessary freedom of movement to get around curb problems and get easily into tight weelwells and then down into towing position. With the previous designs the operator has to handle the whole wheel-retainer weldment and has to place it into a specially shaped socket which alows the neces-sary movements.
In this invention the arm is permanently attached to the crossbar by a pivot arrangement which al-los the necessary free movements of the arm, which also has a telescoping part for the neces-sary tire size adjustment. This way the operator has to handle only one fourth of the weight, the curved blade which engages the rear end of the wheel Previously the wheel-retainer had to be stored in or on the truck. With this new design the arm can be turned into a convenient storing position on the cross-bar.

4. In drawings which illustrate embodyments of the invention Fig. 1 is an elevation, Fig. 2 is a top view of this imbodyment, Fig. 3 is an end view.

Description

~ 33f6~ 9 Specifications The device illustrated comprises :

A cross-bar 1. which is supported on the towing aparatus at the center by a special pivoting ba-ring assambly Fig.4 and Fig.5.
On each end of the cross bar is the wheel retai-ner assambly attached by a horisontal pivot 7.
and a vertical pivot 6. This assambly is held together by plate 5. which also serves to provid extended support to arm 3. This pivot assambly alows free movement of arm 3. in two planes, see arows 11 and 12. The bend in the arm 3. is some-time needed to clear wheel covers.
There is a telescoping extension 4. which servs to make intallation easier and to adjust the re-tainer to different wheel sizes. On the end of the extensin 4. is a conveniently shaped bayonet lock or socket 8. where the wheel supporting curved plate 2. is attached by simply drpping it in and eventually securing it for safety reasons by, for ex. a spring plunger pin 13. The bar 4.
can be also locked by pin 9.

Claims (4)

1. A wheel-retainer assambly for towing purposes which grabs the wheels of the vehicle to be towed easily, it lifts the vehicle by the wheels and holds it safely while towing.

2. A device claimed in claim one where a pair of lifting arms are pivotally and permanently at-tached to the crossbar, which in turn is attached to the towing aparatus by a suitable pivot.

3. The arm mentined above has a telescoping ex-tensin which serves to adjust the whee-retainer to the wheel size.

4. On the end of the above mentioned extansion is a bayonet type lock or socket for attachin the curbed plate,on which the tire is seated.