Wilson Trailer Company

Matthew M Putze

A trap closure device for opening and closing a discharge opening of a hopper on a trailer or vehicle. The closure device includes a generally rectangular frame assembly which supports a horizontally sliding door assembly on plastic type rollers as the door travels to open and close the discharge opening at one end of the frame assembly. An operating shaft assembly is supported above the sliding door assembly near the other end of the frame assembly to provide increased ground clearance. The door assembly has a slightly inclined top surface that opens away from the discharge opening and thus reduces friction when opening the device. The shaft assembly includes a single shaft attached to front and rear straps that forcibly pull open the door assembly when the shaft is rotated in one direction and forcibly pull close the door assembly when the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction.

Trap closure device for trailer hoppers

A lock and release mechanism for vertically elevatable decks in a livestock trailer including a plurality of vertical rows of vertically spaced, pivotally mounted, locking pins located at a plurality of longitudinally spaced locations along each side of the livestock trailer. Each of the locking pins is connected to an operating arm extending radially from the axis of the pivotal locking pins. An operating rod is pivotally connected with the arms at each location for movement of all of the locking pins from a locking position to a released out of the way position by an operator at ground level. The lock and release mechanism of this invention enables livestock or other cargo to be sequentially loaded on decks at trailer floor level and sequentially raised. The deck locking pins automatically pivot out of the path of deck supporting hooks during elevation of a deck and return to a position to support the deck hooks when a loaded deck is lowered. This invention also enables the elevated decks to be lowered from a transport position to trailer floor level for unloading by elevating the decks off the pins and releasing the locking pins from a position externally of the trailer by a ground level operator utilizing a vertically elongated operating rod and spring assembly associated with the locking pins.

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Sioux City, IA, United States of America

Matthew M Putze