The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 22, 1977
Filed:
Oct. 24, 1975
Gust Soteropulos, Ottumwa, IA (US);
James Lee Vogt, Ottumwa, IA (US);
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Abstract
An agricultural tractor as a rearwardly extending drawbar and a rearward PTO output shaft connectible to an input drive shaft on a trailing PTO driven implement through a telescoping drive assembly, which includes front and rear universal joints. The drawbar is connected to the implement tongue through a hitch adapter which provides articulation between the tractor and the implement about a vertical axis that is equidistant from the two universal joints, so that the universal joints articulate at equal angles when the tractor is turned relative to the implement. The hitch adapter includes a housing having top and bottom walls, a vertical pin being insertable into vertically aligned bores in the top and bottom walls and into a vertical bore in the drawbar to connect the hitch adapter to the drawbar, the adapter having a vertical pivot element rearwardly of the pin for pivotal connection to the forward end of the implement tongue. A locking device is provided on the housing to releasably lock the pin in said bores to prevent inadvertent separation of the hitch adapter from the drawbar, and shim means are provided between a horizontal plate and the top wall of the housing to vary the clearance between the plate and a bottom wall of the housing to accommodate different vertical thicknesses of a tractor drawbar, the drawbar being disposed between and abutting the plate and the housing bottom wall.