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:
Aug. 16, 1988
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1987
James W Chambers, Rockford, IL (US);
Atwood Industries, Inc., Rockford, IL (US);
Abstract
The ball clamp of a trailer coupler is supported by the coupler body to move back and forth between a clamped position holding a ballhead in the socket of the coupler and a released position permitting the socket to be pulled upwardly off of the ballhead. To hold the ball clamp in a correct angular orientation relative to the ballhead, a cylindrical tube is wedged between the upper side of the ball clamp and an inclined upper wall of the coupler body and is secured rigidly in place by staking metal of the side walls of the body into the end portions of the tube. The ball clamp is held in its clamped position by a pivoted yoke having transversely spaced arms which straddle the coupler body and having transversely spaced ears which straddle a latch. Each arm and each ear are integral with one another along a substantial length of the arm so as to improve the structural strength of the yoke.