GB2337971A

GB2337971A - Vehicle tow bar

Info

Publication number: GB2337971A
Application number: GB9811785A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard John David Appleton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-06-02
Filing date: 1998-06-02
Publication date: 1999-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 2018-06-02
Also published as: GB2337971B; GB9811785D0

Abstract

A vehicle tow bar includes a rigid pole (2,4) having at a first end a mounting means (5) for enabling the pole to be secured to a towing coupling (7) or an eyelet (12), mounting means (8) at a second pole end for affixing a bracket (13,14) for attachment to a vehicle to be towed, and a swivel joint (3) connected to allow a 360‹ rotation of the pole mounting means about the pole major axis. The tow bar gives a direct mechanical linkage between two vehicles for towing and thus allows safe use with a wide range of different vehicles.

Description

2337971 VEHICLE TOW BAR This invention relates to a vehicle tow bar. It

relates particularly to a tow bar of a rigid construction which is capable of forming a direct mechanical linkage between two motor vehicles for towing purposes.

The kind of tow bar available at present is usually designed for coupling together vehicles of a particular type or small croup, for example those produced by one manufacturer. If one wishes to be able to tow any one of a larger croup of vehicles then it is usually necessary to use a tow rope or tow strap connection which is very adaptable but which gives a non- rigid linkage and thus requires extreme care if it is to be used in safety.

The present invention was devised to provide a tow bar that was capable of being rigidly connected to a wide range of motor vehicles in order to give a safe towing combination.

According to the invention, there is provided a vehicle tow bar comprising a rigid pole having at a first end mounting means for enabling the pole to be secured to a towing bracket, a coupling, an eyelet or a yoke, mounting means at a second pole end for affixing a bracket, a coupling, an eyelet or a yoke on a vehicle to be towed, and a swivel joint connected to allow a 360' rotation of the pole mountino means about the pole riajor axis.

0 2- Preferably, the rigid pole is made capable of being sep.-irated lengthwise into two halves. The two halves may then be joined when required by fixing means such as a nut and bolt connection. The nut and bolt connection may include a security pin effective to prevent any loosening of the nut once it has been fixed. An alternative to the nut and bolt connection would be a clevis pin.

Conveniently, the pole construction may be made in a first form for light duty purposes where it is designed to tow a vehicle up to one tonne in weight. In a second version, the pole construction may be rnade suitable to tow a vehicle up to 2.6 tonnes in weioht.

In one embodiment, the swivel joint is located about the centre point of the pole where it forms part of a neans for separating tile pole lenthwise into two halves.

In a further embodiment, the mountino means at the said second pole end comprises a yoke which is permanently fitted thereto. The invention also comprises brac',,rl-ets of an offE set and a swan neck type which may be fitted as needed to the yoke.

By way of exai:lple, a particular enbodirient of the invention will now be described witil reFerence to the acco,--.,p--.-,iying dr3wi-,i--s, in., ihich:

Fi,,ure 1 shows a partial side vie-,.., of the vehicle tow 0 bar, Figure 2 is a p13n view, 0 Ficure 3 is a perspective view showing sone of the 0 coupling pieces, Fi-ure 4 shows tifie tow bar swivel joint construction, Filoure 5 shows two vi,--vs-of an off set bracket, and, Figure 6 gives two views of a swan neck bracket.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the vehicle tow bar 1 is of a rigid hollow pole construction havinG a front section 2 connected by a swivel joint 3 to a rear section 4. The front section 2 includes mounting means U to which a ball coupling socket 7 is attached. The rear section 4 supports a yoke 8 which is capable of being attached, to a vehicle to be towed.

In the present example, the tow b3.r 1 is capable of being separated lengthwise into two halves and this is done by a sinc,le bolt iixin., 9 adjacent the swivel joint 3. The bolt fixing 9 includes a nut and a security pin 11 which ensure that the two halves will not co-le apart until required to be dismantled by the user.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the whole tow bar on a smaller scale. The front section 2 has tne mountino means 6 cooperating with a platform 5 to which either the ball coupling socket 7 or an eyelet 12 can be attached. At the rear section 4, the yoke 8 nay be used on its own for attachment to a vehicle to be towed. Alternatively, the yoke 8 may be secured to an off set bracket 13 or else to a swan neck bracket 14 to make a secure attachment to the vehicle to be towed.

In Figure 3, the ball coupling socket 7 shown is a heavy duty fifty millimetre ball coupliny socket which is made of cast steel and would be suitable for towing a vehicle up to 2.6 tonnes in weight. This socket 7 is mounted on the platform 5 which is welded to the mild steel material of the front section 2.

There is also available an alternative ball coupling socket for light duty usace which is made of pressed steel and which would be suitable for a draw up to one tonne.

Figure 4 shows the construction of the swivel joint 3 before this joint has been attached to the front section 2 of the tow bar. Tne swivel joint 3 has a body somethinc, like a bolt in shape with a head 16 and a shank 17. The head 16 includes a through bore 18 which is intended to be used for ma.,,z4-no the connection to thie raar section 4 (Figure 1). shanic 17 supports an axis pin collet 19 which is freely rotatable on the shank. The collet 19 is retained in position by an a-is pin end cap 21 which is fixed to the -1 on. In the resul ting, 17 by a ciet,-,1 wel,iii., operan cons t"i,, 16 can be rotafted. fre-ely about tii- col-ljt 19 and tne s(--c!.r- ensures t,.3t t'i,3r-2 is ol t-,.;o Pt.-irts Collet 19 is b-; to a number of radially drilled noles or:n,l in t'-ie and' of th2 front section 2.

The swivel joint 3 thus becomes permanently attacilied to tae i:ro^,t sactio..i 2. 'bv-hen it is required to asse2,.r)le tlie tow bar cor usa, t'lle tow Liar rear section 4 is placed over ft.2 head 16 of the swivel joint 3, a bolt hole in the rear section is aligned with the bore 18 in the head 16, a bolt 0 is passed through the aligned holes, a nut is at-Laci"led to the 0 W bolt, this is ti-htened and then the security pin 11 is fitted to ensure a safe Lastenin:,.

Figure 5 shows views of the off set brac',-.3t 13. This is formed of a stainless steel cast--n-. It embodies a first openint- 22 which may be fixed by a suitable bolt to the yoke 3 of the rear section 4. An opposite end of the bracicet 13 carries ---,.io a= 23 which ray be cou,led to a fixtura or., a vehicle to be Fi,--mire 6 shows views the swan nec"z bric-,e-t 14, also inade oi a st-ainless steal castin,,. Tne 'jric-..-et 14 includes a Aole 24 for possibie attacli.-.ie7It to the yoke 8 o'L tae rear sectio,-.. 4.

tile oppos-t The 'brac.'-et 14 has a shave and at enk' has its o,, P. to to a on. a ve; -c.

In o.L" since it is ca-,-i'..---- carri e,l 0.

ill The assembly operation can be done very quickly and one has the choice of two kinds of coupling for making the attachment to the vehicle intended to do the towing operation. For Che attachment to the vehicle to be towed, one may choose from three towina attachments that could be used. The tow bar can then form a rigid mechanical connection between the two vehicles so that the towing operation may be done in safety with the vehicles always being held a fixed distance apart.

The vehicle tow bar has been found to be a safe and convenient tool for carrying out a towing operation. The tow bar is co:nparatively inexpensive to construct and when packed.

it occupies only a sniall space such that it can be carried easily in a car boot. The tow bar unit relies in operation on formine a direct mechanical link between the towing and towed vehicles which gives a very high level of safety when in use. Since most vehicles are now fitted with a manulacturers standard towin- bracket of fourteen millimetres diameter, this can form a convenient point to which the tow bar may iixed. Instead of bein. towed always froi'.1 the front end, a vehicle could in emer-ency be towed. for a short distance fron L1-1e rear end.

The 'ore-,o.-ii(- (-lescri-ti-on of an P--ibodi:,.eiit o-," in v It i on nas Deen,ivert,),7 w -2 y oú e.a a rii a nunbe- o- be t,-,-- SCOC.3 01: t-"d C 's.

For instance, it is not essential that the swivel joint should be fitted at the junction of the front and rear sections of the tow bar. In a different embodiment, the swivel joint could be fitted to either the front or the rear section. For some applications, there would not be the need to be able to dismantle the tow bar into two sections of similar length and a one piece construction could be used. The means for fixing the bracket 13 to the yoke 8, instead of being by a bolt fixing could alternatively be by use of a clevis pin. The embodiment depicted in Figure 3 shows a tow bar having a first kind of mounting at a left hand end and a second kind of mounting at a right hand end. It is clear that in alternative embodiments, this arrangement of mountings could be interchanged or, further, the same kind of inountin. could be used at both ends of the tow bar.

0 -8 CLALLS A vehicle tow bar, comprising a rigid pole having at a 0 C> first end mountina means for enabling the pole to be secured to a towincbracket, a coupling, an eyelet or a yoke, mounting means at a second pole end for affixing a bracket, a coupling, an eyelet or a yoke on a vehicle to be towed, 0 and a swivel joint connected to allow a 360' rotation of the pole mounting means about the pole major axis.

Claims

2 A tow bar as claimed in Claim 1, in which the rigid pole is capable of

being separated len-thwise into two halves.

3 A tow bar as claimed in Claim 2, in which the two halves are capable of beinc retainek together by a nut and bolt or a clevis pin fixing.

4 A tow bar as claimed in any one o Claims 1 to 3, in which the rigid pole includes a platform for supporting a ball W coupling sock.et or an eyelet coupling. A tow bar as claimed in any one of Clai, ms 1 to 4, in which the said swivel joint serves to provide a connection between two separable parts olL the pole.

A tow bar as clai.ned in any one of Claims 1 to 5, in the pole at ona eiiu' includes a yoke couplin...

A to,.,i bar as clai.ned in Claim 6, in which t"!ie Ivoke cou,)'Li-,i- is prov-L.-7e. orie or,-iorp- further coupling b r,: c,. e t s tor A vel.-iicl!-- to,..! bar substanti.,Ally as '.iereinbe.i7.ore described with reference to any one oú the accompanying 0 drawin.s.

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