Hitch accessory storage device
The present invention relates to hitch accessory storage devices and methods of use thereof. The storage devices of the present invention are used to mount and store hitch accessories when not in use, i.e., when a hitch accessory is not mounted to a vehicle. In certain preferred embodiments of the invention, the hitch accessory storage device comprises (i) a frame having a floor support, a wall support, and a hitch accessory support running between said floor support and wall support and (ii) a locating pin, wherein the locating pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within a hitch accessory.
This application claims priority to and incorporates by reference U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/789,651, filed Apr. 6, 2006.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to an apparatus which aids in storage and organization of vehicle hitch mounted products. Vehicle hitch mounted products, or accessories, have become popular due to an American automotive industry standardization of tow hitch ports integral to the rear frame of the vehicle. Most domestically produced utilitarian vehicles (i.e. SUV's, pick-ups, vans) feature a square, tubular port, or hitch receiver, intended for the removable attachment of hitches for towing purposes. Common to the market are numerous vehicle-mounted products which removably attach to the vehicle via the hitch receiver. These products include, but are not limited to, bicycle racks, ski racks, pick-up bed extenders, picnic tables, work surfaces and cargo carriers.
Hitch receiver mounted accessories generally feature a square tubular design which mates with the square port of the hitch receiver. Several different sizes of hitch receivers are common, but the two most popular accept hitch accessories with male protrusions 2″ square and 1¼″ square. Naturally these designs focus on the utilitarian aspects of the product while mounted to the vehicle since the accessory is of little use when not mounted to the vehicle. Seldom is much design attention focused on how to store accessories while removed from the vehicle. The tubular design necessary for mating with the hitch receiver typically causes the accessory to be unbalanced while resting on the ground and non-conducive to leaning against the wall of a garage or storage room. Unbalanced design coupled with the accessory size; which may be 40″ tall by 42″ wide, yields an apparatus that is extremely difficult to store and unusable when not mounted to the vehicle.
Patents to Smith (U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,432) and to Shepherd (U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,096) describe racks for vertical storage of bicycles which mount to the wall and floor of a building. An inclined bicycle rack mounted the wall and floor of a building is described by Goldstein in U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,544. Wall mounted racks are commercially available for the storage and organization of golf accessories, canoes, kayaks and other sporting goods equipment. These racks mount to the wall and, sometimes, the floor of a building to lend support to the rack and to aid in the organization of the building. Self-supporting, or free-standing, storage units for bicycles and other equipment are commercially available, but these designs typically occupy a larger floor space due to the necessity of additional support at the floor when a supporting wall is not utilized. Occupying a larger floor space often defeats the purpose of utilizing a rack for storage and organization.
Hitch accessories for the specific purpose of transporting a specific item on the exterior of the vehicle, i.e. bicycle racks, cargo carriers, and golf club carriers, may only be used occasionally and are not intended for long term or permanent storage of the transported items when mounted to the vehicle. This may require the utilization of a separate rack mounted inside a building for storage of these items.
Currently there are no commercially available devices for efficiently storing hitch receiver accessories and utilization of their specific storage function when not mounted to a vehicle. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus to store, organize and provide utilitarian function to receiver hitch accessories when not mounted to a vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a device for the storage and organization of hitch receiver accessories. The method of accessory storage allows the accessory to be mounted to the storage device in an identical, upright position as when mounted to a vehicle. Accessories such as bicycle racks and cargo carriers may still have a utilitarian use when mounted to the storage device. A cargo carrier may be used as a storage shelf and bicycle racks may be used for the storage of bicycles in the same manner as if the rack were attached to a vehicle.
The storage device allows for the use of industry standard 1¼″ and 2″ hitch accessories. The method of accessory retention utilizes the through hole for the hitch attachment pin found on all hitch accessories. A locating pin identical in diameter to the hitch pin used for each hitch size aligns and locates the accessory on the frame of the storage device. The pin does not restrain the accessory from rotating about the locating pin, so a second point of contact provides support to the bottom side of the accessory receiver protrusion, or plug, to retain the accessory in an upright position. To assemble the accessory to the storage device the user axially aligns the hitch pin hole in the plug with the locating pin and slides the plug onto the pin until the plug contacts the side of the storage device. The plug is then allowed to rest on top of a plug “stop.” The plug stop is located in such a manner as to locate 1¼″ or 2″ plugs in a horizontal position. To transversely retain the accessory to the storage device a bridge pin is inserted through a hole at the exposed end of the locating pin. This is the same style of fastener used to retain the hitch pin when the accessory is mounted to a vehicle.
The storage device mounts to the wall and floor of a building at a slight incline. The upper end of the storage device is rigidly attached to a wall by screws while the bottom end rests on a floor without being rigidly retained. The storage device is installed at approximately a 10 degree angle relative to the wall. This incline reduces the amount of force the screws in the wall must support. The storage device mounts to a wall to support the potential load of several hundred pounds that may be placed on the device and minimize the amount of floor space necessary to mount the device in a garage or other storage area.
Features are designed into the apparatus to allow the storage and organization of other related accessories, such as hitch pins, bungee cords, nylon load straps and hitch balls. Through holes in the frame allow hitch pins to be inserted and stored in an easily accessible horizontal position. Bungee cords and other load retaining straps with typical “S” shaped hooks may be hung in a vertical position from through holes at the top of the storage device to avoid tangling. These same through holes are sized to allow the threaded portion of hitch balls to be inserted and retained to the storage device by the threaded nut of the hitch ball.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A hitch accessory storage device of the present invention supports and secures vehicle receiver hitch accessories (e.g. cargo carriers, tow bars, tailgate tables, bike racks, or other accessories) while the accessory is not mounted to the vehicle. Two exemplary accessories that may be supported by the storage device include a cargo carrier (
A typical hitch receiver-mounted cargo carrier 1, as shown in
In a similar example, as shown in
As shown in
A movable plug support 25 is releasably retained to the frame 21 by a locating pin 35 (
The storage device 20 is capable of holding several types of hitch receiver accessories simultaneously in multiple locations.
A cargo carrier 1 is removably secured to the storage device 20 by aligning the through hole 7 in the cargo carrier plug 5 with the locating pin 35 of the plug support 25 and sliding the cargo carrier plug 5 onto the locating pin 35 until the side surface of the cargo carrier plug 5 contacts the side surface of the side link 36 (see
A tow bar 15 is removably secured to the storage device 20 by aligning the through hole 52 in the tow bar 15 with the locating pin 35 of the plug support 25 and sliding the tow bar 15 onto the locating pin 35 until the side surface of the tow bar 15 contacts the side surface of the side link 36 (see
In
Storage of hitch pins 6 is illustrated in
An alternate embodiment to the present invention is a unit which mounts to a perpendicular surface, or wall, and is not supported by a horizontal surface, or floor. This alternate embodiment, as shown in
Claims
1. A hitch accessory storage device, which comprises:
- (a) a frame having a floor support, a wall support, and a hitch accessory support running between said floor support and wall support; and
- (b) a locating pin, wherein the locating pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within a hitch accessory.
2. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, wherein the through hole is located in a tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory, wherein the tubular plug portion is adapted to be removably attached to a hitch receiver of a vehicle.
3. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 2, which further comprises a plug stop, wherein the plug stop (a) is located below the locating pin, (b) makes contact with a bottom surface of the tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory, and (c) enables the hitch accessory to be held in a substantially horizontal position.
4. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, which further comprises a bridge pin, wherein the bridge pin is configured to be inserted into a through hole located within the locating pin.
5. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 4, wherein the bridge pin secures the hitch accessory to the locating pin.
6. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, wherein the locating pin is integrally formed with said hitch accessory support.
7. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, wherein the locating pin is removably attachable to different locations of said hitch accessory support.
8. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, which comprises multiple locating pins, wherein each locating pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within a separate hitch accessory.
9. The hitch accessory storage device of claim 1, wherein the hitch accessory is selected from the group consisting of cargo carriers, tow bars, tailgate tables, and bike racks.
10. A method for storing a hitch accessory device, which comprises:
- (a) providing a frame having a floor support, a wall support, and a hitch accessory support running between said floor support and wall support; and
- (b) sliding a through hole located within a hitch accessory onto a locating pin affixed to said hitch accessory support.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the through hole is located in a tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory, wherein the tubular plug portion is adapted to be removably attached to a hitch receiver of a vehicle.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein a bottom surface of the tubular plug portion rests on a top surface of a plug stop affixed to said hitch accessory support, such that the hitch accessory is held in a substantially horizontal position.
13. The method of claim 10, which further comprises providing a bridge pin, wherein the bridge pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within the locating pin.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the bridge pin secures the hitch accessory to the locating pin.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein the locating pin is integrally formed with said hitch accessory support.
16. The method of claim 10, wherein the locating pin is removably attachable to different locations of said hitch accessory support.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein the hitch accessory support comprises multiple locating pins, wherein each locating pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within a separate hitch accessory.
18. The method of claim 10, wherein the hitch accessory is selected from the group consisting of cargo carriers, tow bars, tailgate tables, and bike racks.
19. A wall-mounted hitch accessory storage device, which comprises a bracket having (a) one or more holes for receiving one or more screws for securing the bracket to a wall and (b) two locating pins, wherein a first locating pin is configured to be received by a through hole located within a hitch accessory and a second locating pin is positioned to make contact with a surface of a tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory.
20. The wall-mounted hitch accessory storage device of claim 19, wherein the second locating pin is positioned below the first locating pin, such that the second locating pin makes contact with a bottom surface of the tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory.
21. The wall-mounted hitch accessory storage device of claim 19, wherein the second locating pin is positioned above the first locating pin, such that the second locating pin makes contact with a top surface of the tubular plug portion of the hitch accessory.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 6, 2007
Publication Date: Jan 17, 2008
Inventor: Doug Simon (Columbia, MO)
Application Number: 11/784,312
International Classification: A47F 5/00 (20060101);