TWI879260B - Carrying frame ball clamp structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A ball clamping structure for a trailer frame is used to clamp and fix a trailer ball through a ball clamping assembly in a ball clamping cover, wherein the upper end of the ball clamping cover has a control assembly for controlling the locking or loosening of the ball clamping assembly, wherein a limiting surface and a guiding surface are provided between the inside of the ball clamping cover and the clamping plate, and the clamping angle between the limiting surface and the guiding surface is between 74° and 83°. Accordingly, when the ball clamping assembly is controlled by the control assembly, the trailer ball can be clamped and tightened or loosened stably, and the clamping force is stable.

Description

Carrying frame ball clamp structure

The present invention relates to the field of fixing devices for a bicycle rack, and in particular to a bicycle rack ball clamping structure.

According to the report, the applicant of this case recently proposed a ball-clamping clamping structure. The clamping structure mainly uses three equiangularly arranged clamping plates to clamp and fix a trailer ball. The clamping plates can provide the clamping force of the ball-clamping structure on the trailer ball, and it is easy to use.

The above structure has been well received in the market, but the clamping force of the clamping piece is sometimes too loose or too tight. How to solve the above problem is a topic that the relevant industry is actively working on.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a trailer frame ball clamping structure, which has an inclined surface between the inside of the ball clamping cover and the clamping plate, and the angle of the inclined surface is between 74° and 83° (calculated from the horizontal plane, and 7° to 16° if calculated from the vertical plane). Accordingly, when the ball clamping assembly is controlled by the control assembly, the trailer ball can be stably clamped or loosened, and the clamping force is stable.

Therefore, the structure of the present invention comprises: a trailer ball, a ball clamping assembly, a ball clamping cover, a control assembly and a frame; the trailer ball is mounted on a vehicle body; the ball clamping assembly is mounted in the ball clamping cover, the ball clamping assembly comprises three equiangularly arranged clamping plates, each of which has a pivot rod at the top, each of which is pivoted on a combination seat, and is assembled with a positioning plate on the upper end of the combination seat, thereby limiting the aforementioned clamping plates in the inside of the ball clamping cover, each of which The clamping piece is provided with an arc shape in the center for covering the spherical end of the trailer ball, and a limit end extending outward is provided below the spherical end, and the limit end edge of each clamping piece has three adjacent and inclined limit surfaces; the ball clamping cover provides the aforementioned ball clamping assembly, control assembly and the frame arrangement, and the ball clamping cover is formed by joining a plurality of plates, and the ball clamping cover has three large joint surfaces formed by joining two plates at equal angles, and three small joint surfaces adjacent to the large joint surfaces and arranged at equal angles. The three large joint surfaces and the three small joint surfaces constitute a three-dimensional hexagonal cover structure. A carrier is provided on the top of the ball-clamping cover, and one of the large joint surfaces provides the frame connection; the control assembly is pivoted on the carrier at the upper end of the ball-clamping cover, and the control assembly includes a control handle, a connecting plate and a coupling bolt. The coupling bolt is screwed to the control handle after one side of the ball-clamping assembly passes through the connecting plate upward, and the connecting plate is pressed by the coupling bolt. The ball clamping cover has a guide surface corresponding to each of the limit surfaces. The angle between the limit surface and the guide surface is between 74° and 83° (calculated from the horizontal plane, and 7° to 16° if calculated from the vertical plane). Therefore, when the trailer ball is clamped and fixed by the control component, or the lock is released to make the trailer ball detach from the ball clamping component, the limit surface of the clamping piece of the ball clamping component can smoothly climb or descend along the guide surface, achieving the effect of convenient and stable use.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the opposite side of each large joint surface of the ball clamp cover is a small joint surface.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the frame can be assembled into a portable frame.

Through the above description, the features and effects of the present invention are briefly described as follows:

1. Compared with the previous screw tightening method, the structure of the present invention uses a surface contact method to limit the ball clamping assembly by the guide surface. Therefore, the clamping force is large and will not cause the clamping piece to disengage.

2. The present invention has the advantage of providing an inclined limiting surface on the clamping piece of the ball clamping assembly, which can smoothly clamp and fix the trailer ball, or release it when combined with the guide surface of the ball clamping cover.

3. The ball cover can be formed by joining the plates, which can reduce the manufacturing cost and make it easy to fix the angle.

10: Tow ball

20: Ball clamp assembly

21: Clamping piece

22: Pivot rod

23: Combination seat

24: Positioning piece

25: Spherical end

26: Limit end

261: Limiting surface

30: Ball cover

31: Large joint surface

32: Small joint surface

33: Carrier

34: Guiding surface

40: Control components

41: Control handle

42: Interlude

43: Binding plug

44: Knob

50:Frame

A: Angle

Figure 1: A three-dimensional diagram of the structure of the present invention.

Figure 2: Structural decomposition diagram of the present invention.

Figure 3: Structural cross-section of the present invention.

Figure 4: The present invention uses the action diagram (I), pushing up the control component.

Figure 5: The present invention is used in action diagram (II), the ball clamping assembly is extended downward along the guide surface of the ball clamping cover.

Figure 6: The present invention is shown clamping a trailer ball.

As shown in the first to third figures, the trailer frame ball clamping structure of the present invention includes: a trailer ball 10, a ball clamping assembly 20, a ball clamping cover 30, a control assembly 40 and a frame 50.

As shown in the third to fifth figures, the trailer ball 10 is installed on a vehicle body (not shown).

As shown in the second to sixth figures, the ball clamping assembly 20 is installed in the ball clamping cover 30. The ball clamping assembly 20 includes three equiangularly arranged clamping pieces 21. The top of each clamping piece 21 has a pivot rod 22. Each pivot rod 22 is pivoted on a combination seat 23 and is assembled with a positioning piece 24 on the upper end of the combination seat 23 to form a ball clamping assembly 20. The aforementioned clamping piece 21 is limited inside the ball clamping cover 30. Each clamping piece 21 is provided with an arc-shaped spherical end 25 in the center for covering the trailer ball 10, and an outwardly extending limiting end 26 is provided below the spherical end 25. The edge of the limiting end 26 of each clamping piece 21 has three adjacent and inclined limiting surfaces 261.

As shown in the second to sixth figures, the ball-clamping cover 30 provides the aforementioned ball-clamping assembly 20, the control assembly 40 and the frame 50. The ball-clamping cover 30 is formed by joining a plurality of plates. The ball-clamping cover 30 has three large joint surfaces 31 that are equiangularly arranged and formed by joining two plates, and three small joint surfaces 32 that are adjacent to the large joint surfaces 31 and are equiangularly arranged. The aforementioned three large joint surfaces 31 and three small joint surfaces 32 form a three-dimensional hexagonal cover structure. A carrier 33 is provided at the top of the ball-clamping cover 30, and one set of the large joint surfaces 31 is provided for connection with the frame 50. In addition, as shown in the second figure, the opposite side of each large joint surface 31 of the ball-clamping cover 30 is a small joint surface 32.

As shown in the first to sixth figures, the control assembly 42 is pivoted to the carrier 33 at the upper end of the ball clamp cover 30. The control assembly 40 includes a control handle 41, a connecting piece 42 and a coupling bolt 43. The coupling bolt 43 is screwed to the control handle 41 after passing through the connecting piece 42 from one side of the ball clamp assembly 20 upwards. The coupling bolt 43 produces a pressing and releasing effect on the connecting piece 42. Furthermore, a knob 44 for adjusting the position of the coupling bolt 43 is provided at the top of the control handle 41. The knob 44 can control the position of the ball clamp assembly 20, thereby adjusting the clamping force of the ball clamp assembly 20.

As shown in the second to sixth figures, the inner part of the ball clamp cover 30 has a guide surface 34 corresponding to each of the limit surfaces 261. The angle A between the limit surfaces 261 and the guide surface 34 is between 74° and 83° (calculated from the horizontal plane, and 7° to 16° if calculated from the vertical plane). Accordingly, when the trailer ball 10 is clamped and fixed by the control assembly 40, or unlocked, the limit surface 261 of the clamping piece 21 of the ball clamp assembly 20 can smoothly climb or descend along the guide surface 34, achieving the effect of convenient and stable use.

The above is the description of each component of the present invention. The following will introduce the usage instructions and the effects that can be obtained by the present invention.

As shown in the fourth figure, push the control handle 41 of the control assembly 40 upward to push the coupling bolt 43 downward, and at the same time release the state where the linking plate 42 is pressed by the control handle 41.

As shown in the fifth figure, the three sets of clamping pieces 21 of the ball clamping assembly 20 are driven downward by the downward push of the coupling bolt 43. As shown in the partial enlarged view of the third and fifth figures, the clamping piece 21 of the ball clamping assembly 20 descends along the guide surface 34 through the limit surface 261 at the bottom, and then slightly extends from the ball clamping cover 30. The aforementioned angle A between the limit surface 261 and the guide surface 34 is between 74° and 83° (from the horizontal plane, if from the vertical plane, it is 7° to 16°). The advantages at this angle are: having a clamping push-pull surface allows the clamping piece 21 to tightly clamp the trailer ball 10, or allows the ball clamping assembly 20 to smoothly detach slightly from the ball clamping cover 30.

As shown in the third and sixth figures, when clamping the trailer ball 10, compared with the previous ball clamping structure tightened by screws, the structure of the present invention uses a surface contact method to limit the ball clamping assembly 20 by the guide surface 34, so the clamping force is large and will not cause the clamping piece 21 to disengage.

As shown in the first to sixth figures, the present invention has an inclined limiting surface 261 on the clamping piece 21 of the clamping ball assembly 20, which can smoothly clamp and fix the trailer ball 10, or release it when combined with the guide surface 34 of the clamping ball cover 30.

Furthermore, compared to the applicant's previous case, the ball cover 30 of the present invention can be formed by joining plates, which can reduce manufacturing costs and is easy to fix the angle.

As shown in the first and second figures, the frame 50 can be assembled into a portable rack. In addition, the frame 50 can also be assembled into a luggage tray, a storage box, or a storage tray.

In summary, the structure of this invention has never been seen in any books or publications or used publicly, and it truly meets the requirements for invention patent application. We sincerely request the Bureau to review and approve the patent as soon as possible. I would be very grateful.

It should be noted that the above is a specific implementation example of the present invention and the technical principles used. If the changes made according to the concept of the present invention still do not exceed the spirit covered by the instructions and drawings, they should be stated within the scope of the present invention.

10: Tow ball

20: Ball clamp assembly

21: Clamping piece

22: Pivot rod

23: Combination seat

24: Positioning piece

25: Spherical end

26: Limit end

261: Limiting surface

30: Ball cover

34: Guiding surface

40: Control components

41: Control handle

42: Interlude

43: Binding plug

44: Knob

A: Angle

Claims (5)

A trailer frame ball clamping structure includes: a trailer ball, a ball clamping assembly, a ball clamping cover, a control assembly and a frame; The trailer ball is installed on a vehicle body; The ball clamping assembly is installed in the ball clamping cover. The ball clamping assembly includes three equiangularly arranged clamping plates. The top of each clamping plate has a pivot rod. Each pivot rod is pivoted on a combination seat and is assembled on the upper end of the combination seat with a positioning plate to limit the aforementioned clamping plate inside the ball clamping cover. Each clamping plate is provided with an arc-shaped spherical end for covering the trailer ball in the center, and an outwardly extending limiting end is provided below the spherical end. The limiting end edge of each clamping plate has three adjacent and inclined limiting surfaces; The ball-clamping cover provides the aforementioned ball-clamping assembly, control assembly and the frame. The ball-clamping cover is formed by joining a plurality of plates. The ball-clamping cover has three large joint surfaces formed by joining two plates at equal angles, and three small joint surfaces adjacent to the large joint surfaces and arranged at equal angles. The aforementioned three large joint surfaces and three small joint surfaces form a three-dimensional hexagonal cover structure. A carrier is provided at the top of the ball-clamping cover, and one of the large joint surfaces provides connection to the frame. The control assembly is pivotally connected to the carrier at the upper end of the ball clamp cover. The control assembly includes a control handle, a connecting plate and a coupling bolt. The coupling bolt is screwed to the control handle after passing through the connecting plate from one side of the ball clamp assembly. The coupling bolt produces a pressing and releasing effect on the connecting plate. The interior of the ball clamp cover has a guide surface corresponding to each of the limit surfaces. The angle between the limit surface and the guide surface is between 74° and 83° (calculated from the horizontal plane, and 7° to 16° if calculated from the vertical plane). Accordingly, when the trailer ball is clamped and fixed by the control assembly, or the lock is released so that the trailer ball is separated from the ball clamp assembly, the limit surface of the clamping piece of the ball clamp assembly can smoothly climb or descend along the guide surface, achieving the effect of convenient and stable use. As described in claim 1, the ball-clamping structure for a portable frame has a small joint surface on the opposite side of each large joint surface of the ball-clamping cover. A portable bicycle frame ball-clamping structure as described in claim 1, wherein the frame can be assembled into a portable bicycle frame. As described in claim 1, the ball-clamping structure of the bicycle frame, wherein the limiting surface and the guiding surface are in surface contact. As described in claim 1, the ball clamp structure for a bicycle frame is provided with a knob for adjusting the position of the coupling bolt at the top of the control handle, and the position of the ball clamp assembly can be controlled by the knob, thereby adjusting the clamping force of the ball clamp assembly.

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