The trailer hitching coupler of this invention includes a body having a horizontally disposed body plate, a dome fastened on the lower side of the forwardmost terminal end of the body plate to operably engage a hitching ball, and a pair of parallelly upstandingly disposed cam-supporting walls fastened to the upper-most terminal side of the body plate from the rearwardmost terminal side of the dome to the rearwardmost terminal end of the body plate. The coupler also includes a cam assembly carrie...

A safety device for preventing the inadvertent disengagement of the socket from the ball in a ball and socket type trailer hitch. The safety device has an upright standard affixed to the hitch with a stop mounted on the standard for pivotable movement to a position directly over the ball and socket to prevent their disengagement. The standard and stop have vertical surfaces that are aligned with each other when the stop extends directly over the socket. A vertically oriented lever is pivotally m...

A hitch combination which includes a hitch constituting a part of one vehicle and a coupler constituting a part of another vehicle. The one vehicle includes a first key device which is correlated to a certain characteristic of the vehicle. The other vehicle includes a second key device which is correlated to a certain characteristic of the other vehicle. The key devices of the vehicles have interfering parts which serve to prevent securement of the coupler to the hitch when there is a mismatch o...

A compound male coupling member for a ball-and-socket-type hitch, and wherein the member is composed of selectively exchangeable components coacting to form hitch balls each having a different diameter.

A guard for shielding a trailer hitch ball to prevent the front bumper of one vehicle from jumping over such a hitch ball mounted on a draft bar extending rearwardly from another vehicle comprising a U-shaped member having the central portion secured to the draft bar with the legs thereof forming guard plates extending upwardly on each side of the ball, the member being secured to the bar by a U-bolt straddling the bar and extending through said central portion and the guard plates being configu...

A safety trailer hitch in which a ball is mounted on the towing vehicle and a ball clamping coupling is mounted on the trailing vehicle. A member carrying a finger is arranged on the towing vehicle to be positioned with the finger overlying the coupling to prevent the coupling from detaching from the ball even if unlocked. The finger is mounted to be swung out of the way as required to permit the coupling to be disconnected from the ball. In a modified form of the invention a yoke is mounted on ...

A spherical coupling that utilizes a ball structure attached to one part to be coupled, and a socket structure that attaches to the other part to be coupled. One embodiment of the improvement structure disclosed utilizes a front opening housing having a stationary cam therein and a rotating outer shell that engages the ball and causes it to seat in the socket upon rotation of the outer shell. Upon completion of the engagement, the outer shell is locked in a holding position.

A heavy duty coupler for a trailer hitch including a standard ball head has semi-spherical socket members hinged together by a vertical pin. One of these socket members has a shank by which the coupler is secured to the tongue of the trailer. The other of the socket members has an extension which in the closed position seats in a recess in the shank. A rotatable locking sleeve has a radially or laterally offset recess which permits the extension to swing outward enough to put the coupler to be p...

An anti-breakaway device for preventing the inadvertent vertical separation of a ball and socket type trailer hitch, having a downwardly opening ball receiving socket, and a draft ball attached to a draft vehicle and received in the socket, the device including interconnected locking plates which overlie portions of the hitch and underlie portions of the draft ball to restrict relative vertical movement of the ball and the socket.

The trailer coupling device includes a housing, a block member, and a block moving member. The housing forms an elongated chamber with a semispherical pocket towards the front end of the housing. The lower portion of the housing has a ball opening to receive a ball member, and has a slot extending towards the front end of the housing to enable the ball member to move into the semispherical pocket. The block member is movable up and down in the chamber through a block opening in the upper portion...