Technical Field The present invention relates generally to trailer hitch assemblies and, more particularly, to a novel adaptor for a vehicle to allow receiving and holding useful accessories.

Background of the Invention Regardless of the type of vehicle, it will likely be used to carry cargo of varied types. Many vehicles must be able to transport substantial cargo for family road trips. Other vehicles are used to haul bulky equipment to work, transport household or garden items and/or carry equipment and supplies for long camping weekends. However, the cargo carrying requirement for many of today's vehicles often exceeds the vehicle's actual space capacity. Accordingly, it is known to provide attachments or accessories allowing expansion of the cargo carrying space of a vehicle. To address this need, Cequent Towing

Products, Inc. 's predecessor, Reese Products, Inc. developed the Dual Port System equipment for carrying various useful accessories on a vehicle. Such accessories include, for example, bike carriers, open cargo carriers, closed cargo carriers, motorcycles carriers, lifts, transformer tables and the like.

In certain situations, a vehicle may already include a standard trailer hitch receiver assembly incorporating a conventional receiver box for receiving a hitch bar. Many owners may find it desirable to adapt such an assembly to allow attachment of additional accessories, or accessories requiring a different attachment system than a standard hitch box.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a novel means for expanding the cargo carrying space of a vehicle. Specifically, the present invention provides an adaptor for mounting to a vehicle comprising a mounting bracket and accessory support, which when mounted to the vehicle provide enhanced versatility in hauling a wider range of useful vehicle accessories in a more effective and convenient manner.

Summary of the Invention In accordance with the purposes of the present invention as described herein, an improved adaptor is provided for a vehicle to allow mounting a variety of useful accessories to the vehicle. The adaptor includes a vehicle mounting bracket allowing the adaptor to be secured to a vehicle frame, to a conventional trailer hitch assembly, to a

vehicle bumper, or to any combination thereof. The adaptor further includes an accessory receiver extending at an angle from the vehicle mounting bracket, which includes a mating end. The accessory receiver mating end is adapted to receive a mounting post of the type described in the copending U. S. utility patent application serial no.

10/283,999, filed October 30,2002 and entitled"Universal Accessory Support Assembly" (incorporated herein by reference).

When the adaptor is mounted to a vehicle as will be described in greater detail below, the accessory receiver is supported with sufficient clearance from the vehicle bumper to allow a desired accessory to be received thereon. The accessory receiver is supported to extend upwardly at an included angle of between about 1 and about 89 degrees relative to a horizontal plane of the vehicle. It will be appreciated that this upward orientation for the accessory receiver improves the ease with which a user may attach a desired accessory, and reduces the likelihood that the accessory will inadvertently disengage from the adaptor of the present invention.

The adaptor of the present invention will typically be mounted to a vehicle in pairs, such that the paired accessory receivers extend rearwardly or forwardly from the vehicle in a spaced longitudinal arrangement. Cooperating mounting posts, brackets, and/or support assemblies as described in copending U. S. patent application serial no.

10/283,999 (discussed above) and serial no. 60/423,491, filed on November 4,2002, and entitled"Accessory Mounting Bracket,"both of which are incorporated herein by reference, may be mounted

thereon, allowing affixation of a variety of useful accessories including, but not limited to, cargo bins or boxes, cargo trays, cargo racks, bicycle racks, and the like.

Still other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described a preferred embodiment of this invention, simply by way of illustration of one of the modes best suited to carry out the invention. As it will be realized, the invention is capable of other different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various, obvious aspects all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

Brief Description of the Drawing The accompanying drawing incorporated in and forming a part of the specification, illustrates several aspects of the present invention and together with the description serves to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawing: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the adaptor of the present invention; Figure 2 shows the adaptor of the present invention in conjunction with a mounting post and support bracket for supporting a variety of accessories such as the illustrated carrier ; Figure 3 shows the adaptor of the present invention mounted to a vehicle;

Figure 4a is a detailed cross-sectional view illustrating the connection between the accessory receiver and a relatively large mounting post; and Figure 4b is a detailed cross-sectional view illustrating the connection between the accessory receiver and a relatively small mounting post.

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Detailed Description of the Invention Reference is now made to Figure 1 showing the adaptor 10 of the present invention. The adaptor 10 includes a substantially L- shaped vehicle mounting bracket 12 having flanges 14,16 for mounting to a vehicle frame, to a conventional trailer hitch receiver assembly, to a vehicle bumper, or to any combination thereof. Flanges 14,16 may include apertures 18 allowing the adaptor 10 to be mounted to cooperating apertures in the frame, hitch assembly, or bumper of a vehicle using conventional nut and bolt fasteners.

More specifically, Figure 3 illustrates the mounting of an adaptor 10 to a vehicle frame 20. The vehicle frame 20 includes side rails 22,24 and at least one cross member 26. When properly mounted, the bracket 12 rests in the crotch defined by the side rail 22 and the cross member 26. The apertures 18 in the flanges 14,16 are aligned with cooperating apertures 28 in the frame 20. Fasteners 29 such as

cooperating nuts and bolts complete the connection. Of course, alternative fastening systems such as welding could be utilized if desired.

As also shown in Figure 1, the adaptor 10 includes an accessory receiver 30 extending outwardly at an angle from the mounting bracket 12. The accessory receiver 30 may be attached to the mounting bracket 12 by any suitable means, such as welding, or alternatively the mounting bracket 12 and accessory receiver 30 may be cast or forged as a unitary piece. The precise shape and dimensions of the accessory receiver 30 are not critical. Typically, as shown in the embodiment depicted in Figure 1, the accessory receiver 30 is substantially L- shaped, extending from the mounting bracket 12 and comprising a support arm 32 and a mating end 34. The mating end 34 extends at a substantially right angle to the support arm 32. It will be appreciated that the precise angles between the mounting bracket 12 and the support arm 32, and between the support arm 32 and the mating end 34 are not critical, as long as the mating end 34 is maintained at a desired angle relative to a horizontal plane of the vehicle to which it is mounted. This will be described in greater detail below.

The mating end 34 of the accessory receiver 30 includes a first section 38 adjacent the support arm 32 having a first width W, and a second section 40 having a second width W2 wherein W, > W2. The second section 40 includes a rounded end 42, a locking aperture 44 and a locking slot 46. In the illustrated embodiment the locking slot 46 is provided in the bottom edge of the second section 40. Additionally, a

notch 48 is provided in the support arm 32 and placed substantially at the juncture between the support arm and the mating end 34. These various structures cooperate in a manner to be described in greater detail below to allow the adaptor 10 to be utilized to connect accessory mounting posts 50 of two disparate sizes, thereby increasing the versatility of the adaptor of the present invention.

As illustrated in Figures 2 and 4b, a mounting post 50 may include a first sidewall 52, a second sidewall 54 opposite the first sidewall, a third sidewall 56 and a fourth sidewall 58 opposite the third sidewall. Together the four sidewalls 52, 54, 56, 58 define an internal slot or lumen 60 for receiving the mating end 34 of the adaptor 10.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 2 and 4b, the slot or lumen 60 is of a first relatively narrow width sized to provide the necessary clearance to be received over the second section 40 but not the first section 38 of the mating end 34. The rounded tip 42 aids the operator in aligning the mounting post 50 over the mating end 34. The mounting post 50 is then pushed down over the mating end 34 until the leading edge 62 of the mounting post engages the notch 64. At that time the mounting post 50 is fully seated. At that time the slot 46 in the mating end 34 is aligned with a cooperating slot 66 provided in the mounting post 50. A spring loaded latch 70 pivotally mounted to the mounting post 50 passes through the notch 66 and engages in the notch 46 in the mating end 34 to secure the mounting post 50 in position on the adaptor 10.

As illustrated in Figure 4a, the adaptor 10 of the present invention will also receive a mounting post 80 having an internal slot or lumen 82 of relatively large dimension, sized and shaped to be received over the first section 38 of the receiver assembly 30. In this embodiment, the leading edge 84 of the mounting post 80 engages in the notch 48 when the post is fully seated on the adaptor 10. At that time cooperating apertures in the sidewalls of the post 80 are aligned with the locking aperture 44 in the mating end 34 of the adaptor 10. A pin 90 is then inserted through those apertures and a cooperating pin clip is inserted on the pin to secure it in position and complete the connection of the post 80 to the adaptor 10.

For most applications at least two adaptors 10 are mounted to a vehicle as described above. Precise dimensions of the adaptors 10 are not critical. However, it should be appreciated that the accessory receiver 30 is of a length to provide sufficient clearance to allow the mounting of an accessory without interference from the vehicle bumper. When properly mounted to a vehicle, the mating end 34 of each accessory receiver 30 is supported to extend upwardly at an included angle of from between about 1 degree to about 89 degrees and more typically between about 10 to about 30 degrees relative to a horizontal plane P of the vehicle. It will be appreciated that this upward orientation improves the ease with which a user may attach an accessory in comparison to a conventional horizontal orientation for an accessory mounting bracket. It will also be appreciated that the upward orientation of the mating end 34 reduces the risk of inadvertent disconnection of the accessory A from the receiver 30 due to gravity,

jostling from rough road surfaces and the like. For purposes of illustration, an accessory A such as a cargo carrier is shown mounted to a bracket B carried by the mounting post 50 (see Figure 2). It should be appreciated, however, that substantially any type of accessory known to those skilled in the art may be mounted to the bracket B and supported on the adaptor 10 through a mounting post in the manner illustrated.

The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.

Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the present description and appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally and equitably entitled. The drawings and preferred embodiments do not and are not intended to limit the ordinary meaning of the claims and their fair and broad interpretation in any way.