Adaptive Step Hitch Assembly with Retractable Tow Accessory
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hitch step systems for accessing vehicle rooftops and truck beds are hazardous, inconvenient, and limited in adaptability, with exposed edges posing injury risks and mechanical failures due to weather exposure, and they become unusable when a trailer is hitched.
Innovation Solution
A stable and durable adaptive step hitch assembly with a double platform, secured to a vehicle hitch receiver, featuring adjustable height and mounting for tow accessories, with a locking mechanism allowing the hitch receiver to be extended or retracted, and a design that accommodates various vehicle and user sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional hitch steps are designed to provide a flat step top surface and surrounding walls, then they can provide a stable platform for accessing rooftop and truck bed areas, but the upwardly exposed edge in storage position poses a threat of injury
Solution Approach 1:
The step assembly is designed to be movable between a deployed position (providing stable platform) and a retracted position (storing within the receiver tube to eliminate exposed edges). This dynamic configuration allows the same structure to provide stability when needed and eliminate injury risks when not in use.
Solution Approach 2:
The step assembly is nested within the receiver tube when in storage position, with the step platform and surrounding walls contained inside the tube. This nesting eliminates the upwardly exposed edge that poses injury risk, while still allowing the step to be deployed when needed for stable platform functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If hinges or other mechanisms are used to flip the step from use to storage position, then the step can be moved between positions, but these mechanisms are prone to mechanical failure following exposure to rain, snow, sleet, salt and other untoward road conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The vulnerable hinge mechanism is extracted and replaced with a simple manual deployment system. The step assembly is designed to be easily inserted into and removed from the receiver tube without complex moving parts that could fail due to weather exposure. This eliminates the mechanical failure risk associated with hinges while maintaining the ability to move between positions.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the step is positioned below the ball mount in a fixed low position, then it provides a stable mounting location, but it provides limited access and adaptability to various uses
Solution Approach 1:
The step assembly is designed to be adjustable in height and position within the receiver tube. The surrounding walls can be positioned at different heights to accommodate various ball mount positions and user needs. This dynamic adjustability provides both stable mounting (when walls surround the ball mount) and adaptability to various uses (different heights, different configurations).
4Ease of operation
If the step is moved to an upward storage position to expose the hitch ball, then the hitch ball is accessible for hitching trailers, but the step cannot be used while a trailer is hitched to the ball mount
Solution Approach 1:
The step assembly and hitch ball are arranged in different spatial dimensions and positions. The step assembly is contained within the receiver tube while the hitch ball protrudes outward. This spatial separation allows the step to remain in a usable position within the tube while the hitch ball remains accessible externally for trailer hitching, enabling simultaneous use of both functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A step hitch assembly providing a platform surface elevated from the ground level of a vehicle for facilitating access to a rooftop surfaces and elevated objects on or about the rooftop surface including a trailer hitch member attachable to a vehicle hitch receiver, a step platform having at least two substantially planar surfaces in substantially parallel alignment adjoined by a transverse panel to thereby define a space therebetween fastenable to the vehicle hitch receiver in alternative horizontally and vertical orientations and having a plurality of corresponding transverse spaced perforations sized and spaced in transverse alignment for detachable coupling of a tow accessory hitch receiver having receiver holes to corresponding spaced perforations and a locking member capable of alternatively securing the hitch receiver in an extended position wherein the hitch receiver ball protrudes from the step platform or in a retracted position wherein the tow accessory hitch receiver ball is retracted in the space formed between the substantially planar surfaces of the step platform.