US 12,441,271 B1
Padded shield for vehicle hitches
Bobby Smith, Washington, NC (US)
Filed by Bobby Smith, Washington, NC (US)
Filed on Dec. 6, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/075,482.
Int. Cl. B60D 1/58 (2006.01); B60R 21/34 (2011.01)
CPC B60R 21/34 (2013.01) [B60D 1/58 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A padded shield for vehicle hitches comprising:
a shield, a bottom bracket, and a mounting bracket;
wherein the padded shield for vehicle hitches is adapted to prevent personal injury of a person walking past a vehicle;
wherein the padded shield for vehicle hitches is adapted to prevent the person from injuring a leg due to contact with a trailer hitch;
wherein the shield projects from a rear of the trailer hitch and is adapted to prevent a leg from contacting a ball mount;
wherein the shield is padded;
wherein the bottom bracket couples the shield to the mounting bracket;
wherein the mounting bracket removably couples to a shank of the ball mount to suspend the padded shield for vehicle hitches from the trailer hitch;
wherein the shield comprises a shield armature that is held in a horizontal orientation;
wherein the shield armature is U-shaped with the straight ends of the U pointed towards the vehicle and the rounded portion of the U pointed away from the vehicle;
wherein the shield armature is hollow and has a lateral footprint that is wider than the ball mount such that the shield armature extends laterally to both sides of the ball mount and guards the ball mount from contact on either side of the ball mount;
wherein the shield armature extends rearward farther than the ball mount such that the ball mount is guarded from rear contact;
wherein the shield armature is positioned lower than the ball mount.