Hitch pin

Claim 1

A hitch pin having a tubular body carrying an external shoulder adjacent its upper end and having a tapered lower end adapted for insertion in registering hitch apertures, said pin body having a central vertical slot adjacent its tapered lower end, an elongated locking member pivotally supported intermediate its ends within said slot and movable between a retracted position in which the locking member is totally within said slot and a locking position in which the free end portions of the locking member extend beyond the slot, and means for moving said locking member between said positions comprising a rod pivotally connected to said locking member and extending through the central bore of said tubular pin body, the upper end of said rod having a camming portion formed in transversely flattened oval configuration, the upper end of said tubular body being provided with a vertical slot into which said camming portion of the rod recedes when said locking member is moved into its locking position, a handle member forming a closed loop pivotally attached to the pin body and disposed in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said camming portion of said rod, and a transverse member carried by said handle member extending through the camming portion of said rod, whereby as said handle member is moved into its extreme lowered position on either side of said hitching pin the handle is below the upper tip of the pin and said transverse member lowers said rod within the pin body to drive said locking member from its said retracted position to its said locking position.