Bicycle hitch for connection to a trailer

Claim 1

For a two wheeled bicycle type vehicle having a single rear wheel and rear axle, a trailer hitch, said hitch comprising a vertical fork of a length greater than the radius of the rear wheel and said fork having a lower end and an upper end, said lower end being adapted for attachment to the rear wheel axle of a bicycle and said upper end comprising an upstanding vertical turning stem; means to mount the fork to the rear axle; a first sleeve about the turning stem; a rigid elongate member having a first end and a second end and having a longitudinal axis, said rigid elongate member extending rearwardly and downwardly from the first sleeve at an angle between the vertical of between 64 and 65 degrees and of a length sufficient to extend beyond the vertical tangent to the rear bicycle wheel, said member being rigidly attached to said first sleeve at the first end; an elongate second sleeve about the member, said second sleeve being of a length shorter than said member and rotatable and slidable along the rigid member, said second sleeve having a front and rear end, stop means to limit sliding movement along the member of said second sleeve; a depending hitch member having a vertical portion connected rigidly to the second sleeve rearwardly of the bicycle wheel and adjacent the rear end and of a length extending to the centerline of the bicycle wheels for attachment to a draw bar of a trailer; and means to anchor the fork in a vertical attitude.