Pneumatically operated adjustable sliding trailer support

Claim 1

A remotely-controlled suspension system for adjustably positioning a wheeled subframe at any selected one of a plurality of multiple positions relative to a cargo unit of a vehicle, comprising: (a) track means stationarily mounted on the cargo unit, and having a plurality of apertures spaced apart of one another along a longitudinal direction parallel to the direction of vehicle advancement; (b) actuatable locking means mounted on the wheeled subframe for joint movement therewith along the longitudinal direction relative to the track means, and operative for releasably locking the wheeled subframe to the cargo unit at said selected position, said locking means including at least one locking pin displaceable into and out of a selected one of the apertures that corresponds to said selected position; (c) actuating means for displacing said at least one locking pin between a locked state in which said at least one locking pin is displaced into said selected aperture to lock the cargo unit and the subframe at said selected position, and an unlocked state in which said at least one locking pin is displaced out of said selected aperture to unlock the cargo unit and the subframe and enable the cargo unit to be moved from the subframe to another selected one of the positions; and (d) a carriage mounted upon said track means for slidable movement therealong, said locking means being mounted on said carriage; and wherein said actuating means comprises power-assist means and said actuating means comprises a shaft journaled on the carriage for turning movement about the longitudinal direction; a pair of elongated arms extending in opposite transverse directions, each arm having one end connected to the shaft, and another end connected to a respective pin; a crank link fixedly mounted on the shaft and extending outwardly thereof to an offset end such that, in a locked position, said shaft, said elongated arms, said locking pins, and said apertures are substantially at the same height and are traversed by a common horizontal plane; an electrically-powered pneumatic device operatively connected to the offset end and operative, when electrical power is supplied to the pneumatic device from a remote activator, to turn the crank link and, in turn, the shaft through an angular distance sufficient to pull the arms in opposite directions and, in turn, to pull the pins out of the aligned apertures to the unlocked state.