The Story Behind The WeighSafe Hitch
Towing Safety: Measuring Trailer Tongue-weight the easy way
by Bruce W. Smith
One of those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that-moments” came during a walk through the 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association’s (SEMA) New Product Showcase in Las Vegas.
Of more than 2,200 new products on display at the SEMA Show, the WeighSafe Hitch, invented by mechanical engineer and hydraulic expert Kevin McAllister, caught my attention.
The WeighSafe Hitch has a built-in tongue-weight gauge activated by a plunger on the ball mount that is pressed when the trailer tongue is connected.
The plunger presses the hydraulic fluid through a small channel inside the shank activating the scale.
What spurred the concept? His wife. McAllister’s wife said to him at one point, “Why don’t you invent something that will save lives,” which got the inventor thinking about hitches and the issues related to actually knowing a trailer’s tongue weight.
Innovative WeighSafe tow ball/shank shows trailer tongue weight.
He was experienced in using hitches and knew that inappropriate load distribution can cause the tow trailer to fish-tail, potentially resulting in a serious accident.
As of this writing the WeighSafe Hitch is being run through a series of rigid tests by an independent lab that specializes in scale use such as this.
Leap Innovations is spearheading the marketing of WeighSafe, which its inventor and marketing agency feels will be a game changer in the towing industry.
“The potential market is obviously very broad,” says Leap Innovations Verl Doman.
“Not only did WeighSafe win SEMA’s “Best New Tools & Equipment Product” award, it caught the attention of individual potential users, large distributors, retail organizations, and major hitch manufacturers both domestic and foreign.”
Leap Innovations’ parent company has been a vendor of The Home Depot Stores for more than 15 years, so details on this new innovation’s actual distribution to the general public are still being worked out.
“One thing we learned we from revealing WeighSafe at the SEMA Show is we have a product that appeals right away to anyone who is serious about safety and towing ,” says Doman. — Bruce W. Smith
CONTACT
Leap Innovations; www.weighsafe.com; (801) 766-0520
