US Patent 10246134 Truck mud flap with elbow tubes

A mud flap adapted to be attached behind a wheel or outside a wheel of a vehicle, particularly useful in association with large trucks or tractor trailers, which facilitates the redirected flow of water, mud, snow and roadway debris to and down the exterior surface of the mud flap. The mud flap is adapted to be attached to a vehicle behind a wheel thereof, using conventional technology, and includes a panel defined by an interior surface intended to be positioned approximal a tire and an opposing exterior surface. The panel has a plurality of annular apertures extending through the panel. A plurality of elbow tubes extend from the exterior surface of the panel at each of the apertures, and a plurality of lip structures defined by an arced perimeter, extend from the interior surface of the panel. The elbow tubes of the disclosed technology include a body extending with a downward curvature relative to the panel when the panel is attached to the vehicle. In this configuration, water, snow, ice and roadway debris flow down the interior surface of the panel, are collected by the lips and redirected through the elbow tubes, down the exterior surface of the panel.