GB2288426A - Portable equipment security device - Google Patents

Abstract

A security device comprises a base member 10 and at least one retaining member 24 which can loop partially around an article 34 such as a computer mounted on the base member to retain the article in the mounted position. A shroud 14 is associated with the base member 10 to cover the portion of the article closest to the base member and thus to hide any gap between the base member and the article. This discourages the use of a crowbar, jemmy or other implement to lever the article away from the base member. <IMAGE>

Description

SECURITY DEVICE This invention relates to a security device, in particular a security device for resisting theft of computer equipment.

Worsening crime statistics have had an effect on many peoples' lives at home and at work. Few people have not been affected in some way by crime, especially by theft of property such as burglary.

Burglary thrives on two factors: ready portability of the property being taken, so that the burglar can make good his or her escape e.g. through windows or over walls while carrying and if necessary concealing the property; and premises that are unoccupied or poorly guarded, so that the burglar can operate without much risk of being detected and captured.

Both of these factors that promote burglary are present in commercial premises such an office or a factory, where there is much valuable and readily portable property, and the premises are regularly unoccupied for long periods, usually during the night or at weekends. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that theft from commercial premises such as offices is a substantial part of the worsening crime statistics from which we suffer.

Further, in recent years, criminals have become more brazen: a well-known tactic is for a thief simply to enter an occupied premises during the working day (sometimes posing as a customer), pick up a computer and run out again before the alarm can be raised.

It should be noted that the economic effect of theft from commercial premises can be out of all proportion to the value of the property taken, because the business suffers from the lack of that property. For example, if computer equipment is stolen, the business may be unable to function effectively and, if care was not taken to keep adequate backups, priceless software and data can be irreplaceably lost. Thus, a business unfortunate enough to suffer a burglary or other crime may lose profits amounting to many times the value of the property stolen, and may not survive the financial consequences.

Burglars especially prize computer equipment because this is usually of high value, is compact, and can be sold readily for profit in view of high demand among the public and businesses for good second-hand machines.

In a sense, the competition amongst computer companies to 'downsize' their hardware is playing into the hands of criminals because extremely powerful processors and huge memories can now fit into PC-sized units. Thus, equipment that would fill a room and be almost impossible to steal ten years ago can now fit into a suitcase and so be carried off without fear of detection.

The abovementioned problems have not gone unnoticed by the manufacturers of security products, and many such products are now on the market without, unfortunately, stemming the increase in theft of computer equipment and other property such as fax machines and telephones on commercial premises. These products fall into two broad categories: those that set off an alarm if an attempt is made to steal a computer; and those that physically block attempts to move the computer away from its designated location.

Among the former category of products is a system comprising a pad adhesively or mechanically secured to the computer equipment (e.g. monitor, CPU or a printer) and connected to a cable which, if broken or disconnected from the pad, sets off an audible alarm. Reliance on an alarm is, however, unsatisfactory because alarms may not be heard - often the case in near-deserted commercial districts outside office hours - and, even if heard, are commonly ignored by a public accustomed to false alarms.

The latter category of products includes cable-and-pad systems akin to those described above which, apart from activating an alarm, tie the equipment to a desk, a column or other relatively fixed structure. To this end, the cable may be of high-tensile steel to resist cutting by saws or the like. However, the cable can be cut relatively easily by a pair of bolt cutters and, in any event, the system is of no use if the pad can be forced off the equipment that it is designed to protect. In this respect, stronger fixing of the pads can be achieved by rivets or other mechanical fixings but these require holes in the equipment which are unsightly and affect its resale value in the event of upgrading.

Also, burglars will often have no compunction in damaging the casing of the computer equipment if that is necessary to remove a pad.

Other security products of the second category include: rails fixed to e.g. a desk and interlocking with corresponding rails fixed to the underside of a computer unit; and a base plate fixed to e.g. the floor and having rods which curve over the computer unit to hold it down on the base plate. The former product suffers the disadvantage of having to fix rails directly to the computer equipment, which the latter product avoids, but both products leave a gap between the computer and its support (e.g. the desk or the floor) in which a crowbar, jemmy or other implement could be engaged to lever the computer free.

This invention results from our efforts to solve these and other problems of known security devices.

In a broad sense, our invention provides a security device comprising a base member and at least one retaining member which can loop partially around an article such as a computer mounted on the base member to retain the article in the mounted position, wherein a shroud is associated with the base member to cover the portion of the article closest to the base member and thus to hide any gap between the base member and the article.

Advantageously, the base member includes a base plate and the shroud is an upstanding lip around the periphery of the base plate, the base member thus taking the form of a tray in which a base portion of the article is received. The base member should be dimensioned closely to follow the shape and size of the article, but will most commonly be of rectangular shape as many articles are of that shape.

Advantageously, the base member is adapted to be mounted to a surface such as a desk or the floor and so has a substantially flat under-surface and at least one mounting hole for receiving a fixing such as a bolt. For optimum security, the or each mounting hole is positioned to be covered by the article when in the mounted position, so that access to the bolt or other fixing is denied.

Further to discourage the use of a crowbar, jemmy or other implement to lever the base member away from the desk, floor or other surface to which the security device is mounted, the base member may have chamfered edge portions which splay outwardly to form an obtuse angle where they meet the desk, floor or other surface.

The retaining member may be immovably fixed in relation to the base member but is preferably movable with respect to the base member for ready mounting and dismounting of the article. For optimum convenience, the retaining member is more preferably entirely separable from the base member.

The retaining member is preferably of an inverted U-shape with the tip of at least one arm of the U being removably attachable to the base member. Attachment may be effected by a padlock whose shank extends through a hole in the arm of the U and a corresponding hole in the base member. To accommodate these holes, the tip of the arm of the U may be bent outwardly and a bracket may be attached, preferably by welding, to the base member, the tip and the bracket having parallel surfaces which can abut each other and in which the holes are drilled.

Whilst the other arm of the U could be movably but permanently attached to the base member, for example by means of a hinge, it is preferred that both arms of the U are held in place by padlocks so that the retaining member is fully separable from the base member. As is well known, a padlock provides a highly visible deterrent to theft; two padlocks maximise this deterrence.

Where there is one retaining member, this is suitably located centrally with respect to the base member but there may be more than one retaining member if desired. For example, where there are two retaining members, these may be disposed in parallel, e.g.

spaced at about one-third and two-thirds of the way along the base member, or may be crossed over in a mutually perpendicular disposition.

For optimum strength and mechanical location of the article, the retaining member is preferably a strip bent to the required shape. Both the retaining member and the base member are suitably of mild steel, which may be painted or powder coated or otherwise treated to obtain the desired finish, colour and corrosion resistance. For example, a colour matching the article (e.g. a neutral beige or grey for computers) may be adopted, or one may prefer to select a contrasting colour such as orange if one seeks a deterrent visible from some distance away.

In order that this invention may be more readily understood, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a base member of a security device according to the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view to reduced scale, showing a retaining member of a security device according to the invention; Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the components of the security device of the invention assembled together around a computer unit; and Figures 4 and 5 are schematic perspective views corresponding to Figure 1 but showing variants of the base member, that in Figure 4 having chamfered edge portions and that in Figure 5 being adapted to receive two of the retaining members illustrated in Figure 2.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 of the drawings, a base member 10 comprises a flat rectangular base plate 12 of mild steel having a shroud in the form of upstanding lips 14 of similar material extending around its entire periphery to define a dished rectangular tray.

The lips 14 may be welded to the base plate 12 or may be folded from the base plate 12, preferably with the abutting corner seams welded together.

Holes 16 penetrate the base plate 12 and brackets 18 are welded centrally to the lips 14 associated with each long side of the base plate 12. The brackets 18 each define an outwardly-extending platform 20 which extends parallel to the base plate 12 and has a through hole 22 drilled therein.

The base member 10 may be of any suitable size and shape, for example about 530 mm x 230 mm x 47 mm high, and of any suitable material thickness such as 6 mm. The through holes 22 may be 16 mm in diameter.

Referring now to Figure 2, a retaining member 24 is a strip of mild steel shaped generally into the form of an inverted 'U' having parallel arms 26 connected by a crossbar 28. The free end of each arm 26 is bent outwardly to form a foot 30 and a throughhole 32 is drilled through the foot 30.

Again, the retaining member 24 can be of any suitable size or shape; for example, the arms 26 may be 430 mm long, the cross-bar 28 may be 230 mm wide and the strip may be of 6 mm thickness. The through holes 32 are suitably 16 mm wide to match the through-holes 22 associated with the base member 10.

Figure 3 shows the base member 10 and the retaining member 24 in use protecting a computer file server shown schematically at 34. The base of the file server 34 is shrouded by the lips 14 and the file server 34 covers the holes 16 through which fixings such as bolts or screws (not visible) extend into the floor or other surface to which the base member 10 is mounted. The lips 14 prevent a crowbar or jemmy being inserted under the file server 34 between it and the base plate 12, and lie close to the upstanding sides of the file server 34 to avoid any gaps which would present an opportunity for leverage.

Padlocks 36 (only one visible) attach the retaining member 24 to the base member 10, the foot 30 resting on the platform 20 and these parts being linked by the shank 38 of the padlock 36 passing through the through holes 32 and 22 respectively.

The retaining member 24 conforms closely to the width and height of the file server 34 to minimise opportunities for inserting a crowbar or jemmy between it and the file server 34.

In Figure 4, the lips 14 of base member 10 are chamfered outwardly towards the base plate 12 to foil attempts to lever the base member away from the surface to which it is attached. A concave curved chamfer as shown is preferred, though not essential as a straight chamfer of constant angle is also possible.

The variant in Figure 5 employs two sets of brackets 18 welded at spaced locations along the long sides of the base member 10 to support two retaining members 24 for enhanced location and strength.

Many variations are possible without departing from the inventive concept. For example, each foot 30 can be welded to the associated arm 26 of the retaining member 24 rather than being a bent extension of the arm 26. Conversely, the platforms 20 need not be defined by separate welded brackets 18 but could be simply bent from the material of the associated lips 14.

Indeed, the present invention may be embodied in numerous forms without departing from the inventive concept. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims and general statements herein rather than to the foregoing specific description as indicating the scope of the invention.

Claims (18)

1. A security device comprising a base member and at least one retaining member which can loop partially around an article such as a computer mounted on the base member to retain the article in the mounted position, wherein a shroud is associated with the base member to cover the portion of the article closest to the base member and thus to hide any gap between the base member and the article.

2. A security device according to claim 1, wherein the base member is a plate and the shroud is an upstanding lip around the periphery of the plate, the plate taking the form of a tray in which a base portion of the article may be received.

3. A security device according to claim 2, wherein the base member is of generally rectangular shape.

4. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the base member is adapted to be mounted to a surface such as a desk or the floor.

5. A security device according to claim 4, wherein the base member has a substantially flat under-surface.

6. A security device according to claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the base member has at least one mounting hole for receiving a fixing such as a bolt.

7. A security device according to claim 6, wherein the or each mounting hole is positioned to be covered by the article when in the mounted position.

8. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the base member has chamfered edge portions which splay outwardly to form an obtuse angle where they meet the desk, floor or other surface to which the base member is mounted.

9. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the retaining member is movable with respect to the base member.

10. A security device according to claim 9, wherein the retaining member is entirely separable from the base member.

11. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the retaining member is of an inverted U-shape with the tip of at least one arm of the U being removably attachable to the base member.

12. A security device according to claim 11, wherein attachment is effected by a padlock whose shank extends through a through hole associated with the arm of the U and a corresponding through hole associated with the base member.

13. A security device according to claim 12, wherein the tip of each arm of the U has an outwardly-extending foot and the base member has means defining a platform, the foot and the platform having parallel surfaces which can abut each other and which define the through holes.

14. A security device according to claim 13, wherein both arms of the U are held in place by padlocks and the retaining member is fully separable from the base member.

15. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein there is one retaining member located centrally with respect to the base member.

16. A security device according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein there are two retaining members disposed in parallel and spaced along the base member.

17. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the retaining member is a strip bent to the required shape.

18. A security device according to any preceding claim, wherein the retaining member and the base member are of mild steel, optionally painted or otherwise coated.