GB2221882A - Security device for use with towable vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

A security device comprising a housing 13 for receiving the towing hitch 12 component of a towable vehicle, an anchor member 19 for engagement with an external anchor point, such as a lamp post, and having a portion 22 for insertion into said housing 13, and lockable retaining means 16, 17 for securing a towable vehicle towing hitch component and said portion of said anchor member within said housing. <IMAGE>

Description

SECURITY DEVICE FOR USE WITH TOWABLE VEHICLES This invention relates to a security device for minimising the risk of theft of towable vehicles.

The term "towable vehicles" is used herein to include all wheeled units which may be coupled to a towing vehicle by means of some form of towing hitch, and includes vehicles such as caravans, trailers, and portable compressors and generators. While the towing hitch which couples the towed vehicle to the towing vehicle is often a ball hitch it is to be understood that other forms of towing hitch are possible, including the 'eye1 or 'eye-ring1 type in which the towed vehicle has a metal ring, horizontally disposed, at the free end of its draw-bar which is received loosely in a U-shaped shackle on the towing vehicle, and is retained in the shackle by a generally vertically extending pin which passes loosely through the ring.

It has previously been proposed to reduce the risk of theft of a towable vehicle by providing a security device which prevents mating access to the hitch coupling component of the towable vehicle. Such devices can be effective in preventing theft of the towable vehicle simply by hitching the ;towable vehicle to a towing vehicle provided by the thief, but of course they do not significantly reduce the risk of the towable vehicle being stolen by, for example, being manoeuvred onto a lorry or another trailer provided by the thief. It is an object of the present invention to provide a security device whereby the risk of theft of a towable vehicle may be minimised.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a security device comprising a housing for receiving the towing hitch component of a towable vehicle, an anchor member for engagement with an external anchor point and having a portion for insertion into said housing, and, lockable retaining means for securing a towable vehicle towing hitch component and said portion of said anchor member within said housing.

Preferably said anchor member includes an openable loop capable of being retained in a closed configuration by said retaining means.

Desirably said portion of said anchor member is inserted into said housing at an end of the housing opposite that into which said hitch component is inserted.

The accompanying drawing in an exploded, diagrammatic, perspective representation of a security device in accordance with one example of the present invention.

The security device 11 which is illustrated in the drawing is designed for use with a towing hitch component 12 of the eye-ring type although it is to be recognised that the invention is not restricted to security devices for eye-ring towing hitch components and can be used with other types of towing hitch component. For example, the housing of the security device 11 may be designed to receive a hitch component of the ball hitch type. The device 11 illustrated in the drawing includes a rigid metal housing 13 of rectangular cross section and open at each end. Thus the housing 13 includes opposite open ends, opposite upper and lower walls, and opposite side walls.The upper and lower walls are each formed with a substantially centrally disposed circular aperture 14, the centres of the apertures 14 lying on an axis transverse to, and intersecting, the longitudinal axis of the housing 13. Welded to the exterior surface of the upper wall of the housing 13 and encircling the aperture therein, is a short cylindrical steel collar 15 the internal diameter of which is equal to the diameter of the aperture 14.

Welded to the exterior of the lower wall of the housing and overlying the aperture 14 therein is a rectangular steel lock housing 16 which receives and retains a key operated locking mechanism.

The device 11 further includes a retainer in the form of an elongate, cylindrical, hardened steel pin 17 having a circumferential groove 18 adjacent one end.

The diameter of the pin 17 is such that it can be slidably received in the collar 15 and apertures 14.

Although not shown in the drawings the pin 17 will be coupled to the housing 13 by means of a chain or the like so that loss of the pin 17 when not in use is avoided.

The axial length of the pin 17 is such that when the pin is inserted through the collar 15 and the apertures 14 and its end remote from the groove 18 lies flush with the outer end of the collar 5, then the groove 18 is received within the lock housing 16 and can cooperate with a locking element of the key operated locking mechanism. When the locking element of the key operated mechanism is engaged in the groove 18 then withdrawal of the pin from the housing 13 is prevented. However, although the pin 17 cannot move axially relative to the housing it is capable, by virtue of the circumferential nature of the groove 18, of rotation about its longitudinal axis relative to the housing.Release of the pin 17 can be effected by introduction of the appropriate key through a suitably positioned aperture in the wall of the lock housing 16 to operate the locking mechanism so withdrawing the locking element from the groove 18.

The security device further includes an anchor member 19 comprising a pair of C-shaped hardened steel plates 20 pivotally interconnected at one end by a hardened pivot member 21 and extended at their opposite ends to define integral tongues 22. Each of the tongues 22 is formed with a circular aperture 23 equal in diameter to the apertures 14 and the plates 20 are interconnected in such a manner that they can occupy a position as shown wherein the tongues 22 overlie one another with the apertures 23 aligned and the C-shaped portions of the plates defining a closed loop.

However, by virtue of the pivotal interconnection of the plates 20 the plates can be moved relative to one another to open the loop defined by the plates. Thus for example the anchor member may be opened by pivoting the plates 20 away from one another to permit engagement around a fixed post such as a lamp standard, and then can be pivotted back to the position shown in the drawing in which the tongues 22 overlie one another. Thereafter, the housing 13 can be positioned relative to the anchor member 19 such that the overlying tongues 22 extend into the housing through one open end thereof and the pin 17 can be passed through the collar 15, the apertures 14, and the apertures 23 so fixing the position of the anchor member 19 in relation to the housing 13 and locking the plates 20 of the anchor member against relative pivotal movement.

It will be recognised also that the eye-ring hitch component 12 can be inserted into the housing 13 from the opposite open end so that its central aperture also aligns with the apertures 14. In this position of the parts when the pin 17 is introduced it serves to lock the housing 13 to the anchor member 19 and to the hitch component 12, and also to lock the hitch component 12 to the anchor member 19. Thus assuming that the anchor member 19 has been fitted around a stationary post such as a lamp standard then the towable vehicle equipped with the hitch component 12 is anchored to the stationary post and additionally has its hitch component 12 protected by the housing 13.

In order to accommodate eye-ring hitch components of different internal diameter there is provided a series of size reducing bushes 24 which can be fitted within the apertures of the eye-ring components. Each bushes 24 has an internal diameter such that the pin 17 can be slidably received therein and has an external diameter such that it can be slidably received within the aperture of its respective eye-ring component. Thus the possibility of relative longitudinal movement of an eye-ring component of large diameter, relative to the pin 17, is avoided.

It is to be understood that the anchor member 19 can take a wide variety of different forms, and could, for example, be formed from a length of armoured steel hawser having a loop at each end for receiving the pin 17. Thus the hawser would be looped around the stationary post and the two ends would be introduced into the housing 13 so that the pin 17 can pass through the loops formed at each end of the hawser.

It will also be recognised that it is not essential that the anchor member 19 is introduced into the housing at the end opposite that receiving the towing hitch component 12. The anchor member 19 may be designed to be inserted into the housing at the same end as the hitch component in which case one open end of the housing 13 can be closed by a blanking plate during manufacture of the housing. It would also be possible, by provision of an appropriate aperture in a side wall of the housing, to arrange for the anchor member 19 to enter the housing at right angles to the direction in which the hitch component enters.

Furthermore, although it is extremely convenient in the eye-ring version of the device 11 to secure the anchor member and the eye-ring component using the same pin 17, it is to be understood that if desired a second, and separately locked retainer could be provided for the anchor member 19. Thus the component 12 could be secured by a first pin 17 and there could be a second pin 17 cooperating with the housing 13 for securing the anchor member 19. The second pin would be locked in position in an manner similar to that described above.

The use of a second retainer in association with the anchor member 19 may be advantageous where the housing 13 is designed to receive and retain other forms of towing hitch component, for example a ball hitch. Copending British patent application 2193938 illustrates a security device for receiving a ball hitch component and a housing of the type illustrated in 2193938 could, in accordance with the present invention, be modified to receive and retain an anchor member 19 either by means of the retainer which secures the ball with component within the housing, or by means of a separately provided retainer.

It is convenient to form the housing 13 illustrated in the drawing from a length of rectangular steel tubing the side walls of which are cut away adjacent one end to define slots which are subsequently closed by welding thereto pressed steel capping members 13a. The dimensions of the members 13a are selected to suit the outside diameter of the eye-ring component 12 which is to be received within the housing.

It will be recognised that when the pin 17 is locked in position then unauthorised access is virtually impossible. The whole of the length of the pin is protected by being received within the collar 15, the housing 13, and the lock housing 16 and if an attempt is made to saw through the pin 17 by introducing a saw blade through either open end of the housing 13 then such attempts at sawing through the pin will be frustrated by the freedom for rotation of the pin in its locked position, and by the hardened nature of the pin.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS.

1. A security device comprising a housing for receiving the towing hitch component of a towable vehicle, an anchor member for engagement with an external anchor point and having a portion for insertion into said housing, and, lockable retaining means for securing a towable vehicle towing hitch component and said portion of said anchor member within said housing.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said anchor member includes an openable loop capable of being retained in a closed configuration by said retaining means.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said portion of said anchor member is inserted into said housing at an end of the housing opposite that into which said hitch component is inserted.

4. A device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said lockable retaining means includes a single lockable pin for cooperation with said hitch component and said anchor member.

5. A security device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.