Locks – Special application – For control and machine elements
Patent
1991-04-01
1994-02-01
Cuomo, Peter M.
Locks
Special application
For control and machine elements
70202, 70238, B60R 2500
Patent
active
052823733
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an antitheft pedal-locking device for vehicles, which is particularly suitable for automatic transmission vehicles.
More particularly, this invention relates to a device of the type mentioned above which allows the operation of at least one pedal to be safely locked.
The study and the realization carried out in the recent years of mechanical type antitheft devices for motor vehicles have resulted in the commercial availability of different types of antitheft devices, which are affected however by a number of drawbacks of a general type or more specifically as regards their employment in automatic transmission motor vehicles.
More particularly, reference is made herein to a first kind of realization, which provides the mechanical locking of pedals, particularly the brake and the clutch pedals, said realization consisting of two independent or articulated shoes, which lock said pedals by means of a safety lock that is usually arranged near said shoes.
The major problem stemming from such kind of device is that connected with the fact that the driver has to reach out quite uncomfortably his hands for the pedal area in order to operate the locking device.
More recently, some devices have been suggested which are made of a long rod consisting of an anti-picking material and which is provided at both ends with two shaped members that couple respectively with a pedal and with the steering wheel of the vehicle.
The coupling with the steering wheel is obviously locked by means of a safety lock that prevents the same from being disengaged.
This device, which owing to its characteristics can be indifferently employed on traditional transmission cars as well as on automatic transmission vehicles is affected in the main by two drawbacks.
The first one is that in connection with its longitudinal size, and as a consequence with the cumbersomeness of such device when it is not employed, while the second drawback, which is perhaps the most relevant, is that in connection with the poor safety against theft.
Indeed, it is sufficient to cut the rim of the wheel by means of a saw or the like, as said rim is usually not a valid obstacle for thieves, and then to disengage the antitheft device by merely pulling apart the two ends of the rim so cut.
The Applicant himself has invented and realized an antitheft device which is the object of the Italian patent No. 1,149,007, which obviates all drawbacks mentioned above as it is so realized as to allow the pedals to be locked by the driver in the driving position and without interacting with the steering wheel.
However, such device is not fit for automatic transmission cars because of its structural characteristics, and it provides anyway the locking of two pedals which are not spaced too much from one another.
Indeed, it is well known that cars with automatic transmission lack the clutch pedal, and in addition the brake and the gas pedals are spaced from one another much more than said pedals are in the case of traditional vehicles.
In GB patent application No. 2,091,656 it is described an antitheft pedal-locking device for vehicles comprising a first supporting member extending upwards and provided with a safety lock and with a laterally projecting member, a second supporting member, upon which the first supporting member slides, with a projecting member cooperating with the corresponding member of the first supporting member so as to lock a pedal of the vehicle when the latter member is in its lower position, while the lower end of the second supporting member may carry a base member to rest on the floor of the vehicle.
In the light of what has been mentioned above, the Applicant has intended to realize an extremely simple antitheft device which can be employed indifferently both on traditional and on automatic transmission cars, said device providing the locking of at least one pedal (the brake pedal in the case of automatic transmission cars, and the clutch pedal in the case of traditional transmission cars) and, possibly, the impediment of the motion of
REFERENCES:
patent: 1676623 (1928-07-01), Turner
patent: 4076095 (1978-02-01), Adamski
patent: 4700555 (1987-10-01), Robertson, Sr. et al.
patent: 5094092 (1992-03-01), Hsieh
Boucher Darnell M.
Cuomo Peter M.
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