Closure fasteners – Bolts – Sliding
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-06
2001-05-22
Estremsky, Gary W. (Department: 3627)
Closure fasteners
Bolts
Sliding
C292SDIG001, C114S055530, C114S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234546
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lock device for locking at a closed position of a pivoted cover such as a seat of a motorcycle, a basket cover of a utility vehicle, and a hatch cover of a personal watercraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a pivoted cover such as a seat of a motorcycle, a basket cover of a utility vehicle, and a hatch cover of a personal watercraft (hereinafter called “cover” generally) is locked at its closed position during normal operation and is opened when necessary.
As an example of such covers, a hatch cover of a personal watercraft for running on the water will be explained below. The personal watercraft is operated by a driver sitting astride a seat on a rear portion of a deck grasping a steering handle disposed in a front and upper portion of the seat, and is used on waters near the coast mainly for the purpose of leisure or of sports. The personal watercraft runs on the water by a propulsion unit mounted on a rear portion of a body of the watercraft and driven by an engine mounted in an engine room in the body, and is steered by changing the propelling direction of the propulsion unit.
A hatch cover of such a personal watercraft is provided to cover an upper portion of an opening formed in a front portion of the deck for feeding fuel to a fuel tank or for inspecting the engine or the like in the body, and a front end of the hatch cover is pivotally supported to the deck, and a rear end thereof can be opened upward. Further a driver opens and closes the hatch cover to accommodate or take out goods such as a life jacket, in or from a storage compartment disposed within the opening by getting off the seat of the personal watercraft. During normal operation of the watercraft, the hatch cover is maintained in a closed position by a lock device to keep the opening tightly closed.
The related art of such a lock device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2599336. A plan view of the personal watercraft is shown in
FIG. 9. A
hatch cover
51
, generally made of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), is disposed on an upper surface of a deck
52
in front of a driver's seat, and is mounted on the deck
52
such that the hatch cover
51
can be opened forwardly around a hinge
53
provided on a front end of the hatch cover (front end of the deck). A lock device
54
is provided on a central portion of a rear end of the hatch cover
51
at the opposite side of the hinge
53
. The hatch cover
51
is locked to the deck
52
at its closed position by the lock device
54
. The lock device
54
is constructed such that the locked state is released by upwardly turning an operation lever
55
provided on an upper surface of the hatch cover which forms an outer surface of the personal watercraft, and the hatch cover
51
can be opened from the sides of the watercraft.
However, as shown in the perspective view of
FIG. 10
, the presence of the operation lever
55
for opening the hatch cover
51
may sometimes hinder the continuity of the outer surface of the personal watercraft, deteriorating the external appearance of the personal watercraft when a design of speedy appearance or external beauty is a significant factor.
Further, in recent years, the personal watercrafts of this type tend to increase in size with larger storage compartments, which correspondingly increases the size of the hatch cover
51
. Therefore, it makes difficult to open the hatch cover in some cases, when the operation lever is hardly within reach of the driver's hand from the side of the personal watercraft.
Therefore, in such a personal watercraft, the lock device of the cover is required to be operable from both sides of the watercraft of increased size, without deteriorating the external appearance of the personal watercraft.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to meet such requirements, and it is an object of the invention to provide a lock device of a cover which lock device is operable from both left and right sides of the cover without deteriorating the external appearance of the personal watercraft.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the lock device of a cover having operation members disposed on an inner surface of the cover for releasing the engagement with a hold pin disposed on a member to which the cover is locked by a releasing operation of the operation member, wherein the lock device includes, a frame member formed to locate the operation member at both sides below the inner surface of the cover, the frame member further includes a pair of slide members each of which slides in a direction away from the operation member by the releasing operation of each of the operation members, a moving member which is caused to move in a direction perpendicular to a sliding direction of the slide members by sliding motion of either one or both of the slide members, and an engaging member which moves together with the moving member to move into an engaging hole for engaging the hold pin.
With this structure, the releasing operation of the operation member can be carried out by operating either one or both of the operation members from any of left and right side of the cover. After the releasing operation, the cover can be opened upward. Since the operation members are located below the inner surface of the cover, the external appearance of the cover is not deteriorated. Further, even if this lock device is employed for a hatch cover of a personal watercraft which tends to increase in size, the hatch cover can be opened and closed from any of the left and right sides of the personal watercraft. Furthermore, since the lock device is arranged in a position where the lock device is not easily noticeable from outside of the cover, the external appearance of the personal watercraft is not deteriorated.
When the moving member is provided with a spring member, the engaging members can be automatically returned to the locked position after the lock is released, and therefore, the cover can be automatically locked when the cover is closed.
Further, when each of the slide members and the operation members are provided with a spring member, these movable members can be returned more smoothly to their original locked positions before the releasing operation.
Furthermore, there is provided a lock device of a cover for covering a hatch provided in front of a steering handle of a personal watercraft on which a driver sits on a rear portion of a deck and grasps the steering handle to operate, wherein the lock device is provided on an inner surface of a rear portion of the cover, and operation members for releasing the lock of the lock device are disposed on both left and right sides of the cover, and the lock device is constructed such that an engaged state (locked state) of the hatch cover can be released by operating either one or both of the levers of the operation members. With this structure, the operation members can be operated from any of the left and right side of the watercraft to open the cover.
When the engaged state (locked state) of the hatch cover is released by operating the operation member upward, the releasing operation of the lock of the cover and the opening operation for bringing up the cover can be carried out continuously and the cover can be opened effectively.
When the releasing operation of the operation members is carried out by turning the operation members, the lock of the cover can be released with a small force utilizing the principle of a lever.
Further, it is preferable that the lock device is constructed such that a frame member is mounted to an inner surface of a rear portion of the cover, the frame member is formed such that the pair of left and right operation member are located at both sides of the cover, the frame member further includes, a pair of slide members each of which slides in a direction away from the operation member by the releasing operation of each of the operation members, a moving member which is moved in a directio
Asakura Yukio
Momoi Teruhito
Estremsky Gary W.
Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
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