The invention generally relates to the field of door locks. More particularly, the invention relates to heavy duty hasp locks, commonly used for securing swinging doors on delivery trucks and the like.
A large portion of products sold in commerce in the United States is transported by truck. Consequently, theft from delivery vans, trucks and storage facilities is a serious concern. Locks that are generally provided by the manufacturers of delivery trucks and trailers used on semi-trailers are often inadequate to resist the assault of a determined thief who intends to break into the van, truck or trailer to steal the products therein. Thus, it is common in the industry to use high strength hasps and locks to provide additional protection against breaking and entering and theft from trucks and storage facilities.
An exemplary high strength hasp for use with a puck type lock is depicted in
Determined thieves can still attack portals secured with puck locks, however. If the puck lock is placed onto a conventional hasp the hasp can sometimes be broken by prying the hasp from the door, hammer blows or gripping the puck lock with a large pipe wrench or other tool and twisting the puck lock to separate the staples from the hasp. Thus, special high strength hasps with protective features have been developed.
Referring to
Since it is necessary for the ring shaped protector to fit snugly around the puck lock, problems arise. A puck lock can weigh several pounds. It becomes difficult and awkward for an operator firmly grasp the relatively heavy puck lock to insert the it inside the protective ring without pinching fingers. Further, if the puck-shaped lock is dropped there is a significant risk of injury to the operator's feet or of damage to merchandise that the lock may drop onto because of the substantial mass of the puck lock.
Further still, a loose puck lock is readily stolen or lost. When the delivery van or truck doors are opened the puck-shaped lock must be set aside somewhere and it is easy for the operator to forget to return the puck-shaped lock to the closed doors and leave it behind at a delivery location. Lastly, sometimes the operator will simply forget to put the puck-shaped lock on to lock the doors when departing. Often the puck lock is placed on the bumper or tailgate of the van and forgotten. The puck lock then falls from the truck en route and is lost.
The present invention substantially solves the above-discussed problems by providing a high-strength hasp with a puck-shaped lock secured to one-half of the hasp. This prevents theft of the puck lock and makes it far less likely that an operator will fail or forget to lock the door to the van, truck or trailer before leaving it.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Right plate 24 may be any shape or size but it is desirably generally quadrilateral in shape. Right plate 24 defines several mounting holes 34 proportioned to receive mounting bolts (not shown) though plates may be mounted in other ways known to those skilled in the art.
In the depicted embodiment, right plate 24 also supports protective ring 32. Protective ring 32 is desirably secured to right plate 24 by welding or other high strength attachment. Protective ring 32 may also be integrally formed with right plate 24. In other embodiments of the invention, protective ring 32 maybe attached to left plate 26 or may be segmented so that a portion of it is attached to right plate 24 and a portion to left plate 26 as is protective ring 20 depicted in
Left plate 26 is generally a mirror image of right plate 24. However, left plate 26, in this embodiment, does not support any portion of protective ring 32. Though, as indicated above, left plate 26 may support all or a part of protective ring 26. Left plate 26 also includes first staple 28 integrally attached thereto as by welding or forming as a bent structure.
Puck lock 30 may be but is not limited to a conventional puck lock generally as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,821 issued to Randel. Puck lock 30 may also be any type of padlock that does not have an exposed U-shaped shackle.
Puck lock 30 is secured to right plate 24 or left plate 26. Referring now to
In another embodiment of the invention, protective ring 32 may be dispensed with and puck lock 30 may have its housing 38 secured directly to the front surface of right plate 24 by, for example welding. In this case, the connection between housing 38 and right plate 24 or left plate 26 should be highly resistant to rotation of puck lock 30.
Referring to
Referring to
In operation, referring to
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the central attributes thereof, therefore, the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/569,580 filed May 10, 2004 and entitled “Door Lock.” That application is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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165741 | Lockwood | Jul 1875 | A |
1274051 | Jacobson et al. | Jul 1918 | A |
1866955 | Terrill | Jul 1932 | A |
2660872 | Beach | Dec 1953 | A |
3769821 | Randel | Nov 1973 | A |
3820360 | Best | Jun 1974 | A |
3901058 | Best | Aug 1975 | A |
4026132 | Best | May 1977 | A |
4866960 | Brower | Sep 1989 | A |
5172574 | Perfetto | Dec 1992 | A |
5669255 | Albano | Sep 1997 | A |
5946952 | Mintchenko | Sep 1999 | A |
6766671 | Haczynski et al. | Jul 2004 | B2 |
20040011092 | Haczynski et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20050247084 A1 | Nov 2005 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60569580 | May 2004 | US |