Patent Application
20100284199
The present invention relates to vehicle consoles being mountable within a vehicle driver compartment to support equipment in a location easily accessible to a driver of the vehicle, and in particular to such a vehicle console safe and convenient means for mounting of a standard police-issue flashlight.
Police officers, public safety officers, firefighters, paramedics and the like carry various types of equipment in their vehicles. Several pieces of equipment are often carried in a single vehicle, and the driver often needs to operate the equipment while simultaneously driving the vehicle. Thus, various devices exist to secure multiple pieces of equipment within a vehicle so that they are accessible to the driver and/or other persons in the vehicle driver compartment.
These devices commonly include a hollow rectangular box situated on the floor of the vehicle between the driver seat and front passenger seat, including a horizontal top portion having an upwardly facing opening for receiving pieces of equipment. Police cruisers, for example, are commonly fitted with equipment boxes of this type. The boxes are used to house various types of equipment and controls used by police officers, such as radios, siren controls and light bar controls. Typically, the boxes are sized and positioned so that most of the box extends between the driver seat and the front seat. Only a small portion, if any, of the box will extend forward toward the dashboard beyond the driver seat and front passenger seat. In some police cruisers, the equipment box extends all the way back to the prisoner partition separating the rear seating area from the driver compartment. A laptop computer is often positioned between the box and dashboard, and is secured to the vehicle floor with various types of mounting hardware.
The conventional equipment box configuration described above fails to provide safe and convenient means for mounting of a standard police-issue flashlight.
The present invention is a novel flashlight holder for mounting in a vehicle.
According to one aspect of the novel flashlight holder, the flashlight holder is a substantially cylindrical lengthwise receptacle having a mouth sized to slidingly receive a flashlight there through, and a stop positioned opposite from the mouth. A clamp mounts the receptacle to a substantially rigid interior surface of a vehicle with the mouth positioned vertically above the stop. The receptacle is a substantially cylindrically tubular receptacle having a substantially constant inside diameter communicating with the mouth. The stop may be formed by a closed end of the receptacle, or a separate end cap affixed to the receptacle.
According to another aspect of the novel flashlight holder, a vehicle console is provided having a console frame with two opposing side panels and two opposing end panels, and a face plate having portions thereof that are securable with a respective one of the side panels. Here, the interior surface of the vehicle having the receptacle of the novel flashlight holder mounted thereon is selected from the group of interior surfaces consisting of the two side panels of the console frame, the two end panels of the console frame, and the face plate of the console.
According to another aspect of the novel flashlight holder, the interior surface of the vehicle is instead selected from the group of interior surfaces of the vehicle consisting of: a floor surface of the vehicle, and a door surface of the vehicle.
According to another aspect of the novel flashlight holder, the tubular receptacle is a fishing rod holder mounted as described to the vehicle's interior surface.
According to another aspect of the novel flashlight holder, a method is provided of mounting a flashlight holder in a vehicle.
Other aspects of the invention are detailed herein.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In the Figures, like numerals indicate like elements.
One or a pair (shown) of flashlight holders 24 are mounted on console 10. For example, flashlight holders 24 are sized to receive a standard police-issue flashlight 26. However, flashlight holders 24 are optionally sized to receive a conventional flashlight, without deviating from the scope and intent of the present invention. As illustrated, according to one embodiment, flashlight holders 24 are optionally provided by a pair of substantially cylindrical tubular fishing rod holders. As further illustrated, flashlight holders 24 are optionally mounted within or as part of face plate 20 of vehicle console 10.
Each flashlight holder 24 is an open tubular receptacle 28 formed of a substantially rigid material with a longitudinal axis and having a mouth opening 30 thereinto. Tubular receptacle 28 is substantially cylindrical with a substantially constant or slightly flared inner diameter 32 sized to slidingly receive flashlight 26. Mouth opening 30 is positioned vertically above tubular receptacle 28, whereby flashlight holder 24 is positioned in a substantially upright orientation.
Optionally, a clamp 40 secures flashlight holders 24 to vehicle console 10 in their substantially upright orientation with opening 30 positioned vertically above end cap 36. For example, the clamp 40 is one or a pair of threaded fasteners, such as conventional U-bolts (shown), which secure each flashlight holder 24 to mating sockets 42 of vehicle console 10.
Vehicle console 10 is mounted in a vehicle by mounting console support frame 19 is mounted in the vehicle with side panels 12 interconnected between opposing end panels 16, 18 by means of connectors 15 at one or more cooperating connection points 13. One or more face plates 20 are mounted in vehicle console 10 by securing portions thereof with at least one of the side panels 12, face plates 20 forming top or upwardly facing surface 22 of console 10.
One or more flashlight holders 24 are provided, for example by conventional tubular fishing rod holders.
According to one embodiment, one or more flashlight holder 24 are mounted in substantially upright orientation in vehicle console 10 by positioning mouth opening 30 vertically above tubular receptacle 28 and securing flashlight holder 24 to vehicle console 10. Flashlight holder 24 is secured in vehicle console 10 by clamping thereto. By example and without limitation, clamping flashlight holder 24 to vehicle console 10 is accomplished by threadedly fastening flashlight holder 24 adjacent to or within one face plate 24. Optionally, threadedly fastening flashlight holder 24 to vehicle console 10 is accomplished by coupling one or a pair of U-bolt clamps 40 into mating sockets 42 of vehicle console 10 and secured with matching nuts 44.
According to another embodiment, flashlight holder 24 is mounted on an external surface of console 10, such as external surface 50 of one side panel 12 or to another external surface. By example and without limitation, ball-and-socket clamp 48 secures flashlight holder 24 to external surface 50 of console 10 by securing base portion 52 of ball-and-socket clamp 48 to external surface 50 by any convenient means 54, such as fasteners (shown). When mounted by a moveable connection such as ball-and-socket clamp 48, flashlight holder 24 is manually positioned throughout entire conical zone 56 about clamp base 52 merely by loosening clamping mechanism 58 of ball-and-socket clamp 48. Flashlight holder 24 is manually positioned while clamping mechanism 58 is loosened. When the desired position and orientation is obtained, clamping mechanism 58 is tightened. Thereafter, the current position and orientation of flashlight holder 24 is maintained until further adjustment by the user is desired, by operating clamping mechanism 58.
Alternatively, flashlight holder 24 is mounted directly on an interior vehicle floor 60 or door 62 external of vehicle console 10. When mounted by a moveable connection such as ball-and-socket clamp 48, flashlight holder 24 is again manually positioned about clamp base 52 throughout the entire conical zone 56.
While the preferred and additional alternative embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the inventor makes the following claims.
