Patent Application
20100043682
The present invention relates to safes, and more particularly to safes for use in motor vehicles.
Safes for motor vehicles have long been desired and proposed. Motor vehicles have evolved from their original designs, which were often quite spacious and laid out with perpendicular and parallel surfaces. Notably, modern vehicles have become relatively compact, and prone to having curved and irregular interior surfaces. This presents certain obstacles to what would otherwise be an uncomplicated exercise in design and installation of safes. Given the trend in interior design of vehicles, it would appear that safes, if not made objectionably small, must be custom fitted to a particular vehicle design.
Custom designed and fitted safes present objections in manufacturing. A supplier or vendor of safes would be obliged to fabricate and stock a large inventory to accommodate the many models and designs of safes which would be necessary to offer consumers a product for the many vehicles which consumers may own.
There is also the issue of where to mount a safe within a vehicle. Unobtrusive spaces exist beneath seats, on vertical wall surfaces, and in the trunk. However, each of these choices may impose additional restrictions on safe design.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for versatility of design which would enable any one design of a safe to fit into different locations of motor vehicles, and which would enable one design of a safe to be accommodated by different vehicles.
The present invention provides safes suitable for mounting in vehicles which are more versatile in their ability to be mounted in any one particular vehicle. In particular, symmetry of design enables safes to be mounted in either of two opposed orientations according to one aspect of the invention. Illustratively, a slide or guide for a safe having a drawer may be arranged so that the housing may be inverted and the drawer may still open in the upward direction. In another example, a lock may be symmetrically located with respect to the upper and lower surfaces of an associated housing, may be symmetrically located with respect to the left-to-right direction relative to an associated housing, or both.
According to other aspects of the invention, a vehicle safe may have flanges for surface mounting, eyes for engaging a tether for tethering to the associated vehicle, or both.
According to still other aspects of the invention, the safe may comprise a drawer, may have a hinged door providing access to the interior, or may have a removable door providing access to the interior.
It is an object of the invention to provide safes for vehicles which are versatile in their requirements and abilities to be installed within a subject vehicle.
It is an object to reduce the number of models or designs of safes which would be required to assure availability of a suitable model or design for the many motor vehicles which are commercially available to the motoring public.
It is an object of the invention to be able to utilize conventional fabrication methods to fabricate safes for installing within motor vehicles.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:
It should be mentioned that orientational terms such as top and bottom refer to the subject matter as it is depicted in the drawings. As will be further detailed hereinafter, a safe such as the safe 100 may be mounted in different positions, so that it may be said that there is no surface which is always the top or bottom. Therefore, orientational terms must be understood as providing semantic basis for purposes of description, and do not limit the invention or its component parts in any particular way.
Access to the receptacle 102, which is a void bounded by the upper panel 106, the perimetric wall 108, and the bottom panel 110, is obtained by partly or fully withdrawing the drawer 114 therefrom. The drawer 114 is disposed to occupy the receptacle 102 and to move reversibly between a protected or inaccessible location within the receptacle 102, as illustrated in
The drawer 114 may comprise a floor 122 and a perimetric wall 124 projecting generally perpendicularly from the floor 122 to define a drawer storage space. The horizontal center plane 112 may be disposed parallel to the floor 122.
A guide such as a track 125 is disposed to guide the drawer 114 to move between the protected location and the exposed position. The track or guide 125 is centered on the respective horizontal center plane 112 of the drawer 114 and of the receptacle 102.
The front panel 116 of the drawer 114 forms a closure which seals the receptacle 102 from ready access from the exterior of the safe 100. The closure is located on one side of the receptacle 102 and is disposed to close the receptacle 102 when the drawer 114 is within the receptacle 102.
The lock 120 is disposed to selectively lock and unlock the closure, and may be of the keyed lock type which is operable by a key (not shown) and which comprises an interference member such as a finger (such as the finger 226 shown in
The receptacle 102 has a vertical longitudinal center plane 128 which extends parallel to the track 124. The lock 120 is in a location intersected by the vertical longitudinal center plane 128. This is a useful feature since the lock 120 will be equally accessible even when the housing 104 is inverted, as may be performed to mount the safe 100 to the underside of a horizontal vehicle surface rather than to the upper side of a horizontal vehicle surface.
The safe 100 may include a mounting for mounting the housing 104 to the motor vehicle. The mounting may take the form of flanges, such as flanges 130, 132. Each flange 130 or 132 may bear holes such as the holes 134, 136, 138, 140, for passing fasteners, such as screws, bolts, rivets, and the like (none shown). The flanges 130, 132 may be parallel to the floor 122 of the drawer 114, and may be located at the bottom panel 110 of the housing 104. This relationship enables the flanges 130, 132 to sit flush against a vehicle surface to which the safe 100 is to be mounted.
A lock 220 may be mounted to the front panel 216. The lock 220 may be similar to the lock 120. The finger 226 which establishes interference with the housing 204 is visible in
A mounting for mounting the safe 200 to an environmental surface of a motor vehicle may be provided, for example in the form of flanges 230, 232. The flanges 230, 232 may be parallel to the floor 210 of the housing 204. The flanges 230, 232 may bear holes such as the holes 234, 236, 238, 240, for engaging a retention element.
A retention element may comprise a plurality of headed, threaded fasteners such as bolts 242, 244, 246, and 248, or any other type such as screws, rivets, expanding fasteners, and still others.
The housing 304 and closure 316 may have a vertical longitudinal center plane 328 (see
The closure 316, which is removable from the housing 304, may include a handle 318 and a lock 320. The handle 318 and the lock 320 may be structural and functional counterparts of respective handle 218 and lock 220 of
The lock 320 may be mounted on the closure 316 at a location which is intersected by the vertical longitudinal center plane 328. As with the safe 200, access to the lock 320 will not be awkward or unduly limited in different mounting positions.
The mounting for mounting the safe 300 to its associated vehicle may comprise holes such as the holes 366, 368, for receiving a tether 370. The tether 370 may be used for example to tether the safe 300 to the mounting bolt of a vehicle seat or some other sturdy component (none shown in their entirety) of the vehicle in which the safe 300 is mounted. As depicted, the holes 364 and 366 are adjacent a corner 368. The tether 370 may be passed through both holes 364, 366 so as to engage the housing 304 without interfering with the receptacle 302 or closure 316.
The mounting for the safe 300 may comprise fasteners such as the bolts 242, 244, 246, 248, or may comprise a tether 370 as described above, or both.
Referring now to
A second safe B, such as any of the safes 100, 200, 300 is shown mounted below the rear deck 8 of the passenger automobile 2.
Mounting of the safes A and B may utilize for example fasteners such as the bolts 242, 244, 246, 248, with equivalent fasteners provided on both flanges, such as the flanges 230 and 232. Alternatively, safe A may be a safe such as the safe 300 having holes such as the holes 364, 366, and may be tethered to a seat mounting bolt or support (not specifically shown) or any sturdy structural part of the seats of the passenger vehicle 2.
Centering of certain specified components of the various safes, such as the track 125 (
The present invention is susceptible to variations and modifications which may be introduced thereto without departing from the inventive concept. For example, it is to be understood that due to the conceptual description presented herein, components presented in the singular may be provided in the plural. Where feasible, it would be possible to provide a single component rather than a plurality of components.
Locations of components may be changed from those described. Illustratively, a lock such as the lock 120 may be mounted in its associated housing such as the housing 104 rather than in the closure as described.
The location of any of the closures, such as the doors 116 and 216 and the closure 316 may be relocated on their respective housings, such as the housings 104, 204 or 304, as desired.
Additional mounting positions for a safe such as the safes 100, 200, 300 are contemplated. If the anticipated weight is not excessive, a safe may be mounted to the underside of the trunk lid of the passenger automobile, for example.
The nature of the closure 316 may be varied. For example, the horizontally oriented members 350, 352, 354, and 356 may be deleted in favor of another arrangement. For example, the closure 316 may be provided with downwardly depending walls or tabs (not shown) which cooperate closely with the opening 317 and which prevent lateral sliding of the closure 316.
Certain components, such as walls or panels of the various housings, such as for example the perimetric wall 308 may be discontinuous or perforated. That is, the perimetric wall may comprise expanded metal, or parallel but spaced apart strips such as in an arrangement similar to that of a picket fence for example.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the disclosed arrangements, but is intended to cover various arrangements which are included within the spirit and scope of the broadest possible interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all modifications and equivalent arrangements which are possible.
