This is a device for preventing unauthorized opening of the left or passive door of a cargo container of the type used on truck trailers or storage containers. Such containers customarily have two side-by-side doors hinged to laterally opposite sides of the rear of the container on vertical axes and the doors are latched in their closed position by vertical stanchions or locking rod assemblies mounted on the outside of the doors. The locking rod assemblies have latching fingers at their tops and bottoms, which engage keeper pockets at the top and bottom of the rear of the container when the locking rod assemblies are pivoted about their axes. Securing devices are typically installed on the outside of the right or active door and, in some instances, across the two doors.
The security device of this invention retains the left or passive door in its closed position, preventing that door from being opened. The device is semi-permanent, being secured to the inside of the door by releasable fasteners such as screws. It includes a U shaped bracket having aligned guide holes for a locking bolt in its vertically spaced flanges and openings in its vertical web for the fasteners. In its locking position the locking bolt passes through the guide holes and into a hole drilled in the bottom of the container or tractor-trailer. The locking bolt is held in its engagement or locking position by a releasable spring clip type cotter pin.
The cargo container 11 shown in
As shown in the drawings, a securing device 21 is provided on the inner side 22 of the passive or inside door 12 for releasably locking the passive door to the floor 23 of the cargo container 11. The securing device 21 includes a steel U shaped bracket 31 having a vertical wall or web 32 and vertically spaced parallel horizontal flanges in the form of an upper wall 33 and a lower wall 34. The upper and lower walls 33, 34 are rigidly secured at their rear ends to the top and bottom ends of the vertical wall 32 and extend horizontally toward the front of the container. Four mounting holes 36, forming a quadrilateral pattern, are drilled in the vertical wall 32 and a pair of vertically aligned annular holes 37, 38 are drilled in the upper and lower walls 33, 34, respectively. The bracket 31 is secured to the inside of the left door 12 by four releasable fasteners in the form of screws 41, which extend through the openings 36 and are threaded into suitable openings in the door 12. In the illustrated closed position of the door 12, the openings 37, 38 align with a vertically extending cylindrical hole 43 in the floor 23 of the container 11. A cylindrical portion 44 of an L shaped locking bolt 46 is passed through the aligned openings 37, 38 of the bracket 31 and into the floor opening 43, thereby locking the closed door 12 to the container 11.
After placing the locking bolt 46 in its locking position, the straight leg 49 of a clip type cotter pin 51 is passed through a transverse opening 52 in the cylindrical portion 44 and an arch 53 in a bent leg 54 of the cotter pin 51 registers with the cylindrical portion 44 of the bolt 46, thus releasably retaining the cotter pin 51 on the bolt 46. The cotter pin prevents upward withdrawal movement of the bolt 46, which might otherwise occur from vibration during highway travel. The L shaped locking bolt 46 includes an arm 61 extending at a right angle to the upper end of the cylindrical portion 44. A hole 62 is formed in the distal end of the arm 61 and a hole 63 is formed in the upper wall 33. Opposite ends of a tether cable 66 are passed through the openings 62, 63 respectively, and secured in loops by bent metal clips, thus preventing misplacement of the bolt 46 when it is withdrawn from the bracket 31.
The herein disclosed auxiliary locking device helps to stabilize the left cargo container door, thus making it more difficult for thieves to pry open the doors of the container. It is inexpensive and easy to install, thus making it a cost effective deterrent to a cargo container break-in.
Features of the invention disclosed herein are disclosed in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/605,444 filed Aug. 30, 2004 for an Inner Bolt for Cargo Container Door, the benefit of which is claimed.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60605444 | Aug 2004 | US |