Lock box

Abstract

A theft-preventing container for an appliance such as a CB radio. A metal box receives the appliance therein, the box having one wall with an access opening to allow access to controls of the appliance within the box, and one of the box walls is movable to allow removal of the appliance from within the box. A latching structure is provided to latch the movable box wall to the rest of the box to prevent unauthorized movement of the movable box wall. The latching structure includes interfitting groups of tubular members having aligned bores formed on the movable wall and a stationary wall of the box, a removable hardened metal latching bolt for receipt by the tubular members, and a locking device, including a key release structure, for holding the latching bolt in place when it is received by the tubular members and prevents relative movement between the tubular members. Prison screws or the like are provided for attaching the box to a stationary support so that the box may not be removed from the support except by destruction of the box or the support. The locking device may include a locking bolt spring biased into interfering engagement with the latching bolt, and the key release structure may include a key operated cam for moving the locking bolt against the biasing spring. An automatically releasable holding structure may be provided for holding the locking bolt against its spring bias and for automatically releasing the locking bolt, under the influence of its spring bias, in response to the latching bolt being completely contained by the tubular members. A structure may also be provided for ejecting the latching bolt from the receipt by the tubular members after movement of the locking bolt out of interfering engagement with the latching bolt.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.