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US 4,228,974 AGranted
Protective device for instruments and locking of aircraft controls
AssigneeJ. Talmadge Webb
InventorAugust B. Yates
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AssigneeJ. Talmadge Webb
InventorAugust B. Yates
Estimating the term…
A device for locking the ailerons and elevators of an aircraft controlled by a wheel-operated longitudinally shiftable and rotatable control column, and, at the same time preventing theft of the navigational instruments and radio equipment mounted on the instrument panel in the cockpit of the plane. The protective device takes the form of a cover plate mounted immediately adjacent the instrument panel by means of upper and lower clamping blocks secured about the control column in such a manner as to prevent unauthorized movements of the column and access to the instruments on the panel. The blocks have complementary semi-cylindrical grooves which clamp about the control column, and one block is fixed to the cover plate while the other has sliding, tongue and groove engagement to couple with said one block and clamp the control column against movement. The pair of blocks are held in clamped arrangement by a padlock whose shackle passes through aligned apertures in the blocks.
In an aircraft having an instrument panel and controls for ailerons and elevators, said controls including at least one column turned by a hand operated yoke and movable axially for controlling the ailerons and elevators respectively, a protective device for preventing theft of the aircraft instruments from said panel and preventing unauthorized flight removal of the aircraft from a parking area, said device comprising a protective instrument cover, and means for lockingly mounting said cover in a position immediately adjacent the aircraft instrument panel and to said at least one column in such manner as to prevent unauthorized movements of said at least one column and the ailerons and elevators controlled thereby, said means for lockingly mounting the cover comprises first and second complementary blocks which clamp about said at least one column to prevent its movements, said first block being fixed to said cover and the second block being separable from the first, and means for locking the blocks together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.