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US 4,299,361 AGranted
Protective device for instruments and locking of aircraft controls
AssigneeAugust Betts Yates
InventorJ. Talmadge Webb
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AssigneeAugust Betts Yates
InventorJ. Talmadge Webb
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 formed of two overlapping plates having an arrangement for adjusting the overall width. The adjusted cover is 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 is hinged to the first for ready uncoupling and coupling movements. The pair of blocks are held in clamped arrangement by a key-operated cylinder lock seated in an aperture in one block having a latch member which releasably engages a cam surface in an aligned cavity in the second block to wedgingly clamp the blocks about the control column. One or more slotted brackets are provided to receive edge portions of the cover and prevent its being pried away from the instrument panel. The panel is also provided with an electric alarm circuit including a microswitch abutting the installed cover and operative to sound the alarm should an unauthorized person move the cover slightly away from the instrument panel.
In an aircraft having an instrument panel and controls for aileron and elevator flight control surfaces, 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 in the form of a rigid, substantially planar plate, 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 column and the ailerons and elevators controlled thereby, said means for lockingly mounting the cover including first and second complementary blocks having complementary semi-cylindrical surfaces which frictionally clamp about the column to prevent its movements, said first block being fixed to said plate and hinge means connecting the second block along one edge to the first block, and means for locking the blocks together comprising an opening through one block aligned with a cavity in the other, said cavity including an inclined cam surface, and a key operated cylindrical lock inserted through said opening into said cavity and having a latch member rotated by the key and bearing against said cam surface to force the two blocks more tightly together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.