Releasable locking device

A releasable locking device for securing a parked vehicle to an adjacent upright structure, said device comprising a first means having a first member fixedly mountable on the structure and a second member mounted on said first member for limited substantially vertical relative movement, said second member being upwardly biased to assume a normal rest position;

• second means mounted on said first means for substantially vertical movement relative thereto between operative and inoperative modes, the location of said second means when in an inoperative mode being a predetermined distance beneath the location of said second means when in an operative mode;
• and third means for releasably retaining said second means in an operative mode, said third means having a first element carried by the second member of said first means, and a complemental second element carried by said second means, said first and second elements coacting with one another to prevent movement of said second means from an operative mode to an inoperative mode;
• said second means including a first section projecting outwardly from said first means, one end of said first section being connected to said first means and being guided thereby for selective relative movement in a predetermined substantially vertical path, and a second section extending angularly upwardly from said first section and being spaced outwardly from said first means, said second means, when in an operative mode, being adapted to interlockingly engage a portion of the parked vehicle disposed intermediate the second section and said first means;
• said second means, when in an inoperative mode, being adapted to be in a nonlocking relation with the parked vehicle;
• the second member of said first means being movable downwardly from the normal rest position only when a depressive external force exerted on said second means, while the latter is retained in an operative mode, exceeds the biasing force applied to said second member.