System for preventing the movement of vehicles having air brakes

An apparatus comprising:

• a) a wheeled vehicle having a cab in which a driver sits to operate the vehicle, said vehicle being of the type that uses air pressure to control the vehicle's brakes, and there being at least one manually actuated air valve that sets and releases the vehicle's brakes when the vehicle is parked, said air valve having a housing that is normally located adjacent the cab but exteriorly of a support structure so that the valve housing is out of sight and normally inaccessible by the driver, and said valve having a push/pull knob that is located within the cab near the driver and adjacent the supporting structure, and the knob being openly exposed so that it may be readily manipulated by the driver to set and release the vehicle's brakes;
• b) a generally planar and rigid base permanently attached to the valve housing at an exposed location within the cab and adjacent the supporting structure, and there being a pair of oppositely directed recesses adjacent the base that are exposed when the base has been attached to the valve's housing, said base being configured and the attachment location being one where the valve knob remains unobstructed when the base is attached to the valve housing, whereby the presence of the base will not affect manipulation of the valve knob by the driver in order to control operation of the air valve;
• c) a rigid cover adapted to be selectively placed within the cab in a resting position adjacent the base, and the cover having two inwardly directed flanges that are sized and located to engage the pair of oppositely directed recesses adjacent the base when the cover has been placed in its resting position adjacent the base, such that there will be structural interference between the cover and the base in a direction that is perpendicular to the base when the inwardly directed flanges on the cover are engaged with the oppositely directed recesses, and the cover having a size and shape so as to render the valve knob and the base inaccessible when the cover has been placed in its resting position, whereby the valve knob cannot be manipulated by anyone when the cover is in its resting position, and whereby a thief cannot get access to the base in order to try to remove it when the cover is in its resting position;
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• d) locking means for rigidly holding the rigid cover in its resting position adjacent the base, whereby a driver of the vehicle may render the vehicle immovable by manipulating the valve knob in a normal manner to secure the brakes, and whereby the driver may then render the knob inaccessible by placing the rigid cover in its resting position, and whereby the rigid cover may be locked in its resting position so as to render the vehicle immovable until such time as the cover has been removed and the brakes have been released.

The method of securing protection against unauthorized movement of a wheeled vehicle that uses pressurized air to effect braking, said vehicle having a cab in which a driver sits, and the protection against unauthorized movement being accomplished by denying access to the control knob of a manually operable air valve in the vehicle's cab, and the air valve having a brake housing with a back that is connected to the vehicle's brake system, and the brake housing having a front through which a valve-operating shaft extends, and the control knob being mounted on the distal end of said shaft, and the shaft normally being longitudinally movable by a driver in a push/pull manner in order to set and release the brakes on the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

• a) permanently attaching a structural plate to the valve's housing in a way that the structural plate does not touch the control knob, and at least a major portion of said structural plate being spatially positioned inside the vehicle's cab and between the front of the valve's housing and the control knob;
• b) setting the vehicle's brakes to preclude movement of the vehicle by pulling outwardly on the control knob;
• c) selectively attaching a rigid cover to the structural plate and over the control knob such that the cover does not touch either the control knob or the valve-operating shaft, and the cover having a generally cavernous shape and being sufficiently large as to completely envelop and thereby isolate the control knob and the valve-operating shaft when the cover has been attached to the structural plate, whereby the control knob cannot be used to manually release the air brakes when the cover is attached to the structural plate;
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• d) selectively locking the rigid cover in its attached position over the control knob, whereby the vehicle will be rendered immovable for as long as the cover is attached to the structural plate and the knob cannot be reached for the purpose of releasing the vehicle's brakes.

The method of precluding the unauthorized movement of a parked vehicle that utilizes air brakes, said vehicle having a cab in which a driver sits to operate the vehicle, and wherein the brakes for said vehicle include a valve with a housing and a valve-operating shaft and a push/pull knob that protrudes from the front of the valve housing, and the valve being installed behind a supporting structure in the vehicle's cab, and the knob being located in front of the supporting structure where it may normally be manipulated by a driver in order to move the shaft and alternately set and release the vehicle's brakes, comprising the steps of:

• a) rigidly securing a structural plate to the outside of the valve housing at a location such that the plate will be in front of the supporting structure in the vehicle's cab and immediately behind the push/pull knob, whereby the structural plate is physically secured to the valve housing without contacting the push/pull knob;
• b) selectively suspending over the structural plate a rigid and hollow cover that is sufficiently deep as to envelop the push/pull knob and render it inaccessible, such that a person is unable to manipulate the push/pull knob for as long as the cover is suspended over the plate, and the cover being sufficiently large, so that it will not contact either the push/pull knob or the valve-operating shaft on which the knob is mounted;
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• c) selectively locking the cover in place after it has been suspended over the structural plate, such that a person who is unable to remove the cover will also be unable to manipulate the push/pull knob, and whereby a vehicle's brakes may be set by manipulation of the knob and the vehicle will be incapable of being moved until the knob has again been manipulated and the brakes have been released.