Lockable tie down strap
OwnerSam R. Kennedyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lockable tie down strap used to secure various loads to a variety of support surfaces, such as a vehicle, a boat, a pallet, a shelf, a tray, a cage, or the like. The lockable tie down strap has one loose end that is secured in a key-operated locking member to prevent theft, and is preferably constructed of a tubular webbing with steel cables running through the body of the webbing to prevent cutting of the strap, and thereby more securely hold a load by the strap. The strap may also be provided with loose ends having openings or a hook at the ends, for use with a roof rack or a wire cage to hold equipment or a flexible load in position.
Claims9
A lockable tie down system for a load, comprising:
- at least one strap made from a tubular webbing material having reinforcing means held therein;
- the at least one strap having a loose end and a fixed end;
- a buckle having a key-operated lock with a locking compartment fixedly secured to the fixed end of the at least one strap for releasably holding the loose end of the at least one strap in the locking compartment;
- the key-operated lock being mounted on a cam lever rotatably mounted in the locking compartment and having a locking end that engages with the loose end of the at least one strap when the loose end is inserted into the locking compartment, said cam lever including an end which is manually depressible to release the loose end, and a pivot located between the two ends;
- a biasing means held in the buckle cooperating with the cam lever so as to normally bias the cam lever to a locked position;
- and
- the reinforcing means being comprised of at least two metal strands held in the tubular webbing material to prevent cutting of the at least one strap.
A combination lockable tie down system and a vehicle roof rack, comprising:
- a vehicle roof rack adapted to be secured to a top of a vehicle;
- at least one reinforced strap adapted to pass around the vehicle roof rack and a load held in the vehicle roof rack;
- the at least one reinforced strap having a fixed end and a loose end;
- a steel buckle having a key-operated lock with a steel locking compartment;
- the fixed end secured within the steel locking compartment at a first end of the buckle, the loose end inserted in a second end of the steel locking compartment;
- the key-operated lock including a cam lever rotatably held in the steel locking compartment and having a serrated end that cooperates with the loose end inserted in the second end of the steel locking compartment to lock the loose end within the buckle, upon locking of the key-operated lock, a manually depressible end on the cam lever to release the serrated end, and a pivot located between the two ends;
- a biasing means held in the steel locking compartment and cooperating with the cam lever so as to normally bias the cam lever to a locked position;
- and
- the at least one reinforced strap including a tubular webbing material having at least two steel reinforcing strands held therein to prevent cutting of the at least one reinforced strap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.