Semi-trailer locking apparatus
OwnerSteven Michael Kellyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention involves a locking apparatus for semi-trailers and/or freight delivery units. A pin plate is attached to a standard trailer swing door, roll-up type door or another type of door. A housing is placed in the floor of the semi-trailer. A pin located within the housing is slidable within the housing from an unlocked position to a locked position, whereby the pin is raised to engage a pin plate secured to the semi-trailer door. A cam lock or another lock is used to keep the pin raised in the locked position.
Claims6
A locking apparatus for locking at least one door of a semi-trailer or freight delivery unit, the semi-trailer or freight delivery unit having a floor, the locking apparatus comprising:
- (a) a housing inserted through the floor and secured therein, the housing having an inner wall;
- (b) a plate having a channel therein and positioned on the door of the semi-trailer adjacent to the housing when the door is closed;
- (c) a pin mechanism located within the housing and being of a diameter less than the inner wall of the housing, and capable of moving from an unlocked retracted position where the pin mechanism does not engage the plate, to a locked position where the pin mechanism engages the plate such that the door can not be opened;
- (d) wherein the pin mechanism has at least one stop collar located approximately mid-point along the length of the pin mechanism, the locking apparatus further comprising:
- (i) a pin guide positioned towards the top of the housing, said pin guide having a bore of sufficient diamater to permit passage of the pin mechanism but not the stop collar;
- (ii) an inner pin guide positioned towards the bottom of the housing, said pin guide having a bore of sufficient diamater to permit passage of the pin mechanism but not the stop collar;
- and
- a cam lock, said cam lock being inserted in the bottom of the housing until the cam lock reaches the inner pin guide, said cam lock having a cam which engages a groove immediately below the inner pin guide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.