US3860278A - Thief-proof door pull for automobiles - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent lifting a door latch rod of an automobile by the hook end of a coat hanger or other tool inserted into a locked car from the outside, the head of the latch rod is made with a bottom surface which will be flush, or substantially flush with the top of the window frame of the door when the latch rod is pushed down to locking position. For existing automobiles a head may be made in the two parts to fit around the existing head of the pull rod, and shaped at its bottom to fit flush with the window frame when pushed down.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,860,278 Dalia Jan. 14, 1975 [54] THIEF-PROOF DOOR PULL FOR 3,335,394 8/1967 Miller 339/208 X AUTOMOBILES 3,391,419 7/1968 Thorne-Thomsen 16/121 [76] Inventor: John F. Dalia, 1517 Empire Blvd., Primary Examiner RiChard E Moore Webster 14580 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Shlesinger, Fitzsimmons & [22] Filed: Apr. 9, 1973 Shlesinger 1 l. N 4 1 PP O 3 8,994 [57] ABSTRACT To prevent lifting a door latch rod of an automobile 2% 292/347 9 35 by the hook end of a coat hanger or other tool in- 1 B 2 serted into a locked car from the outside, the head of 1 1e 0 SZZE EE 70 16 the latch rod is made with a bottom surface which will ll be flush, or substantially flush with the top of the win- 56 R f d dow frame of the door when the latch rod is pushed 1 e erences down to locking position. For existing automobiles a UNITED STATES PATENTS head may be made in the two parts to fit around the 574,755 1/1897 Oehler 292/DIG. 2 existing head of the pull rod, and shaped at its bottom 2,233,278 2/1941 Aldeen 292/166 X to fit flush with the window frame when pushed down. 2,694,917 11/1954 Trammell, Jr. 292/DIG. 2 2,793,521 5/1957 Cannon 70/181 2 Clalms, 8 Drawing Flgures PATENTED JAN 1 4!.975

TIIIEF-PROOF DOOR PULL FOR AUTOMOBILES The present invention relates to automotive vehicles, and more particularly to pull knobs for unlatching the doors of such vehicles.

The latches on conventional automobile doors are locked or unlocked by pulling on, or pushing down, respectively, a mushroom-shaped head formed on or secured to a lock rod that is reciprocal vertically in the door, and which operates the locking mechanism for the door by its reciprocation. A door with this type of pull on it, however, can readily be opened by inserting the hook portion of an ordinary wire coat hanger between the glass of the door and the rubber gasket around the glass, and pulling upwardly on the head of the rod. This makes it easy for a thief or a joy rider to open the door of a parked automobile.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a pull for operating the latch rod of an automobile door which will make it impossible to open the door with a wire coat hanger or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pull of the character for the purpose described, which can be applied to existing door pull-rods so as to make it possible to achieve the advantages of the present invention even on existing automobiles.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of an automobile showing door pulls made according to the present invention for latching and unlatching the doors of the automobile, one of these pulls being shown in released position, and the other being shown in depressed, locking position;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a side elevation and an end view, respectively, on an enlarged scale, showing this pull;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing a two-piece pull constructed to fit around the conventional head of a conventional automobile door latch rod so as to adapt the present invention to use on an existing automobile;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of this two-part embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5 but on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 7 is a view showing how the invention may be adapted to one type of automobile door of existing automobiles; and

FIG. 8 shows how the invention may be adapted to use on another type of door.

With this invention, the vertically-reciprocable door latch rod of the automobile has a head rigidly secured thereto, which has a horizontal plane bottom surface that fits flush against the sill of a window of the vehicle when the door latch rod is in its down, locking position, so that it is impossible, to open the door of the vehicle from the outside, when the window is closed and the door locked, by inserting a tool, such as the hook portion of an ordinary wire coat hanger, between the glass of the door and the rubber gasket around the glass and pulling upwardly on the latch rod.

Referring now to the drawing by numerals of reference, 10 denotes anautomobile having doors 11 and 12 in which there are panes ofglass 13 and 14, respectively. The doors may be constructed as shown in FIG. 7 or, in FIG. 8, or in any other conventional manner.

In FIG. 7, the door has anoutside metal panel 16, and aninside metal panel 18. Theglass pane 13 of the door is slidable vertically between therubber gaskets 20 and 22 on the outside and insidepanels 16 and 18, respectively. Here the inside panel is formed with ahorizontal ledge 24 against which thehead 26 of a pull rod made according to one embodiment of this invention is adapted to seat when the door is locked. Thishead 26 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, has an arcuateupper surface 28 and a planehorizontal undersurface 30, andparallel plane sides 32 and 34. The head-is adapted to be made integral with, or fastened in any desired manner to, the operating rod 38 (FIG. 7) of the conventional latch mechanism for the door. As will be clear from FIGS. 1 and 7, when thehead 26 is depressed, it seats flush against thehorizontal plane surface 24 of the ledge of the door, preventing anyone from getting a hook under the head, as clearly shown at the right in FIG. 1. The head is shown in dotted lines in FIG. 7 in the lifted position it occupies when the door is unlatched.

In order to use the invention on existing doors, the head may be made in two pieces as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. Thesepieces 40 and 42 are molded, or hollowed out to fit around opposite sides of thehead 44 of theferrule 46 of a conventionaldoor latch rod 38. The twoparts 40 and 42 of the knob of the present invention may be glued together by adhesive 41 or otherwise secured together about theconventional head 44; and to prevent movement between them, one of the parts, such as thepart 40, may be provided withprotuberances 48 to engage inrecesses 50 in theother part 42.

Where theinside panel 18 of a door is shaped as shown in FIG. 8 with a rounded top surface, the head of the present invention may be made with an inwardly downwardly inclined bottom surface as shown at 52 in FIG. 8 to be substantially flush with the adjoining surface of the window frame when the pull rod of the door is pushed down to latched position.

The side surfaces of the head may be knurled as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, if desired, so as to make it easier to lift the latch rod to which the head is attached. If desired, also, the side surfaces of a knob may be made to converge toward one another downwardly so as to make it easier to grasp and lift the latch rod.

Other modifications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

While the invention has been described, therefore, in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is capable of further modification, and this application is intended to cover any embodiments of the invention which come within the disclosure or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an automotive vehicle door which has a window pane, a frame around said pane including a sill at the bottom of said frame, a latch for locking the door, and a vertically reciprocable pull rod for operating the latch,

a head rigidly secured to said rod so that when said head is gripped and pulled upwardly, said rod is lifted to release the latch and when said head is pushed down said rod is lowered to move the latch to locking position, said head having a bottom surface which conforms in configuration to the upper surface of said sill so that when said rod is lowered to locking position at least the bottom edge surface area of said head contacts and is contiguous to the upper surface of said sill and is flush with the same over substantially the whole of the area of said bottom edge surface, and

said head having a smooth, arcuate projection-free top surface which extends smoothly from one bottom edge area to corresponding opposite edge area and has a smooth juncture at each of its opposite ends with opposite ends of said bottom edge surface, and said head having substantially parallel seat thereon.

Claims (2)

1. In an automotive vehicle door which has a window pane, a frame around said pane including a sill at the bottom of said frame, a latch for locking the door, and a vertically reciprocable pull rod for operating the latch, a head rigidly secured to said rod so that when said head is gripped and pulled upwardly, said rod is lifted to release the latch and when said head is pushed down said rod is lowered to move the latch to locking position, said head having a bottom surface which conforms in configuration to the upper surface of said sill so that when said rod is lowered to locking position at least the bottom edge surface area of said head contacts and is contiguous to the upper surface of said sill and is flush with the same over substantially the whole of the area of said bottom edge surfaCe, and said head having a smooth, arcuate projection-free top surface which extends smoothly from one bottom edge area to corresponding opposite edge area and has a smooth juncture at each of its opposite ends with opposite ends of said bottom edge surface, and said head having substantially parallel sides joining at right angles with said bottom surface thereby to leave no projections between said head and said sill, when said rod is in locking position, under which a tool can be inserted from the outside of the vehicle to raise said head and unlock said door.

2. An automotive vehicle door as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper surface of said sill is a plane surface, and said head has a horizontal plane bottom surface to seat thereon.

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