There are many types of electronic instruments, such as marine sonar devices, global positioning devices (“GPS”), among others, that are designed to be installed onto a mounting bracket using one or more fasteners that are provided by the manufacturer (or original equipment manufacturer or “OEM”), or preinstalled by the OEM. Such devices will be alternatively referred to herein as “electronic devices,” “electronics” or “instruments.” The instruments are typically configured with threaded holes disposed in opposing sides of the body of the instrument, such holes being axially aligned with holes defined in the supporting bracket. The fasteners are threaded such that the threads complement those of the threaded holes in the instrument. This mounting configuration permits some vertical adjustability as well as angular adjustability of the instrument, which enhances the visibility of the instrument by the user. By tightening the fastener or fasteners, the user can secure both the vertical position of the instrument and its angle of tilt.
In this inventor's experience, boaters prefer electronic instruments such as sonar to be raised off the console so they are more readily visible from a standing position, such as when the driver of the boat is standing at the wheel for better visibility. The valuable nature of GPS units and marine sonar units also makes them an easy potential target for thieves. To both ends, this inventor devised an electronics lock device that is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,514 entitled Method and Device for Securing an Electronic Instrument to a Bracket. While the device of that application is fully functional and has achieved much commercial success, this inventor is aware of the fact that the device disclosed and claimed in that application is not applied “universally” to all or most commercially available instruments and their associated bracketry. That is, all or most types of electronics and bracketry that exist in the marketplace do not use the same fasteners, there being no requirement for such.
Accordingly, this inventor has sought to devise another lock device that is universally applicable to all or most types of electronics and bracketry that exist in the marketplace, including electronics used with marine craft and land vehicles, such as trucks and automobiles, for example.