The background of the invention will be discussed in two parts.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to door locks for light camper shell doors, and particularly to door locks for campers that fit on pickup trucks and have a short bar or an elongate bar that engages a portion of the truck frame or another portion of the camper shell for securing the door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the camper field the need for an inside door lock has existed for some time. In large trailers and motor homes, the doors are provided with locks that lock from both outside and inside. However, in more recent years, there has been a wisespread increase in the use of camper shells for pickup trucks. Although the majority of such camper shells are intended for assembly to the pickup truck with the tail gate still attached to the truck, some camper shells provide larger door openings for entry by campers, with the larger door entries being accommodated by removal of the tail gate. Such camper shells are normally secured to the pickup truck, such as by bolts, usually accessible from the interior of the shell. One or more doors may be provided for access to the compartment within the shell formed by the pickup truck bed and the shell.
In the first instance, the doors generally pivot about the roof of the shell, that is, the door pivots about a horizontal hinge. In the larger camper shell units, the door or doors pivot about a vertically disposed hinge arrangement attached to the camper shell. On virtually all camper shells, the door is provided with a locking arrangement which permits locking only from the outside. Such locks are intended to deter the theft of the contents of the truck in the pickup bed when the vehicle is unattended. However, such camper shells have achieved popularity for camping purposes, in which event, it is desirable to provide some means for locking the door from the interior when the pickup bed is used for sleedping quarters.
The locking mechanisms on such camper shells differ in design, but follow one of three basic configurations. In one instance, the simplest method for a vertically or horizontally hinged door is to provide a short locking bar which is fixed relative to, and pivots with, the door handle, and engages a stationary part of the shell or tail gate in the closed position, thus latching the door. The locking mechanism can be locked only from the outside and simply prevents rotation of the handle from the exterior.
In a more complicated door latching arrangement, the handle on the door operates a lever arm on the interior, rotation of which axially displaces an elongate locking bar which passes through an eye fixed to and adjacent an end of the door, in proximity to a slot or catch opening on a stationary part of the shell or truck. Rotation of the door handle then moves the end of the locking bar into or out of the catch opening. In the more sophisticated latching arrangements, a pair of locking bars are manipulated simultaneously by the handle lever with a pair of aligned catch openings in a stationary part of the shell or truck being simultaneously engaged. The locking bars in such instances are exposed and accessible from the interior of the camper shell.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved locking apparatus for use on the interior of a camper shell.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved camper shell locking apparatus which engages the locking bars of presently existing latching arrangements for camper shells.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved camper shell locking apparatus which engages the locking bars of presently existing latching arrangements for camper shells and which can be readily attached to existing camper shells.