Many pick-up trucks sold in the United States today have a rear window in the cab behind the passengers' heads with one or two horizontally sliding glass windows. These windows may be opened to provide increased circulation of air through the passengers' compartment, or for other reasons while the vehicle is being operated. However, when the vehicle is parked and left overnight or for extended periods of time, it is necessary to lock these windows to prevent unauthorized entry therethrough and into the passengers' compartment. Otherwise, a prospective thief might easily reach through the windows, unlock the door locks, and gain access to the passengers' compartment.
Unfortunately, these sliding glass windows are typically provided with very flimsy locking arrangements which are easily defeated by anyone who is interested in gaining unauthorized access. This is perhaps for cost reasons as many of these windows are typically included in the relatively inexpensive, lightweight pick-up trucks presently being marketed by many of the major domestic and foreign manufacturers. Nevertheless, these windows provide a significant advantage over those pick-ups without windows and are highly desired by owners of these kinds of pick-up trucks. Therefore, many of these trucks are presently being manufactured and sold with these windows which provide very little resistance to unauthorized entry.
To solve these and other problems in the prior art, the inventor herein has succeeded in designing and developing a heavy-duty locking device for barring these windows in their closed position through the use of a pair of adjustable bars which can be retracted from behind the passengers' seat and moved easily in tandem up into position between the edge of the window and the frame. These bars are somewhat similar to the locking bar devices commonly used with sliding glass patio doors. However, the inventor herein has succeeded in designing and developing a mounting assembly which provides a convenient and unobtrusive mounting arrangement which is easily operable to bring both bars simultaneously into and out of their locking orientation. By utilizing the mounting assembly of the present invention, the bars may be retracted into a storage position substantially out of view between the truck seats and the rear wall of the passenger compartment or cab and yet with one hand, an operator may lift the locking bars from their stored position and conveniently place them into locking position with little attention paid to guiding their movement. Each bar may be hingedly mounted to the top of a vertically oriented post and collar assembly, the post sliding within the collar and having a detent to indicate to the operator when the proper vertical position has been achieved. At this point, the bars may then be swung rearwardly into position between the window edge and the frame. In a variation, the vertical detent may be eliminated and the bars may be allowed to rest in the track of the windows, the weight of the mounting assembly providing an increased security against their being moved out of position by a prospective thief.
Each bar can be sized in advance to fit a particular pick-up truck, or may be provided as a telescoping assembly of tubes with a plurality of holes along each tube to permit them to be telescoped into their desired length and then secured by a screw or the like inserted through at least two of the aligned holes in the tubes.
By utilizing the window bar locking device of the present invention, a pick-up truck owner may enjoy the advantages of being able to open his rear window to increase circulation of air through the cab without seriously detracting from the security of the cab. Because of the adjustable nature of the invention, and its relative ease in mounting, it is intended that this device can be sold in the after market to present owners of pick-up trucks. Additionally, its design may be conveniently adapted for use in new design pick-up trucks as they are manufactured and sold.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been briefly discussed, a greater understanding of the invention can be attained by referring to the drawing and detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows.