Patent ID: 6318135
Filing Date: 2001-11-20
Classification: E05B,E05C,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
A tailgate locking assembly adapted to be used in combination with a tailgate, which incorporates a tailgate latching mechanism comprising a rod attachment plate consisting of a spring-loaded pull handle that controls the position of a pair of lever arms to which are attached a pair of horizontally displaced latching rods that are normally spring-biased in an outward direction where the ends of the rods are inserted into respective rod receptors, which maintain the tailgate in an upward latched position, wherein to release the rods from their outward latched position the spring-loaded pull-handle is pulled which causes the latching rods to move to an inward unlatch position, which temporarily disengages the ends of the rods from their respective rod receptors to allow the tailgate to be lowered, said tailgate locking assembly comprising:a) a bracket having an upper section and a lower section wherein the upper section has a means for being attached to the rod attachment plate, and the lower section having a lower bore therethrough,b) a key lock having an outer sleeve and a rotatable inner core having an outer protrusion that can be rotated to either a first position or to a second position by a rotating means, wherein the outer sleeve is inserted into the lower bore and attached thereto by an attachment means,c) a locking arm having an outer end and an inner end, with the inner end having an arm bore dimensioned to be inserted into and attached to the outer protrusion by an attachment means, wherein said locking arm can be rotated to either the first position or to the second position, wherein when the rods are in their normal extended latched position, said locking arm is rotated to the first position which allows the outer end of the locking arm to interface with one of the lever arms, thereby preventing the pull handle from causing the two rods to be placed in their inward unlatched positions, thus the tailgate remains locked until the locking arm is rotated to the second position, in which position the tailgate can be lowered.