Abstract:
The present invention relates to a decorative cap for enclosing the head of a wheel bolt or wheel nut or the like which fastens a wheel to the hub of a vehicle, comprising an end closure wall, an endless side wall extending from an outer periphery of said end closure wall, a skid extending radially outwardly from a periphery of said side wall, and said skirt having a plurality of locking lips depending therefrom for releasably gripping the head.

Description:
This application claims priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/375,896, filed Apr. 26, 2002, entitled “THEFT DETERRENT WHEEL CAP ASSEMBLY AND METHOD.” 

   RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This invention relates generally to wheel bolts or nuts for fastening a wheel to a vehicle hub. It relates particularly to a decorative cap for a theft deterrent bolt head or nut. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Theft deterrence for automobile or truck wheels, for example, is sometimes provided with a key type removal mechanism. One of the plurality of wheel bolts or nuts has a unique keying feature incorporated, and the bolt or nut can only be removed with a key carried by the vehicle operator. 
   Although anti-theft lock mechanisms such as these are effective against amateur thieves, professionals defeat them given a reasonable amount of time to do so. The present invention is designed to further thwart thieves seeking to remove vehicle wheels quickly. 
   There are numerous decorative caps for wheel nuts or bolts in the prior art. Some examples are seen in the Toth U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,272, the Lanham U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,202 and the Nolan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,266, for example. None provide the advantages hereinafter discussed in relation to the present invention. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the invention to provide an improved decorative wheel cap for a vehicle wheel bolt or wheel nut. 
   It is another object to provide a new and improved wheel bolt or wheel nut and decorative cap assembly which functions as a theft deterrent. 
   Still another object is to provide a method of concealing a keyed wheel bolt or wheel nut head with an improved decorative cap, as well as removing the cap when access to the bolt or nut is desired. 
   The foregoing and other objects are realized in a decorative cap for a wheel bolt or nut head, a decorative cap and wheel bolt or nut assembly, and a tool and method for removing the cap from a bolt or nut head. The cap, assembly, tool and method embodying features of the invention are illustrated and described below. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention, including the construction of wheel fastener caps, their assembly with wheel bolts and wheel nuts, and the method of use are illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a side elevational view of a decorative wheel cap embodying features of the invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the wheel cap seen in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a bottom plan view of the wheel cap seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a side elevational view (partially in section) of a wheel bolt with an internal key drive and which is adapted to receive the wheel cap seen in  FIGS. 1–3 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a top plan view of the bolt seen in  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a side elevational view of an assembly comprising the cap of  FIGS. 1–3  and the bolt of  FIGS. 4 and 5 ; 
       FIG. 7  is an end elevational view of a tool employed according to the invention for removing a wheel fastener cap embodying the invention from a wheel bolt or nut; 
       FIG. 8  is a sectional view taken along line  8 — 8  of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIGS. 9A ,  9 B and  9 C show the tool seen in  FIGS. 7 and 8  being used in push-on, engagement and pull-off steps involved in the cap removal method of the invention; 
       FIG. 10  is a side elevational view (partially in section) of a wheel nut with an external key drive and which is adapted to receive the wheel cap seen in  FIGS. 1–3 ; 
       FIG. 11  is a top plan view of the nut seen in  FIG. 10 ; and 
       FIG. 12  is a side elevational view of an assembly comprising the cap of  FIGS. 1–3  and the nut of  FIGS. 10 and 11 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to  FIGS. 1–3 , a decorative cap for a vehicle wheel bolt or nut is seen generally at  10 . The cap  10  is preferably formed in one piece from stainless steel sheet metal and includes a dome-shaped outer wall  12  and a generally cylindrical side wall  14  extending therefrom. A radially outwardly extending skirt  16  is formed around the inner end of the side wall  14 . 
   The side wall  14  is polygonal in cross-sectional configuration so that it will appear to fit over the torque wrench gripping section of a wheel bolt head or wheel nut head in a manner hereinafter discussed. The skirt  16  has three identical locking lip segments  18  on its free inner edge  19 , and extending slightly inwardly toward the center line CL of the cap  10 . Each lip segment  18  extends around approximately 600 of the circumference of the skirt  16 . The segments  18  are evenly spaced around the edge  19 . 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , a wheel bolt to which the cap  10  is assembled in use is seen generally at  130 . The wheel bolt  130  includes an externally threaded shaft section  132  at its inner end, an enlarged annular intermediate section  134  above the threaded shaft section and a head section  136  at its outer end. 
   The enlarged annular intermediate section  134  has a load bearing surface  138  which is segmentally spherical in shape, but might also be frusto-conical. Extending outwardly from the outer edge of the surface  138  in the intermediate section  134  is a cylindrical surface  142 . 
   The intermediate section  134  is capped with an annular shoulder  144  which is somewhat frusto-conical in shape, albeit inverted relative to the load bearing surface  138 . The outer periphery of the shoulder  144  overhangs the cylindrical surface  142  to form an annular, outwardly protruding bead  146 . 
   The head section  136  has a cylindrical outer surface  152 . Extending axially inwardly from the free end  154  of the head section  136  is an internal drive well  156 . The well  156  has a series of axially extending key grooves  158  formed in its inner surface. The key grooves are designed to mate, in a conventional manner, with a complementary key (not shown) which is used with a conventional wrench to tighten or loosen the bolt  130 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 6 , the cap  10  is assembled with the bolt  130  in the manner illustrated. Assembly is normally by hand, with the cap  10  sliding loosely over the cylindrical surface  152  of the bolt head section  136  until the lip segments  18  are forced outwardly by the shoulder  144  of the intermediate bolt section and then snap inwardly under the bead  146 . 
   With the cap  10  in place, the bolt  130  looks just like every other capped bolt (not shown) holding a wheel in place. The difference is that the other bolts are conventional polygon head bolts, and not internally keyed like the bolt  130 . All of the bolts have identical caps, but only one is specially keyed in the manner of bolt  130 . A thief is not only faced with one specially keyed bolt as a deterrent, but also the problem of locating that bolt (or even looking for it) in the little time normally available. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 7–9 , a cap removal tool embodying features of the invention is seen generally at  210 . In  FIGS. 7 and 8  the tool  210  is shown alone. In  FIGS. 9A ,  9 B and  9 C, it is shown being used in sequential steps to remove a cap  10  from a wheel bolt  130 . 
   The tool  210  comprises an elongated cylindrical sleeve  212  fabricated of steel tubing or, in the alternative, a suitable plastic material. The sleeve  212  includes an outer hand grip section  214  in which the tubing wall is relatively thick, as at  216 . The sleeve  212  also includes an inner cap gripping section  218  in which the tubing wall is thinner, as at  222 . 
   The cap gripping section  218  of the tool  210  has an annular, inwardly extending ledge  224  formed on its free end. The cap gripping section  218  is also segmented along about one-half its length, inwardly of the ledge  224 , by axially extending cut-outs  226 . The resulting configuration of the section  218  is one of six axially extending fingers  228  which can flex inwardly and outwardly in a manner hereinafter discussed. 
   The tool  210  is used by pushing it onto an installed cap  10  in the manner shown in  FIG. 9A . The ledge segments  224  are forced over locking lip segments  18  of the cap  10 . The ledge segments  224  then spring inwardly, behind the free ends of the locking lip segments  18 , to the position shown in  FIG. 9B . 
   The operator then pulls the tool  210  away from the bolt  130 , as seen in  FIG. 9C . The ledge segments  224  on the tool  210  pull the lip segments  18  of the cap  10  back over the head  146  on the bolt  130 , releasing the cap and permitting its removal by hand. 
   To this point, the inventions disclosed have been described in the context of a vehicle wheel bolt  130  which is internally keyed, as at  158 . As was previously pointed out, however, the inventions are equally applicable to vehicle wheel nuts and, particularly, keyed wheel nuts. 
     FIGS. 10 and 11  illustrate a keyed wheel nut  330  embodying features of the invention. The wheel nut  330  is similar to the lug bolt  130  previously discussed with respect to its invention-related features. 
   The nut  330  includes an internally threaded bore  332 , an enlarged annular intermediate body section  334  around the threaded bore and a head section  336  adjacent that. The annular intermediate section  334  has a generally frusto-conical load-bearing surface  338  (which might also be spherical). Extending upwardly from the outer edge of the surface  338  in the intermediate section  334  is a cylindrical surface  342 . 
   The intermediate section  334  is capped with an annular shoulder  344  which is somewhat frusto-conical in shape, albeit inverted relative to the load-bearing surface  338 . The outer periphery of the shoulder  344  overhangs the cylindrical surface  342  to form an annular, outwardly protruding bead  346 . 
   The head section  336  has a generally cylindrical outer surface  352 . The surface  352  has a series of axially extending key grooves  358  formed in it. The key grooves are designed to mate, in a conventional manner, with a complementary key (not shown) which is used with a torque wrench to tighten or loosen the bolt  330 . 
   A cap  10  is mounted on the wheel nut  330  in the manner shown in  FIG. 12 . This is accomplished in a manner identical to that previously described in relation to the bolt  130 . Correspondingly, the cap  10  removal process is identical.