Patent Abstract:
A vehicle tire lock to prevent vehicle tires from being stolen includes a core seat, a upper duct, a lock assembly and a lower duct. The upper duct and the lower duct are extendable to run though the tires. Locking and unlocking operations may be performed through the core seat and lock assembly to prevent the vehicle tires from being stolen.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a vehicle tire lock that has a upper duct and a lower duct coupled in an extendable manner to run though tires, and a core seat and a lock assembly to prevent the tires from being stolen.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     In the cold regions two types of vehicle tires are needed, one for the winter season and another for the summer season. For the tires of off-season, they are often being placed by the vehicle owner on the parking lot behind the vehicle. To prevent the tires from being stolen, the tires are strung together by a steel chain or steel cable, and fastened by a lock. While such an approach can guard the tires against thefts, it has drawbacks, notably: 
        1. The length of the steel chain or cable has to match the number of tires being held. Too short is useless, while too long takes too much space and tends to trip people and causes accidents, and also is untidy whether in use or not.     2. When the tires are strung by the steel chain or cable, the tires often are not stacked and aligned neatly. As a result, the tires tend to tumble when hit by external forces.        
 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     In view of the aforesaid disadvantages, the present invention aims to provide a vehicle tire lock that consists of a core seat, a upper duct, a lock assembly and a lower duct. The upper duct and the lower duct are coupled and extendable to run through the axle holes of the vehicle tires. The core seat is coupled with the lock assembly to perform locking and unlocking operations to prevent the tires from being stolen.  
         [0008]     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the lock assembly of the invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the invention in a locking condition.  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a cross section taken on line I-I in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of an embodiment of the invention in use.  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  is another schematic view of an embodiment of the invention in use.  
         [0016]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view of the invention in a unlocking condition.  
         [0017]      FIG. 9  is a cross section taken on line II-II in  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 1, 2  and  3 , the vehicle tire lock according to the invention includes a core seat  1 , a upper duct  2 , a lock assembly  3  and a lower duct  4 .  
         [0019]     The core seat  1  has a seat body  10  with a maximum width greater than the axle hole of vehicle tires. The seat body  10  has a fastening latch  11  on a lower side. The seat body  10  also holds a core  12  which has a keyway  121  on one end and a latch tongue  122  on another end.  
         [0020]     The upper duct  2  is hollow and has a first inner hole  20  which has a upper end coupled with the fastening latch  11  and fastened by a pin A or soldering.  
         [0021]     The lock assembly  3  includes a coupling dock  30  and a rod  33 . The coupling dock  30  has one or more retaining assembly  34  which includes an elastic element  342 , a bucking member  343  and an anchor button  341 . The coupling dock  30  is coupled on a lower end of the upper duct  2  and fastened by another pin A or soldering. The coupling dock  30  includes a upper seat  31  and a lower seat  32 . The upper seat  31  has one or more anchor hole  312  and an aperture  311 . The lower seat  32  has one or more anchor strut  326 , at least one bucking member housing chamber  321  and at least one side chamber  322 . The bucking member housing chamber  321  and the side chamber  322  are separated by a spacer  323  which has a notch  324  in the center. The side chamber  322  has an opening  325  on an outer side. The lower seat  32  further has a trough  327  corresponding to the aperture  311  of the upper seat  31  to fasten to the lower end of the rod  33 . The rod  33  has a coupling section  331  on a upper end to be coupled with and driven by the latch tongue  122 , and a first action surface  332  and a second action surface  333  on a lower end.  
         [0022]     The lower duct  4  is hollow and has a second inner hole  40  to house the upper duct  2  such that the upper duct  2  is movable upwards and downwards. The second inner hole  40  is ellipse (or a polygon) corresponding to the upper duct  2  to prevent the upper duct  2  from rotating during extending and retracting. The wall of lower duct  4  has at least one aperture  411  to form a longitudinal aperture column  41  to be latched by the anchor button  341  of the lock assembly. The lower duct  4  further has a flange  42  on a distal end with a perimeter greater than the axle hole of the vehicle tires.  
         [0023]     On the retaining assembly  34  the elastic element  342  is coupled on a neck  3432  of the bucking member  343  of a smaller diameter. The bucking member  343  is held in the bucking member housing chamber  321 , and has a bucking head  3431  of a larger diameter retained by the spacer  323 . The neck  3432  passes through the notch  324  into the side chamber  322  to press a button head  3411  of the anchor button  341 . The anchor button  341  has a jutting end  3412  passing through the opening  325  and extended outside under the elastic force of the elastic element  342  in normal conditions (referring to  FIG. 5 ).  
         [0024]     The invention further has a tray  5  which has a coupling seat  52 . The coupling seat  52  has a fastening hole  521  in the center to couple with the flange  42  of the lower duct  4  and be fastened by a fastening element B  1 . The coupling seat  52  further has an anchor lug  522  mating an anchor notch  421  formed on the periphery of the flange  42  to facilitate positioning during assembly.  
         [0025]     The tray  5  has one or more aperture  51  on the periphery to receive a fastening element B 2  for fastening to the ground (referring to  FIG. 4 ).  
         [0026]     Referring to  FIGS. 4 through 7 , by means of the construction set forth above, when a user wants to lock vehicle tires  6 , first, he/she pulls out the upper duct  2  from the lower duct  4 ; next, the tires  6  are coupled on the lower duct  4  through the axle hole; then insert the upper duct  2  into the second inner hole  40  of the lower duct  4 , and move the upper duct to couple the anchor button  341  with the longitudinal aperture column  41  in a desired aperture  411  until the core seat  1  touches the vehicle tire at the top end. Turn the core  12  through a key to drive the latch tongue  122  and rod  33 . The first action surface  332  presses the bucking member  343  so that the anchor button  341  cannot be retracted, and a locking condition is achieved (referring to  FIG. 5 ). On the contrary, to remove the vehicle tires, referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , turn the latch tongue  122  of core  12  through the key to drive the rod  33 . The second action surface  333  of the rod  33  is moved and spaced from the bucking member  343 , thus the anchor button  341  may be retracted to release the locking condition. Hence the upper duct  2  may be pulled out from the lower duct  4 , and the vehicle tires  6  may be removed.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1