Patent Description:
It will therefore be appreciated that with apparatus of this type, there are two main security concerns, the removal of the apparatus as a whole from a secure location so as to allow further work to be undertaken to gain access to the interior of the apparatus at a remote location so as to gain access to the contents and the second concern is to prevent access to the interior to the apparatus and items stored therein.

It is known that many forms of this type of apparatus are commercially available and which claim to be secure and, while the security of the same may in certain instances be questionable, the level of security may be sufficient to deter relatively casual potential thieves. However, it is quite often the case that the apparatus is not sufficiently secure to be able to withstand a more determined and/or skilled attempt to breach the same. Yet further, it is known that from time to time, those persons who are skilled in gaining access to this type of apparatus will become aware of a particular weak point in the apparatus security and thereby be able to exploit this weak point and perform a large number of thefts until the weakness issue is resolved.

When one considers that the tools secured in the apparatus, may, individually, be expensive and, when a number of tools are secured together, it will be appreciated that theft of all the tools, can have significant impact financially on the owner of the tools, may prevent the owner from operating their business and/or results in insurance premiums for theft becoming expensive or possibly impossible to obtain. As a result there is a need for genuinely secure apparatus to be used by many individuals and businesses.

The aim of the present invention is therefore to provide secure storage apparatus in a form which improves the security of the apparatus and increases the difficulty and/or time required to gain access to the storage area of the apparatus. A further aim is to improve the security of the apparatus so as to prevent and/or increase the difficulty of removal of the apparatus as a whole unit from another item or structure to which the same is secured.

A further aim is to incorporate both of the said improvements in the same security apparatus to thereby provide the apparatus in an overall improved format so as to maintain the security of the items stored therein.

According to the invention, there is provided a tool storage apparatus for use with a vehicle, said storage apparatus including a body formed by a base, top and sidewalls, which define a storage cavity therein, a portion of the apparatus moveable between open and closed positions so as to allow access to be gained to the storage cavity when the said portion is in an open position to allow the positioning of items therein and the removal of items therefrom, said body including locking means which allow the said portion to be locked in the closed position with the said body and securing means to allow the apparatus to be secured to said vehicle, the apparatus further includes at least one handle secured to the body such that the apparatus may be lifted by a user, and a further handle in addition to and separate from, the locking means and the at least one handle, and which is located on said portion and characterised in that said further handle includes or is attached to the portion by sacrificial elements and said at least one handle includes, or is attached to, the body by sacrificial elements, so that upon an attempt being made to gain access to the said cavity whilst said locking means are locked, by applying a force to, or via the said further handle, said sacrificial elements will break so as to detach said further handle from the portion and prevent force being applied to said further handle to a level sufficient to break said locking means and, upon an attempt being made to remove said apparatus from said vehicle whilst secured to the vehicle by said securing means, by applying a force to or via the said at least one handle, said sacrificial elements will break so as to detach said at least one handle from the body and prevent force being applied to said at least one handle to a level sufficient to break said securing means and remove said apparatus from said vehicle.

The aim of the unauthorised access attempt, is to allow access to the cavity so as to then allow theft of items from the cavity and/or allow further actions to cause the apparatus to be removed and separated from the vehicle to which the same is securely attached.

In one embodiment, the sacrificial elements have a predetermined upper force limit at which the same are designed to break and hence cause the handle to break or be detached from the said apparatus and therefore prevent further force being applied thereto and allow the remainder of the apparatus to be intact and still secure.

In one embodiment said sacrificial elements are screws.

In one embodiment the said portion is a lid which is moveable about hinge mechanisms between open and closed positions.

In one embodiment, the hinge mechanisms are engaged to side walls and/or the lid portion of the apparatus such that the hinge mechanisms are located entirely within the cavity when the lid is in the closed position such that the same is not visible or accessible from the external surfaces of the apparatus and so prevent unauthorised attempts being made to operate the same, in order to allow the lid to be moved with respect to the remainder of the apparatus.

In one embodiment, the lid is provided such that when the same is in a closed position the side walls of the lid portion are substantially flush with the adjacent side walls of the body of the apparatus and so prevent the lid from being used as an anchor or leverage means to attempt to force the lid to an open position using force applying apparatus such as a jack.

Typically the locking means comprise one or more locking members which engage between the lid and the body of the apparatus.

In another embodiment, the said portion is a drawer and more than one drawer can be provided which can be moved between a closed position in which the same are located within the cavity of the body and an open position at least partially removed from the cavity of the body so as to allow access to be gained to the cavity in the drawer and the items stored therein.

Typically, in this embodiment, the one or more sacrificial elements are securing means to attach said handles to the drawers so as to allow movement of the drawers between open and closed positions.

In this embodiment the locking means include, for each drawer at least one locking member which engages the respective drawer in a locked position with the body of the apparatus, when in a locked position.

In one embodiment one or more portions of the external faces of the apparatus are formed of a compound metal or metal alloy which when attempts are made to cut through the same cause respective layers or components of the same to separate and thereby resist attempts to cut through the same.

In one embodiment the said compound material is located at or adjacent to locking means so as to provide resistance to gaining access to break or cut through the lock components. In addition or alternatively the said compound material is located at or adjacent to engagement means for a hinge mechanism for a lid of the apparatus.

Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein.

Referring firstly to <FIG>`, there is illustrated apparatus <NUM> in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the apparatus comprises of a body <NUM> and a lid <NUM>. The body is formed of side walls <NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM> a base <NUM> and which define a cavity <NUM> in which items such as tools can be stored directly or in drawers or trays which are located in the cavity.

In this embodiment access is gained to the cavity <NUM> by moving a portion in the form of the lid <NUM> between the closed, locked position shown in <FIG> to the open unlocked position shown in <FIG> and c. The lid <NUM> is movable about hinge mechanisms <NUM> as indicated by arrow <NUM> and when the lid is in the closed position the front wall <NUM> of the same is substantially flush with the side wall <NUM> as shown in <FIG> so as to prevent any attempt to insert a tool such as a bottle jack being used to raise the lid from the body when the lid is locked to the body via the locking mechanism <NUM>.

In <FIG> and <FIG>, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the invention in which there is again provided a body <NUM> and this is formed of side walls <NUM>, <NUM>,<NUM>, a base <NUM> and top wall <NUM> and a front wall in which there is provided an aperture <NUM> which receives a portion, in this embodiment in the form of a drawer <NUM> therein and the drawer can be slidably moved as indicated by arrow <NUM> between the closed, locked, position located in the cavity <NUM> as shown in <FIG> and the open position as shown in <FIG>. In this embodiment the drawer itself includes a space <NUM> in which the tools are stored and the drawer is again provided with a locking means <NUM> to lock the drawer to the body.

In the embodiments of <FIG> locking means <NUM> may be provided on the base and/or sidewalls of the body <NUM>, <NUM> so as to allow the same to be secured and locked to a securing surface such as a surface of a vehicle.

<FIG> illustrates a further embodiment of the invention which is similar in many features to that of <FIG> but in this case the cavity <NUM> in the body <NUM> is split into two sections, section <NUM> for the storage of items therein and section <NUM> for the location of fuel cans therein and includes ventilation racks <NUM> and vent <NUM> to prevent fuel fumes from building up inside the cavity. Also, lifting portions <NUM> are provided to allow the apparatus <NUM> to be moved by for example a fork lift truck.

The locking means <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> can include a locking mechanism with a number of levers and elongate members which are moved into a locking position when the locking mechanism is operated by an authorised code or key provided to the owner and/or used of the apparatus so as to resist unauthorised movement of the lid if provided and/or drawers if provided. In addition the locking means can be bolts or other securing members which pass between the securing structure and the apparatus so as to lock the apparatus to the locking structure and most typically the bolts or securing members can only be accessed to allow release of the same when authorised access is gained to the cavity of the apparatus.

Also shown, for example in <FIG> is the manner in which all, or a portion <NUM>, of the wall of the apparatus body or lid may be formed of a compound metal or metal alloy structure which has a greater resistance to being cut through and thereby this acts to further secure and prevent access to key security features of the apparatus.

In order to further improve the strength of security of the items within the cavity and/or to prevent theft of the apparatus by removing the same from a securing surface the apparatus is provided with one or more parts which are, or include, sacrificial elements which, typically, are selected to be those parts which are most commonly used to gain unauthorised access to the apparatus cavity and/or which may be judged to be usable to gain unauthorised access.

In the embodiments shown the parts which are or include sacrificial elements are one or more of the handles <NUM> which are attached to the lid <NUM> and/or handles <NUM> attached to the drawer <NUM>, and one or more of the further handles <NUM> which are attached to the body and used to allow the lifting of the apparatus as a whole.

An example of the said part is shown in <FIG> in which, in <FIG>, a handle <NUM> is shown in its normal position located, by securing means in the form of screws <NUM>, with the wall <NUM> of the lid <NUM> of the apparatus. The screws are the sacrificial elements in this embodiment and are formed, in this embodiment, of nylon and with sufficient strength so as to secure the handle <NUM> in position to allow the same to be used for its normal function, for example, to be grasped to lift the lid between open and closed positions. However, the screws <NUM> are also deliberately provided so as only to be usable and remain intact up to a predetermined upper limit of applied force such as that which is sufficient to allow movement of the lid <NUM> without any significant resistance to that movement. However when a greater force is applied to the handle, such as in the direction of arrow <NUM> and which is at a level which is required so as to be sufficient to overcome resistance to movement of the lid to an open position, such as when the lid is locked closed by the locking means, the screws will break or shear as indicated in <FIG> so that the handle part breaks and/or is detached from the lid at a point before sufficient force can be applied to the same to cause the locking mechanism <NUM> to break. This therefore prevents the part from being used as a means of breaking the locking means and gaining unauthorised access to the cavity. Thus if an excessive force is applied, the screws <NUM> which secure the handle to the body will break into parts 72a,b and hence the handle <NUM> will be detached from the apparatus and can no longer be used as a means of applying force to gain unauthorised access.

Claim 1:
A tool storage apparatus (<NUM>) for use with a vehicle, said storage apparatus including a body (<NUM>) formed by a base (<NUM>), top (<NUM>) and sidewalls (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), which define a storage cavity (<NUM>) therein, a portion (<NUM>,<NUM>) of the apparatus moveable between open and closed positions so as to allow access to be gained to the storage cavity (<NUM>) when the said portion (<NUM>,<NUM>) is in an open position to allow the positioning of items therein and the removal of items therefrom, said body including locking means (<NUM>) which allow the said portion (<NUM>,<NUM>) to be locked in the closed position with the said body and securing means (<NUM>) to allow the apparatus (<NUM>) to be secured to said vehicle, the apparatus (<NUM>) further includes at least one handle (<NUM>;<NUM>) in addition to and separate from, the locking means, and which is located on said portion (<NUM>,<NUM>), wherein said handle (<NUM>;<NUM>) includes or is attached to the portion (<NUM>,<NUM>) by sacrificial elements (<NUM>), so that upon an attempt being made to gain access to the said cavity (<NUM>) whilst said locking means (<NUM>) are locked, by applying a force to, or via the said handle (<NUM>;<NUM>), said sacrificial elements (<NUM>) will break so as to detach said handle (<NUM>;<NUM>) from the portion (<NUM>,<NUM>) and prevent force being applied to said handle (<NUM>;<NUM>) to a level sufficient to break said locking means (<NUM>,<NUM>), characterized in that the apparatus further includes at least one further handle (<NUM>) secured to the body (<NUM>) such that the apparatus can be lifted by a user, and in that said further handle (<NUM>) includes or is attached to said body by sacrificial elements, so that upon an attempt being made to remove said apparatus (<NUM>) from said vehicle whilst secured to the vehicle by said securing means, by applying a force to or via the said at least one further handle (<NUM>) , said sacrificial elements will break so as to detach said at least one further handle (<NUM>) from the body and prevent force being applied to said at least one further handle (<NUM>) to a level sufficient to break said securing means (<NUM>) and remove said apparatus (<NUM>) from said vehicle.