Car theft prevention device

Claim 1

A car theft prevention device for locking a car key to a car exterior door handle that extends longitudinally of the car and comprising: a housing for being suspended from said handle and having a horizontal cross section that is elongated in the longitudinal direction of said handle and formed with a key-receiving chamber having an opening and leg-receiving passages disposed on opposite sides of said opening; a cover disposed in telescopical relationship with said housing for closing said opening and including a pair of leg-receiving openings, said cover being shiftable on said housing between an open and an uncovering position; a U-shaped shackle formed with a pair of spaced apart legs for receipt in said shackle-receiving passages and which bend inwardly at their upper extremity to define downwardly facing retaining shoulders for engaging said cover to limit cover movement in one direction on said legs, said legs being connected together by a central loop for receipt over said door handle, said loop being twisted to form a turned portion extending generally transversely to the plane of said legs for resting on said handle so said housing, when suspended from said handle, will extend generally longitudinally of said handle, one of said legs being sufficiently longer than the other to enable said cover to be telescoped off said housing sufficiently to clear said opening sufficiently to enable said car key to be removed from said chamber while at least said one leg remains engaged with said housing; and locking means mounted in said housing for locking one of said legs to said housing to retain said cover in a covering position over said chamber whereby said key may be placed in said chamber, said cover telescoped onto said housing, said shackle looped over sAid handle, said locking means locked to lock said shackle to said housing to hold said cover in position on said housing to retain said key locked on the door and when said key is to be removed from said chamber said locking means may be unlocked, and said cover telescoped off said housing to clear said opening sufficiently to enable said key to be removed while said one leg remains engaged with its leg-receiving passage.