My trailer with the first production model of protecting it from theft while left unattended in my back yard.

from The Inventor........................................

I was in the construction business.  That meant frequently using a trailer hauled behind my truck to transport equipment to and from jobsites.

Soon after getting into construction, I realized that the old flatbed trailer that I had owned for several years wasn't enough. I found a local trailer manufacturer and had a trailer made to my specifications, specifications that included a Bulldog^® trailer coupler.

A week later, I picked up my new custom made trailer with it's Bulldog^® coupler. Before leaving the dealer, I asked about a coupler lock and he showed me a lock. It was a pin-type device with a solid block on one end and a removable block on the other. A key locked the removableblock on the pin after the pin was inserted in a hole provided in the coupler. Since I had this brand new, shiny trailer and wasn't about to let it get stolen, I bought the lock.

To be quite honest, I never felt really comfortable with that first lock. It was very similar in many ways to a receiver pinlock I had used for several years.  But, since the hole in thecoupler was only big enough for a 1/4 inch pin, the pin on the lock could only be 1/4 inch in diameter, a far cry from the 1/2 inch pin on the receiverlock. The blocks on the lock just sat up there and begged for someone to hit them with a hammer. I always felt that a couple good blows with a hammer would shear the pin and my trailer would be gone.

Well, to make a long story short, I used that first lockfor over a year, but was always cautious.  Many times on long jobs, I would have preferred to have left the trailer on a jobsite (and could have saved some gas, too), but was afraid it wouldn't be there when I returned the next day. So, I hauled it back and forth each day.  When I did leave it, I used a large chain to chain the trailer to something solid.

Then one day, I got home from a job and decided to take the trailer off because I didn't need it the next day.  When I went to unhook the trailer, the block with the locking device was gone and all that remained was the pin with the solid block on one end. Maybe I didn't get it locked tightly, I'll probably never know.

The next day, I left the house and went directly to the nearest hardware store to buy a replacement lock.  While I live in a quiet neighborhood, I had spent a nervous night knowing that my trailer was sitting in the yard unprotected all night.  (Hey, I really like my custom trailer and didn't really have the money to replace it! Plus, without the trailer, I had no way of getting my equipment to future jobs.)

The hardware store didn't have anything to fit a Bulldog^® trailer coupler, so I went to a large discount store.  Same story, nothing that would work. By noon, I had been to 5 stores and still had no lock. I was discouraged and disgusted and decided to stop for lunch.  This really wasn't the way I planned on spending the day.  I had planned on spending the day rounding up new business, not looking for a trailer lock.

That's when it hit me, Why am I spending all this time and energy looking for a replacement lock when I really didn't trust the original lock anyway?"  I finished my sandwich and headed home.  By the end of the day, I had constructed the first prototype of what would become . That prototype went on my trailer before dark that night and protected it until the first cast production model came home with me from the foundry.

That first prototype was rough looking, but effective.  It was made of mild steel that I welded and beat and bent.  The hinge was an oddball that I found in a drawer and welded into place.  Before long, the entire unit was covered with a coating of rust.

that you see here is the result of many improvements and testing of other prototypes. It is precision cast in 304 Stainless Steel to resist rust and corrosion. The hinge is designed to resist punching, grinding, chiseling and hammering.  Since it employs a padlock to secure it, you can decide how much overall security you want based on the value of your trailer and it's contents. You control the keys and, if one gets lost or stolen, you can easily replace the padlock.

is designed to protect your trailer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, when sitting in your yard or hooked to your truck. And, unlike my first prototype, is designed to work with both the low and high profile Bulldog^® couplers currently being sold.

It has been my intent to design a device that will last as long as the Bulldog^® coupler you buy it for and hold papers down on your desk after that.

While no device can make your trailer totally theft-proof, I think you will sleep a lot better knowing that you have on your Bulldog^® trailer. I do!

Bulldog^® is a Registered Trademark of The HammerBlow Company