RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/066,843, filed Aug. 18, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Governments and municipalities persistently try to encourage people to use bicycles as a mode of transportation. Their main motivation is often health, both of the cyclers and of the public, and an insufficient availability of parking for motor vehicles.

However, bicycles require convenient and safe parking in public areas. Unfortunately, there are not enough fixtures to which to chain bicycles, and cyclers often tend to unlawfully, or at least without the proper permission, secure their bicycles to fences and to other “hookable” (securable, such as by means of a hook) objects, which can impede pedestrian traffic and endanger the bicycle. Also, areas that a municipality allocates for securing bicycles, such as bicycle racks or lockers, cannot be used for other purposes, because of the significant size of the facilities.

It would be useful to have a means to safely secure personal bicycles in public areas while still allowing the area used for securing the bicycles to quickly become available for other public functions when necessary.

The present disclosure uses the following terms having the following accompanying definitions:

• Brick - A masonry unit providing convenient stepping or driving support. Typically, a brick is used in conjunction with many other bricks to consolidate into an essentially flat surface, such as a road or a courtyard. Although over a large area a road may be inclined, the local area surrounding a single brick is substantially planar. A brick often has the shape of a rectangular solid having a length, width, and height.

• Support surface module - a single brick, stone, masonry unit, or the like for use with many other such modules to form surfaces such as roads, sidewalks, courtyards, and patios.

• Prismatic brick - a brick having a general prismatic shape, featuring polygonal- shaped top and bottom faces, example shapes including squares, rectangles, triangles, hexagons, and octagons, and having essentially vertical walls. Prismatic bricks are typically used in pavements where they are placed on a flat bedding very close together without using cement to interconnect them. Some patterns of tiling prismatic bricks are shown in Fig. 7. In the context of the present disclosure, a brick differs from a tile by having a significant depth (or height), sometimes more than half of its width. This depth contributes to the brick’s strength and ability to support heavy loads, and also gives the brick stability when there is no cement to keep it in place.

• Pavement - a flat, typically substantially-horizontal support surface formed by multiple bricks. For the purpose of this disclosure, pavement does not have to be horizontal and this application applies to sloped walls as long as gravity tends to keep the bricks in place. Pavement, in this disclosure, does not apply to ceilings or walls with a negative slope.

• Hookable - able to be caught or secured by a hook.

• Hookable device - a device whose geometry comprises a through passage that can accommodate a flexible cable or a shank of a lock. • Pocket - a narrow container with essentially parallel walls and a concave cylindrical bottom, typically shaped as a segment of a cylinder.

• Rod, bar, pin - an element that crosses the pocket side to side and can be partially surrounded by a hook.

• Prismatic brick pavement -pavement made of prismatic bricks used where the brick geometry is densely packed to cover the area and where bricks are held to place by friction with neighboring bricks, typically without using cement.

• Flat-top brick - a brick that has a planar top with no extruding components.

• Normally closed - the state of a cover of an indentation that has an open and a closed state, where no external force is applied to the cover and an associated spring keeps the indentation in the closed state.

• Kickstand - a collapsible leg to support a bicycle having two stable positions - one is parallel to the chain stay, for riding, and one perpendicular to the chain stay, for leaning the bicycle on the ground.

• Pole-sleeve system - a system for temporary erection of poles in a public paved area, where a short vertical sleeve structure is secured to the pavement and a pole is inserted into the sleeve.

In the following disclosure with the preceding defined terms, the inventors describe a useful means to safely secure personal bicycles in public areas while still allowing the area used for securing the bicycles to quickly become available for other public functions when necessary. SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a system for hooking and locking portable devices to a flat-top brick in an area of pavement. The flat-top characteristic, that is, the inventive brick upper surface being flush with the upper surfaces of surrounding bricks, is significant, as there are many conventional devices for locking bicycles and other devices to hookable devices that protrude from the ground-level, that is, the upper surface of pavements. Such devices are not flat- top.

One embodiment of the invention is used for locking bicycles in public areas.

Disclosed herein is a novel design for a brick. The brick may be made of the same material as ordinary pavement bricks and can be tiled among ordinary bricks by replacing one of the ordinary bricks. Ordinary construction methods may be used, or concrete can be cast around a hookable device positioned in a gap between ordinary bricks. In one embodiment, the brick has a pocket, which is a deep, narrow indentation in its top surface with a steel rod traversing the indentation below the surface. The rod can be temporarily surrounded by a hook, resisting an attempt to pull the hook away from the brick.

Several types of hooks can be used with the brick and are disclosed, enabling the device to serve the public in areas such as street pavements and city squares.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described as follows:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described below in the appended claims, which are read in view of the accompanying description including the following drawings, wherein:

Figs. 1A-1C present a hookable brick and associated hook according to an embodiment of the invention; Figs. ID and IE present a hookable device according to another embodiment of the invention and suitable for use with the embodiment of Figs. 1A-1C;

Figs. 2A - 2B present a combination of two plates according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 3A - 3C present a scissors-like hook according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figs 4A and 4B present a pole-sleeve system according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 5A - 5E present a hookable brick with a covered pocket according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 6 A - 6C present a hooking system with a strap and two hooks according to another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 7 presents some variations of tiled pavements.

Figs. 8A - 8C present a hook that supports the crank of a bicycle with no kickstand according to another embodiment of the invention;.

Figs 9A - 9C present a scissors type hook according to another embodiment of the invention;.

Figs. 10A - 10C present a hook that accommodates a conventional bicycle lock according to another embodiment of the invention;.

Figs. 11A and 1 IB present a hook that is permanently connected to a locking cable according to another embodiment of the invention;.

Figs. 12A and 12B present a hookable vehicle-blocking post according to another embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 13 A - 13E present a hookable brick with a recessing ring according to another embodiment of the invention;. Figs. 14A - 14D present a kickstand with a ring that can be hooked to a hookable device according to another embodiment of the invention;.

Figs. 15A - 15C present another embodiment of the invention securing a hookable brick to a chain stay of a bicycle;, and

Figs. 16A - 16B present a hookable brick with a built-in support for a rear wheel of a bicycle according to another embodiment of the invention;.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention summarized above and defined by the claims below will be better understood by referring to the present detailed description of embodiments of the invention. This description is not intended to limit the scope of claims but instead to provide examples of the invention.

With reference to Figs. 1A-1C, a brick 20 is made of cement/mortar and may have the dimensions 20cm x 10 cm x 6 cm. Conventional bricks of this material and size are available from Ackerstein Industries Ltd. of Herzliya, Israel. Alternate materials for bricks include clay, sand and lime, concrete, and fly ash. Brick 20 has an indentation 22 having exemplary dimensions of 6 cm in length, 10 mm in width, and 3 cm in depth. A steel rod 24, with diameter of typically 8 mm, is embedded in the cement and crosses the indentation typically at the center of its length and middle of its depth. The indentation can be deeper and can extend to the bottom of the brick. The indentation can be rectangular or oval. The indentation is located off the center of the length of the brick, close to the end of the brick.

The brick can be pre-fabricated and placed in the space vacated by removal of an existing brick, or the brick can be cast in-place into the space left by removal of an existing brick, where such space serves as a mold for the casting. The brick of this embodiment is rectangular. In alternate embodiments, a brick may be square, hexagonal, or combined with other shaped bricks that can be paved packed to each other covering a given area.

The brick 26 is placed on a flat surface 34 among conventional bricks 28, 32 that have the same shape but do not necessarily have an indentation 30. Fig. IB provides a side view such a configuration.

With reference to Fig. 1C, when an upward force is applied to the rod 35 of brick 36 by a hook 40 being pulled up, the near end of the brick 36 tends to rise. However, the adjacent bricks 42, 37 are tightly packed against brick 36 and prevent brick 36 from moving sideways significantly. Thus, brick 36 is effectively interlocked and cannot be pulled up from surface 38. Typically, there is no adhesive or cement between the bricks, and they are only held in place by friction from adjacent bricks. The only way to extract the brick from the grip of the adjacent bricks is to pull it upward while keeping its horizontal orientation unchanged. Such cannot be done by pulling an off-center hook. Figs. 1A-1C show that, as the hook is significantly eccentric within the brick, and as the bricks are tightly positioned adjacent each other, the brick exhibits a very strong resistance to being pulled from its place within the bricks.

A hookable device is shown in top view in Fig. ID and in front cross-section in Fig. IE. A concave pocket 42 of typically 10 mm width and 50 mm depth is made of two typically circular plates that are parallel segments of a circle interconnected with a cylindrical member to create an open pocket. Two bars 44 and 46 are welded to the circular segments. A strong pin 48, typically 8 mm in diameter, bridges the two circular plates. When this device is embedded within a concrete brick so that its open top is coplanar with the top surface of a brick, a hookable brick such as that shown in Fig. 1A is formed. Reference is now made to Figs. 2A and 2B, which illustrate two steel plates 51, 54, typically 6 mm thick, of a device 52 connected to each other with a pin or rivet 59 passing through holes 56. The plates 51, 54 rotate relative each other similarly to the two elements of a pair of scissors rotating relative to each other. The plates 51, 54 are shaped to have, on one side of the pin 59, apertures 50, 53 though the plates 51, 54 of the same size and position within the plates 51, 54.

On the other side of the pin 59, the plates 51, 54 each have a hook 55. The hooks 55 on the two plates 51, 54 point in opposite directions. When the plates 51, 54 are in an open state, as in Fig. 2A, the apertures 50, 53 do not overlap significantly, if at all, and the hooks 55 are separated from each other to provide an opening 57. When the plates are in a closed state, as in Fig. 2B, the two apertures 50, 53 overlap, and the two hooks 55 partially overlap so that they define a closed hole or aperture 60. The plate 51 is partially covered 58 by plate 54 and partially exposed 61, that is, not covered by plate 54 at 61.

If the device 52 is opened, inserted into the indentation in of a brick (such as into indentation 22 of brick 20 in Fig. 1A), and then closed around a rod in the indentation (such as rod 24 in Fig. 1A), the device 52 is interlocked to the brick and cannot be extracted therefrom. If a solid object, such as a chain or a thick cable, is inserted through the overlapping apertures 50, 53, the device 52 cannot be opened and therefore cannot be removed from the brick. If the solid object is a standard bicycle lock that is secured to a bicycle, the bicycle is locked to the brick and cannot be removed.

When the brick is not in use, its flat upper surface is flush with the upper surfaces of surrounding bricks and is an integral part of the pavement formed by the bricks. That portion of the pavement is available for other public functions, because there are no protruding fixtures, such as conventional bicycle racks. Reference is now made to Figs. 3A-3C, which illustrate a locking device 65, similar to that as in figure 2, but can also support a bicycle upright. Two plates 62, 63 are made and interconnected similarly to those as in Fig. 2. The plates 62, 63 extended at 68, 70, typically by 25 cm. beyond their apertures. Fig. 3A illustrates device 65 in the open position. Fig. 3B illustrates the device 65 in the closed position around a rod 64.

Fig. 3C provides a side view of the device in its closed position. Brick 88 has indentation 90 and rod 92. The two plates are locked around the rod 92. The extensions 94, 98 are bent outward, typically as much as 90 degrees, and then inward again to be parallel to each other. The bending produces a gap between the extensions 94, 98 of typically 3-4 cm. This gap can accommodate a rear wheel of a bicycle 96. Thus, in addition to locking the bicycle to the brick, the device provides a support to lean the bicycle vertically.

A chain or cable 95 passes through the overlapping apertures of the plate and through the body of the bicycle 96, so that the locking device cannot be released from the brick 88 as long as the bicycle is locked.

Reference is now made to Figs. 4A and 4B, which illustrate a pole-sleeve system. Here, a hookable brick 114 is attached to a metal plate 116 by a J- shaped bolt 118 that is hooked under a rod 122 of the brick 114. The straight part of the bolt 118 is threaded, and a nut 120 fastens it tightly to the brick 114 through the plate 116. A sleeve 112, typically made of the same metal as that of the plate 116 and welded thereto, stands vertically and accommodates a pole 110. This pole-sleeve system can support multiple types of objects that are temporarily installed in public areas for the convenience of passersby or for the needs of the municipality, such as a sign, a fence-pole, a small table, or a tent support pole, as nonlimiting examples. Figure 4B shows the example of a trash receptacle 16, 138. If a large paved area, such as a city square, has to accommodate a large crowd for a public event, it is likely that the authorities will want to place several trash receptacles in the area. By using this invention, and if the infrastructure has hookable bricks 134 distributed sufficiently among the ordinary bricks 130, 132 in the pavement, some of the hookable bricks can be used for securing covered trash receptacles 136, 138.

Figs. 5A-5E illustrate a steel case embedded into a brick, having a pocket 140 with an open top and typically the size of the indentation in a hookable brick, for example, as described above. A rod 146 connects two sidewalls of the pocket. A flat channel 142 is welded to the pocket. The channel 142 has a floor, front and back walls, two side walls, and a top that is partially open. Inside the channel 142 there are a spring 148 and a steel tongue 144. The steel tongue 144 is slightly larger than the opening of the pocket 140. The spring 148 is biased to push tongue 144 to cover the opening of the pocket 140. Both the spring 148 and the tongue 144 can freely move along the channel 142 but cannot be removed from the brick due to the partially covered top. The end of the tongue 144 is folded upwards 145 to allow a finger to slide the tongue against the bias of the spring.

This steel case is embedded in a brick during its production, making the brick a covered-channel, hookable brick. Fig. 5B shows a top view of the brick 150, wherein the spring 154 has pushed the tongue 152 all the way to the left to fully cover the pocket. Fig. 5C shows the brick 156 where the tongue 162 is pushed to the right against the bias of the spring 160 and exposing the pocket 158 and the rod therein. Fig. 5D shows a side cross-section of the brick 164 in the closed state where spring 168 has pushed the tongue 166 to cover the pocket. Fig. 5E shows a brick 172, where a human finger 140 is pushing the tongue 170 to the right against the spring 174.

When the pocket is open, the brick functions as a hookable brick as described above. When the pocket is closed, the brick functions as an ordinary pavement brick, as the tongue prevents accidents resulting from unintended entry of objects into the pocket, such as might happen if the heel support of a stiletto high heel shoe were positioned thereon. The closed tongue also protects the hookable brick from reduced functionality that might result from the entry of surrounding sand, soil, and pebbles. As the channel top is partially open, the spring mechanism can be cleaned by pressurized water when in the closed state, while the pocket can be cleaned in the open state of the device.

A bicycle helmet 190, as illustrated in Figs. 6A-6C, has an additional passage 192 near and preferably adjacent and slightly behind its summit. The vertical opening in the passage 192 is typically 4 mm high and its width is typically 20 mm. The passage, typically recessed to keep the aerodynamic shape of the helmet, may be used to lock a bicycle to a pair of hookable bricks. In Fig. 6B, a bicycle 194 stands upright on pavement between two hookable bricks 202. A helmet 196, such as that described in Fig. 6A, is placed over the seat of the bicycle. A two-part strap 200 made of reinforced material, such as one resembling the Lockable Tie-downs marketed by KanuLock, is hooked to two hookable bricks 202 on both side of the bicycle. Both parts of the strap have hooks at one end. One part has a lockable buckle, such as in the KanuLock product, illustrated in Fig. 6C. The user threads the strap through the passage 198 of the helmet, and then through the buckle. By tensioning the strap sufficiently, the helmet exerts a force on the seat, which then causes some compression on the air-filled tires. The buckle is then locked with a key, thus locking the bicycle, the seat, the wheels and the helmet. The trajectory of the strap through the passage of the helmet is intentionally made concave, so that the strap is in contact with the shoulders of the passage creating a strong friction force that further increases the stability of the structure against side forces.

Reference is now made to Figs. 8A-8C, which illustrate a side view, an isolated view, and a front view, respectively, of an embodiment of the invention where a mechanical device 306 supports and locks a bicycle, which does not have a kickstand, to a hookable brick, such as that shown in Fig. 1A. The hookable brick 301 of Fig. 8A has a pocket 302 traversed by a pin 304. The device 306 can also be used on a bicycle that does have a kickstand, but the kickstand does not need to be utilized.

A locking system 300 that comprises a hook 310 at the bottom of device 306 (and 322) is rotationally inserted under pin 304, which is a part of brick 301, and brought to a vertical or nearly- vertical position, where it cannot be removed from brick 301. A steel cross bar 312 (also 313 in Fig. 3B and 330 in Fig. 8C) rests on the upper surface of brick 301 across the pocket 302 and prevents device 306 from collapsing backwards. The device 306 has two steel rings 308 on both sides (318 in Fig. 8B and 324, 326 in Fig. 8C). Fig. 8B identifies a shaft 314 connecting a hook 316 to rings 318. When a bicycle is positioned standing with one of the two cranks 307 of pedals 320 pointing down, the crank 307 is inserted between the rings 308. A bicycle lock, or a general-purpose padlock 323, can then be inserted through the rings, locking the bicycle to the brick.

The bicycle cannot fall to the right or left side as the crank is firmly secured between rings 324, 326. The bicycle cannot be removed from the device 306 because the crank 307 is constrained from all four sides. The device 306 cannot be removed from the brick 301, because the bicycle prevents rotating the device forward to an angle in which it can be released from the pin 304. If the user uses a bicycle lock instead of a general-purpose lock, he/she can insert the lock through the frame of the bicycle, thus securing the frame to the brick.

To unlock the bicycle, the user releases the lock, removes the bicycle, rotates the device forward sufficiently, and lifts it up from the brick.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 9A-9C showing an open, closed, and side view, respectively, of an embodiment of the invention. A scissors-like device 341, 360, 362 is made of two strong (typically steel) plates 362, 364 interconnected with a pivot 352, and 370. Slightly above the pivot, at points 348 and 350, the plates are bent outwards and then back inwards to create a gap 371 that accommodates the crank of a bicycle.

In order to lock the bicycle, which may or may not have a kickstand, one opens the device as in Fig. 9 A, inserts the device into a pocket (not shown) of a hookable brick, as shown in Fig. 1A, and then closes the scissor-like plates 362, 364, as in Fig. 9B, securing the device to the pin 358 of the brick. The two arms 340, 342 then become parallel to each other, and the two rings 344, 346 (and 366, 368) become aligned with each other. Then, the user positions the bicycle so that the pedal crank (not shown) is between the arms. A bicycle lock or a general-purpose lock (not shown) is then inserted through the two rings and possibly through the frame of the bicycle.

The bicycle cannot be removed from the device as the crank is secured. The device cannot be removed from the brick, because the scissors-like plates cannot be opened. Also, the bicycle cannot fall sideways, because the crank is firmly supported by the arms, and the lower parts of the scissors-like plates are firmly supported by the walls of the pocket in the brick.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 10A-10C showing three positions of a locking device of an embodiment of the invention. A shaped part 400 (and 408, 416), typically made of steel, has a thickness that is slightly smaller than the width of the pocket in a brick, such as that shown in Fig. 1A.

Figs. 10A-10C show the back wall 404 of the pocket and the pin 406 crossing the pocket and a large aperture 402. The device 400 has an edge with a deep, arched cut-out 403 with a shape so that when the device 400 is inside the pocket with the pin inside the cut-out 403, it can be removed from the pocket only when it is rotated so that at least a part of the aperture 402 is inside the pocket, as shown in Fig. 10C. If the aperture is essentially out of the pocket, as in Fig. 10A and 10B, the pin 414, 406, 422 prevents the device 400, 408, 416 from being removed from the pocket. When the device is inserted into the pocket, as in Fig. 10C, then rotated to a position such as that shown in Figs. 10A 10B, and then a bicycle lock or padlock is inserted through the aperture 402, 410, 418, the device cannot be withdrawn from the pocket. If the lock passes through the frame of the bicycle, the bicycle becomes locked to the brick.

The diameter of aperture 410 is set to slightly larger than the diameter of the lock designated to pass therethrough. Example diameters are 10 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm. If the aperture diameter is too small, the lock may not be able to enter it. If the aperture diameter is too large, the device can be released from the brick while otherwise seemingly locked.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 11 A and 1 IB, which show another embodiment of the invention. A locking device 424 (Fig. 11A), 434 (Fig. 11B), which resembles the device 400 Fig. 10A, is permanently connected to a steel cable 426. The length of steel cable 426 may vary, but it is set to 1 meter in this embodiment. At the end of the steel cable 426 is a loop (not shown in Fig. 11 A) large enough to allow the device 424 pass through.

With reference to Fig. 1 IB, the cable 438 is threaded through frame of a bicycle 430, and then the locking device 434 passed through the cable loop 440 and descends to a hookable brick 432 similar to the brick of Fig. 1 A. The device 434 then hooks to the brick 432 into a configuration analogous to that shown in Fig. 10A. The cable 426 is connected to the device 424 at a point that does not enter into the pocket of the brick, so it does not impede the process of securing the bicycle. A general-purpose lock 436 is then inserted into the hole of the device 434, securing the device in the pocket of the brick and preventing its removal.

The bicycle can then be placed upright at a small distance horizontally from the hookable brick and then inclined away from the brick. The bicycle would tend to fall away from the brick, but the cable 426, 438, affixed to the frame, prevents bicycle from falling. Alternative, the bicycle’s kickstand, if the bicycle has one, can be engaged to prevent the bicycle from falling.

One or two rubber bands 442, 444 may then be placed over the break handles of the bicycle, squeezing them to engage the breaks. Engaging the breaks ensures that the bicycle, while parked and locked, will not move forward or backwards, thus creating a stable structure having three points of contact with the ground (the two wheels and the device). Thus, a kickstand (regardless of whether the bicycle has one) is not needed. This structure acts in place of a kickstand holding the bicycle upright, with the difference being that a kickstand acts by pushing the bicycle upright, while the present embodiment act by pulling the bicycle upright.

Attention is now drawn to Fig. 12A and 12B showing another embodiment of the invention. A traffic blocking device 450 marks the periphery of an area for which motor vehicles are prohibited. Conventional passage controlling marking devices typically fell into three categories: (1) solid structures made of hard solid material, such as steel or concrete, that physically prevent the passage of vehicles; (2) flexible material structures made of softer and flexible material, such as rubber or plastic, that mark an area but collapse upon impact from a passing vehicle and return to an upright position after impact; and (3) tough plastic or rubber cones that can be moved easily to any desired location and freely stand on the ground.

Some of the disadvantages of the conventional passage controlling marking devices are as follows: A disadvantage of the solid structures is that they are heavy, expensive, generally fixed in one place, can damage the vehicles upon accidental impact, and may even cause an accident, if the impact is at a high enough speed. A disadvantage of the flexible material structures is that, after they collapse upon vehicle impact, by rising back into place, if the car reverses its direction, the devices may damage the underside of the vehicle. A disadvantage of the tough plastic/rubber cones is that they can easily be moved, intentionally or unintentionally, from the positions set by authorities.

The present embodiment functions as a traffic control mark that does not have the above-described disadvantages. Therefore, the embodiment becomes quite useful for the temporary control of traffic on paved surfaces.

A cylinder 450, in this embodiment made of plastic and painted with standard traffic control colors, is placed over a hookable brick 456, such as the brick of Fig. 1 A. The cylinder 450 has a flat or a convex top. A vertically-oriented spring 452, biased to contract, is connected to the center of the top of the cylinder 450 at one end and at the other end connected to a strong, flexible cable 454 to a locking device 466, such as the locking device shown in Fig. 11 A. The length of the cable 454 is set so that, if the locking device 466 is hooked to the pin in the pocket of the hookable brick 468, the spring is stretched holding cylinder 450 firmly in place. The locking device 466 can be locked with any padlock through its aperture, so that the cylinder 450 cannot be removed from its place without authorization.

The cylinder 450 has a number of bay-shaped openings 458, 464 on its bottom, so that, when the cylinder is standing upright, there are spaces bounded by the bay- shaped openings 458, 464 and the pavement. In typical implementations of the embodiments, there are between three and eight bay-shaped openings 458, 464 around the cylinder, and the legs, at the points of contact with the pavement, are between three and five times narrower than the bays.

If a vehicle operator does not notice the cylinder, or does notice but intentionally drives across it, the cylinder remains intact and rotates into a horizontal position in the direction of the pavement, as shown in Fig. 12B. The contracting spring 462, 452 causes the cylinder to slide so that the cable 463 advances into one of the bays 464. Thus, the cylinder is secured horizontally against the pavement. Accordingly, when the vehicle vacates the area, the cylinder 460 remains lying down without a bias to rise. The cylinder 460 cannot be removed from the area as it is locked to the brick 468. In order to restore the cylinder to its upright position, one simply pulls the cylinder against the spring biasing force until the cable 463 is out of the bays 464. Then, one simply rotates the cylinder to the stable, upright position.

To remove the cylinder from the pavement, an authorized user rotates the cylinder to lay flat on the pavement and removes the lock (not shown for clarity) of device 466. The authorized user can withdraw the locking device from the pin.

Accordingly, a single hookable brick is available for two uses. One use is for locking a traffic control pole (cylinder). Another use is to anchor bicycle parking devices as described above.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 13A-13E showing a hookable brick of an alternate embodiment and two typical applications.

Figure 13A is a side cross-section of a hookable brick 500 using a ring 502 passing through a partially-embedded tube 504. A typically rectangular ring 490 passes through a short steel tube 492 that is partially embedded within the concrete of a brick 496 at the bottom of a rectangular recession 494. The tube is welded to one or more steel roots (not shown) inside the concrete. The ring 490 is free to rotate in the tube up to 90 degrees left or right (in the referenced orientation of Fig. 13C). When the ring is not held up, it falls to the left or right side and does not protrude above the surface of the brick 496. Fig. 13B shows a front view of the ring 498, the tube 478, the recession 479, and the brick 476.

As shown in Fig. 13D, the brick can serve to lock a bicycle or any other device by threading a chain or cable 506 through the ring 508 and locking it. The ring is typically large enough to accommodate any type of chain, lock, or bicycle lock and is located close to the end of the brick, away from the center of the brick to hinder raising the brick by pulling the ring 508 upward.

The brick in figure 13E is used to secure a pole-holder 510 used for municipal purposes, as shown in Figs. 4A and 4B with the hookable brick of figure 1A. The pole can be used for a flag, for a sign, for a fence, or for a waste receptacle, as non-limiting examples. A tube 510, with a square cross-section in this embodiment, is welded to a flat plate 512. The plate is inserted through the ring 516 and the dimensions are configured so that the ring has to stand vertically in order to accommodate the plate. A bolt 518 is inserted into a threaded hole in the plate. When the bolt is rotated and descends, it contacts the brick 520, and as the bolt 518 is further rotated with a wrench, a pressure builds on the right side of plate 512, pushing the right side of the plate upwards, while the ring 516 forces the middle of plate 512 to stay in place. The result is a stable, stressed structure that fixes the tube 510 in its place. A pole can then be inserted into tube 510 to serve the purposed mentioned above. To release the structure, the bolt 518 is loosened and removed from the plate, and the plate is withdrawn from the ring.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 14A-14D to describe another embodiment of the invention. Figure 14A shows a prior art kickstand 530 of a bicycle. When the kickstand 530 is oriented down so that its bottom end 532 contacts the ground, it enables the bicycle to stand upright without an external support. Figure 14B shows a ring-shaped extension 538 welded to the bottom of a kickstand. The extension 538 is typically round with a narrow slot and is configured to be parallel to the pavement, when the kickstand is engaged.

During ordinary use of the bicycle, the added ring-shaped extension does not interfere with the operation of the kickstand, whether in the upper state, that is, when it is not in use supporting the bicycle, or in the lower state supporting the bicycle. However, if a fixed loop 536 made of a strong material such as steel penetrates through the slot in the ring and a padlock 537 is locked through the loop, the bicycle is secured.

Figure 14C shows the use of the device over a hookable brick using a scissors-like device as shown in Figs. 2A and 2B. The user closes the scissors-like device 554 over the pin 552 of the hookable brick 550, slides the ring-shaped extension of the kickstand 556 over the scissors-like device, and places a padlock through the scissors-like device. The bicycle now stands on its kickstand in a secured fashion.

Figure 14D shows how the ring-shaped extension of the kickstand 541 is used to lock a bicycle in places where there is no hookable brick available. A device 540 has a threaded peg 544, typically used for securing camping tents or dog stakes to the ground (such as the product “Dog Yard Stake Out Spike” available on eBay.com), and a loop 540 at its top. The user finds a location where he/she would like to secure his/her bicycle on a regular basis and screws the peg into the ground using a strong rod a lever to turn the peg. A plate 542 at the upper end of the threaded portion becomes flush with the ground, and the loop 540 protrudes thereabove. The loop of the peg is adjusted to be parallel to the slot of the ring-shaped extension when the bicycle stands in the desired orientation. If the peg is for only one user, the user can leave the lock on the loop, after the bicycle is released.

Reference is now made to Figs. 15A-15C showing an embodiment of the invention suitable for locking a bicycle 578 that does not have a kickstand to a hookable brick having a pocket and a pin as shown in Figs. 1A and 8A. A device 560, 570, 580 includes a bar 561, 571 having at one end a hook 562, 574, 582, for hooking to the pin of the brick, and a cross bar 564, 576 extending longer than the width of the pocket. At the other end of the bar an arm 568, 572 protrudes from the device 560, 570 at an elevation that is slightly below the elevation of the bicycle’s chain stays. The user lifts the bicycle and slides the chain stay into the pit between arm 568, 572 and the device 560, 570. The device 560, 570 then supports the bicycle in an upright position, preventing it from falling right or left. The device has a large aperture 566 at the end of a forward bent arm. A bicycle lock is passed through the aperture 566 and around the frame of the bicycle. The bicycle cannot be removed from the device, and the device cannot be released from the brick, as the device cannot be bent forward when the aperture 566 cannot be moved below the chain stay.

Attention is now drawn to Figs. 16A and 16B showing a top view and a side view, respectively, of another embodiment of the invention. A brick 600, with a typical size of 40x40 cm or more, has a rotating arm 602 made of a strong material, such as steel or carbon fiber. The arm 602 optionally lays in a recession 603 in the brick 600 shaped to accommodate the arm 602 so that the top of the arm 602 is flush with the plane of the upper surface of the brick 600, thereby preventing pedestrians from stumbling should they otherwise contact the arm 602 while walking. The width of the recession can be, for example, 10 mm, and the width of the arm can be, for example, 8 mm. The arm has two symmetric branches 606 positioned with an acute angle therebetween, and each branch has a ring 604 at its end. The branches are interconnected by a bridge 608 for stability and to offer another location for locking a chain.

The arm 602 can be raised by rotating it around an axis 610 to an almost vertical position, as seen in the side view of Fig. 16B. The two branches of the arm can accommodate a rear wheel 614 of a bicycle, that supported by the bicycle’s rear fork 612. The tire of the wheel will sink down into the arm until it reaches the depth 624 where its width equals the gap between the branches of the arm, and bicycle will rest there stably. A U-shaped bicycle lock, a locking chain, or a locking cable can be threaded through the wheel and through one or two of the rings 620, 622, to lock the bicycle.

When the bicycle is removed from the arm, the arm falls due to gravity into its recession. If the bicycle has a kickstand and thus supports itself, it can still be tied to the arm with a chain or a cable, using one of the rings or the trapezoid loop under the bridge 628. Having thus described exemplary embodiments of the invention, it will be apparent that various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Alternations, modifications, and improvements of the disclosed invention, though not expressly described above, are nonetheless intended and implied to be within spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing discussion is intended to be illustrative only; the invention is limited and defined only by the following claims and equivalents thereto.