The Club (automotive)
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The Club is the trademark version of a popular automotive steering wheel lock, produced by Sharon, Pennsylvania-based Winner International. Some claim [Please name specific person or group] that inventor James E. Winner Jr. derived the idea for the device from his service in the Korean War, where he and his fellow soldiers were instructed to secure the steering wheels of their Jeeps with metal chains. Others maintain [Please name specific person or group] that the club was actually invented by a local police officer, from whom Winner later bought the idea. Those prescribing to the latter view note that the police officer that invented the club can be seen in the original commercial for the product.
[edit] Design
The device consists of two pieces; one long piece contains a handle on one end, a hook curved toward the handle in the middle, and a lock on the other end. The second piece is shorter and a little narrower; one end contains a hook like that of the first piece, and the other end fits into the lock on the other piece. When the lock is set, the two pieces are joined into one immobile device. Once locked across the steering wheel, the long bar makes the wheel practically impossible to turn, due to collision with other parts of the car or the driver's legs, for example.
[edit] Weaknesses
The Club as originally designed was prone to having its lock shattered by freezing with freon; later models addressed this issue by changing to a chromium/molybdenum alloy. A television broadcast test showed that this form of attack now took several minutes of hammering, in addition to the requirement of a source of freon (now largely a controlled substance). The most grievous flaw in the design is inherent in the modern construction of steering wheels; thieves can defeat this type of lock by cutting away part the steering wheel's rim, allowing the device to be removed regardless of its state. This does, however, require access to a hacksaw or other cutting tool.
