AUTOMATICALLY ADAPTABLE FASTENING SYSTEM FOR WHEELED COTS AND SIMILAR DEVICES

A fastening system for an emergency vehicle cot includes a longitudinal guid e track (20) mounted upon a planar surface. One hold-down support (94) depends downwardly from the support frame (93) of the eat, extending toward the planar surface. The guide track receives the hold-down support to permit longitudinal moveme nt thereof along the track.while preventing vertical movement. A lock (55) is provided for automatically securing the support fra me at a position along the track and to prevent fur- ther longitudinal movement therealong, and a release device (76) for selectively disengaging the lock is also included. The fasten- ing system further includes a pair of spaced apart supports (24, 26), and th e lock includes a plurality of locking gates (57) spaced along the guide track to receive and selectively lockingly interact with the supports. The locking gates (57) can be specifically de- signed to engage only with supports having a predetermined structural conformation.