Cylindrical and permutation lock arrangements

0001The present invention relates to improvements in cylindrical lock arrangements.

0002Some of the uses of such cylindrical lock arangements provide privacy lock-out systems. With a cylindrical lock arrangement, this can be provided by a mechanism which is activated by a push-button on the inside door knob as will be further described below. The present application is particularly directed at novel lock-out systems.

0003United States Patent No. 3.022.102 describes a door lock having a privacy lock-out system. The lock has a latch extending through an edge of a door, an inside door knob and an outside door knob mounted on the outside of the door in alignment with the inside door knob. Drive cylinders rotatable with the inside and outside door knobs engage a latch retractor inside the door to retract the latch when the inside or outside door knob is rotated. A push-button is positioned within the inside door-knob and means are provided for locking the push-button in its pushed-in position, and for releasing it from its pushed-in position when the inside door knob is rotated. A lock rod extends coaxially within the drive cylinder associated with the inside door knob. When the push-button is moved to its pushed-in position, it moves the lock rod, the other end of which moves a slidable dogging assembly, so that a tooth on the dogging assembly engages a slot in the drive cylinder of the outside door knob, preventing rotation of the knob so that the door cannot be opened from the outside.

0004It is an object of this invention to provide an improved lock arrangement.

0005This invention consists in a cylindrical lock arrangement mountable on a door having a latch extending through an edge thereof:    said arrangement comprising:    an inside door knob/handle mountable on the inside of said door in alignment with said latch;    an outside door knob/handle mountable on the outside of said door in alignment with said inside door knob/handle;    a drive cylinder extending coaxially with said inside door knob/handle from said inside door knob/handle through one side of said inside door knob/handle into said door and rotatable with said inside door knob/handle;    a push-button extending coaxially with said inside door knob/handle from said drive cylinder and out of said cylinder and through the other side of said inside door knob/handle, said push-button being rotatable with said inside door knob/handle;    means for locking said push-button into a pushed-in position when the push button is pushed inwardly, and for releasing it from its pushed-in position when said inside door knob/handle is rotated;    a lock rod extending coaxially with said drive cylinder from said push-button through said drive cylinder through said one side of said door and into said door, said lock rod being rotatable with said push-button and thereby with said inside door knob/handle;    latch retractor means mounted in said door in alignment with said latch;    means associated with said drive cylinder for retracting said latch retractor means, to thereby retract said latch, when said inside door knob/handle is rotated;    said outside door knob/handle having an outside drive means extending into said door coaxially with, and in alignment with said drive cylinder;    an outside drive arrangement connected to said outside door drive means and rotatable therewith, and thereby with said outside door knob/handle, and including means for retracting said latch retractor means, and thereby said latch, when said outside drive arrangement is rotated;    characterised in that the lock arrangement includes a lock-out system comprising:    a stud mounted on said latch retractor means on the side thereof adjacent said inside door knob/handle;    an L-shaped member on said lock rod having a leg which extends behind said stud when said push-button, and therefore said lock rod, is pushed inwardly, thereby preventing retraction of said latch retractor means;    whereby, when said push-button is pushed-in, retraction of said latch retractor means will be prevented when it is attempted to rotate said outside door knob/handle, but, when said inside door knob/handle is once rotated, said lock rod is rotated and pushed outwardly so that the leg of said L-shaped member is no longer behind said stud whereby said latch retractor means will be retracted.

0006With permutation lock arrangements, of the type as described for example in U.S. Patent No. 3.040.056, Rosenhagen, June 26 1962, the shaft of the outside door knob is connected ot the shaft of the permutation lock chamber. The shaft of the chamber will rotate, thereby permitting rotation of the outside door knob, only when the correct combination of the permutation lock has been punched in. Often, when the incorrect combination is inserted, so that the knob will not rotate, the user will apply excess force to the outside door knob to force the chamber shaft to rotate. This can cause damage to the chamber. It would therefore be desirabel to provide means for permitting the outside door knob to rotate, under such conditions, without transmitting the rotating force to the chamber shaft.

0007This problem is solved, in accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, by providing a lock arrangement in which the outside drive means includes:    a permutation lock chamber having a chamber shaft extending therethrough, said chamber shaft being held against rotation when the chamber is in a locked condition and said chamber shaft being rotatable when said chamber is in an unlocked condition;    said outer door knob/handle having an outer knob/handle shaft extending therefrom and rotatable therewith;    clutch means connecting said outer door knob/handle shaft and said chamber shaft;    whereby, when said chamber is in its unlock condition and said outer door knob/handle is rotated, said clutch means engages and said chamber shaft rotates with said outer door knob/handle shaft; and    when said chamber is in its locked condition, said clutch means slips to permit rotation of said outer door knob/handle shaft without rotation of said chamber shaft.

0008With permutation locks, it becomes necessary, from time to time, to change the combination. It would therefore be desirable to provide a cover which is easily removable by an adult, but which would present difficulty for a child to remove.

0009In accordance with another preferred feature of the invention, the lock arrangement includes a cover arrangement comprising:    a mounting plate mountable on a surface of said door and having a first end and a second end;    a cover member having a corresponding first end and second end and mountable on said mounting plate;    an outwardly bent rim at said first end of said mounting plate;    a first inwardly bent rim at said first end of said cover member and a second inwardly bent rim at said second end of said cover member;    at least one indent in said first inwardly bent rim of said cover member and a corresponding top opening in said outwardly bent rim of said monting plate;    a bottom opening in said cover member adjacent the second end thereof;    spring means mounted on said mounting plate adjacent the second end thereof and extendable through said bottom opening when said cover member is mounted on said mounting plate;    whereby, when said cover member is mounted on said mounting plate it is held thereon by the force of said spring and can be dismounted by overcoming the force of said spring.

0010The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an arrangement in which the invention may be incorporated;</li><li>FIGURE 2 is a cross-section on line II-II of Figure 1;</li><li>FIGURE 2A is a perspective view of a drive cylinder of Figure 2;</li><li>FIGURE 2B is a view similar to Figure 2 showing a connector reversed;</li><li>FIGURE 2C is a perspective exploded view of the connector and the outside drive arrangement of Figure 2;</li><li>FIGURE 3 is a cross-section to illustrate a cover arrangement;</li><li>FIGURES 3A and 3B illustrate two different types of openings for the cover arrangement;</li><li>FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the clutch of Figure 2;</li><li>FIGURES 7, 8, 9 and 10 illustrate one embodiment of a lock-out system in accordance with the invention; and</li><li>FIGURE 7A is a perspective view of a U-shaped member of the lock-out system.</li></ul>

0011Turning now to Figure 1, a lock arrangement, illustrated generally at 1, is mounted on a door 3 and includes an inner door knob/handle (hereinafter referred to as knob 5), having a centrally located push-button 7, and a push-button lock 9 having an outer door knob 11. The latch 13 extends through an edge of the door 3.

0012Turning now to Figure 2, the push-button lock 9 comprises a chamber 15 having a shaft 17 extending therethrough and out both sides of the chamber. A clutch 19, which will be more fully described below, connects the shaft 17 to the shaft 21 of outer door knob 11.

0013Disposed within a casing 23, which is mounted in the door, between the front and rear sides of the door, is a U-shaped latch retractor 25 which is better illustrated in Figure 7. Disposed between the legs of the U-shaped latch retractor is a U-shaped member 27 having legs 128 and sides 127 (see Figure 7A) whose function will be discussed below.

0014The U-shaped member 27 is biassed outwardly (towards the latch) by spring 28. Springs 30 (see Figure 7), bias the latch retracting member outwardly (towards the latch edge of the door).

0015As is well known in the art, the inner end of the latch is disposed between the legs of the latch retractor 25 so that, when the latch retractor 25 is retracted inwardly (away from the latch edge of the door) against the force of springs 30, latch 13 is retracted so that the door can be open. When the latch retractor 25 is retracted, spring 28 will force U-shaped member 27 outwardly (towards the latch edge of the door).

0016When the latch retractor 25 is in its normal position (not retracted), U-shaped member 27 is maintained in its position abutting the inner side of the U-shaped latch retractor by lock rod 29 which extends through lock rod cylinder 31. As can be seen, lock rod cylinder 31 extends coaxially with the inside door knob from the inside door knob through one side of the inside door knob and into the door, and the lock rod cylinder 31 is rotatable with the door knob. Push-button 7 extends coaxially with the door knob from cylinder 31 and out of the cylinder and through the other side of the door knob. The push-button is rotatable with the cylinder.

0017As seen in Figure 2A, lock rod cylinder 31 has ears 32 at the inner edge thereof. When the inside door knob 5, and thereby the cylinder 29, is rotated, one of the ears 32 will engage one of the steps 26 of the U-shaped latch retractor and thereby cause the latch retractor to be retracted inwardly. Because there are two ears 32, the latch retractor will be retracted regardless of which direction the inside knob 5 is rotated. Because of this function of the cylinder, the lock rod cylinder is also referred to as a drive cylinder, in this specific case, as an inside drive cylinder.

0018Push-button 7 is biassed outwardly, through the other side of the inside door knob, by spring 33, Lock rod 29 is connected to push-button 7 and knob 5, so that cylinder 29, push-button 7 and lock rod 29 all rotate together.

0019As seen in Figure 2, lock rod 29 includes openings 35. When the push-button, and therefore the lock rod, is pushed inwardly, the sides 127 (see Figure 7A) of U-shaped member 27 fall into the openings 35 and are maintained there by force of spring 28. Accordingly, the push-button will remain locked in its inward position. When the inside door knob 5 is rotated, the sides 127 of U-shaped member 27 will no longer be disposed in the openings 35 so that, the push-button will be released with the inside knob rotated, and the push-button 7 will move outwardly once again, by force of spring 33, to the position illustrated in Figure 2.

0020As also seen in Figure 2, shaft 17 of the chamber 15 is connected, on the right-hand side thereof, through a connector 40, to an outside drive arrangement 34. Thus, the items numbered 21, 19, 15 and 40 comprise an outside door knob drive means for driving the outside drive arrangement. As seen in Figures 2B and 2C, the outside drive arrangement 34 comprises a drive member having an ear 36 and a cylindrical shaft 38. The connector 40 is adaptable to different door thicknesses by changing the effective length thereof. When mounted in a relatively thin door, its shaft 140 is on the right-hand side (as in Figure 2). When mounted in a thicker door, its shaft 140 is on the left-hand side (as in Figure 2B), thus increasing the effective length of the arrangement by the length of the shaft.

0021When chamber 15 is in its unlock position (i.e., the correct combination has been inserted), shaft 17 is rotatable so that, when outside door knob 11 is rotated, the rotation force will be transmitted from the shaft 21 through the clutch 19 to shaft 17 to connector 40 and thereby to outside drive arrangement 34. Referring to Figure 7, when the outside drive arrangement 34 is rotated, the drive member 36 will engage steps 26 of latch retractor 25 to thereby, once again, retract the latch retractor which, in turn, retracts the latch so that, once again, the door is open.

0022If, on the other hand, the chamber 15 is in its lock condition (the correct combination has not been inserted or the incorrect combination has been entered), then shaft 17 will not be rotatable. Under this condition, when outside door knob 11 is rotated, and shaft 21 is rotated therewith, clutch 19 will slip so that the outside door knob will rotate without rotation of the shaft 17.

0023Referring now to Figures 4, 5 and 6, it can be seen that the clutch 19 comprises a hollow outer cylindrical drive member 37 and a solid inner cylindrical driven core 39. The hollow outer cylindrical member 37 comprises four slits 41, 43, 45 and 47 which extend longitudinally of the cylindrical member 37 and which are spaced 90 degrees apart around the periphery of the cylindrical member 37. Each of the slots 41, 43, 45 and 47 is of the same width and length.

0024In accordance with an improvement, one of the slots (e.g. slot 41) includes an expanded opening 42 adjacent the open end of the cylindrical member 37. The purpose of this expanded opening 42 will be discussed below.

0025The core member 39 includes circular openings 51 and 53 which extend diametrically through the core member 39. The direction of the circular opening 51 is transverse to the direction of the circular opening 53, and the opening 51 is at one position of the core member 39 while the opening 53 is at a second position of core member 39.

0026The clutch also includes ball bearings 55 and 57, spaced apart by spring 59, and ball bearings 61 and 63, spaced apart by spring 65. As can be seen, ball bearings 55 and 57 with intermediate spring 59 are disposed at opening 53 whereas ball bearings 61 and 63, with intermediate spring 65, are disposed in opening 51. Shaft 17 would be inserted into opening 60 at the outer end of the inner core member 39. The inner core member, with the ball bearings and the springs inserted, would be inserted into the outer cylinder 37 until the inner end of the inner core member 39 abuts the inner wall of the outer cylindrical member 37. The ball bearings extend partially into one of the slots 41, 43, 45 or 47. As will be quite clear, the width of each slot must be less than the diameter of the ball bearings. The diameter of the ball bearings will, of course, all be the same size.

0027In order to assemble a clutch which does not include the opening 42, the ball bearings and springs are inserted into their respective openings 51 and 53, and the ball bearings must be held against the force of the springs inside the inner core member 39 while the inner core member is inserted into the outer cylindrical member 37. This is a rather difficult procedure and not very easy to automate.

0028With the expanded opening 42, which would be greater than the diameter of the ball bearings, the assembly is made much simpler.

0029In assembling with the opening 42, the inner core member 39 would be rotated so that it is aligned with the opening 42, and the inner core member would then be inserted into the cylinder so that opening 53 underlies the opening 42. Ball bearing 55 would then be dropped through the opening 42 into the opening 53, spring 59 would then be inserted after which ball bearing 57 would be inserted. Ball bearing 57 is then pressed down somewhat and the inner core member 39 is pushed inwardly and rotated through 90 degrees. The inner core member continues to be pushed inwardly until opening 51 underlies opening 42. Ball bearings 61 and 63 and spring 65 are inserted into opening 51 as above, and the ball bearing 63 is then pushed down and the inner core member 39 is pushed inwardly until its inner edge abuts the inner wall of the outer cylindrical member 37. As can be seen, the assembly has been made simpler and is susceptable to automation.

0030In the operation of the clutch member, as the ball bearings extend into the slots, the inner core member 39 will have the tendency to rotate with the outer cylindrical member 37. When shaft 17 (which extends into opening 60) is free to rotate, and when shaft 67 is rotated, the inner core member 39 will rotate with the outer cylindrical member 37 so that shaft 17 will rotate with shaft 67. However, when shaft 17 is held against rotation (when the wrong combination has been entered or push-button 7 has been depressed for lock-out), and a rotating force is applied to shaft 67, outer cylindrical member 37 will tend to rotate while inner core member 39 will be held against rotation. The rotation force of the outer cylindrical member 37 will force ball bearings 55 and 57 inwardly towards each other against the force of the spring 59, and will force ball bearings 61 and 63 inwardly towards each other against the force of the spring 65 so that the outer cylindrical member 37 alone will rotate, i.e., the clutch will slip. Thus, returning to Figure 2, outer door knob 11, and therefore shaft 21, will rotate without transmitting the rotation force to shaft 17 and to outside drive arrangement 34. Thus, the knob will rotate, but the door will not open.

0031An embodiment of a lock-out system is illustrated in association with Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10. These Figures illustrate the modifications which would be made to a cylindrical lock, for example, of the kind illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, in order to implement the lock-out system of the first embodiment.

0032In accordance with the invention, the U-shaped latch retractor 25 is modified by including thereon a stud 69 on the inside door side of the latch retractor. The locking rod, referenced in Figures 7 to 10 at 29', is modified by including thereon an L-shaped member 71. The modified lock rod 29' would extend through the lock rod cylinder 31 in the same way as lock rod 29 does in Figure 2. Additionally, the U-shaped latch retractor 25 would be encased in the casing 23 in the same way as it is in Figure 2. Thus, Figure 2 illustrates the environment of the inventive lock-out system, while Figures 7 to 10 illustrate the specific details thereof.

0033In operation, when push-button 7 is pushed in, lock rod 29' moves leftwardly in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 7. It will then assume the position illustrated in solid lines in Figures 8 and 9, i.e., the leg of the L-shaped member will be disposed behind the stud 69. Once again, the lock rod will be locked into its pushed-in position when the legs of the U-shaped member 27 fall into the openings 35 of the lock rod.

0034When the outside door knob is now rotated, and drive member 36 attempts to retract the U-shaped latch retractor 25 in the direction of arrow C, such retractive motion will be prevented because the motion of the stud 69 is blocked by the leg of the L-shaped member 71. This again will force clutch 19 to slip. Accordingly, the door cannot be opened from the outside.

0035If, on the other hand, inside door knob 5 is rotated in the direction of arrow B, lock rod 29' will also rotate, in the direction of arrow B of Figure 8, so that the leg of the L-shaped member will move out of the way of the stud 69, and U-shaped latch retractor 25 will be retracted in the direction of arrow C of Figure 8. Accordingly, the door can be opened from the inside. At the same time, lock rod 29' will be released so that the push-button will move outwardly due to the action of spring 33 as above-described.

0036A cover arrangement for a lock or the like in accordance with a preferred feature of the invention is illustrated in Figures 1 and 3. Referring to these Figures, the cover arrangement comprises a cover member 8 having indents 99 at the top end thereof. Preferably, there are two such indents equally spaced from the side edges of the cover member. The cover member also has a bottom opening 101. Different shapes for the opening are shown in Figures 3A and 3B. Obviously, other shapes could also be used.

0037Referring to Figure 3, the cover arrangement also includes a door mounted plate 103 which has openings 105 which are aligned with the indents 99. A spring 107 is mounted on the plate 103 and is adapted to extend from the plate member and outwardly of the cover member 8 through the opening 101 thereof.

0038In operation, the cover member is placed over the plate top end first so that the indents 99 extend into the openings 105. The bottom end is then pivoted so that the spring 107 extends out through the opening 101. (It will of course be appreciated that the cover member is mounted on the plate before the inside door knob 5 is mounted.)

0039The force of the spring will maintain the cover arrangement closed against removal by application of a small force which might be applied, for example, by a child. However, applying enough force to overcome the holding power of the spring, which could easily be applied by an adult, will serve to remove the cover member from the plate.