Lock mechanism

Application filed October 24, 1929. Serial No. 402,190.

braced. It is for this form of handcuff that my. invention is particularly useful. ..

The filler pieces 5 has a recess to receive the spring latch 7 mounted against coiled spring 8 at the: bottom of the recess. The spring ₆₅tends to keep the latch in position to engage the teeth of. arc 6 as the latter passes the lock casing and to thus permit One line of movement for arm 3 by ratcheting · against the snring and. to prevent the opposite line of ,oo movement.' The latch has a lug 9 extending into a circular recess .10 of the lock casing, whereby the key operated p art may draw the latch back; and release arm 3 to unlock a wrist. ' - . · ; The recess 10 is preferably circular and the cylinder 11 is mounted by tenons 12, one engaged in a .suitable recessed bearing inteach . of the side plates of the lock casing to rotate in said recess. The cylinder 11 has a tooth 70 13 adapted to engage lug 9. and also a little recess 14 in its periphery to be engaged by a spring-pressed .detent 15.·

The keylfi.is inserted through a key hole in one of the side plates and preferably has a 75 shank extension as seen at the bottom of Fig. 7 to protrude through a hole in the opposite s^:de plate to get a good bearing for turning. Thev kev is adapted to strike a lug 17 on the inside, of the cylinder by which it gets a pur--80 chase to turn cylinder 11 in its bearings. The turning has to overcome the friction of detent 15 and when tooth 13 engages lug 9, also the resistance of the latch spring. When turned _ for enough, detent 15 engages recess 14 with enough pressure to hold latch 7. depressed . witlimit pressure from the key.. Thus the key can be used to pull the latch down to a point where it will stay and the officer’s hands are _(J0then free to pull arm 3 back to free the prisoner’s wrist. Another pin or lug 18 at the opposite side of the key requires the cylinder to b’e rotated back to: its original position, ydiere the parts are ready for spring latching before 95 the key can be lined up with the;key hole and removed. Thus, the officer necessarily resets the mechanism after each unlocking operat^:on because he must do that before he can remove the key. And he always removes, the 100

This invention relates to an improvement in lock mechanism particularly designed to · restrain the movements of a prisoner’s , limbs as used in handcuffs,, thumb-cuffs, leg; irons, g and any such devices used by officers.

According to one feature of the invention, a novel mechanism is' provided which is.very rugged and can withstand an: exceptional ; amount, of abuse without getting out of . 10 order. The design is such that the parts can be made and assembled without, requiring any nice ar skillful fitting operations. Other features of novelty and utility will be apparent· from the detailed description and an15 nexed, claims.... . ,

The invention: is shown, for purposes of illustration, in the form of a handcuff where its features find particular utility.

In the drawings— . , .

, co Fig. 1 is a plan view of one of a pair. of. handcuffs embodying the. invention. In,this view the lock casing has one of its side plates removed to expose the parts of the lock mechanism in their assembled relation: .

- 25.' Fig. ..2 is a view of the filler piece having recesses ..for various movable parts of the mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the spring latch;

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the lock cylinto >0 dor: . . . .

Fig, 5 is a detail· view of the cvlirider catch;

Fig. 6 is a cross section of Fig. 4 on line 6—6; and

Fig, 7 is a view of one form of key that ³³ mav operate the lock.

The handcuff is preferably made up of a double arm half comprising spaced frame members 1 and 2. The locking arm 3 is pivoted at 4 between arms 1 and 2. Between . ⁴⁰ . the latter-at the end opposite pivot. 4 a filler piece 5 is riveted, This piece 5 with portions of terms 1 and 2 serving as side plates form the lock casing. Arm 3 has a peripheral 4₃ toothed arc portion 6 struck from pivot .4 as. i a center. With this construction it is clear that arm 3 may move (counterclockwise) for arm 6 to sweep, by the; top Wall of the lock casing ' and it: may · continue all the way around and repeat so long as no wrist is em2

1,831,207 key when he puts the handcuffs back in his pocket ready for the next use.

In assembling my lock I place the cylinder 11 in one side plate, put the parts 7, 8, and 11 _e in the proper recesses of the filler piece, put on the second side plate, and rivet the two side plates together with filler piece between. To hold cylinder 11 in proper relative position I may provide another peripheral notch 10 like 14 for engagement with detent 15 when the parts are in latching position for the key to be inserted.

From the description and drawings it can be seen that I have provided a rugged lock 15 casing and locking means that can stand a great deal of abuse without danger of getting out of order. The lock casing is almost a solid rigid piece, since it has only recesses for the necessary and small movements of each 20 related part. At no part of the lock casing is there any substantial hollow portion that leaves the walls relatively weak or susceptible to being crushed in by a blow from the outside. On the contrary there is such a rugged 25 arrangement of completely supported parts that the whole mechanism would withstand hammer blows about as well as if the bulk of the lock casing were of solid material. Furthermore, the locking parts are so arranged 30 that there is an extremely small possibility of any of them being pounded out of pronerly functioning position and condition. These advantages and others are attained by an extremely simple coordination of parts wh^:ch 35 is novel with respect to the easy manufacture and desired utility of this type of lock mechanism.