Time operated releasable keeper lock

May 26, 1964

E. O’BRIEN

3,134,253

TIME OPERATED RELEASABLE KEEPER LOCK

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May 26, 1964

E. O’BRIEN

3,134,253

TIME OPERATED RELEASABLE KEEPER LOCK

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INVENTOR.

EUGENE O'BRIEN

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ATTORNEYS

3,134,253

Patented May 26, 1964

United States Patent Office shown) but normally locked from the outside (classroom or store room function). The latch is engageable in a movable keeper mechanism 24 which is installed in the door jamb.

The keeper mechanism includes a vertically extending front plate 26 with an opening 28 therethrough. A housing 30 is mounted at the opening 28. Pivoted, as at 3.2 to the upper and lower end walls of the housing 30 is a conventional keeper 34 which has a curved bevel 36 10 and a planar surface 38, there being a spring 40 which is wound about the pivot pin 32 whose ends bear on one end wall of the housing 30 and on a surface of the keeper 34 which is perpendicular to the surface 38, the spring acting to urge the keeper into the latch-obstructing posi15 tion of FIG. 3. Extending from the opposed upper and lower surfaces of the keeper towards the upper and lower end walls of the housing are pintles 42.

Positioned between the end surfaces of the keeper and the end walls of the housing 30 and pivoted thereto as 20 at 44 are short plates 46 each with a rectangular notch 48 at its rear edge and an arcuate notch 50 at its side edge. A bar 52 is provided on the inside of the housing 30 which is pivoted to the end walls thereof as at 54 about an axis parallel to the pivot axes of the keeper 34 25 and the -plates 46. Extending from one face of the bar is a pin 56.

Thus, if the bar 52 is urged towards the keeper and engages in the notches 48 of the plates 46, as shown in FIGURE 3, the keeper is locked in the sense that it is 30 immovable about its pivots 32, for the pintles 42 enter the notches 50 of the plates and any attempted movement of the keeper will urge the plates 46 against the bar 52. On the other hand, if the bar 52 is moved away from the keeper, as shown in FIGURE 4, until it is free of 35 the notches 48 of the plates 46, there is nothing to obstruct pivotal movement of the keeper. Such movement, which is caused by pressure of the latch 22 against surface 38 allows the pintles 42 to pivot the plates 46 and then ride out of the notches 50 as shown in FIGURE 4. 40 The means to retain the keeper in the locked and unlocked positions for predetermined sequential periods of time comprises a cam, timer, solenoids, switches and circuitry, as seen in FIGURE 8, operative upon a cam bar 58 which is mounted for sliding movement against ⁴⁵ locking bar 52. The cam bar 58 has an inclined cam surface 60 against which the pin 56 rides, as seen in FIGURE 5, and when the pin engages the high point (widest part) thereof (see FIGURE 7), the locking bar 52 is urged to the keeper release position (FIGURE 4) 50 whereas when the pin is at the low point of the cam surface (FIGURE 5), the locking bar 52 pivots to the keeper-lock position of FIGURE 3. Fastened to the bar 52 is a leaf spring 61 which presses against the inner surface of cam plate 58 biasing pin 56 against the cam ⁵⁵ surface 60 and urges bar 52 into the notch 48. The cam bar is also provided with a hole 62 at its upper end.

Secured on the housing 30 is a yoke 64 which slidably mounts a stop rod or pin 68 which is urged by a spring 66 towards the cam bar 58. In the keeper-locked posi60 tion, the stop rod 68 will extend into the hole 62 and in the keeper-released position it will extend over the end of the cam bar 58 (FIGURE 7) to restrain its upward movement. The end of the rod 68 has a head 70 adjacent which the rod receives the yoke end of a lever bar 72 which is pivoted as at 74 to the plate 26 for movement towards and away from the plate, the lever having

134,253

TIME OPERATED RELEASABLE KEEPER LOCK Eugene O’Brien, 5567 Wheeler St, Philadelphia 4, Pa.

Filed July 25, 1962, Ser. No. 212,223

Claims. (Cl. 70—271)

This invention relates to a time controlled releasable keeper lock, preferably in combination with another lock, the primary object of which is to permit access from the outside by all persons at predetermined times and only by authorized persons at all other times without the necessity of changing the locked condition of said other lock.

Another object is to provide a releasable keeper engageable with a retractable latch in combination with another standard lock and a timing mechanism operative upon the keeper to sequentially retain it in a locked position for a given length of time and in an unlocked position thereafter, so that key operation of said standard lock during the time the keeper is in its locked position will prevent access except by those who also have a key with which to retract the latch, in addition, no key operation being required to retract the latch during the time when the keeper is unlocked as the latter is urged io an open position by pressure of the latch thereagainst.

Another object is to provide a latch lock and a dead bolt lock in combination with a releasable keeper for the latch lock, said latch lock being manually retractable from the inside and only key retractable from the outside and timing means to retain the keeper m an immovable position to obstruct the latch for a given period of time and to retain the keeper in a position where it is movable to an open position by pressure of the latch thereagainst for another given period of time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a movable keeper for a non-retractable latch and timed means to sequentially lock said keeper against movement for a particular period of time and to retain said keeper in an unlocked or movable condition thereafter.

Other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent as the following description proceeds m conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of the system or overall combination of locks, keeper and timer employed in the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of the keeper and associated parts illustrating the locked position of the keeper; .. _ ,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on tne line o j of FIGURE 2 showing the locked position of the keeper;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4—4 of FIGURE 2 showing the unlocked position of the

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view of the cam plate in the keeper locking position;.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating the action of the stop on the cam plate in the unlocked position of the keeper; ..

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view of the cam plate m the keeper unlocking position; and

FIGURE 8 is a diagrammatic view of the timer circuit and solenoids. .,

Specific reference is now made to the drawings wherein similar reference characters are used for corresponding elements throughout. ......

Indicated generally at 19 is a door m which is installed two locks. One is a standard lock 12, preferably dead bolt, whose locking bar 14 is movable by key operation from the outside into and out of engagement with a conventional fixed keeper 16 mounted in the door jamb 18. The other lock 20 is one having a latch 22 which is manually retractable from the inside by a knob (not an apertured arm 76.

A first solenoid 78 is mounted on the plate 26 above the lever bar 72 and includes an armature 80 to the end of which is pivoted as at 82 a bent bar 84 whose other end is hooked through the apertured arm 76, there being

3,134,253 is now pivotally movable to an open position by the latch bolt 22 after the employee has opened standard lock 12. In the final position, the cam 104 allows switch 110 to open and de-energize solenoid 88.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has here been shown and described, it will be understood that minor variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. Thus, the keeper lock mechanism can be emit) ployed with a non-retractable latch bolt so that access is possible only by timed release of the keeper lock.