Untitled record

May 31, 1927

Μ. H. LUCE

LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS Original Filed Jan. 17. 1923

Re. 16,643

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May 31, 1927.

Re. 16,643

Μ. H. LUCE

LOCKING DEVICE FOB TRUNKS

Original Filed Jan. 17. 1923

Sheets-Sheet 2

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_ Milton Hluce,__

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Reissued May 31, 1927. ^^β· W*®

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON H. LUCE, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO WHEARY TRUNK COMPANY, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS.

Original No. 1,578,537, dated March 30, 1928, Serial No. 613,136, filed January 17, 1923. Application for reissue filed January 5, 1927. Serial No. 159,247.

My invention relates to improvements in locking devices for trunks, and is particularly applicable to wardrobe trunks of the general type disclosed in Letters Patent of 5 the United States to George H. Wheary, No.

1,134,175, dated April 6,1915, although it is also applicable to ordinary trunks, such for example, as those disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States to said George H.

Wheary, No. 1,158,412, dated October 26, 1915, and to numerous other trunks in common use. . . .

The primary object of this invention is to provide improved means whereby the mo15 tion of a movable member associated with a key operated lock may be transmitted to one or more distant locking members to automatically operate the latter, whereby the closing and locking together of the parts of 20 a trunk at one point, will without any attention on the part of the user result in a doweling, binding and locking together of trunk parts at one or more other points.

Further objects of this invention are to 25 provide means whereby motion transmitting mechanism located within one section of a trunk may be utilized to operate locking devices located wholly or partially exterior to the trunk walls;—to provide means whereby 30 auxiliary locking devices, dependent for locking operations upon a movable member associated with a manually operable lock, may be automatically retracted when such movable member is unlocked or retracted;85 to provide means whereby the auxiliary locking devices will effectively draw the associated sections of the trunk into binding relation with each other;—to provide auxiliary locking devices which may be protected 40 by suitable housings located in part upon the interior face and in part upon the exterior face of the associated wall of ^a trunk section which the housing also reenforces to provide means whereby an auxiliary lock45 ing device, when released, will initially open or separate the parts controlled thereby; and in general to provide auxiliary locking devices of the above described type which will not only be efficient and durable under 50 conditions of severe use, but which will also be capable of use without reducing the capacity of the trunk, injuring its contents or in any manner interfering with the use of the trunk for any ordinary purpose or the proper packing or unpacking thereof. 55

As applied to wardrobe trunks, it is an object of my invention to provide means whereby all movable parts of the auxiliary locking mechanism may be mounted upon or in the wardrobe section of the trunk, leaving 80 the interior of the body section wholly free and unobstructed for the reception of packed fabrics or the operation of drawers or other receptacles within which clothing is to be packed. It is well known that the ordinary 85 wardrobe trunk has a body section which is usually subdivided by shelves, drawers or partitions into compartments within which clothing may be packed or within some of which articles may be placed which would 70 be injured by compression or packing. One other section, commonly termed the wardrobe section, is utilized to receive articles of wearing apparel which may be suspended from hangers mounted upon suitable sup- 75 ports at one end of the trunk or section. It is desirable that the body section be wholly unobstructed by any movable or motion transmitting parts or mechanisms for locking the trunk sections together, inasmuch as 80 such parts either occupy space exterior to the drawers or other / compartments and thereby reduce the capacity of the trunk body or allow the articles packed in the trunk body to contact with and be injured 85 by such movable parts. This invention, therefore, contemplates a location of the movable connections for the auxiliary locking devices in the wardrobe section where suspended clothing will bear ^OT*ly lightly 90 against the locking devices even it the latter' are exposed..

In the drawings:—

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a wardrobe trunk equipped with my improved 95 locking mechanism, the section being drawn to a plane transverse to that which includes the meeting edges of the body and wardrobe sections»

Figure 2 is a view of a fragment of the 100 wardrobe section showing my improved locking mechanism applied to one side wall thereof. , , _ . .

Figure 3 is a detail view of the locking lever and associated catch plate. _ .105

Figure 4 is a top view of the locking lever a

16,643 showing the catch in section on line 4—4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the upper end of a wardrobe trunk, partly in 5 elevation and partly in section, showing a slight modification.

Figure 6 is an elevation of an ordinary trunk illustrating my invention as applied thereto.

Figure ? is a similar view showing a slight modification of the structure disclosed in Figure 6. ,

Figure 8 is a detail view of the manually controlled portion of the lock operating 15 means employed in the structure disclosed in Figure 6, the fragment of the side wall of the body portion of the trunk being shown in horizontal section.

Figure 9 is a similar view of the corre20 sponding mechanism employed in the structure disclosed in Figure 7.

Figure 10 is a view of the same as seen from the inner side of the trunk wall.·

Like parts are identified, by the same ref25 erence characters throughout the several views.

Figure 1 shows a wardrobe trunk having a body section 1, a wardrobe section 2, and a lid or cover section 3, all organized and 30 arranged substantially as disclosed in said former patent to George H. Wheary, No. 1,134,175. But in place of the locking mechanism disclosed in said patent for holding the lower portions of the wardrobe section and 35 body section together, I employ a locking lever 4 which is fulcrumed at 5 within a housing 6. The housing 6 is provided with end flanges 7 and 8 which are secured to the inner face of the side wall 13 of the ward40 robe section and the flange 8 has a semicylindrical offset portion 10 which forms a guideway for the vertically disposed operating bar 11 and a partial enclosure for a coiled, compression spring 12, the lower end 45 of. which is anchored to the bottom of the guideway 10 and the upper end of which is seated against a bracket 13 carried by the bar 11. .

The lower end of the bar Ϊ1 is provided ⁵⁰ with a slot 14 in which a pin 15 carried by the power end of the lever 4 is loosely engaged. The other end of the lever is offset and positioned within a notch 17 formed in • the supporting side wall 13 of the wardrobe ^βδ section 2 and this offset portion of the lever is provided at its free end with a projecting stud 18, preferably exterior to said section wall, but protected by a housing plate or member 19 which may constitute an exten^υ sion of the reenforcing corner piece 20.

A housing 19 also forms a doweling pocket to receive a doweling catch plate 22 carried by the opposing wall of the body section 1. This doweling catch plate is provided with a curved slot 23 adapted to receive the stud carried by the lever 4 when said lever is swung to locking position. The outer margin of the slot 23 is so formed that the stud 18 may move with a wedging action thereon when the lever is swung to. locking position, 70 thereby drawing the opposing side walls of the wardrobe section and body section into binding pressure contact. The inner wall of the slot 23 is also formed to receive the pressure of the stud 18 while the lever is being 75 swung from locking to unlocking position, whereby said opposing walls may be initially separated during this movement of the locking lever. ' . .

The spring 12 tends to hold the bar 11 in 80 a raised position with the inner end of the lever 4 correspondingly raised and the outer or locking end, with the locking stud 18, depressed to releasing position, l ¢., to a position with the stud 18 withdrawn from 85 the doweling catch plate 22. The lever 4 is swung to locking position by applying downward pressure to the bar 11 and this downward pressure may be applied by the lid or cover section 3, preferably through a ⁰⁰bracket 25 secured to the inner “face of said section in a position to bear upon the upper end of the bar 11 arid push said bar downwardly when the lid or cover section 3 is swung to closed position. Said lid or cover ⁰5 section 'may be locked in closed position as disclosed in said former Patent No. 1,134,175, but as no specific locking mechanism is essential it is not deemed necessary to illustrate or describe it. It is obvious that as long ΐθο as the lid or cover section is closed the bar 11 will be held in its depressed position. And the arrangement is such that when the bar .11 is thus depressed the locking lever 4 will occupy a position substantially as in- 105 dicated by dotted lines in Figure 1 with the locking stud 18 near the upper end of the slot 23 in the catch plate 22, in which position the edges of the wardrobe section of the trunk will be in binding pressure engage- no ment with. the meeting edges or margins of the body section.

Guide ^cliP? and 28 are preferably applied to the side wall 13 of the wardrobe section to hold the rod 11 in operating position. ¹¹⁵. In Figure, 5 the parts illustrated are identical with those illustrated in Figure 1, except that the locking bar 11 is made a little longer and the lid section 3 is not provided with the bracket 25. The top of the lid sec- ¹²⁰tion 3, therefore, bears directly upon the operating piece or bar 11.

In Figure 6 a trunk is illustrated with a body section l^a and a cover section 2^a which may be taken as representative of any or- ¹²⁵dinary trunk in common use. The cover section is locked to the &gt; body section by an ordinary key operated lock having a hasp 3^awhich con-esponds functionally with the lid 3 shown in Figure 1 so far as the invention I?⁰

16,643 tion, but automatically separate them initially to a sufficient extent to allow the user to grasp the separated margins and to open the body and wardrobe sections of the trunk without difficulty. '

As applied to a. wardrobe trunk, my invention has the further advantage above noted, viz, that all of the parts are located outside of the body section and. all of the movable parts are located within or upon T5 the wardrobe section. Also the locking mechanism per se is located at the lower end of the wardrobe section below, the point reached by any but the longest garments to be suspended within said section, these locking parts furthermore being housed in such a manner as to prevent them from catching in the fabric of any clothing contained in said section. The dowelinsf members and the locking stud 18 are located wholly outside of the section so that there is no danger of clothing being caught by the doweling catch 22 and forced into the housing 19 or entangled with the stud 18.