AU666581B2 - A lock having operating members to operate remote latches - Google Patents

Description

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666581

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT 09 or

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Name of Applicant(s): Address for Service: WHITCO PTY LTD CULLEN

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Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

Invention Title: A LOCK HAVING OPERATING MEMLERS TO OPERATE REMOTE LATCHES Details of Associated Provisional Applications: 0 Nos. PL5494 filed 26.10.92 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: p.

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5 o *4 *4 44 o oa u o a o a r a *D oo 4 a o Jo a THIS INVENTION relates to a lock having operating members to operate remote latches.

Locks having remote latches typically comprise a central lock body and one or more remote latches which are operated by the central lock body. The one or more remote latches are positioned adjacent upper and lower ends of the door or window to which the lock is fitted. The remote latches are operated by connecting rods. The connecting rods in turn are connected to and operated by operating members which are located in the central lock body.

Examples of such multi-point locks are described in Au Au our earlier patents 574388 andA557075.

In these locks, two operating members are provided and each member operates a separate connecting rod which in turn operates an upper or lower remote latch. The operating members are located mainly within the central lock body and can extend and retract relative to the lock body to, in turn, cause the remote latches to adopt a locked or unlocked position. The operating members are generally elongate slides and are operated by a rocker member (see, for instance, patent 574388), or a rotatable disc member (see patent 55773).

In each of the above lock designs, the central lock body also includes various other lock components such as lock tongues, deadlocking slides, cylinder barrels, springs aild the like. Thus, there is very little space available for location of the operating members.

For this reason, at least one of the operating members was positioned at a rear end wall of the lock body.

This in turn required the lock body to be of a larger depth ft P P4 m I 3 the depth being the spacing between the front end wall from which the lock tongue can project, and the rear end wall) to accommodate the operating member.

Due to the construction of sliding doors being such that the door is received into a preformed recess within the door jamb there has not been the perceived need to fit three point locks, as sliding doors were considered to have a higher security level.

Therefore hardware size was kept to a minimum with some resultant sliding door sections being designed to have o. enough room to just accept the smaller locks (ie. not containing operating members).

00000 More recently there has been an increased demand for o higher security sliding doors and therefore there is a requirement to fit three point locking mechanisms to sliding S• doors.

This has necessitated the need to have a lock capable of actuating remote latches and where the size of the j lock is within the dimensional confines of current door sections.

SThe present invention has been devised to produce a lock having operating members and therefore able to operate remote latches, and where the lock can still fit into existing sections. This can be achieved by having both operating members positioned away from the rear end wall of the lock body and adjacent the side walls of the lock body.

In one form, the invention resides in a lock able to operate one or more remote latches, the lock comprising a lock body having a front end wall provided with an opening to allow 4 a lock tongue to engage with a keeper, a rear end wall, and a pair of spaced opposed side walls; operating members to operate the remote latches, said operating members being located substantially in said lock body and comprising elongate members which can move between a first position to cause the remote latches to adopt one of a locked or unlocked position and a second position to cause the remote latches to adopt the other of the unlocked or locked position, a control member to move the operating members between the said positions, characterised in that the operating members are 2 located at a position substantially spaced from the rear wall.

0* 0 By "substantially spaced" is meant that the 00. operating members extend through the top end wall and the ro bottom end wall at a position spaced more towards the front end wall than rear end wall, or spaced from the rear end wall by a spacing of at least one third of the spacing between the front end wall and the rear end wall.

The operating members may be substantially planar in configuration and it is preferred that each operating member extends substantially parallel to the side walls of the lock body as opposed to substantially parallel to the rear end wall of the lock body as illustrated in our earlier patent 574388).

By having both operating members spaced from the rear end wall, and suitably being substantially parallel to the side walls, the operating members can move over the remaining components in the lock body without interfering therewith. The lock body can then also be of a smaller depth, allowing it to be easily positioned in existing recesses.

I imm J The lock body may be formed from diecast material and suitably comprises zinc or zinc alloys. The lock body be substantially rectangular in configuration when viewed in plan and the front end wall and rear end wall may be substantially parallel. The side walls may also be substantially parallel relative to each other. The top end wall and the bottom end wall may also be substantially parallel relative to each other.

The front end wall comprises an opening of sufficient size to allow a lock tongue to project therefrom Sand/or allow a keeper to extend therethrough to engage with the lock tongue.

o00 The operating members may be substantially flat and booo may be formed from metal such as zinc or zinc alloy. The end of the operating member which extends through the respective 00 0o top end wall or bottom end wall may comprise means to allow it to be pivotly coupled to a control rod.

0ooo The other end of each operating member may include oeo means to allow it to engage with the control member. The i 2'o' control member may comprise a disc as illustrated in patent 557075, a rocker arm or snib as illustrated in patent 574388, or other member.

~The operating members may include a projection or a recess which may engage with a complementary recess or projection in the control member.

An embodiment of the invention will be illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 illustrates a lock where the operating members are in the retracted position;

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6 Figure 2 illustrates the lock of Figure 1 where the operating members are in an extended position.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a lock comprising a lock body 11. Lock body 11 has a front end wall 12, a rear end wall 13, a top end wall 14, a bottom end wall and top and bottom side walls 16 (only bottom wall 16 is shown, the top wall being removed to illustrate the components of the lock). The lock is substantially rectangular when viewed in plan. Front wall 12 is provided with an opening 17 through which a lock tongue may project (not shown), or in the r ro o case of sliding doors, in which a keeper may pass (not shown) to engage with a hooked locked tongue. Such lock tongues are S known and can be illustrated in our earlier patents 574388 and oor .ro 557075.

Front end face 12 is provided with openings 18 0' through which fasteners (not shown) may pass to secure the lock in a recess of a sliding or swinging door or window.

Located within lock body 11 are a pair of operating f members 18, 19. Each operating member is substantially flat and can be formed from metal. Operating members 18, 19 are elongate and have a first end 20, 21 which project through an opening in top end wall 14 and bottom end wall respectively. This first end 20, 21 is provided with an opening 22, 23 to allow it to pivotly connect with a control rod as is known.

The other end 24, 25 of operating members 20, 21 includes a recess or cut-out portion 26, 27.

Located between ends 24, 25 cof operating members 18, 19 is a control member 28. Control member 28 comprises a ii 1- I r a 7 pivot lever which is pivotly connected to the lock body.

Pivot lever 28 has a pair of opposed arms, each of which is fitted with a button and where the buttons can locate within recesses 26, 27.

It can be seen that to operate operating members 18, 19, pivot lever 28 can be pivotly rotated in a clockwise or anti-clockwise manner. If pivot lever 28 is rotated in a clockwise manner, this will cause operating members 18, 19 to move from a retracted position as shown in Figure 1 to an extended position as shown in Figure 2. Conversely, movement se or of pivot lever 28 in an anti-clockwise direction causes S operating members 18, 19 to retract into the lock body.

Each operating member 18, 19 extends from its respective end wall 14, 15 through an opening which is positioned between the mid point of the respective end wall :oi and front wall 12. That is, the operating members do not extend from at or adjacent rear end wall 13. Furthermore, each operating member is positioned to locate substantially I parallel relative to the side walls of the lock. This allows each operating member to pass over the remainder of the lock components without interfering therewith.

This is contrary to our earlier patent 574388 where one of the operating members extends adjacent the rear end wall and is positioned at right angles to the side walls. In our earlier patent 557075, one operating member again extends from adjacent the rear end wall of the lock body. In either of these previous cases, it is necessary for the lock body to be deeper than normal (the depth being the spacing between 1 a

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front end wall 12 and rear end wall 13), while the lock according to the present invention does not need the extra depth. Instead, the lock is slightly wider (that is, the spacing between the opposed side walls 16), but it is found that this can be readily accommodated by most existing recesses in aluminium doors or windows.

This allows the lock according to the invention to be easily fitted to the recesses provided by existing singlepoint locks and therefore there is no need to provide a new door or window or to conduct extensive modifications to the o .r recess. This in turn allows a lock to find wide commercial applicability as an inexpensive method to convert a single- 44 point lock to a multi-point lock.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

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Claims (2)

1. A lock able to operate one or more remote latches, the lock comprising a lock body having a front end wall provided with an opening to allow a lock tongue to engage with a keeper, a rear end wall, and a pair of spaced opposed side walls; operating members to operate the remote latches, said operating members being located substantially in said lock body and comprising elongate members which can move between a first position to cause the remote latches to adopt one of a locked or unlocked position and a second position to cause the 0 6 0 c remote latches to adopt the other of the unlocked or locked 0 0 o position, a control member to move the operating members o0 between the said positions, characterised in that the o ooo operating members are located at a position substantially spaced from the rear wall. o o 2. TL-e lock of claim 1 comprising a pair of operating members to operate a pair of remote latches. k J- 1o i more operating members exEdIaZ i op and/or bottom end The lock as claimed in any one of the preceding Sclaims, wherein the operating members are planar and extend substantially parallel relative to the respective wall of the lock body. The lock of claimS comprising a pair of operating members each extending just behind a respective side wall of the lock body and able to move over the remaining lock componentry in the lock. j 3 \y A oo o, 00 0 0 o 0 00 0 o jo 0 i 0 0 00 0 0 00 000 0006 00 00 0 CU 0 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 01 0 0 0 00 0 0 ,.J000 The lock as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the control member is connected to or forms part of an external snib or lever.

21. The lock as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, wherein the operating members are connectable to respective control rods. =S7- A lock substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this eleventh day of October 1993. WHITCO PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO ti~. I_, i\ cs 6. -i, I r rl: b I 11 ABSTRACT A lock has operating members 18, 19 to operate remote latches where the members extend parallel to the side walls of the lock to allow the lock to be of a more compact design to fit existing recesses in door sections. i 0 0 o0 0 0004 0o 4