AU739072B2 - Wall safe - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT a.

ta 0 Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: PAZFAR PTY LIMITED 010 691 915) BARRY BROWN CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

WALL SAFE .0 0 Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Nos. PO7439 FILED 19 JUNE 1997 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION THIS invention relates to security safes and is particularly concerned with security safes which can be fitted into the relatively confined spaces of wall cavities in conventional houses and similarly constructed buildings.

The majority of homes do not have safes because safes are generally too big, too expensive or there is nowhere they can be conveniently placed or installed.

Wall safes are typically designed for mansions which have purpose built cavity walls to accommodate the depth of the safe which may be in excess of 250mm. Wall safes which can fit the very narrow cavities of conventional houses, that is, cavities which measure from 80 to 100mm in depth, typically have complicated, and consequently expensive, combination locks and are, moreover, difficult to install.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present ~invention to provide a security wall safe which has a S 20 simple yet effective locking mechanism, and is therefore relatively inexpensive, which is dimensioned so that it can be fitted into wall cavities of conventional homes, and which can be installed by the "home handyman" without too much difficulty.

25 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ooooo According to the invention there is provided a security wall safe which is dimensioned to fit within the wall cavity of a conventional residential building, said wall safe comprising a housing with a polygonal-shaped opening and a door consisting of a cover plate with a fixed and spaced complementary polygonal-shaped holding plate, said holding plate being designed to fractionally fit through the opening in the housing when the polygonal holding plate and the opening are aligned and, when rotated so that the polygonal holding plate and opening are no longer aligned, to be retained by the housing with the cover plate completely sealing the opening.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The reference to a "cavity of a conventional residential building" made in the preceding paragraph and elsewhere in the specification is intended to mean an internal wall cavity or an external wall cavity in a home built by conventional building methods, for instance a project home or a building having similarly constructed walls, for instance commercial buildings such as some offices and shops.

The reference to "fractional fit" of the holding plate through the opening in the housing is intended to mean that the space between the edge of the holding plate and the opening surround is sufficient to enable the holding plate to pass through the opening only when the polygonal outline shape of the holding plate is in close correspondence with the polygonal shape of the opening.

*oo o The safe housing is a theft security box which is also preferably fire resistant. A particularly preferred housing is one fabricated from steel plate which 20 is galvanised and/or powder coated. The safe housing will typically be rectangular in shape, most preferably square, and have a depth of about 80mm. The width of the housing is generally no more than about 400mm so that it can be fitted between the studs and noggings of the wall framing.

25 The face of the housing in which the opening is S"located, suitably includes a portion extending beyond the side walls of the housing. This portion or flange is for the purpose of covering the gap in the wall lining so that the safe cannot be easily removed by thieves and so that a neat finish is provided to the installed safe. The flange may typically extend outwardly from the housing by approximately The housing can be fitted in the wall cavity by screwing it to the adjacent stud(s) and/or nogging(s) by means of screws which are inserted through pre-drilled holes in the side walls of the housing.

The polygonal-shaped opening in the housing is preferably a hexagonal or octagonal opening, most preferably octagonal. This shape is the most preferred because it maximises the overlap with the holding plate for greater holding power while minimising machining detail. Suitably, the opening is located in the centre region of the housing.

The safe door, which consists of a cover plate with a fixed and spaced polygonal-shaped holding plate, is suitably fabricated from toughened steel which is galvanised and/or powder coated to match the housing. The cover plate can have any outline configuration which overlaps the opening in the housing but a circular configuration is preferred.

o A spacer element joins the cover plate to the holding plate. The spacer element may comprise another 15 plate or a plurality of individual lugs or the like.

Preferably, the spacer element has the form of a ringshaped plate which is sandwiched between the cover plate and the holding plate. The basic purpose of the spacer element is to maintain the cover and holding plates at a 20 fixed relative spacing to one another which is at least equal to the thickness of the wall of the housing in which the opening is located. The spacer element is conveniently joined to the cover and holding plates by rivets or by welding.

25 The holding plate is conformed in its outline o configuration to the shape of the opening in the housing so that it can readily pass therethrough when brought into planar configurational alignment. It is fitted to the cover plate in such a manner that a recess is formed between the outer perimeter edge of the holding plate and the cover plate.

Opening and closing of the wall safe is achieved by rotating the cover plate by manual frictional engagement therewith until the polygonal shapes of the holding plate and the opening in the housing are either brought into or out of alignment. Preferably, means are provided which resist opening and/or closing once the cover plate has been rotated to the desired open or closed position. Such means may comprise a peg which extends from the holding plate into a slot formed in the cover plate. The length of the slot is designed to correspond to the amount of rotation necessary to rotate the holding plate from an aligned position with the opening in the housing to a fully retained or closed position.

A keyed lock arrangement is preferably associated with the peg and slot embodiment to enable the holding plate to be locked to the housing. Such a keyed lock arrangement can comprise a barrel lock fitted into the wall of the housing adjacent to the peg which has a lever which is pivoted against the peg when the key is *otturned, thereby preventing the holding plate from being rotated to an open position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is an isometric view of a wall safe according to the invention, Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the wall safe shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is an isometric view of the housing of the wall safe shown in Figure 1, *Figure 4 is an isometric view from below of the door of the wall safe shown in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a plan view of the housing shown in 25 Figure 3 fitted into the framework of a building.

S• DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In all of the drawings like reference numerals refer to like parts.

Referring to Figures 1-4, the wall safe comprises a square profile-shaped housing 11 and a door 12 both of which are fabricated from armour grade steel plate which is powder coated.

The housing 11 includes an octagonal opening 13 in an in use, outwardly facing wall; which wall has a flange 14 extending beyond its perimeter.

The door 12 consists of a cover plate 15 and a holding plate 16, both of which are likewise fabricated from armour grade steel plate which is powder coated.

Both plates 15 and 16 are separated from one another by a spacer element 17 (see hatched cross-section in Figure 2).

The spacer element 17 is a steel infill which is riveted to both the cover plate 15 and the holding plate 16 to provide a rigid fixed connection between the two plates.

The arrangement depicted in Figure 2 shows the holding plate 16 being held in position by the outer facing wall 18 of the housing.

A slot 19 is formed in the cover plate 14 through which a pin 20, fixed to the under door face extends and a barrel lock 21 is located adjacent the pin.

The wall safe is installed between studs 22, 23 15 and noggings 24, 25 of a building framework either before after the wall lining (not shown) is erected, by means of screws which are inserted into the building framework through holes in the side walls of the safe. The flange "14 around the perimeter of the outwardly facing wall 18 is 20 designed to overlap the opening in the wall lining which buts up against the side walls of the safe.

*"In use, a key is inserted in the barrel lock 21 and rotated to move an associated lever (not shown in the drawings) out of contact with the pin 20, thereby enabling 25 the cover plate 15 to be manually rotated by an amount S"governed by the length of the slot 19 formed therein and through which the pin extends. Such a rotation brings the octagonal shaped holding plate 16 into correspondence with the octagonal shaped opening 13 in the housing and enables the door 12 to be manually removed.

A reverse procedure enables the safe to be closed and locked.

It is clear from the previous description that applicant's wall safe meets all of the objectives laid down for the invention in the preamble of the specification, and that it thus provides a useful product having commercial significance.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention, many modifications and variation may be made thereto by persons skilled in the art without departing from the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein set forth.

Claims (8)

1. 3. A security wall safe as claimed in claim 1 or ."claim 2, wherein the polygonal-shaped opening in the 20 housing and the polygonal-shaped holding plate, have regular octagonal configurations.
2. 4. A security wall safe as claimed in any one of claims 1-3, which includes a flange around the side of the housing which incorporates the polygonal-shaped housing, :o which flange extends beyond the side walls of the housing. A security wall safe as claimed in any one of the proceeding claims, wherein the cover plate is spaced from the holding plate by means of a spacer element in the form of a circular plate which is sandwiched between the cover plate and the holding plate.
3. 6. A security wall safe as claimed in claim wherein the cover plate is a circular pressed steel plate, the holding plate is an octagonal annular plate, and the spacer element is a circular ring-shaped plate.
4. 7. A security wall safe as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and including means associated with the cover plate and the housing to resist movement of the cover plate beyond the alignment of the holding plate with the housing and/or beyond a desired non-alignment position of the holding plate with the housing.
5. 8. A security wall safe as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means comprises a peg which extends from the holding plate through a slot formed in the cover plate, the said slot being designed to correspond to the amount of rotation necessary to rotate the holding plate from an aligned position with the opening in the housing to a non- aligned position.
6. 9. A security wall safe as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and including a locking mechanism to prevent relative movement of the cover plate with respect to the housing when the locking mechanism is activated. A security wall safe as claimed in claim 8, "wherein a keyed lock arrangement is associated with the peg and slot to enable the holding plate to be locked to the housing.
7. 11. A security wall safe as claimed in claim wherein the keyed lock arrangement comprises a barrel lock fitted into the wall of the housing adjacent to the peg which has a lever which is pivoted against the peg when the key is turned, the movement of the lever is resisted thereby preventing the holding plate from being rotated to a position where the door can be opened.
8. 12. A security wall safe substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings. DATED this 1 9 th day of June 1998 PAZFAR PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN Co. S.*