EP0076711A1 - Automatically closing lock - Google Patents

Abstract

A self-locking lock assembly for a cabinet or locker door includes a rotary operating member (25) having a head (26) adapted to be operated from the exterior of the door, and an inner bolt (31) provided with a rib (36) inclined with respect to the axis of said operating member so that its cooperation with a flange (14) of a door opening (3) causes it to rotate while compressing a return spring (41) whenever the door is manually pushed. The lock assembly can advantageously be used in cabinets or lockers the doors of which must be opened only by safety personnel, but may be closed by maintenance personnel.

Description

The invention relates to a lock, placed on a cabinet or cupboard door in the vicinity of a framing rim of an opening of this cabinet, comprising on the one hand a rotary actuator accessible from the exterior and rotating in a body integral with the door about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the latter, and on the other hand an interior movable lock which is associated with the operating member and with a "return spring" which communicates a rest position, this lock having an inclined ramp capable of cooperating with the rim so that the lock first performs a backward movement by compressing the spring when the door is subjected to a force exerted in the direction of its closing and then performs a movement in the opposite direction which engages it under said flange, the opening of the lock necessitating the introduction of a key or a tool into the operating member.

Such locks can be placed on the doors of boxes or cupboards intended in particular to receive electrical equipment; in the latter case, these locks have the advantage of making it possible for the maintenance personnel to close the box without the security personnel, who alone have the means such as special keys usually used to open it, must be present at that time.

The invention therefore proposes to provide a lock having the constitution and authorizing the use mentioned above which is simpler than the locks currently known and which is robust enough to withstand the shocks it undergoes when it is slammed the cabinet door.

According to the invention, this result is obtained thanks to the fact that the lock comprises a collar angularly associated with an inner end of the operating member and has a first ramp inclined relative to the axis YY 'of the member maneuvering and not passing through this axis, this ramp having on the one hand a first contact point placed at a first distance from the axis YY 'coming first into contact with the flange when the door is closed, and on the other hand, an end placed at a second distance from the axis greater than the first distance, then coming under. a wall of the frame extending said rim towards the inside of the box.

The provisions which have just been mentioned as well as other particularities and other measures provided for improving the operation of this lock and giving it great simplicity will be better understood with the aid of the description below.

• La figure 1 représente, vu en coupe longitudinale QQ', un coffret équipé d'une serrure pouvant s'ouvrir à l'aide d'un outil et se fermer sans l'aide de cet outil ;
• La figure 2 montre une vue en coupe longitudinale de la serrure seule ;
• La figure 3 représente une vue de droite extérieure de la serrure selon les figures 1 et 2 ;
• La figure 4 illustre une vue extérieure de dessous de la serrure ;
• La figure 5 représente une vue de dessus extérieure de la serrure ;
• La figure 5bis représente une vue en coupe des moyens d'actionnement de la serrure ;
• La figure 6 montre un détail du verrou ;
• La figure 7 représente un second mode de réalisation de la serrure ;
• La figure 8 représente en coupe longitudinale une serrure pouvant s'ouvrir à l'aide d'une clé ;
• La figure 9 montre une vue de dessous du verrou de la serrure selon la figure 8 ;
• La figure 10 représente de façon schématique la position d'une rampe du verrou par rapport à l'axe de rotation YY'.
• La figure 11 représente un troisième mode de réalisation de la serrure ;
• La figure 12 représente en perspective une pièce que l'on soude sur le rebord interne de l'encadrement ; et
• La figure 13 représente un quatrième mode de réalisation de la serrure utilisant la pièce de la figure 12.

In the attached drawing:

• Figure 1 shows, seen in longitudinal section QQ ', a box equipped with a lock which can be opened with the aid of a tool and closed without the aid of this tool;
• Figure 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the lock alone;
• Figure 3 shows an exterior right view of the lock according to Figures 1 and 2;
• Figure 4 illustrates an exterior view from below of the lock;
• Figure 5 shows an exterior top view of the lock;
• FIG. 5bis represents a sectional view of the means for actuating the lock;
• Figure 6 shows a detail of the lock;
• Figure 7 shows a second embodiment of the lock;
• Figure 8 shows in longitudinal section a lock that can be opened with a key;
• Figure 9 shows a bottom view of the lock of the lock according to Figure 8;
• FIG. 10 schematically represents the position of a ramp of the latch relative to the axis of rotation YY '.
• Figure 11 shows a third embodiment of the lock;
• Figure 12 shows in perspective a part which is welded on the internal rim of the frame; and
• FIG. 13 represents a fourth embodiment of the lock using the part of FIG. 12.

A box 1 shown in FIG. 1, by way of example of nonlimiting application of the invention, comprises mainly palement a housing 2 having an opening 3, a door 4 and a hinge 5 pivoting about an axis XX ', which is substantially parallel to the plane PP'de.l'ouverture. The frame 6 of the opening has, in a manner known per se, a first flat portion 7 inclined with respect to the plane PP 'and directed towards the external volume 11 of the box, a second flat portion 8 inclined with respect to the same plane and directed towards the internal volume 10 and a rim or edge 9 which represents the more or less rounded intersection of these flat portions and which is in the plane PP '.

A lock 12 which is placed on a region 13 of the door, opposite the hinge 5, cooperates with the flange 14 opposite the flange 9 and with the first and second portions 15, 16 which are comparable and opposite to the preceding 7, 8 .

An elastically deformable seal 17 is placed between the rear surface 18 ′ of the wall 18 of the door 4 and edges such as 19 which limit the first portion 15, 7 of the frame towards the outside. .

The rim 14 is actually a small cylindrical surface, resulting from the folding of the sheet metal of the housing, which is substantially placed in the plane PP 'and whose generatrices are parallel to this plane.

The lock 12 comprises a body 20 with an external flange 21 which passes through an opening 22 in the wall 18 and which is fixed thereon for example by means of a threaded nut 23 which is placed inside the door. This body has a cylindrical housing of revolution or bearing 24, of axis YY 'substantially perpendicular to the plane of the wall 18, which opens outwards and inwards.

A cylindrical plug 25 constituting the operating member, is placed in this housing and has on the one hand at its outer end 28 a head 26 provided with operating means 27, which allow it to rotate, and on the other hand, at its inner end 29 a portion 30 outside the housing; the means 27 are for example a transverse slot capable of receiving the end of a screwdriver not shown or a coin.

This portion 30 receives a lock 31 which is angularly associated with it, and which is axially held with it for example by a nut 32 cooperating with a threaded extension 33 of the portion 30. The lock 31 mainly comprises a flange 34 which has an opening 35 , cooperating with the portion 30, and a lateral rib 36. This rib has a first ramp 37 inclined with respect to the axis YY 'and directed towards the inside of the box, a second ramp 38 which is inclined towards the outside and a vertex 39 which is common to the two ramps.

As best seen in Figures 2 and 3, the first ramp 37 has a contact point 40, located at the end of this ramp furthest from the wall 18 and one end which merges with the top 39 and is located closer to the wall 18 than the contact point 40.

The second ramp 38 is located between the top 39 and the wall 18 and extends to a transverse surface 38 'of the flange directed towards the wall.

An angular return spring 41, preferably helical placed coaxially to YY 'outside the body 20 and used as a torsion spring, communicates with the lock 31 a return torque which tends to give it a rest position for defined closure further, visible in Figures 1, 2 and 5, thanks to the fact that its opposite ends 42 and 43 are hooked on the body and respectively on the latch.

The position in space of the first ramp with respect to the axis YY 'is better visible in FIG. 10 which shows on the one hand that the distance "b" separating the contact point 40 from the axis YY' is less than the distance "d" separating the vertex 39 from this same axis, and which indicates that a straight line joining these two points 39 and 40, is inclined at an angle relative to this axis Y _Y '; the right has therefore not passed by the YY axis. Between the points 39 and 40 the ramp 37 can follow a substantially rectilinear direction or on the contrary form a portion of conical helix.

It can also be seen in FIGS. 3 and 5 that at least part of the surface 44 of the second ramp 38 placed in the vicinity of the vertex 39 is on the contrary placed substantially in a plane QQ 'which passes through this vertex and through the axis _Y Y '.

Between the contact point 40 and the vertex 39, the ramp 37 may also have a rounded shape, as shown by the local section through a plane RR 'visible in FIG. 6, in order to facilitate its sliding against the rim 14. The friction which appears between the rim 14 and the ramp 37 can be further significantly reduced if the latch is made of an appropriate plastic.

When the door is open, the latch 31 is oriented in a rest position which is similar to that of FIG. 1.

A closing movement directed in direction F and communicated by a force exerted on the wall first brings the contact point 40 against the flange 14; due to the distance "a" existing between this point 40 and the plane QQ 'passing through YY' perpendicular to XX ', see Figures 3 and 4 and the existence of a tangential component T of the friction force between the point 40 and the rim 14, see FIG. 10, a torque C is communicated to the latch 31 which pivots around YY ', this directional rotation a which arms the spring 41, brings successive points of the ramp 37 against the rim 14 and allows the closing movement of the door to continue until the top 39 crosses this rim. The crossing of the rim by the top of the bolt allows movement of the bolt in the opposite direction to a under the effect of the return spring and the lock is found in the rest position illustrated in FIG. 1, in which the second ramp 38 is pressed against the second portion 16 of the frame. This support which is maintained by the compression of the seal 17 can not cause angular movement of the latch relative to the body 20 due to the fact that the surface 44 of the ramp 38 is then substantially contained in the plane QQ '.

An operation identical to that which has just been described can be obtained in an alternative embodiment using a different form of frame visible in FIG. 7 where it can be seen that the first frame portion 45 is weak width, while the second frame portion 46, placed in the extension of the rounded edge 47 towards the inside of the box, is located in a plane RR 'parallel to and close to PP'; in this case the shape of the bolt is slightly modified and the second ramp 38 of the previous bolt here consists of a surface 48 which can be plane perpendicular to YY 'or rounded with generatrices perpendicular to YY'. This variant can be used with a seal 50 placed on the external surface of the second portion 46.

The rest position of the lock for which the apex 39 is substantially in the plane QQ 'visible in FIG. 3, can be determined by the cooperation between a bearing surface 50 placed in the bore of the body 20 and a stop 51 integral with the plug 25, see FIG. 2. A second bearing surface 52 can also be used to limit the reverse movement of the lock.

When the lock which has just been described is used with a plug 25, the actuation of which is operated using the slot 27, the lock is angularly associated with the latter, for example using a pin 53 passing through the collar 34 and the end 30, or again by giving the end 30 a prismatic shape corresponding to that of the opening 35 of the eye 34.

The movements of the lock will then be integral with those of the plug, either that it is actuated from the outside to open the door, or on the contrary that the lock drives the plug during a closing of the door operated by a pressure on the wall of the cover.

The slot 27 of Figures 1 and 5 can be replaced by a housing of triangular, square or hexagonal section cooperating with the male part of a tool of the same shape, or even more advantageously by a pin of triangular, square section or hexagonal, projecting from the bottom of a blind hole as shown in Figure 5bis. The height g of the post being less than the depth h of the blind hole of diameter h, will advantageously be such that g £ 2 h, to avoid actuation by a tool other than the key.

When instead of plug 25, a lock cylinder 64 is used which requires the installation of a key 54 in the accessible part 53 so that the opening and closing operations can only be carried out by the personnel qualified, see FIG. 8, it is necessary that the latch 31 can rotate in the direction of opening, either independently of the state of the cylinder during an automatic closing operation by pressing on the cover, or with this cylinder, when the operation is carried out using the key.

The need for this independence is justified by the fact that when the key has been removed from the plug 53, the latter is immobilized relative to the body 63, see FIG. 8, for example due to the cooperation of one or more eclipsable locks 55 with an internal groove or notch 56 in the bearing of the body 63; a closing movement of the door by pressing on the wall and a corresponding rotation a of the lock can therefore only occur if a coupling giving the lock a certain freedom of angle Φ in a direction a is disposed between the end 57 of the cylinder 53 and eye 58 of the lock.

Such a coupling system is shown by way of example in FIG. 9 where the end 57 of the cylinder has a rod 59 of prismatic shape with square section, while the eye 58 has an opening 60 having four grooves such as 61 in which the four edges 62 of the rod 59 can move by about 45 °. The faces 69 of these grooves are formed by cylindrical sections of a cylinder of diameter equal to the dimension of the diagonal of the square of the section of the rod 59. The rod 59 abuts against the shoulders 65 in the rest position, while in the working position, the rotation is limited by the shoulders 68. It is quite obvious that any other device making it possible to obtain angular freedom 0, can replace the above embodiment. Thus one could provide a projection moving in a groove between two positions delimited by two stops as shown at 66 in FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is an alternative embodiment in which the helical ramp 37 has the same dimension d at its apex as at its base and cooperates with a tongue 141 which projects from the rim 14. This tongue was obtained by not folding down part of the frame. In a variant, the seal 50 may be continuous, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 11. The tongue 141 has a round 142 on the working side. This rounding is obtained by punching the sheet so as to harden it to have the metal surface cooperating with the ramp during closing and to prevent wear of the ramp.

Figures 12 and 13 show an improvement of the closure device of Figure 7 where a lock 31 is used whose second ramp is formed by a flat surface 48 perpendicular to YY '.

On the first inclined portion 15 of the frame, one comes to weld a part 67 shown in FIG. 12 and comprising between two flat portions 670 two ramps 671 which open onto a plate 672.

When this part 67 is used with the lock 31 of FIG. 13, the surface 48, by engaging under one of the plates 670, will prevent the reopening of the cabinet, even if the force exerted on the door is not sufficient to seal the box hermetically. When the force exerted on the door is sufficient to compress the seal, the surface 48 slides along the ramp 671 and is housed under the flat 672.

It goes without saying that any modification within the reach of ordinary skill in the art is also part of the invention.

Claims (8)

1. Lock placed on a cabinet or cupboard door in the vicinity of a framing rim of an opening of this cabinet, comprising on the one hand, a rotary operating member accessible from the outside and rotating in a body integral with the door around an axis perpendicular to the plane of the latter, and on the other hand, an internal movable lock which is associated with the operating member and with a return spring which communicates to it a rest position ,
characterized in that this lock 31 has at least one inclined ramp 37 capable of cooperating with the flange so that the lock first performs a rotational movement by compressing the spring when the door is subjected to a force exerted in the direction of its closure, and then performs a movement in the opposite direction which engages it under said rim, the opening of the lock necessitating the introduction of a key or a tool into the operating member, the latch (31) comprising a collar (34) angularly associated with a lower end (30) of the operating member (25), the ramp (37) being inclined relative to the axis YY 'of the operating member, not passing by this axis, coming first into contact with the rounded edge (14, 142) when the door (18) is closed, and having one end (39), then coming under a wall (16, respectively 46, 670 ) of the frame (12) extending said flange (14) towards the inside (10) of the box or under a profile ngementl141) of the ledge. 2. Lock according to claim 1,
characterized in that the end (39) of the ramp (37) represents an apex which is common to a second ramp (38), the latter being inclined in the opposite direction to the first and moving substantially towards the axis YY ' so as to apply under an inclined portion 16 of the frame wall, when the door is closed. 3. Lock according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the ramp comprises on the one hand, a first contact point (40) placed at a first distance (b) from the axis YY 'which comes in contact with the rounded edge (14) when the door (18) is closed, and on the other hand, the end (39) placed at a second distance (d) from the axis YY 'greater than the first distance . 4. Lock according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the end (39) of the ramp (37) represents a vertex which is common to a flat part 48 perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the lock, this flat part cooperating either with a flat surface (46) of the internal flange of the frame, or with the flat surfaces (670, 672) of a part (67) attached to the flange. 5. Lock according to claim 4, characterized in that the part (67) comprises planar surfaces (670, 672) parallel connected together by at least one ramp. 6. Lock according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lock (31) is coupled to a first end (43) of a helical spring (41) working in torsion, a second end (42) of this spring being coupled to a cylindrical body (20) around which this spring is placed, this body having a bearing (24) in which the operating member (25) is pivoted coaxially. 7. Lock according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the operating member (25) comprises an outer head (26) carrying form surfaces (27) capable of cooperating with a tool and has one end interior (30) integral with the collar of the lock (31) which is mounted on it. 8. Lock according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the operating member (64) comprises, on the one hand, a cylinder (53) accessible externally, which. is able to cooperate with a key (54) to be angularly secured or released from the body (63) and, on the other hand, an internal end (57) which is associated with the flange (58) of the lock with an angular play ( ϕ) such that a movement of this lock is possible when the key is removed from the cylinder, securing the cylinder to the body (63)

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