EP0134317B1

EP0134317B1 - Locks

Info

Publication number: EP0134317B1
Application number: EP83201291A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dermot Joseph Cahill
Original assignee: Chubb Security Installations Ltd
Current assignee: Chubb Security Installations Ltd
Priority date: 1982-09-06
Filing date: 1983-09-07
Publication date: 1987-08-12
Also published as: GB2127089B; GB2127089A; AU560518B2; GB8323614D0; IE832019L; ZA836504B; IE54456B1; EP0134317A1; AU1863083A; NZ205412A

Description

The present invention relates to electrically-operable locks such as may be used e.g. for the remote control of passage through doorways into offices or other premises.
More particularly, the invention is concerned with an electrically-operable lock for controlling access through a doorway of the kind (hereinafter referred to as "of the kind stated") which comprises: a lock assembly for mounting to a door and a keep assembly operatively associated therewith for mounting at a location adjacent to the door; the lock assembly including bolt means adapted to extend from the door into said keep assembly; the keep assembly including a keep member displaceable transversely of the path along which the bolt means move when the door opens between a first position in which the keep member blocks said path to restrain the bolt means from such movement and a second position in which the keep member frees the bolt means from such restraint; and an electrically- energizable device coupled to said keep member for displacing the same from its first to its second position.
A lock of the kind stated is known from GB-A-2096687 in which the lock assembly has a single bolt extending into a keep assembly with a channel-shaped keep member which can be raised to free the bolt by energization of an associated solenoid. It is desirable in a lock of such form to have a bolt with an appreciable depth, in order to resist more. securely the loads which may be applied in an attempt to force the door to which the lock is fitted. This does, however, cause certain problems in the design of the lock because the deeper the bolt the greater is the distance through which the keep member must move in order to free the bolt and the greater, therefore, is the stroke of the solenoid required to lift the keep member. In GB-A-2096687 an increased stroke in the solenoid is achieved by employing a plurality of sets of coils which are energized successively to move the keep member through the required distance. This, however, necessarily increases the cost and complexity of the solenoid and requires a special timing control circuit to energize the different coils in the required sequence. A further drawback of a single bolt lock is that it may be vulnerable to a firearm attack in that a single correctly-aimed shot may be sufficient to shatter the bolt and allow entry through the doorway.
The present invention seeks to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks or potential drawacks of the prior art and accordingly provides a lock of the kind stated which is characterised in that the bolt means comprises a plurality of discrete bolt members spaced apart in a direction transverse to the paths along which those members move when the door opens and that the keep member has a wall which serves to block the paths along which the bolt members move when the door opens when the keep member is in its said first position, said wall having apertures corresponding to the bolt members to enable the bolt members to pass out from the keep member when the latter is in its said second position.
In this way the total bolting surface required to achieve a given resistance to forcing loads can be distributed among a number of slimmer bolts rather than a single deep bolt, with a corresponding reduction in the solenoid stroke required to clear those bolts. Furthermore, to overcome the lock by attempting to shoot out the bolts is liable to require several correctly-aimed shots to destroy the bolts individually, thereby increasing the time and skill necessary to breach the door by this method.
These and other features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a first example of an electrically-releasable lock in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 is a side elevation taken in the direction of the arrow II of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional plan view of the lock of Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 4 illustrates the key-operable locking mechanism and bolt assembly of the lock of Figures 1 and 2;
Figures 5 and 6 show parts of the striker unit of the lock of Figures 1 and 2 in their relative locations appropriate to successive locking and release positions, respectively, of the lock;
Figure 7 is a side elevation of the sriker unit of a modified form of the lock of Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 8 is an end view of the bolt assembly of the modified form of lock; and .
Figure 9 illustrates a second example of electrically-releasable lock in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, the first example of lock comprises a key-operated locking mechanism 1 which is mounted in a hinged door 2 and which has a bolt assembly 3, and a striker unit 4 which is mounted in the frame 5 of the door 2 to engage with the extended or shot bolt assembly 3 and thereby retain the door 2 locked closed. The lock mechanism 1 in this embodiment of the invention is that of a conventional mortice lock 6 having a dead bolt 7 which, as part of the bolt assembly 3, is fitted with an extension piece 8 that provides three spaced pin-bolts 9 for engagement with the striker unit 4.
The striker unit 4 incorporates a fixed channel-member 10, illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, that is set perpendicularly to the general plane of movement of the bolt assembly 3 in the opening- closing swing of the hinged door 2. Three slots 11 in the front upstanding wall 12 of the channel-member 10 are aligned with the three pin-bolts 9, respectively, of the bolt assembly 3, so as to allow the pin-bolts 9 to pass freely through the wall 12 upon closing or opening of the door 2 with the bolt 7 shot. A keep channel-member 13 that also has three slots 14 in its front upstanding wall 15, is mounted to slide up and down within the channel-member 10, between an upper position in which the three slots 14 are in register with the three slots 11 respectively (as illustrated in Figure 6), and a lower position in which the two sets of slots 14 and 11 are out of register with one another (as illustrated in Figure 5). The keep channel-member 13 is coupled via a rod 16 to a solenoid 17 to be lifted into the upper, release position against the action of a spring 18, when the solenoid 17 is energised electrically.
While the door 2 is closed with the bolt 7 shot, the three pin-bolts 9 project into the keep channel-member 13. If the keep channel-member 13 is then in its lower, locking position (illustrated in Figure 5) the slots 11 are blocked by the wall 15 of the channel-member 13 so that opening of the door 2 is precluded. Opening of the door 2 remains precluded in this way until either the lock mechanism 1 is operated by means of its key to withdraw the pin-bolts 9 from engagement within the channel-member 13, or the solenoid 17 is energised to lift the channel-member 13 to its upper, release position. When the solenoid 17 is energised and the channel-member 13 is thereby lifted into the release position (illustrated in Figure 6) the slots 14 are brought into register with the slots 11. This unblocks the paths of the pin-bolts 9 through the slots 11 and consequently allows the door 2 to be opened.
Provision is made for latching the keep channel-member 13 up in its release position once the solenoid 17 has been energised to free the door 2, until the door 2 is closed again. To this end, and with particular reference to Figures 5 and 6, a spring-biased catch 19 projects through a slot 20 in the rear upstanding wall 21 of the channel-member 10 and a corresponding slot 22 in the rear upstanding wall 23 of the channel-member 13. While the channel-member 13 is in its lower, locking position (Figure 5) there is overlap between the slots 20 and 22 but only to an extent to allow a finger-element 24 of the catch 19 to project through the wall 23 into alignment with one, in this embodiment the uppermost, slot 11. However when the channel-member 13 is lifted by energisation of the solenoid 17 into its release position (Figure 6), the slot 22 moves into register with the slot 20. This allows the body 24 of the catch 19 to enter the slot 22 under the action of its biasing spring 26, and so latch the channel-member 13 in its release position with the slots 11 and 14 in register with one another.
Closing of the door 2 returns the pin-bolts 9 to pass through their respective aligned slots 11 aand 14 into the channel-member 13. The uppermost pin-bolt 9 strikes the projecting finger-element 24 displacing the body 25 of the catch 19 back against its spring 26 out of the slot 22. This releases the channel-member 13 to move downwardly under the action of the spring 18, to its locking position (Figure 5) in which the pin-bolts 9 are trapped within the keep channel-member 13, locking the door 2 closed. The spring-biased abutment of the finger-element 24 with the uppermost pin-bolt 9 within the channel-member 13, ensures that the pin-bolts 9 are held positively against the front wall 15 of the channel-member 13 while the channel-member 13 is in its locking position. Also it ensures that the pin-bolts 9 will release cleanly from the striker unit 4 when the solenoid 17 is energised to bring the slots 11 and 14 into register with one another again to free the door 2 to open.
Any attempt to force the door 2 open while the channel-member 13 is in its locking position, acts through the pin-bolts 9 upon the front wall 15 of the channel-member 13 and thence upon the front wall 12 of the fixed channel-member 10. Since the walls 15 and 12 are at right angles to the direction of movement of the channel-member 13, such action is ineffective to load the solenoid 17 and its intercoupling rod 16. The security of the lock is thus not dependent ultimately on the load- resistance of the operating mechanism of the striker unit 4, but rather on that of a structural item, namely the fixed channel-member 10, that provides the strike abutment for the bolt assembly 3.
The provision of the mutually-spaced pin-bolts 9 (rather than of a comprehensive, single bolt dimensioned to provide comparable strength) to engage the striker unit 4, has the advantage that the stroke of the solenoid 17 required to release the lock, is reduced. It also has advantage from the security point of view since any attempt to force the lock by firearm attack for example, is less likely to free the bolt assembly 3 from retention within the striker unit 4.
The striker unit 4 includes provision for opening the door 2 from the inside in the event of an emergency or other condition. To this end a pivoted lever 27 (Figure 2) is provided at the rear of the striker unit 4 to engage, when depressed, with the rod 16. Such engagement lifts the rod 16 so as to move the channel-member 13 to be latched in its upper, release position in the same manner as upon energisation of the solenoid 17, until reset by re-closing of the door 2. The lever 27 pivots upon each operational movement of the channel-member 13 during normal electrical actuation of the lock, thereby providing a continual checking indication of the functionality of the lever 27 for emergency use.
A modified form of the lock described above with reference to Figures 1 to 6 is shown in Figures 7 and 8. In this modified form, as shown in Figure 7, a slotted bar 29 provides the strike abutment for the correspondingly-slotted keep channel-member 30. Also, the latching of the keep channel-member 30 is effected by a catch 31 that is located to be engaged by the middle of the three pin-bolts. The middle pin-bolt 32, as shown in Figure 8, is slightly out of alignment with the upper and lower pin-bolts 33 such that it enters the keep channel-member 30 slightly in advance of them. This ensures positive release of the latch, and thereby of the channel-member 30 into its locking position. It also ensures spring-biased retention of the pin- bolts 32 and 33 fast within the channel-member 30, so as to provide a positive release action when the channel-member 30 is returned to its upper, release position.
With the modified form of striker unit shown in Figure 7, the channel-member 30 is urged towards its locked position by a spring 34 that acts on an emergency-release lever 35. The lever 35 as acted upon by the spring 34, bears down at its inner end 36 on a pin 37 that projects from a rod 38 which intercouples the channel-member 30 with the operating solenoid 39. Depression of the lever 35 against the action of the spring 34 for emergency release of the lock brings the inner end 36 of the lever 35 into engagement with the solenoid core 40 to effect the lifting required of the channel-member 30 for latching it in its release position.
The keep member in each of the two forms of lock described above is of channel section, but this is not an essential of the present invention. A form of lock utilizing a cylindrical keep member is illustrated in Figure 9 and will now be described.
Referring to Figure 9, the cylindrical keep member 41 is coupled with the solenoid (not shown) by a rod 42 that provides for axial displacement of the member 41 from an upper, release position, in which three arcuate guide slots 43 cut in the cylindrical surface of the member 41 are aligned (through slots in a fixed casing not shown) with the three pin-bolts 44 of the locking mechanism 45, to a lower, locking position. The member 41 is mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis, and the extended pin-bolts 44 enter the slots 43 laterally upon closing movement of the door so that they urge the member 41 to rotate through ninety degrees during completion of the closing movement. The pin-bolts 44 are by this rotation entered into axially-directed slots 46 in the cylindrical surface of the member 41, thereby allowing the member 41 to be displaced downwardly into its locking position in which the pin-bolts 44 are trapped within the member 41 to lock the door. This downward displacement takes place under the action of resilient bias that is provided by a mechanism (not shown) that responds to the ninety-degree rotation of the member 41. Energisation of the solenoid lifts the member 41 to its release position against the action of this bias, returning the pin-bolts 44 to the arcuate slots 43. Movement to open the door (which may be urged by the member 41 under the action of a spring that is wound up during rotation of the member 41 upon closing of the door) rotates the member 41 back to free the pin-bolts 44 from the slots 43.

Claims

1. An electrically-operable lock for controlling access through a doorway, comprising: a lock assembly (1;45) for mounting to a door (2) and a keep assembly (4) operatively associated therewith for mounting at a location (5) adjacent to the door (2); the lock assembly (1;45) including bolt means (9;32,33;44) adapted to extend from the door (2) into said keep assembly (4); the keep assembly (4) including a keep member (13;30;41) displaceable transversely of the path along which the bolt means (9;32,33;44) move when the door (2) opens, between a first position in which the keep member (13;30;41) blocks said path to restrain the bolt means (9;32,33;44) from such movement and a second position in which the keep member (13;30;41) frees the bolt means (9;32;33;44) from such restraint; and an electrically-energizable device (17;39) coupled to said keep member (13;30;41) for displacing the same from its first to its second position; characterised in that said bolt means comprises a plurality of discrete bolt members (9;32,33;44) spaced apart in a direction transverse to the paths along which those bolt members (9;32,33;44) move when the door (2) opens and that the keep member (13:30:41) has a wall (15;41) which serves to block the paths along which the bolt members (9;32,33;44) move when the door (2) opens when the keep member (13;30;41) is in its said first position, said wall (15;41) having apertures (14;43) corresponding to the bolt members (9;32,33;44) to enable the bolt members (9;32,33;44) to pass out from the keep member (13;30;41) when the latter is in its said second position.

2. A lock according to Claim 1 characterised by a manually-operable non-electric device (27;35) accessible from one side only of the doorway and coupled to said keep member (13;30) for displacing the same from its first to its second position notwithstanding non-energization of said electrically-energizable device (17;39).

3. A lock according to Claim 2 characterised in that said manually-operable device (27;35) is coupled to said keep member (13;30) such as to be cycled between its inoperative and operative conditions upon each energization of said electrically-energizable device (17;39).

4. A lock according to any preceding claim characterised in that the keep member (13;30) is located behind a fixed strike member (10;29) that provides an abutment for the keep member (13;30) in blocking said paths, and that the strike member (10;29) is apertured correspondingly to the keep member (13;30) such that apertures of the keep and strike members (13,10;30,29) are out of register with one another when the keep member (13;30) is in its said first position and in register with one another when the keep member (13;30) is in its said second position.

5. A lock according to Claim 4 characterised in that the strike member is a channel member (10) within which the keep member (13) slides during displacement between its said first and second positions.

6. A lock according to any preceding claim characterised in that the keep member is a longitudinally-sliding channel member (13;30).

7. A lock according to any one of Claims 1 to 6 characterised in that a latch (19;31) for retaining the keep member (13;30) in its said second position is provided, and that the latch (19;31) is released to enable the keep member (13;30) to move to its said first position in response to entry of a said bolt member (9;32) behind said wall (15).

8. A lock according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 characterised in that the keep member (41) is also mounted for angular displacement about an axis parallel to the line of said displacement.

9. A lock according to Claim 8 characterised in that the keep member is a cylindrical member (41) that is slotted circumferentially (43) to receive the bolt members (44) as the door (2) is closed, and that the cylindrical member (41) in receiving the bolt members (44) is angularly displaced about said axis for engaging the bolt members (44) with further axially-directed slotting (46) of the keep member (41), so that longitudinal displacement of the keep member (41) into its said first position captures the bolt members (44) within the axially-directed slotting (46).

10. A lock according to any one of the preceding claims characterised in that the bolt members (9;32,33;44) are part of a key-operable lock mechanism (1;45) so as to be withdrawable from capture by the keep member (13;30;41) by key operation of the lock mechanism (1 ;45).