EP0269931A1 - Time Lock - Google Patents

Abstract

A time lock, for example for high security locks of safes or strong rooms, comprises at least one spring-driven timing device coupled to a first regulator (35) via a wheel-train (34). One of the wheels (39) of this wheel-train is equipped with a differential mechanism which forms switching means enabling the wheel-train to be coupled to a second regulator (50) comprising a flanged disk (55). Hence, by controlling the switching means, the speed of running of the timing device may be set so as to be able to abruptly free the residual energy of the spring (22a) when the fixed time setting has elapsed. This provides a better determination of the precise instant when the lock is unlocked.

Description

The present invention relates to timed locks and more particularly to locks, the operation of which may be hampered during predetermined time intervals, the duration of which may be fixed by one or more timers. Such locks are often designated by the English term "time lock" and are used especially in protected enclosures such as safes and vaults of bank agencies to prevent any operation of the door, for example, during bank closing hours.

In this application, the lock control box containing in particular the timer and the locking members of the lock mechanism is preferably mounted on the inside of the door. It is therefore desirable, for safety reasons, to avoid any electrical connection between the door and the door frame which surrounds it and that is why timed locks of this type most often include one or more mechanical timers capable of operate without an electrical source, i.e. using only spring energy.

Such a mechanical timer described for example in patent FR-A-2,435,584 (US-A-4,269,050) generally includes a spring clock mechanism and regulator whose spring is wound up more or less to fix the variable duration of countdown of the timer.

The members coupled to the spring to allow reassembly are generally provided with a dial and an index which make the chosen duration visible to the user. Once the adjustment operation is complete, the spring drives the clock mechanism until the chosen duration has elapsed.

But it can happen that the user is mistaken and exceeds the duration he would like to choose by moving the winding members beyond the position corresponding to the desired duration. It will then be impossible for him to come back unless the organs of reassembly or the gear train coupled between the spring and the regulator does not include a friction coupling. Such coupling, in addition to cluttering the timer mechanism, does not make it easy to make a precise correction towards the rear of the adjustment and the user is then forced to grope and go about it repeatedly to obtain the corresponding position. at the desired duration.

Furthermore, the locking members of the lock linkage can only be released by applying a certain amount of energy which must come from the mechanical timer itself and more precisely from its spring. However, the unlocking necessarily occurring at the end of the timer stroke, the spring has already lost a very significant part of its energy and will therefore find it difficult to overcome all the forces which are necessary for the unlocking of the lock. If the spring can be calculated without problems so that its amount of residual energy can still be sufficient, it is not the same for the precise instant of release which, on the contrary, is uncertain, and all the more more than the timers preferably have a maximum setting time of 144 hours. Thus, the accuracy of the release instant is low and can easily vary from 30 to 60 minutes, if the maximum period of the timer is chosen.

The object of the invention is to provide a timed lock devoid of the drawbacks just mentioned.

It therefore relates to a timed lock comprising a blocking member capable of hampering the operation of the lock during a time delay set by at least one mechanical timer, this timer comprising a spring power source, coupled by the intermediate of a gear train to a regulator, characterized in that the timer comprises a second regulator and switching means capable of inserting into said train selectively either the first or the second regulator to modify the running speed of said timer.

Thanks to these characteristics of the invention, it firstly becomes possible to accelerate the operation of the timer at the end of its stroke and to release the remaining energy of the spring in a very short period of time, energy which may thus be used to easily control the locking members of the mechanism in the sense of release of the lock. In this case, the switching means can be actuated by a control member integral with one of the moving parts of the timer mechanism, and operating the switching on the second regulator when its position corresponds to the end of the time interval. fixed.

However, the invention also makes it possible to modify the running of the timer manually either fleetingly or permanently during a whole time interval in order to be able to quickly correct a setting which has been poorly made or to be able to choose from another range of intervals. time delay, by a change of scale. In the latter case, the timer may be provided with a display disc carrying two scales, one for a range of long intervals and the other for a range of short intervals. The latter can then be chosen with a precision much better than that of a timer whose only range of intervals has a significant maximum value, of 144 h for example.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the description which follows of an embodiment of the invention.

• - la figure 1 est une vue de face d'une serrure temporisée suivant l'invention, représentée dans sa configuration libérée;
• - la figure 2 est une vue en coupe suivant la ligne II-II de la figure 1;
• - la figure 3 est une vue de face de la serrure de la figure 1 dans sa configuration bloquée;
• - la figure 4 est une vue en coupe suivant la ligne IV-IV de la figure 3;
• - la figure 5 est une vue en élévation latérale de l'une des minuteries de la serrure temporisée;
• - la figure 6 est une vue en coupe de cette minuterie suivant la ligne VI-VI de la figure 5;
• - la figure 7 est une vue partielle de face de la minuterie, selon la ligne VII-VII de la figure 5;
• - la figure 8 est une vue en coupe, à grande échelle, d'une partie de la minuterie des figures 5 à 7;
• - la figure 9 montre à plus petite échelle que la figure 8, une vue extérieure d'un différentiel utilisé dans la minuterie;
• - la figure 10 est une vue en coupe suivant la ligne X-X de la figure 8;
• - la figure 11 est une vue de dessous d'une variante avanta­geuse de la minuterie;
• - la figure 12 montre avec arrachement partiel une vue de face de la minuterie suivant la figure 11 et
• - la figure 13 est une vue à grande échelle analogue à celle de la figure 8 représentant un détail de la variante des figures 11 et 12.

In the accompanying drawings, given solely by way of example:

• - Figure 1 is a front view of a timed lock according to the invention, shown in its released configuration;
• - Figure 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1;
• - Figure 3 is a front view of the lock of Figure 1 in its locked configuration;
• - Figure 4 is a sectional view along line IV-IV of Figure 3;
• - Figure 5 is a side elevational view of one of the timers of the timed lock;
• - Figure 6 is a sectional view of this timer along the line VI-VI of Figure 5;
• - Figure 7 is a partial front view of the timer, along the line VII-VII of Figure 5;
• - Figure 8 is a sectional view, on a large scale, of a part of the timer of Figures 5 to 7;
• - Figure 9 shows on a smaller scale than Figure 8, an external view of a differential used in the timer;
• - Figure 10 is a sectional view along line XX of Figure 8;
• - Figure 11 is a bottom view of an advantageous variant of the timer;
• - Figure 12 shows with partial cutaway a front view of the timer according to Figure 11 and
• FIG. 13 is a large-scale view similar to that of FIG. 8 showing a detail of the variant of FIGS. 11 and 12.

According to the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 10, the timed lock according to the invention comprises a housing 1 closed by a transparent cover 2 which forms the front wall of the assembly. The housing is intended to be mounted on a vault door, safe or the like, provided with a conventional lock mechanism, preferably with a combination, of which only FIG. 1 to 4 shows 'stop 3 forming part of the linkage of the lock. This bar 3 can slide in a passage 4 formed in the housing 1 provided that this passage is not obstructed for the purpose of blocking by a slide 5 preventing actuation of the lock in the direction of opening.

In other words, a slide 5 guided in the housing 1 (that is to say here vertically) can obstruct the movement of the stop bar 3 by placing itself across the passage 4, thus preventing the opening of the lock (this opening corresponds in FIGS. 1 and 3 to a movement to the left of the bar 3). The actual mechanism of the lock can be produced in any known manner so that a detailed description is superfluous here.

The slide 5 which is mounted approximately in the middle of the housing 1 has a guide hole 6 in which are arranged a spring 7 and a pusher 8 on which a pallet 9 can act articulated mounted in the housing 1 around an axis 10 .

The pallet 9 is in the form of an actuating lever having a control end 9a which opens into a window 11 formed in the cover 2 so as to be accessible from the front of the unit. It also includes a locking spout 12 which cooperates with a transmission plate 13 slidably mounted in the housing 1 behind the cover 2.

The transmission plate 13 has a notch 14 traversed by the control end 9a of the actuating lever 9. In one of the corners of this notch is provided a stop nose 15 which cooperates with the locking spout 12 for fixing the position of the transmission plate 13 when the lock is in its configuration for preventing opening.

The transmission plate 13 is continuously urged to occupy this position thanks to the presence of a spring 16 which is engaged in a cutout 17 of the plate and which bears on the inner wall of the housing 1.

Finally, the transmission plate 13 also comprises several actuating fingers 18a, 18b and 18c by means of which it can be pushed back against the action of the spring 16 to cause the lock to pass from its configuration for prohibiting opening (Figures 3 and 4) to its opening authorization position (Figures 1 and 2).

The timed lock also includes several timers 19a, 19b and 19c, all identical cooperating respectively with the actuating fingers 18a, 18b and 18c and mounted fixed in the housing 1.

The presence of several timers (here three) is redundant for security reasons in order to reduce the risk that a timer failure could prevent any opening of the protected enclosure. If we can be satisfied with a lower safety factor, we can obviously plan only two timers or even only one. Note that the construction of the three timers is exactly the same so that only one will be described here.

The timer has two mounting flanges 20a, 20b (Figures 5 and 6) secured to each other by means of pillars 21. On the outside of the rear flange 20a (on the left in Figure 5) is mounted a barrel 22 containing a spring 22a. The shaft 23 of this barrel crosses the flanges 20a and 20b and ends on the front side of the timer by a reinforcement square 23a intended to receive a winding key 24 (Figures 2 and 4). A pinion 25 is wedged on the shaft 23.

The front flange 20b carries on its front face a tenon 26 on which is rotatably an indicator wheel 27 carrying a graduation 28 (Figures 1 and 3). The latter cooperates with an index 29 placed behind a magnifying glass 30. The graduation 28 is here calibrated in hours and extends over a range of 144 h for example.

The wheel 27 is held on the lug 26 using a ring 31 and a screw 32 (FIG. 5) and has a toothing which meshes with the pinion 25.

The shaft 23 of the barrel 22 carries a wheel 33 for driving a gear train 34 which leads to an exhaust regulator 35 of the conventional type.

The train 34 comprises four mobiles 36 to 39. The first mobile 36 carries a wheel 40 cooperating with a winding pawl 41.

The second, third and fourth mobiles 37 to 39 are multiplying members which transmit energy to the regulator 35. The mobiles 37 and 38 each have a wheel and a pinion while the mobile 39 is of a particular construction which is will now examine with reference to Figures 7 to 9.

The mobile 39 has an axis 42 pivoting in the flanges 20a and 20b and carrying a pinion 43 which meshes with the wheel 38a of the mobile 38. The axis 42 is integral in rotation with the cage 44 of a differential mechanism 45. This cage has the general shape of a stirrup with two lateral branches 44a, 44b and an intermediate branch 44c which ends in a development 44d surrounding the axis 42 and receiving a locking screw 46 which makes it integral.

Each lateral branch 44a, 44b is pierced with a hole 44e coaxial with the axis 42 to allow passage to a barrel 47, 48 of a secondary mobile 49, on the one hand, and of a regulating member 50, of somewhere else. These guns 47 and 48 are mounted with free rotation on the axis 42.

The secondary mobile 49 comprises a wheel 51 which is engaged with the exhaust mobile 52 of the regulator 35, as well as a wheel 53 placed at the opposite end of the barrel 47 and constituting a planetary wheel of the differential mechanism 45. This wheel planetary meshes with a satellite pinion 54 of this mechanism mounted for rotation in the cage 44.

The regulating member 50 comprises a winged disc 55 cooperating with a planetary wheel 56. These two elements are integral with the barrel 48. The planetary wheel 56 meshes with a satellite pinion 57 rotatably mounted in the cage 44.

Referring to Figure 7, we see that the indicator wheel 27 carries a control pin 58 which is intended to cooperate with a lever 59 pivotally mounted at 60 on the front flange 20b behind the disc 27 and in a plane parallel to this flaccid. The lever 59 has a bent shape and has two branches, one of which defines a lateral cam surface 59a cooperating with the control lug 58 as well as a bearing surface 59b for a return spring 61 which is also in support against the flange 20b.

The other branch of the lever carries at its free end a blocking finger 62 which passes through an opening 63 provided in the flange 20b and which is intended to act on the wing disc 55 to, if necessary, block it in rotation .

A stop lug 64 is further provided on the outer face of the flange 20b in order to stop the timer when it reaches the end of the race, the stop lug 64 cooperating for this purpose with the control lug 58.

The indicator wheel 27 carries on its front face another control lug 65 which is intended to cooperate with the corresponding actuating finger 18a, 18b or 18c of the transmission plate 13.

The operation of the timed lock which has just been described is as follows.

It is assumed that the lock is in the configuration shown in Figures 1 and 2. The lock can be actuated normally to allow access to the protected enclosure and the closing thereof. When this closing must be prolonged, for example due to the absence of service personnel, the responsible person in charge will actuate the lock so that there is now an opening ban until a timeout interval to display has elapsed, that is to say until the staff return, the next morning for example.

In order to close the door and jam the coding system for the lock, the attendant must then act on the pallet 9 by lowering it, then set the three timers 19a to 19c for the appropriate time interval.

The lowering of the pallet causes a slight lifting of the slide 5, the tensioning of the spring 7 and allows the movement of the transmission plate 13 to the left.

However, the plate 13 can only move to the left when the three timers 19a to 19c have been set and their control lug 65 has moved away from the corresponding finger 18a to 18c.

After this adjustment, the closing of the door is followed by the actuation of the lock, which moves the bar 3 to the right. The slide 5 is pushed upwards by the spring 7 which places it across the passage 4 and now prohibits any actuation of the lock in the direction of opening.

When adjusting each timer, the rotation of the shaft 23 using the key 24 arms the spring 22a and causes the lever 59 to tilt clockwise as seen in FIG. 7 which places the finger 62 on the path of the fins of the disc 55 (FIG. 8). The movement generated by the energy of the spring 22a then passes through the gear train 34 and the differential 45 towards the escapement wheel 52 of the regulator 35 and the counting of the timer is carried out with a time base corresponding to the frequency of this regulator .

During this counting, the discs 27 of the three timers rotate anti-clockwise and at the end of the fixed interval, the control lug actuates the lever 59 in each timer, thereby releasing the corresponding fin disc 55. This opposing only a very low resistance to the differential mechanism 45 and in any case much lower than that imposed on this mechanism by the regulator 35, the remaining energy of the spring is suddenly released so that the control pin 58 comes into contact with the corresponding control finger 18a to 18c. The kinetic energy acquired by the train has no difficulty in actuating the transmission plate 18 which moves to the right with a frank movement. The instant that this product is accurately determined as it corresponds to the release of the wing disc 55. Of course, if three timers are provided as is the case in the example cited, the time of release of the lock corresponds to that determined by the timer in which the disc fins is released first. If the setting is made carefully, the disks of the three timers can be released almost at the same time.

It can therefore be seen that the mobile 39 in which the differential 45 is incorporated forms switching means which modify the running speed of the timer by "plugging in" the train thereof sometimes on the regulator 35, sometimes on the regulator 50.

In the embodiment described above, the control of these switching means is automatic and governed by one of the movable members (in this case the disc 27) of the timer.

FIGS. 11 and 12 relate to a variant of the invention in which the increase in walking speed can also be carried out by the user himself and more precisely using the key 24.

In this variant, the lever 59 has an extension 66 whose surface 67 opposite the flange 20b is cut obliquely so as to form a cam surface. Furthermore, a button 68 is driven into the flange 20b and it maintains an elastic strip 69 whose free end carries a wedge 70 intended to come to bear against the surface 67 to push the lever 59 by rotating it in the same sense that the control lug 58 does at the end of the timer stroke. The bending of the elastic strip 69 thus urging the wedge 70 can be obtained by pushing the key 24 axially on the square 23a towards the flange 20b. As soon as the key is released, the strip returns to its initial position and the lever 59 again blocks the winged disc 55. It is clear that in this way the user can easily accelerate the running of the timer as long as he maintains the key 24 in the pushed position on the square 23a. It is thus extremely simple to set the timer to the desired time interval, since it suffices to bring the disc 27 slightly beyond the position corresponding to this interval and then to make it go back by pushing the key.

The regulator 50 can be produced using a winged disc as described above to offer a certain resistance to its rotation. Of course, one can also provide an inertia disc or a friction disc, for example.

However, according to another embodiment of the invention, the regulator 50 can also be replaced by an exhaust regulator 71 (FIG. 13) cooperating with a wheel 72 wedged on the barrel 48 of the differential 45. Such a regulator can be constructed conventionally like the first regulator 35, however having a different frequency. Thus, depending on the position of finger 62, it is possible to selectively impose two different running speeds on the timer, for example in order to be able to choose a delay interval situated as desired in two different ranges of intervals, one going from 0 to 12 hours and the other from 0 to 144 hours, for example. It is then advantageous to provide on the disc 27 two corresponding scales while it is advisable to provide a device making it possible to keep the finger 62 permanently in one or the other position. This can be easily achieved by providing an erasable locking member (not shown) associated with the elastic strip 69.

Claims (10)

1. Timed lock comprising a blocking member (3) capable of hampering the operation of the lock during a predetermined delay interval fixed by at least one mechanical timer, this timer (19a to 19c) comprising a spring energy source (22, 22a) coupled, via a gear train (34) to a regulator (35), characterized in that the timer (19a to 19c) comprises a second regulator (50; 71) and switching means (45, 59, 62) capable of coupling to said train (34), either the first or the second regulator (35; 50; 71) to modify the running speed of said timer. 2. Lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the switching means (45, 59, 62) are associated with control means (58) acting automatically during the operation of the timer and movable by the gear train (34) of this one. 3. Lock according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the switching means (45, 59, 62) are associated with manual control means (24, 66 to 70) for actuating said means switch (45, 59, 62) at an instant in the timer delay interval, freely chosen by the user. 4. Lock according to any one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that said control means (58) are arranged to operate the switching on the second regulator (50) at the expiration of the timeout interval of the timer. 5. Lock according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the second regulator (71) imposes a running speed on the timer higher than the running speed of the first regulator (35). 6. Lock according to any one of claims 2 to 5 comprising a display disc (27) coupled to the gear train (34) of the timer, characterized in that said automatic control means (58) comprise a finger integral with said disc display (27). 7. Lock according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that said switching means comprise a differential mechanism (45) forming the moving part of the train (34) immediately preceding said regulators (35; 50; 71). 8. Lock according to claim 7, characterized in that said second regulator (50) is of the fin disc type (55). 9. Lock according to claim 7, characterized in that said second regulator (71) is of the exhaust type. 10. Lock according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that said switching means comprise a blocking member (59, 62) movable between two positions in which it releases, respectively blocks the output of said differential coupled to said second regulator (50; 71) as a function of the position of said control means (58).

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