EP0863292A1 - Locking device for areas with controlled access - Google Patents

Abstract

A security lock has two bolts (11, 12), one of the bolts (12) is operated by a key inserted in a keyhole (7) while the other bolt (11) is spring-loaded and is released by pressure applied to a flexible strip (15) by sliding part (13) of the required safety equipment along a hollow guide rail (8). The flexible strip (15) has a projection (16) located opposite the springloaded bolt, pressing the bolt end through its aperture (9) in the lock plate. In variants of the design the safety equipment component can be used to actuate a rod and pusher or a rack and pinion mechanism to release the bolt.

Description

The present invention relates to a device to block access to danger zones or a risk for unauthorized or incompetent people.

Certain areas of an industrial facility for example are only allowed access to a certain staff category. Indeed, these areas have general danger or require personnel who can move or stay there a skill or an authorization particular. It is therefore necessary to be able to prohibit access to this area for any unauthorized person. In the case areas where staff traffic or stay is dangerous, the authorization generally consists on the one hand to have a means of unlocking a conviction of access to this area and secondly to own a personal protective equipment protecting the user the dangers to which its presence in the area exposes it (harmful atmosphere, risk of falling ...). In case the this area is a dangerous traffic area, it is fitted with an anti-fall safety installation which has a fixed device running along a route to be taken by the persons authorized under form of a rail or cable. Protective equipment individual then consists of a harness worn by the user and likely to be connected to the rail or cable Anti fall. In the case of scales for example, the condemnation of access is placed at the foot of the ladder and covers the birth of the fixed security installation.

The present invention aims to allow access to a dangerous or restricted traffic area to persons who not only are authorized, by example by holding an obstacle unlock key opposing free access to the area, but also are equipped with personal protective equipment which allows to place them in safety when they circulate or are staying in this area.

Access to this area can be direct or indirect. Indeed, the invention relates to a device which allows the release of either a device which, in the manner of a door, condemns direct access to the area, either of accessory device through which you can access the area in question, this accessory device comprising means complementary to those of individual equipment, only accessible to authorized personnel. Typically a such an accessory device may consist of a ladder section equipped with a fall prevention system, thanks to which one can reach a site above the level of the ground, the site having means for the establishment of this section of scale. This section of scale, when is not used, is immobilized by an organ which imprison him (a bar or a panel or the door of a cabinet ...) and which belongs to the device of the invention.

To this end, the invention therefore relates to a locking device for controlled access areas reserved for users with equipment only personal protection, including a retractable obstacle between a locked access prohibition state and a unlocked access release state, in which the obstacle comprises at least one locking means associated with at least two separate control elements, one of them with a key. This locking means includes a bolt, retractable against the effect of a elastic organ of its recall in an active position and a keeper facing the bolt when the obstacle is in its access lockout position while the other control element is formed by a bolt lifter waste including means for its cooperation with personal protective equipment. In an application of the invention to traffic areas equipped with a anti-fall device comprising a fixed installation in the circulation area and a portable organ separable from this fixed installation intended to equip a user, personal protective equipment consists of this portable member of the fall prevention device.

In the invention, it is necessary to hear the key term as any means to act on a lock (key proper, magnetic card, coded information access, ...). We understand that access to the traffic area regulated is only issued for a user who meets all regulatory requirements and, on the other hand, security which it must satisfy to circulate in this particular area. Of course, To be safe in this area, the user must voluntarily connect the portable device to the installation fixed security zone, the invention being only one guarantee that the user is in possession of all instruments necessary for it to circulate safely in this area. This provision allows notably to release the responsibility of the authority on which the user depends in the event of an accident in the danger zone.

Banally, the obstacle to retract is in general consisting of a pivoting or sliding panel with the way of a door. The bolt can be carried by the door and pusher located on the side of the fixed strike intended to receive it. Conversely, the bolt can be placed on a fixed frame facing the door, the door then comprising a keeper and the aforementioned pusher.

One of the advantages of the device according to the invention lies in the simplicity of its structure. Indeed it can be reduced to a simple lock in which the bolt is pushed outwards by a spring while that the keeper formed in a fixed housing includes beyond an opening of the housing a volume for receiving the bolt likely to be occupied or released by the pusher. When the pusher is in a position releasing this volume (for example under the effect of a spring which keeps outside this volume) the bolt locks the obstacle. If we act on the pusher by a means of maneuver which allows it to be coupled to the device protection, this against the effect of the spring, we can make him occupy the reception volume of the bolt for either prohibit locking, either more frequently, expel the bolt from this volume, the pusher having a surface of contact with the bolt profiled for this purpose.

The operating means constitutes the interface between the pusher and the individual protection device. It is the organ which makes it possible to discriminate the means of protection suitable for passive safety installation which is present in the area to which access is controlled, or adapted the accessory (ladder section) that must be released to be able to transport it to the place of its use.

There are several "couplers" on the market different from a harness to a cable. These couplers are therefore likely to be interchangeably associated with cable present as a passive safety installation, all the more that the diameter of this cable is roughly the same, what whatever the devices. However, the cables and couplers are properly matched. As well in an alternative embodiment of the invention, provision has been made a polarizing device, for example in the form of a housing which must cross to be able to associate the coupler (or carriage) of the harness by means of the push button operation -which to simulate a cable can be just a simple rod cylindrical - this housing defining a passage in correspondence form with the carriage or coupler. It is enough therefore to adapt the device of the invention to each material, from standard manufacturing, to provide only one different part: the discrimination box.

In other cases, especially when the installation security implements a security rail, the keeper reception of the bolt is carried out in a box, for example, by a section of rail adapted to each carriage, the carriage itself being able to constitute the pusher bolt ejection.

Note also that in some cases the obstacle must return to its locked state after that a user has crossed it. The user must then be able to however, unlock the obstacle to exit the area. The structure of the invention in the form of a waste and a bolt recalled by spring allows to set up a control of the retraction of this bolt by means of all transmission device extending from this bolt up to a control handle or pedal located in the operator area.

Finally, advantageously, the element of key command includes a targette ordered by this key and which constitutes in a locked state of the bolt an obstacle to the actuation of the pusher by the equipment individual protection. We thus create a hierarchy in the conditions to be fulfilled in order to access the controlled area. Indeed, you must be in possession of a empowerment which has the effect of being able to manipulate the bolt to then unlock the obstacle thanks to the possession of the portable device by the user of security. The targette can also be a second means of direct obstacle locking (panel) in addition to its function of preventing the operation of the pusher.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description given below of several examples of implementation.

• le figure 1 est un schéma d'échelle de sécurité avec panneau de condamnation d'accès dont le verrouillage est conforme à l'invention,
• la figure 2 illustre un premier mode de réalisation des moyens de verrouillage de l'invention lorsque le dispositif anti-chute est un dispositif à rail de sécurité,
• la figure 3 est un schéma illustrant un mode de réalisation plus général des moyens de l'invention indépendants notamment du type de dispositif anti-chute (à câble ou à rail) mis en oeuvre dans la zone à circulation réglementée,
• la figure 4 est un schéma illustrant un détail de réalisation des moyens de l'invention lorsque le dispositif anti-chute est un dispositif à câble,
• les figures 5 et 6 illustrent deux variantes de réalisation des moyens de l'invention adaptés à deux dispositifs anti-chute existants sur le marché,
• la figure 7 illustre une troisième variante de réalisation des moyens de l'invention,
• la figure 8 est un schéma illustrant une autre application des moyens de contrôle d'accès de l'invention,
• la figure 9 illustre une réalisation de l'invention dans laquelle l'élément de commande à clé du moyen de verrouillage ne constitue pas lui-même un second moyen de verrouillage.

Reference will be made to the appended drawings, among which:

• FIG. 1 is a diagram of a security ladder with an access blocking panel, the locking of which is in accordance with the invention,
• FIG. 2 illustrates a first embodiment of the locking means of the invention when the fall prevention device is a safety rail device,
• FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a more general embodiment of the means of the invention independent, in particular of the type of fall prevention device (cable or rail) used in the restricted traffic area,
• FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a detail of embodiment of the means of the invention when the fall prevention device is a cable device,
• FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate two alternative embodiments of the means of the invention adapted to two existing fall prevention devices on the market,
• FIG. 7 illustrates a third alternative embodiment of the means of the invention,
• FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another application of the access control means of the invention,
• FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the key control element of the locking means does not itself constitute a second locking means.

In Figure 1 there is shown a scale 1 comprising a fixed security installation 2 which can be a rail or cable placed in the middle of the bars the ladder or along one of its uprights. A panel 3 forming an obstacle to free access to scale 1, is articulated by one of its sides around hinges 4 carried by a fixed structure, for example integral with the ladder and comprises locking means 5 cooperating with corresponding members 6 themselves fixed by relation to scale. In accordance with the invention, these means locking devices 5, 6 are controlled by two elements of one, for example a key intended for cooperate with a lock 7 and the other carried by the member portable fall protection device intended to cooperate with safety installation 2 which runs along the ladder, this portable member generally being a known carriage in itself in many possible realizations, connected to a harness worn by the user by means of a coupler and whose function is to hang on the installation 2 when the cable is stretched in a certain orientation corresponding for example to the fall of the user.

In Figure 2, we find panel 3 of condemnation of access to the ladder with its lock 7 while that opposite this panel, the locking means 6 and unlocking of this panel are constituted by a rail-like structure 8 having two openings 9 and 10 for the penetration of a bolt 11 and a bolt 12 in the interior volume of rail 8. This rail can accommodate preferably from below a carriage 13 belonging to the portable device of the fall prevention device. In this figure, panel 3 is shown locked and the user who wants access to ladder 2 starts by operating lock 7 to move the targette 12 to the left. It introduces then the carriage 13 in the rail 8 and slides it inside this rail. On passing to the right of the bolt 11, this sliding tends to push the bolt outside of its keep against the effect of a return spring 14 of the bolt in the extended position. So that the erasure of the bolt the passage of the carriage 13 is possible, the rail comprises an elastic blade 15 which forms a pusher in line with the bolt 11, this elastic blade crushing as the carriage passes 13 to push back the bolt 11. Right next to the bolt 11 moreover this elastic blade has a boss 16 which, at passage of the carriage 13, penetrates inside the opening 9 in order to ensure the complete extraction of the bolt 11 out of its waste against the effect of the spring 14. Cooperation between carriage and pusher is here produced by sliding, the discrimination of the carriage being effected by the profile of the rail itself. Note that the targette 12 constitutes an obstacle preventing entry of the truck and its action on the pusher.

The embodiment shown in Figure 3 is a variant of the previous one in which the means 6 are formed by a housing 17 provided opposite the bolt 11 and the bolt 12 of the openings 9 and 10, this housing comprising an intermediate piece 18 in the form of a pusher mobile opposite the bolt 11 and the bolt 12 against springs 19 which tend to separate it from these parts. Of tilting pawls 20 prevent movement of the pusher 18 in the direction of elements 11 and 12. An opening input 21 of the housing 17 is adapted to the external shape of the carriage 13 considered, so that when we introduce the carriage 13 in this input 21, the pawls 20 which release the pusher 18 and the pursuit of the introduction of this carriage inside the housing 17 allows actuation of pusher 18 in the direction of the bolt 11 and the bolt 12. If the bolt 12 is retracted by action on the lock 7, this push allows to retract the bolt 11 and therefore release the panel 3. If in however the bolt 12 is not retracted, the pusher 18 is stopped in its course and no unlocking is possible. When the carriage is removed, the pusher 18 is separated from the bolt 11 by the springs 19 and is replaced in a position where it can be snapped on by pawls 20 when the carriage is completely removed from the case 17. The shape of the opening 21 of this case associated with the arrangement of the lever pawls 20 allows to dedicate the box 17 to each of the carts which are available on the market. Advantageously, the opening 21 may be delimited by walls which form a second cart discrimination unit, the rest of the elements shown being of standard manufacture for several different carts.

In the case of FIG. 4, the application has been illustrated. of the invention to a carriage intended to slide along a security cable. This carriage 22 known in itself has a kind of ring 23 which can slide on the safety cable of a fall arrest system and a lever 24 attached to the user's harness forms a brake which tightens the cable inside the ring 23 when the user falls. Panel locking elements 6 of access prohibition of a ladder are here formed by a case 25 having the openings 9 and 10 and a slot access 26 for the carriage 22. Inside this housing a rod 27 is mounted to slide downwards while that it is recalled upwards by a spring 28. At its upper end this rod has a pusher 29 having a cam surface 30 capable of being moved in front of the opening 9. At its lower part 31, the part 27 is cylindrical in shape with an equivalent diameter to that of the cable for the fall prevention system 2, if although when the carriage 22 is inserted into the slot and push it up, part 31 fits in the ring 23 and by acting on the brake lever 24 on can pull down the whole piece 27 against of the effect of the spring 28 so as to move the pusher 29 in front of opening 9 and thus push back the bolt 11 which is not shown in this figure.

The carriage 40 shown in Figure 5 is a carriage, known in itself, in which the braking is ensured by pinching and friction on a flat profile (constituting the fixed part of the security installation) on which the carriage moves normally by sliding. The locking members 6 of the invention are then formed by a housing 25 which has, as in the case of the previous figure a sliding pusher against a spring in order to be moved in front of the keeper which receives the bolt 11, the lower part 32 of this pusher comprising a pallet 33 which when engaged the carriage 40 in the lower part of the housing, comes be housed between the movable jaws that the carriage 40 to pinch the profile in the event of a fall the user. Pulling down on the carriage pinches the pallet 33 and allows as in the case of the figure previous to actuate the movable pusher down to clear the bolt 11.

In Figure 6 this is an illustration of adapting the means of the invention to another carriage 50 present on the market. This carriage 50 has a sort ratchet 51 retracted or projecting depending on the direction of the force applied to the ring 52, this carriage cooperating with a rail which has in its bottom a series of openings forming a catch for the pawl 51 when it is got out. The locking means 6 of the invention are so here constituted like those described next to the Figure 4 except that the lower part 34 of the mobile pusher is provided with a shoulder 35 and that the housing 25 is provided with a slot for access to the carriage 36 the along which it can slide. When the carriage is inserted into the access slot 36, and which is pulled ring down, pawl 51 protrudes from back of carriage and comes to rest on the shoulder 35. This contact therefore makes it possible to actuate the push-button intended for clear the bolt 11.

In these figures 4 to 6, it is possible to provide a housing 25 in two associable parts: one upper part (base unit) common to all devices which comprises the pusher and the openings 9 and 10 strikes corresponding to the bolt 11 and the bolt 12 and a lower part (secondary box) which has the shapes and cutouts dedicated to each cart. The part lower of the push rod would protrude from this first case and would then be, at the level of the secondary case, likely to be equipped with the means necessary for its coupling with the trolley (pallet 33 or shoulder 35 reported to the push rod).

In Figure 7, we find as in the figures previous, the bolt 12 actuated by the lock and the bolt 11 urged towards its active position by an organ elastic return, these two bolts and bolts being worn through the hinged door as in figure 1. The means control for unlocking the door are contained here in a housing 70 secured to a fixed part close to the door and which has strikes 71 and 72 to accommodate the bolt 11 and the bolt 12. Next to this targette 12, the housing 70 contains a bar 73 permanently biased by a spring 74 towards keeper 72. It thus takes support from one of its ends on the bolt 12 while its other end is likely to enter a notch 75 formed in a linkage 76 sliding in the housing perpendicular to the bar 73. This linkage 76 has a cooperating rack-shaped portion with a toothed wheel 77 mounted to rotate about an axis fixed to the housing 70. Opposite this rack, the linkage 76 has one end external to the housing 70 which can be coupled to a mechanism like those 27, 32 or 34 of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 adapted to cooperate with a special cart. A toothed wheel 78 set in rotation with the wheel 77 cooperates with a sliding rack 79 in the housing 70 and located opposite the bolt 11 for ability to lean on it when housed in strike 71.

In the state of the mechanism shown in the figure, the bolt 12 is engaged in the strike 72. It pushes back the bar 73 against the effect of the spring 74 in the notch 75 of the linkage 76. It is therefore immobilized in a position which requires the rack 79 a position in removal of the striker 71 allowing the bolt 11 to penetrate therein. In acting on the bolt 12 by the key lock 7, the operator releases the linkage 76. The operator can then push up this linkage thanks to its cart. The gear wheels rotate so as to bring the rack 79 of the keeper 71 and expel the bolt 11. The door is then fully unlocked and can be rotated to free access to the ladder. Note that depending on whether you place the linkage 76 on the left or on the right wheel 77, you will have to pull or push it to obtain the release of the bolt 11. This achievement symmetrical means for controlling the unlocking of the door allows unique construction for different types trolleys used in different fall protection devices.

Note that the fact of implementing a bolt 11 simple pushed into the active position by a spring 14, has the advantage of being able to attach a control member to it of its retraction (for example a cable) which would have a pedal or an operating handle located in the area controlled access beyond the obstacle to allow a user present in the area while the obstacle is locked on the ladder to unlock it for the cross in the opposite direction.

Each of the devices described above can find an application in a condemnation device no longer direct access to a traffic area such that a ladder or a walkway but access to a device which requires, for its use, to be equipped with portable personal protection device.

Figure 8 illustrates such an apparatus. It's about a removable section of ladder 80 which is placed on standby in a storage place 81 (for example along a low wall).

This scale has, for example, the function of allow access to the top of a telecommunication pylon 82 medium height (2 to 3 meters) near which there is storage place 81. Waiting, the ladder 80 is immobilized by a panel 83 (or a bar or all equivalent means) which is folded down on the ladder and locked by two locking means similar to those described in the foregoing. This 80 scale has means 80a for its attachment to the pylon 82 and incorporates a rail or security cable 80b which allows a user to harness the portable harness with which it is fitted.

In the examples described above, the bolt 12 cooperates with a complete keeper 10, 72 and forms a second means for locking the panel 3 or 83. In certain cases of use, it may be necessary for the user, after actuating the targette 12 with its key and unlocked the panel by pushing back the bolt 11 by means of its harness carriage, or forced to remove the key to either keep it on it or put it in a safe place. In this case, it is often provided that the key can only be removed if the bolt 12 is in the active position. If the keeper 10, 72 is complete, the bolt 12 prevents the panel 3 from closing completely and being locked again by the spring bolt 11, which is not acceptable. In this case, as illustrated by FIG. 9, the reception keeper of the bolt 12 is devoid of the abutment wall of the bolt 12 which would oppose, as in the previous cases, the movement of this bolt with the panel 3 (for example around the hinges 4 in Figure 1). The bolt then only constitutes an obstacle to the operation of the pusher by the user's harness without forming a second means for direct locking of the panel 3 in the access locking position. In other words, FIG. 9 illustrates a clearance 17 a from the front wall 17 b of the housing 17 of FIG. 3.

Finally, the invention finds other applications in the area of personal safety. We can thus name areas where the atmosphere is harmful, in which case personal protective equipment can be made up by a gas mask, part of which is specially adapted to constitute one of the control elements of a double lock. We will also mention flooded areas or flooded which can only be accessed by people wearing floats or life jackets acting as the actuating organ of a unlocking command.

Claims (7)

Locking device for access areas controlled only for users with equipment personal protection, including a retractable obstacle (3, 83) between a locked prohibition state access and an unlocked access release state, in which the obstacle comprises at least one means of lock associated with at least two distinct elements of control, one of them having a key, characterized in that this locking means comprises a bolt (11), retractable against the effect of an elastic member (14) of its recall in an active position and a keeper (9) facing the bolt when the obstacle (3) is in its access lockout position while the other control element is formed by a pusher (16) (11) outside the keeper (9) comprising means (15) for its cooperation with the individual equipment (13) of protection. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the keeper (9) is formed in a housing (8, 25) which has an opening (9) in its facing wall of the bolt (11), a volume for receiving the bolt and, in this volume, means for guiding the pusher. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the pusher (29) and is mounted to slide in the above volume in a direction perpendicular to the bolt engagement direction (11) is subject to the effect a spring (28) tending to place it outside the volume, means for its cooperation with equipment individual protection being formed by a rod (31). Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the rod has an end opposite to the pusher, outside the aforementioned case, the device comprising an additional discrimination box the personal protective equipment surrounding this end and defining a housing in correspondence of form with the individual protective element. Device according to one of the claims previous, characterized in that the control element aforementioned key includes a bolt (12) which can be operated by this key between a lock state and a state of unlocking, this bolt (12) constituting an obstacle to the operation of the pusher (16, 29) by the equipment individual protection when it is in its state of locking. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the pusher has a rack meshing with at least one toothed wheel (78, 77), and in this that a linkage (76) capable of being actuated by the individual protection element (13, 22, 40, 50) meshes with the toothed wheel (78, 77), this linkage being suitable for, depending on its position relative to the wheel toothed (78, 77), be maneuvered in traction or in pushing. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the bolt (12), in its locked state, constitutes a second means of direct locking of the obstacle (3, 83).

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