FI79880B - CYLINDERLAOS. - Google Patents

Abstract

Cylinder locks (1A, 1B) for use in the locking of doors (2) on opposite sides of a vehicle, each have a single barrel (15; 30) which carries tumblers (16; 31) that abut internal shoulders (23) of the lock casing (7) to obstruct turning of the barrel (15; 30) in an unlocking sense (different for the two locks) until the tumblers (16; 31) are withdrawn into the barrel (15; 30) by initial turning of an inserted key (5). The barrel (15; 30) in each case is free to turn in the opposite, locking, sense without any obstruction, turning in both senses being opposed resiliently by a coiled spring (24; 40) that embraces a spindle (10) of the barrel (15; 30) externally of the casing (7). The tumblers (16) of one lock (1A) are spaced by a bush (18) forwardly within their barrel (15) as compared with the tumblers (31) of the other lock (1B) so that different sets (A, B) of the cuts (38) of the common key (5) engage the tumblers (16, 31) of the two locks (1A, 1B).

Description

79830

CYLINDER - CYLINDERLÄS

This invention relates to cylinder locks of the type in which one or more baffles fitted to one sleeve of the lock act to prevent rotation of the sleeve in the second unlocked direction only until a key inserted into the lock engages one or more baffles to move them away from forming. such an obstacle by initially turning the key relative to the sleeve in said first direction from its insertion position, the sleeve being prevented from rotating in the opposite locking direction from this position without such displacement of one or more baffles, and wherein the spring device resiliently retains the sleeve in the key insertion position.

A lock of the above type is described in French Patent No. 2,067,340. More specifically, Figures 8-11 of French Patent No. 2,067,340 show the shape of such a lock in which rotation of the sleeve in the first direction is prevented by a bolt or latch held engaged by the sleeve and lock casing. with shoulder-shaped baffles rotating between the shoulders inside the sleeve. The baffles maintain this barrier until the key inserted to engage them is rotated in said first direction ninety degrees with respect to the axis to align the notches in the baffles with the latch to allow it to be received inside the sleeve from the free barrier shoulder. However, the sleeve is free to rotate with the key in the opposite direction from the key insertion position, in which case the latch moves with the sleeve away from the shoulder lock into the annular free space between the sleeve and the lock casing. The radial dimension of this space is limited so that while the sleeve is pivoted away from the key insertion position in this direction, the latch is kept protruding inside the sleeve to engage the specially formed recesses in the baffle plates. This ensures that the return rotation of the key directly adhered to the impingement plates is transferred to the sleeve, and prevents relative rotation between the impingement plates and the sleeve as they return to the key insertion position. A spring-loaded ball acts between the sleeve and the lock jacket to lock or crawl the sleeve to this position when it returns to it.

The complexity of the structure of the known shape of the lock, and therefore the cost, has increased significantly from the need to include a spring-loaded ball to index the sleeve in the key insertion position, and separately ensuring that the sleeve stays with the baffles when the key is rotated back to this position. In particular, in the latter respect, specially formed recesses in the baffles and the radial constraint of the annular spaces for retaining the sleeve with the baffles require precise tolerance in all practical implementations of the known lock. Furthermore, there is no clear way in which the principle of known lock can be exploited in other disadvantage plate mechanisms such as British Patent Publication No. 1,030,921; these latter baffle mechanisms have baffles projecting from the sleeve to prevent twisting and are retracted into the sleeve to release it during the first turning of the key relative to the sleeve.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a shape of a lock of a defined type which is simplified in structure compared to French Patent Publication No. 2,067,340 and which is more general in use.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cylinder lock of the type defined above, characterized in that the spring device exerts a resilient load on the sleeve when turning the key in the locking direction from the key insertion position, and that the resilient load causes the sleeve to return accurately from the key insertion position.

Il 3 79830

With the lock according to the present invention, a spring device is used to force the sleeve to return to the key insertion position to avoid the need for any special equipment inside the detent plate mechanism itself, as in the previous known lock, to keep the sleeve from turning with the detent plates when the key is returned. Since the technique included in the present invention does not require any special equipment within the defective plate mechanism used, it can easily be used more generally than the prior art defective plate mechanism included in the known lock.

The spring device may simply be a coil spring which acts on the sleeve to return it to the key insertion position in both directions of rotation. In this respect, the spring device itself can provide a sufficient indexing of the sleeve in the key insertion position, and thus by utilizing this single device it is possible to achieve a considerable simplification compared to the previously known lock. In addition, it is easily possible to place the coil spring outside the locking plate mechanism of the lock and thus simplify the assembly.

The cylinder lock of the present invention is particularly advantageous, especially due to the simplification of the above-mentioned structure when forming locks for motor vehicles. Even more advantageously, it is advantageous to form pairs of motor vehicle door locks for use on opposite sides of the vehicle and which can be used with the same key to unlock the respective doors, one by turning the key clockwise and the other by turning it counterclockwise so that the key is released on each side of the vehicle. for example, towards the front of the vehicle. An earlier form of a lock suitable for this purpose is described in British Patent Publication No. 2,045,854, but this prior lock using two groups of baffles supported by interconnected sleeves will generally be longer than can be suitably fitted to certain vehicle doors. The lock of the present invention uses a single sleeve and thus has the general advantage over the previous lock that it can be constructed in a shorter shape and thus can be used more widely.

The following describes a vehicle lock set comprising two cylinder locks according to the present invention by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 illustrates the installation of the first of the two cylinder locks on the second of the two front doors of the vehicle;

Figures 2 and 3 are a side view and a front view of the first lock, respectively;

Figure 4 is a side sectional view of the first lock, the section being taken along line IV-IV of Figure 3;

Figures 5 and 6 are a rear view and a sectional end view taken respectively along the direction of arrow V and the line VI-VI of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a lever forming part of the first lock;

Figure 8 is a sectional end view taken along line VIII-VIII of Figure 4;

Fig. 9 shows two sets of locks and their common key in one view for ease of comparison with the locks and the key, the first and second locks being shown as a sectional side view in (a) and (b), respectively, and the key portion in (c); and

Figure 10 is a sectional side view of the second lock taken along line X-X of Figure 9.

Il 5 79830

The set of locks described in the accompanying drawings is described in connection with the locking of the doors of a motor vehicle. More specifically, the two locks in the series, individually identified as locks IA and IB, are described as mounted on the opposite side doors of the vehicle.

Reference is first made to Figure 1. The lock IA is mounted on the door 2 on the left side of the vehicle (seen from the front) and connected via the articulation system 3 to the door 2 latch 4. Using the lock IA through the latch 4 to lock and open the door 2 requires inserting a suitable key 5 into the lock IA and turning the key in either of the two directions indicated by the reference numerals L and U from the key insertion position. Locking the door 2 with the door closed requires turning the key 5 counterclockwise L towards the rear of the vehicle and then back to return it to the insertion position before being pulled out, while unlocking requires turning it counterclockwise U towards the front of the vehicle and then back to the insertion position before pulling out.

A second lock (not shown) of the kit is mounted on a door on the opposite right side of the vehicle and is similarly connected to a latch to control the locking and unlocking of this door. Locking and unlocking this door, as well as door 2, requires the insertion of a suitable key into the lock IB and the initial turning of the key in directions towards the rear and front of the vehicle, respectively; however, since the lock IB is on the opposite side of the vehicle, the directions of rotation are clockwise for locking and counterclockwise for unlocking.

Both locks IA and IB are accessible with the same key 5, and their basic structure is similar with the differences which make it possible to use the same key with the different handshaking required between the locks. Locked IA

The common structural features of 6,79330 and IB, along with the features of lock IA, are described below with reference to Figures 2-8.

In the following, reference is first made in particular to Figures 2-6. The key-movable locking plate mechanism 6 of the lock IA, see Fig. 4, is incorporated in a cylindrical injection-molded casing 7 having a flange 8 at the front end of the lock. The flange 8 used to secure the lock to the vehicle door 2 forms a keyhole 9 for key entry 5 The shaft 10 of the mechanism 6 protrudes resiliently through a retained sleeve 11 which closes the rear end of the casing 7 and supports the lever 12 - shown in detail in Figure 7 - through the lever systems 3 to engage the door latch 4. Until a suitable key 5 is inserted into the keyhole 9 and the key is rotated, the mechanism 6 as a whole cannot rotate inside the casing 7. However, when the suitable key 5 is inserted and screwed in, the mechanism 6 is released to rotate with the key in either direction of the essential angle from any key insertion position. The shaft 10 and the lever 12 pivot in one piece with the mechanism 6, and the door latch 4 acts through the hinge system 3 according to the deviation of the lever 12 to lock or unlock the door 2 according to the direction of the deviation. In this case, the key 5 rotated in the clockwise (the arrow U direction in figure 1) - as viewed from the front end of the lock IA - required to remove the locking of the door, while twisting counterclockwise (the arrow L direction in Figure 1) is required to lock the door. The lever 12 rotates back when the key 5 is returned to the key insertion position for withdrawal, but the latch 4 does not act in any way due to this return movement, leaving the door 2 locked or unlocked until the key 5 is re-inserted into the keyhole and turned clockwise or counterclockwise.

In particular, it can be seen from Figure 4 that the key hole 9 is extended as a slot 13 through a part 14 which is prevented from rotating inside the casing 7. The part 14 comprises a closing flap (not shown) which is spring-loaded to cover the slot 13 and which is moved aside from the slot 13 during the insertion of the key 5 when it enters through the keyhole 9 into the locking mechanism 6.

7 79830

The baffle mechanism 6 includes a cup-shaped sleeve 15 comprising a rearwardly projecting shaft 10 and a stack of five baffle plates 16 separated by four spacer plates 17. The jaw of baffle plates 16 is firmly forced against the back of portion 14 by a plastic sleeve 18 bounded by a spring 19 15 miles away.

As illustrated in Figure 8, each baffle plate 16 has two arms 20 extending in opposite directions from the convex portion 21 provided with a hole to two slots 22 in the cylindrical wall of the sleeve 15, respectively. The inner shape of this wall is such that it allows each baffle plate 16 the freedom to move transversely with respect to the sleeve 15 as its arms 20 slide inside the slits 22. The overall width of each baffle plate 16 as measured over the arms 20 is equal to the outside diameter of the sleeve 15, and according to the transverse location of the individual baffle plate 16 within the sleeve 15, it is either pulled out to be fully incorporated within the sleeve 15 or either of its two arms 20 protrudes. Only when all five baffles are retracted into the sleeve 15 so that none of the arms 20 protrude therefrom is the sleeve 15 released for clockwise rotation; turning the sleeve 15 in this direction is otherwise prevented, (as illustrated in Figure 8), by the arms 20 projecting (in either direction) from the sleeve 15 and abutting the shoulders 23 inside the cylindrical shell 7.

The sleeve 15 is acted upon by a coil spring 24 mounted outside the sheath 7 to hold the sleeve in a zero position or a key insertion position where the arms of the applied baffle plates 16 are very close to the shoulders 23 to prevent the sleeve 15 from rotating clockwise from this position. However, rotation of the sleeve 15 in the opposite, counterclockwise direction from this position is not prevented even with the arms 20 remaining spread, leaving free spaces 25 inside the sheath 7 between the shoulders 23, allowing a rotation of about 60 degrees in this direction. However, such turning is resisted by a spring 24 which acts by means of a lever 12 connected to the shaft 10 to return the sleeve 15 to the key insertion position, in which direction the sleeve 15 is turned from this position. In the latter relationship, the two ends 26 of the spring 24 surrounding the shaft 10 between the sleeve 11 and the lever 12 are crossed over each other and extend to both sides of the shoulder 27, which shoulder protrudes forward from the lever 12, resting on opposite sides of the shoulder 28 of the sheath 7 - see figure 6. Turning the sleeve 15 in either direction causes the shoulder 27 to lift either end 27 away from the shoulder 28 and rotate the spring 24 in the appropriate direction to create the required return effort.

Inserting the key 5 into the lock connects it to the holes 29 of the baffle plates 16. When the slots 20 fit snugly together to receive the key 5, all the baffle plates 16 are then precisely positioned so that rotation is prevented, i.e., one of the arms 20 of each baffle plate 16 protrudes. of the sleeve 15. The retraction of the baffle plates 16 takes place only in response to the rotation of the key 5 from the insertion position clockwise to unlock the door 2. The sleeve 15 does not follow the first rotation of the key 5 in this direction, because turning the sleeve 15 clockwise is prevented by the baffles 16 resting on the shoulders 23 of the casing 7. However, the clockwise key 5 engages the baffle 16 holes 29 to move them transversely inside the sleeve 15. Provided that the cuts made to the key are appropriately proportional to the shape of the holes in all cases, all baffles 16 are retracted together into the sleeve 15 in response to about twenty degrees, or more, of first turning the key 5 from its insertion position. In this case, the sleeve 15 becomes free to rotate with the key 5. Rotation of the key 5 to the full extent to rotate the sleeve 15 and thus to form the deflection of the clockwise lever 12, which is necessary for the operation of the latch 4 to open the door 2, can therefore be achieved in this case.

9 79830

It is not possible to rotate the sleeve 15 to the full length, which is required to release the door 2 lock, if the key has a wrong cut, because then not all the baffles will be pulled back, and rotation of the sleeve 15 accordingly will be prevented.

When the key 5 (or other) is inserted into the lock IA and turned counterclockwise from its insertion position (to lock the door 2), the sleeve 15 in this case turns with it immediately. The only resistance to such rotation, in addition to friction, is the spring 24. The baffle plates 16 remain spread, but in this direction of rotation their projecting arms 20 move through the spaces 25 and are thus not obstructed. Accordingly, the key may be rotated a full length counterclockwise against the return attempt of the spring 24 to cause the lever 12 to deviate, which is necessary to use the latch 4 to lock the door 2.

Turning the key 5 back to the insertion position for withdrawal after either clockwise or counterclockwise rotation returns the locking mechanism by the spring 24 to the original zero or key insertion position. From the clockwise twisting during the return of the key 5, the spring 24 causes a counterclockwise torsion on the sleeve 15 to return it to the exact zero position, but continued turning of the key in the same direction is required before the key 5 can be withdrawn from the lock. This counterclockwise turning of the key 5 is usually continued by the momentum generated by the torsion initially caused directly by the spring 24 until all baffles 16 are fully extended to prevent clockwise turning again and their slots 29 are aligned to allow the key 5 to be withdrawn. This situation has been achieved and thus clearly defined by the effect of resistance from the spring 24, 10 79830 which prevents all attempts to continue turning through it in a counterclockwise direction.

The spring 24 operates from the counterclockwise rotation required to lock the door 2 during the entire return movement of the key 5. When the key 5 connected to the baffles 16 is turned back clockwise, the baffles 16 tend to retract into the sleeve 15. This tendency is overcome by a torque clockwise caused by the spring 24 on the sleeve 15, which ensures that the sleeve 15 closely follows all the clockwise turns of the key 5 as it returns to the key insertion position. The sleeve 15 thus returns to this position with the baffles 16 fully extended ready for the immediate retraction of the key 5, and with such a position clearly defined.

The detent plates 16 and the key 5 are constructed according to the principles described in British Patent Publication No. 1,030,921 to form various lock combinations or variations. It is also obvious in this respect that the number of variations can be changed by using one or more baffles 16 inside the sleeve 15 of the lock IA.

The similarities or discrepancies between the two locks IA and IB in the series are illustrated in Figure 9, which shows the lock IA in a partial view (a) and the lock IB in a partial view (b).

Referring to Fig. 9, as shown in sub-figure (b), the lock IB is substantially similar in general construction to the lock IA described in sub-figure (a), but uses a modified sleeve 30 in which the baffle plates 31 are placed rearwardly compared to the baffle plates fitted to the sleeve 15 of the lock IA. 16. In this respect, the sleeve 18 of the lock IA has been replaced in the lock IB by a plastic ring 32, and the plastic sleeve 33 is placed between the stack of baffle plates 31 and the part 34 (corresponding to the part 14 of the lock IA) in front of the lock IB. In addition, as illustrated in Figure 10, the baffles 31 are second-handed to the baffles 16, and the sheath 35 in this example has internal shoulders 36,

II

11,79830 which are intended to engage these baffle plates 31 while preventing the sleeve 30 from turning counterclockwise to release the lock. The turning of the sleeve 30 in the opposite direction for locking is free due to the spacers 37 (corresponding to the spacers 25 in the lock IA) between the shoulders 36.

One key 5 used in both locks IA and IB is shown in a partial view (c) of Fig. 9. Such a key 5 has two sets of cuts 38 A and B spaced apart along a circular section of the key shank 39. Inserting the key 5 into the lock IA places the five cuts 38 inside the five detent plates 16 of the series A, respectively, so that turning the key 5 clockwise retracts the detent plates 16 from their unlocking position. On the other hand, inserting the key 5 into the lock IB places the five cuts 38 inside the five defect plates 31 of the set B, respectively, so that turning the key 5 counterclockwise pulls the defect plates 31 back out of the lock release release position.

With both locks IA and IB in the series, the return of the lock mechanism to the key insertion position is achieved simply by a coil spring, spring 24 in the case of lock IA and a corresponding spring 40 in the case of lock IB. applied when the key is returned to the key insertion position after turning in the locking direction.

If clearer indexing is required, this can be achieved with the modification described for lock IA in Figure 4 only and for lock IB only in Figure 10. According to this modification, the leaf spring 41 is trapped between the respective lock casing and sleeve to engage a notch in the outer cylindrical surface of the sleeve when the locking mechanism is in the key insertion position.

Claims (5)

A cylinder lock, wherein one or more baffles (16; 31) fitted to one sleeve (15; 30) of the lock (1A, 1B) act to prevent rotation of the sleeve (15; 30) in the second, non-locking direction only until the key (15; 5) inserted inside the lock (1A; 1B) engages one or more baffles (16; 31) to move them away from forming such an obstacle by initially turning the key (5) relative to the sleeve (15; 30) in said first direction of its insertion. position, the sleeve (15; 30) being prevented from rotating in the opposite, locking direction from this position without such displacement of one or more baffles (16; 31), and in which the spring device (24; 40) resiliently retains the sleeve (15; 30) in the key insertion position, characterized in that the spring device (24; 40) causes a resilient load on the sleeve (15; 30) when turned by the key (5) in the locking direction from the key insertion position, and that the resilient load causes the sleeve (15; 30) to return accurately with the key (5) returning to the key insertion position from this direction. Cylinder lock according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spring device (24; 40) also resiliently resists turning the sleeve (15; 30) by the key (5) in the unlocking direction from the key insertion position. Cylinder lock according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the spring device is a helical spring (24; 40). Cylinder lock according to Claim 3, characterized in that the sleeve (15; 30) has a rearwardly extending shaft (10) and in that the helical spring (24; 40) encloses the shaft (10) outside the housing (7; 35) which encloses lock (IA; IB) detent plate mechanism (6). Il i3 79830 Cylinder lock according to Claim 4, characterized in that the two ends (26) of the helical spring (24; 40) are placed crosswise relative to one another on opposite sides of the part (28) of the jacket (7; 35) and that the part (27) which pivots with the sleeve (15; 30) is located between the crosswise overhangs (26) of the spring (24; 40) to lift either of these ends (26) away from the sheath portion (28), acting to return the sleeve (15; 3Q) 15; 30) according to the direction of translation. 14 79880