GB1563434A

GB1563434A - Locking device for a door for locking lorry and container doors

Info

Publication number: GB1563434A
Application number: GB1648977A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: THIRIET FILS SARL
Current assignee: THIRIET FILS SARL
Priority date: 1976-04-21
Filing date: 1977-04-20
Publication date: 1980-03-26
Also published as: DE2717231A1; IT1078100B; BE853756A; FR2349013A1; DE2717231C2; FR2349013B1

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO A LOCKING DEVICE FOR A DOOR FOR LOCKING LORRY AND CONTAINER DOORS (71) We, THIRIET FILS S.A. R.L., a Body Corporate organised under the laws of France, of Warcq (Ardennes), France, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention relates to a locking device for a door, in particular intended for locking lorry and container doors.

It is known that devices of this type most frequently consist of a bar mounted to rotate on the door about an axis parallel to the pivot for the door on its fixed frame.

The bar, provided in a central area with a lever making it possible to actuate the latter in the direction of rotation, comprises a locking member at each of its ends, which member is able to co-operate, by rotation of the bar when the door is in the closed position, with a fixed complementary member connected to the fixed frame for locking the door in this closed position.

According to a widely used method of construction, the locking member comprises a radial fork and a radial lug in a diametrically opposed position. At the time of rotation of the bar, when the door is in the closed position, the teeth of the fork engage under a head provided for this purpose on the complementary fixed member, the lug in turn being inserted in a yoke of the fixed member, which is naturally open in the opening direction of the door to allow engagement and disengagement of the device.

Experience shows that a device of this type, when locked, retains its effectiveness, even when the container or body of the larry is subjected to deformations. On the other hand, it has proved particularly difficult to operate, in particular when one attempts to bring about locking when the container or body of the lorry is deformed and for example when a wheel of the lorry rests on a stone or on the edge of the pavement.

It therefore becomes difficult to engage the fork under the head, about the foot which connects the latter to the base plate of the fixed member and even more, in a second stage, to engage the lug of the moving member in a housing in the fixed member.

Furthermore, the fixed member and movable member of such a locking device are complex parts which can only be produced in the foundry and as regards the fixed member, with a certain amount of difficulty.

The object of the invention is to remedy these drawbacks of currently known locking devices by proposing a device which is both easier to use when the container or body of the lorry equipped with the latter is deformed and easier to manufacture.

Since it is locked by the set of conical or similar progressive fittings, until it reaches a complete locking position where the moving member is completely immobilised in the fixed member, the device according to the invention can be used without difficulty, even when the body or container has been considerably deformed and nevertheless ensures perfectly effective locking whatever the degree of deformation.

As will become apparent hereafter from the description of its shape, the device according to the invention is also much simpler to produce than currently known devices, in particular as regards the movable locking member, which may be produced according to the invention by stamping, owing to its compactness.

According to the present invention there is provided a locking device for a door, in particular intended for locking lorry or container doors and comprising a bar mountable to rotate on the door about an axis substantially parallel to the pivotal axis of the door on its fixed frame, the bar comprising, at one end thereof, a locking member able to co-operate, by rotation of the bar when the door is in the closed position, with a fixed complementary member connected to the frame in order to lock the door in said position, characterised in that:: - the locking member comprises a nose projecting radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bar and, diametrically opposed to the nose, an annular groove directed transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bar, and the fixed complementary member comprises, projecting in the opening direction of the door, a flange under which the nose engages at the time of said rotation and a boss located along the axis of the flange and engageable in the groove.

The invention will be better understood if reference is made to the following description, relating to a non-limiting embodiment of the device, and to the accompanying drawings which form an integral part of this description.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the fixed member and moving member in the locking position.

Figure 2 is a view of the two members in the same position, in section through the plane II--II of Figure 1.

These figures show at 1, the fixed member intended to be connected to the frame of the door and at 2 the movable member intended to be mounted to rotate on the door. In the most frequent case of a door pivoted about a vertical axis on its frame, two members such as 1 are respectively provided on the upper cross bar and on the lower cross bar of the frame, the two movable members 2 are place opposite the latter on the door, on which they are mounted to rotate about the same axis 3 parallel to the pivot point of the door on its frame and in this case a vertical axis.

Figure 1 corresponds more particularly to the case of the upper locking mechanism, but the various parts are symmetrical such that they may also be used for the lower locking mechanism.

The movable member 2 illustrated comprises a rectilinear bar 4 which is a cylinder of revolution about the axis of rotation 3.

This bar 4 comprises areas of different diameter and in particular, in this case at the bottom, a tip 5 of smaller diameter intended to fit in a coaxial tube 6 to ensure the connection to the other movable member, in this case the lower member, mounted to rotate about the same axis 3.

In the vicinity of its second end, in this case the upper end, the bar 4 has an area of greater diameter 7, where locking of the movable member 2 in the fixed member 1 takes place.

Adjacent this area 7, the bar 4 comprises at least one nose 8 directed radially with respect to the axis 3 and in an area diametrically opposed to the nose 8, an annular groove 9 directed transversely with respect to the axis 3.

Preferably, the nose 8 and the groove 9 are symmetrical with respect to an axial plane 10 (see also Figure 2) and with re spect to a plane 11 at right-angles to the axis 3, in order to facilitate the use of the same movable member respectively at the top and the bottom of the door, at the two ends of the tube 6. For this purpose, the fixed member 1 is also symmetrical with respect to the plane 11.

The nose 8 has a conical shape of revolution about a radial direction defined by the intersection of the two planes of symmetry 10 and 11 and becomes thinner as it moves away from the axis 3. Preferably, it has a rounded shape and for example spherical, in the region of its point 12.

The groove 9 flares in a radial direction, as it moves away from the axis 3. It is defined by a base 13 which is recessed with respect to the cylindrical side of the area 7 of the bar 4 and generated by straight lines parallel to the axis 3. It is also defined by two side faces 14 and 15 joining the base 13 to the cylindrical periphery of the area 7 of the bar 4 and diverging from each other progressively from the base 13 to this cylindrical periphery. As shown in the figures, the groove 9 is extended around the bar 4 virtually as far as the beginning of the nose 8.

The fixed member 1 is composed of a flat base plate 16, in this case arranged vertically and intended to be fixed by screwing for example to the door frame, this base plate 16 having arrangements complementing those of the movable member 2 for facilitating locking.

For retaining the nose 8, the base plate 16 comprises, projecting in the opening direction of the door, a flange 17 which, if one takes as a reference the position occupied by the plane of symmetry 10 of the movable member 2, when the latter is in the locked position, comprises beyond this plane with respect to the base plate 16, an inner frustoconical face 18 of revolution in order to follow the frustoconical face of the nose 8 when the latter is in the locked position (the position shown). Between the plane 10 and the base plate, the flange comprises, on each side of the passage of the nose, two inner faces 19 and 20 which are flat and perpendicular to the general plane of the base plate and to the plane 10 and are parallel to the adjacent frustoconical face 18 of the nose 8 when in the locked position.

The relative arrangement of the fixed member 1 and movable member 2 is preferably such that, in the locked position, the cylindrical surface of the area 7 of the moving member 2 comes into contact with the flange 17 on each side of the nose 8, the engagement of the nose 8 under the flange 17 at the time of the rotation of the member 2 about the axis 3 in the direction shown by the arrow 21, for the purpose of locking, or disengagement by rotation on the opposite direction, is facilitated by a notch 22 provided in the flange 17 in its part located beyond the plane of symmetry 10 with respect to the base plate 16. To facilitate passage of the nose 8, the base plate 16 also comprises a groove 23, below the flange 17 and if necessary on each side of the latter, along its plane of symmetry 11.This groove 23 has an internal profile complementing the shape of the point 12 of the nose 8.

Apart from the flange 17, intended to receive the nose 8, the base plate 16 comprises a boss 24 also forming a projection in the opening direction of the door and located along the axis of the flange 17. This boss is intended to engage in the groove 9 at the time of the locking operation, following the shape of the latter so as to prevent clearance between the two members 1 and 2 as far as possible.

To this end, the boss 24 has an approximately trapezoidal cross section defined by a flat front face 25 parallel to the axis 3 and at right-angles to the plane of symmetry 10 in the positions occupied by this axis and this plane after locking and by two faces 26 and 27 also at right-angles to the plane 10 in the position which it occupies after lock ing, the faces 26 and 27 forming with the face 25, dihedrons having an angle equal to the angle formed respectively by the faces 14 and 15 of the groove 9 with the base 13 of the latter in the plane 10. Thus, in the locked position shown, the faces 25 to 27 of the boss 24 bear respectively against the base 13 and against the sides 14 and 15 of the groove 9 in the region of the plane of symmetry 10, thus ensuring effective lock ing of the moving member 2 in the fixed member 1.

Preferably, at the end opposite the point where it is fixed to the base plate 16, the boss 24 is terminated by a rounded part 28 favouring its engagement in the groove 9 at the time of the locking movement.

This rounded part 28 co-operates with the flared shape of the groove 9 to promote correct positioning of the two members 1 and 2 even if, subsequent to a deformation of the body of the lorry or container, the groove 9 is not positioned exactly opposite the boss 24, when the locking operation be gins. The engagement of the nose 8 under the flange 17 is assisted by the frustoconical shape of these members and by the rounded shape of the point of the nose, as well as by the notch 22 in the flange. As the movable member 2 is rotated in the locking direction, this member is positioned progressively so that at the end of the operation, it is per fectly retained on the one hand under the flange, by the nose 8 and on the other hand between the flange and the boss 24.

The locking and unlocking operation may be carried out in manner known per se, by means of a lever fixed to the tube 6 and which tends to cause rotation in the unlocking direction when it is moved away from the door to be unlocked and which on the other hand tends to cause rotation in the locking direction 21 when it is moved towards the door to be locked.

Other actuating devices could naturally be provided, without diverging from the scope of the invention as defined in the

Claims

claims. The members 1 and 2 could also be modified. For example, several noses 8 and/or several grooves such as 9 could be provided on the bar 4, the fixed member 1 in turn having the require number of flanges such as 17 and bosses such as 24. The various members constituting the device according to the invention may be made from any suitable material such as metal. They may be made for example in a foundry, of cast iron or steel, or even of forged steel. In the particular case of the movable member 2 and on account of its particularly compact shape according to the invention, it is possible to produce two members 2 simultaneously, arranged top-tobottom by stamping, i.e. in a particularly economical manner. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. Locking device for a door, in particular intended for locking lorry or container doors and comprising a bar mountable to rotate on the door about longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the pivotal axis of the door on its fixed frame, the bar comprising, at one end thereof, a locking member able to co-operate, by rotation of the bar when the door is in the closed position, with a fixed complementary member connected to the frame in order to lock the door in said position, characterised in that:: - the locking member comprises a nose projecting radially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bar and, diametrically opposed to the nose, an annular groove directed transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bar, and - the fixed complementary member comprises, projecting in the opening direction of the door, a flange under which the nose engages at the time of said rotation and a boss located along the axis of the flange and engageable in the groove.

2. Device according to Claim 1, characterised in that the nose tapers away from the longitudinal axis of the bar.

3. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the nose has a rounded end.

4. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the groove flares away from the longitudinal axis of the bar in a radial direction.

5. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the boss comprises, at its end projecting in the opening direction of the door, a rounded part favouring engagement in the groove.

6. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the locking member is symmetrical with respect to an axial plane.

7. Device according to Claim 6, characterised in that, in the locking position, the boss is in contact with the groove at least in the region of the axial plane of symmetry of the locking member and comprises a profile complementing that of the groove.

8. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the nose and groove of the locking member are respectively symmetrical with respect to the same plane at right-angles to the longitudinal axis of the bar.

9. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the flange comprises an internal profile complementing the profile of the nose.

10. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that in a direction towards the boss, the flange comprises a notch facilitating the passage of the nose at the time of locking and unlocking.

11. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the locking device comprises a base plate joining the boss to the flange and in that the base plate is grooved under the flange, along the axis of the latter, to facilitate passage of the end of the nose at the time of rotation in the locking or unlocking direction.

12. Device according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the locking member comprises, on each side of the nose, faces for bearing against the flange in the locking position.