GB2058550A - Key cabinets - Google Patents

Abstract

A key cabinet, adapted for mounting on a wall, and with provision for hanging a number of keys within the cabinet upon the base thereof and on one or more hinged panels within the cabinet, wherein the hooks 23 for the keys are provided upon hook units 18 each of which comprises a plastic moulding in the form of a strip having the hooks 23 provided at spaced positions along the lower longitudinal edge of the strip and having an inverted channel 21 along the upper edge of the strip so that the plastic moulding can be mounted in position by engaging the channel section portion 21 over the lower edge of an elongated slot 26 cut in the base of the cabinet or similar slots cut in the hinged panel or panels 15 within the cabinet. An index card holder 24 is moulded integrally with the hook unit, there being a card holder for each hook 23. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improved key cabinet This invention relates to a cabinet for holding keys.

There are known certain forms of cabinet provided with a lockable closure member and having hooks in the interior for holding keys, the hooks being arranged in a regular formation so that the cabinet provides a tidy and efficient arrangement for holding a plurality of keys as well as providing a measure of security.

Usually such a cabinet is capable of being mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall and in the small size for holding the minimum number of keys the hooks are provided on the rear wall (i.e. the base) of the cabinet and sometimes on the inside of the closure member or lid which forms the front wall of the cabinet when it is mounted on a vertical surface and in the closed state.In larger sizes the interior of the cabinet is provided with one or more hinged panels or frames having hooks mounted thereon and arranged so that when the cabinet is mounted on a vertical surface the or each panel or frame is hinged at one side about a vertical axis to an internal surface of the box, so that when the cabinet is opened up the or each hinged panel or frame can be swung out into a position to enable the key supported thereby to be removed and also to expose any keys which are hanging from the rear wall of the cabinet.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in the construction of a key cabinet with the aim of reducing the cost of manufacture through the use of simple and inexpensive components which do not entail skilled or elaborate assembly techniques.

According to the invention a key cabinet comprising a base, side walls and a closure member is provided with one or more hook units for mounting on the base or on a panel or frame hinged within the cabinet, the or each hook unit being a moulding in plastics material and being in the form of a strip having a part which is detachably engaged with one or more formations on the base of the cabinet or on a panel or frame within the cabinet, and having a plurality of hooks projecting from the strip at spaced positions along the length thereof.

The hook unit may comprise an elongated strip having a main body part which is of generally flat form, the hooks being arranged along one longitudinal edge of this main body part and the other longitudinal edge being of channel form so as to be engageable over a straight edge on or in the cabinet.

The main body part may also have a plurality of card holders formed thereon, one for each hook along the length of the strip.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE lisa perspective view of a key cabinet embodying the present invention and shown in the open state and in the position it would occupy when mounted upon a vertical surface such as a wall.

FIGURE 2 is an end-on view to an enlarged scale of the moulded plastics hook unit.

Referring to Figure 1, the cabinet comprises a main body 10 of box-like form having a hinged closure member or lid 11, provided with an appropriate form of lock 12, and the cabinet is arranged to be mounted upon a vertical surface such as a wall by any appropriate means such as the provision of keyhole slots 14 in the base 13 of the main body.

Only one slot 14 is visible in the drawing. When mounted in the vertical position shown in Figure 1, the base 13 constitutes the "rear wall" of the cabinet.

In this example accommodation is made for hanging keys on the rear wall 13 and there is also provided a hinged panel within the cabinet for the hanging of other keys, but it will be appreciated that in a small size cabinet the hinged panel may be omitted, whereas in larger sized cabinets there may be two or more hinged panels. In this example there is one panel in the form of flat plate 15 which is hinged along one edge at 16 to the inside of the vertical side wall 17 ofthe cabinet.

Referring now also to Figure 2, a number of hook units are shown in Figure 1 and one such unit is illustrated in end view on enlarged scale in Figure 2, each hook unit being generally designated by reference numeral 18. Each hook unit comprises a moulding in plastics material and is ofelongated strip-like form, there being a main body part 19 which is flat on its rear face 20 and which at its upper longitudinal edge is of inverted channel section as shown at 21, so as to provide a groove 22 running the length of the upper edge of the strip.Along its lower edge at spaced apart positions the hook unit is provided with a number of hooks 23 and on the main body part 19 associated with each hook 23 there is a pair of spaced apart vertical ribs 24, each spaced away from the front face 25 of the main body part so as to provide a pair of inwardly facing grooves to receive the edges of an identity card which would be numbered, coloured or otherwise marked to indicate the identity of the key on the associated hook 23.

The hook unit above described is detachably mounted in the cabinet or upon the panel 15 by engaging the groove 22 of the hook unit with a straight edge in the cabinet or on the panel and in the case of the rear wall 13 such straightedge is provided by forming an elongated slot 26 in the rear wall 13. In the example shown there are three hook units mounted on the rear wall 13 by means of the groove 22 engaging over the lower edges of slots 26 (only two slots being seen) and in the case of the panel 15 one straight edge is provided by the upper horizontal edge of the panel whilst other straight edges are provided by the provision of horizontally extending slots in the panel 15, and it will be observed that in addition to the three hook units mounted on the front face of the panel 15, two further hook units are mounted on the rear face thereof.

In practice a range of sizes of cabinet would be provided to cater for requirements to accommodate from a small number of keys up to a large number and one advantageous feature of the present invention is that the same form of hook unit may be used with any size of cabinet so that for manufacturing purposes it is only necessary to provide one set of dies to produce the maximum length of hook unit strip, and then the appropriate lengths of strip required for smaller sizes below the maximum can be cut off from the single length. The form of hook unit also has the advantage that in one moulding there is provided the hook itself and the means for attaching the hook unit to the rear wall of the cabinet orto a hinged panel.

To provide for mounting the hook units it is only necessary to provide the simple manufacturing step of forming slots in the rear wall 13 of the cabinet and slots in any panel which is within the cabinet and this also permits of the mounting of hook units on the front and rear face of such panel.

Finally, the assembly of the hook units within the cabinet does not involve any skilled operation as it is simply a matterof hooking the channel-section part 21 of each hook unit over the appropriate straight edge in the cabinet or on the hinged panel.

Claims (7)

1. A key cabinet comprising a base, side walls and a closure member, provided with one or more hook units for mounting on the base or on a panel or frame hinged within the cabinet, the or each hook unit being moulded in plastics material and being in the form of a strip having a part which is detachably engaged with one or more formations on the base of the cabinet or on a panel or frame within the cabinet and having a plurality of hooks projecting from the strip at spaced positions along the length thereof.

2. A key cabinet according to Claim 1, wherein the hook unit comprises an elongated strip having a main body part which is of generally flat form, the hooks being arranged along one longitudinal edge of this main body part and the other longitudinal edge being of channel-form so as to be engageable over a straight edge formed on the base of the cabinet or on a panel hinged within the cabinet.

3. A key cabinet according to Claim 2, wherein the main body part also has a plurality of card holders formed thereon one for each hook.

4. A key cabinet according to Claim 2 or Claim 3 having a number of hook units mounted on the base of the cabinet each arranged to extend horizontally when the cabinet is mounted in operative position on the vertical surface, the hook units being spaced apart in the vertical direction and each having its upper edge of inverted channel form engaging over the lower edge of an elongated slot cut in the base of the cabinet.

5. A key cabinet according to Claim 4 including one or more hinged panels within the cabinet each panel being hinged about a vertical axis to a vertically arranged side wall of the cabinet and each having hook units mounted on both faces thereof in vertically spaced apart positions and each hook unit having its upper edge of inverted channel form engaging overthe lower edge of an elongated slot cut in the panel.

6. A key cabinet according to Claim 5 wherein the or each panel has a hook unit engaged over the upper horizontal edge thereof.

7. A key cabinet substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.