GB2133071A - Releasable fastening - Google Patents

Abstract

A fastening having the appearance of a padlock has a casing 2, an attachment member 6 having an external hooked portion 13 and an internal portion 7, which is integral with one end of the hooked portion and which is housed in a recess 8 in the casing 2. A finger-operated spring- loaded plunger 12 cooperates with a stop 16 on portion 7 to hold the attachment member 6 in its closed position, and when pressed, allows passage of stop 16 through bore 29 under action of another spring 20, to open the fastening. The fastening may be combined with a digital watch. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Padlocks The present invention relates to padlocks. By padlock is meant a detachable lock capable of hanging by a pivotable hook on an object and the object may be thus fastened but not necessarily.

The padlock according to the invention may be employed to hang the time piece over any predetermined longitudinal member for example, a closure between the lid and base of a container. It may also be in the form of a time piece.

In conventional padlocks, the hooked attachment member may be secured in a closed position by means of stops which are made cooperable with the attachment member upon moving a plurality of tumblers by turning a key.

This device has the disadvantage that the key may be lost and the padlock rendered unusable.

According to the invention, I propose a padlock comprising a casing, an attachment member having an external hooked portion and an internal portion, which is integral with one end of the hooked portion and which is housed in a recess in the casing, means by which the attachment member is selectively movable in opposite directions with respect to the recess and means by which the attachment member is selectively retainable in an inward and an outward position.

The attachment member may be movable in directions into and out of the recess by resilient means and it may be retainable by a pair of spaced apart stop members.

The internal portion may be an elongate portion including two spaced apart stop portions which are spaced apart by a spacing portion, which is of smaller radius at least where adjacent the projection than the radius of the stop portions so that a projection can be selectively abutted by each stop portion to prevent further downward movement of the first stop portion and further upward movement of the second stop portion.

The recess in the casing may be T-shaped and the internal portion of the attachment member housed in the "stem" portion of the recess. In the "cross-piece" portion of the recess is housed a slidable member having a through-aperture in which the second narrow spacing portion of the internal portion may be housed. One end of the cross-piece portion of the reels is open and a press button portion of the slidable member is externally visible.

The first stop portion may be spaced apart from the end of the first end of the hooked portion of the attachment member by a second spacing portion of radius smaller than the radius of the first stop portion at least on the other side of the aperture to the press button.

The resilient means is preferably in the form of a pair of compression springs. One spring may be disposed between the slidable member and the inner end of the cross-piece portion of the recess and the other spring may be disposed between the second stop portion of the internal portion of the attachment member and a protrusion on the inner end of the stem portion of the recess.

The attachment member may thus be moved and retained in an inward position or alternatively an outward position. The hooked portion may be pivotable about the internal portion of the attachment member so as to be movable in directions into and out of positions over the end of the casing in which the padlock open and closed.

The free end of the hooked member may be located in a second recess upon movement of the internal portion of the attachment member in a direction into the first recess and correspondingly out of the recess upon movement of the internal portion in a direction out of the first recess.

The padlock according to this invention affords a convenient and efficient device. The device may be made small and compact.

A further advantage is that a key is not required to move the attachment member.

The padlock casing may house a time-keeping mechanism and a time display so that the device according to the invention may also be employed as a watch.

An embodiment of the invention is described by way of example, with reference to the drawing, which is a front view of a padlock according to this invention.

A padlock 1 in the form of a time piece comprises a casing 2 which has a time display window 3 for digitally displaying the time. It may also display any other information required e.g. the date. A quartz time-keeping mechanism (not shown) is housed inside the casing and can be adjusted by the two buttons 4, 5 and a third button (not shown). One end face of the time piece has an attachment member 6 of circular cross section for hooking over any required support (not shown). The part of the attachment member externally visible is substantially Ushaped. The first end 7 of the attachment member is permanently housed in a first recess 8 in the casing via through-aperture 9.The free other end 10 of the attachment member is releasably securable in a second recess 11 spaced apart from the first recess to provide a space which can be occupied by the required support. The second recess 11 can be substantially complementarily shaped to the flat-faced free end 10 of the attachment member but this is of course not essential.

The free end 10 of the attachment member may be snap-fitted into the second recess 11. In the released, uppermost position of the attachment member, the free end is located just above the adjacent end face of the casing. Also, the attachment member 6 is pivotable about the first end 7. Thus, the attachment member can be turned into and out of confrontation with the second recess 11 such that when the free end is turned away from the end face, the attachment member may be hooked over a predetermined longitudinal support. Then, the free end can be turned back to the end face and pressed into the second recess, wherein it is held in place.

The attachment member is securable in the downwardly displaced position by virtue of a spring-biasing mechanism 1 2 permanently housed in the first recess 8. This mechanism is cooperable with the first end of the attachment member also permanently housed in the first recess, which is essentially T-shaped having a "stem" portion 14 and a "cross-piece" portion 15, which has one end open.

Housed in the "stem" of the T-shaped recess and integral and contiguous with the first end of the hooked portion 13 of the attachment member 6 is an elongate, internal portion having two spaced apart cylindrical stop portions 1 6 and 17.

These portions are spaced apart by a cylindrical spacing portion 1 8 of diameter smaller than the diameter of the stop portions so that a projection 1 9 from the side of the recess 14 may be selectively abutted by each stop portion to respectively prevent further downward movement by the first stop portion 1 6 and further upward movement by the second stop portion 17. A compression spring 20 is located between the second stop portion and the end face 21 of the stem portion of the T-shaped recess.

The first stop portion is spaced apart from the end of the first end of the hooked portion of the attachment member by a second cylindrical spacing portion 22 of diameter smaller than the diameter of the first stop portion 1 6 by an amount 2x. A slidable member 23 is housed in the "crosspiece" portion of the T-shaped recess 8 and this has at its externally visible end a press-button portion 24. At the inner end there is a protrusion 25 around which a second compression spring 26 is located which acts between the confronting end face 27 of the recess and the end face 28 of the slidable member 23 so as to bias the slidable member 23 outwardly.

A through-hole 29 is disposed in the slidable member 23 between the ends thereof and the attachment member 6 is locatable in this throughhole. The diameter of the through-hole 29 is slightly greater than the diameter of the first stop portion 14 so as to allow it to pass through.

The operation of the spring mechanism is as follows. To capture the second end of the attachment member in the second recess, the second end is placed over the recess and then snap-fitted into the recess. At the same time the button 24 snap outwardly.

When the hooked portion is thus pressed downwardly the portion of the attachment member contiguous with the hooked portion is also moved downwardly as shown in Figure 1 so that the first stop portion 1 6 is moved out of the slidable member 23 and the cross-piece portion 1 5 of the recess 8 and into the stem portion 14 of the recess 8. This allows the slidable member to be moved outwardly a distance x by virtue of the spring being able to move the slidable member outwardly into the extra space x provided adjacent the cylindrical portion 22 by the downward movement of the first stop portion 1 6.

To release the attachment member, the button 24 is pressed. This inwardly moves the slidable member against the action of the spring 26 such that the aperture 24 of the slidable member confronts the first stop portion and the spring acting on the second stop portion 1 7 is able to push the attachment member upwardly. The upward movement is stopped upon abutment of the projection 19 by the second stop portion 1 7.

The above described capture and release steps may behrepeated in the same way whenever required so that the hooked portion of the attachment member may be selectively moved and retained in an upwardly or downwardly position.

Claims (10)

1. A padlock comprising a casing, an attachment member having an external hooked portion and an internal portion, which is integral with one end of the hooked portion and which is housed in a recess in the casing, means by which the attachment member, is selectively movable in opposite directions with respect to the recess and means by which the attachment member is selectively retainable in an inward and an outward position.

2. A padlock according to claim 1, wherein the internal portion of the attachment member includes a pair of spaced apart stop members for respectively retaining the attachment member in each of the inward and the outward positions.

3. A padlock according to claim 2, having a pair of resilient means for moving the attachment member in directions into and out of the recess.

4. A padlock according to claim 3, further housing a slidable member having an external press-button end and having a through-aperture for receiving a portion of the internal portion of the attachment member, and this portion is a spacing portion which is disposed between the hooked portion of the attachment member and the first stop member and at least on the other side of the slidabie member to the press-button has a smaller radius than the radius of the first stop portion, so as to allow the slidable member to be movable by the resilient means towards the press-button side on movement of the first stop portion out of the aperture in the slidable member and of the spacing portion into this aperture.

5. A padlock according to claim 4, wherein the recess is T-shaped and the internal portion of the attachment member is housed in the stem portion of the recess via a through aperture from the end face of the casing and the slidable member is housed in the cross-piece portion of the recess with the press-button end of the recess open.

6. A padlock according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the first and second stop portions of the internal portion of the attachment member are spaced apart by another spacing portion which, at least where adjacent a projection disposed in the side of the recess between the stop portions is of smaller radius than the radius of the stop portions adjacent the projection so that the spacing portion is movable past the projection whereas the stop portions are not movable past the projection and thus limit the movement of the internal portion of the attachment member in the directions into and out of the recess.

7. A padlock according to claim 5, wherein the resilient means comprise a pair of compression springs, with one spring disposed between the slidable member and the inner end of the crosspiece portion of the T-shaped recess and the other spring disposed between the second stop portion of the internal portion of the attachment member and a protrusion from the inner end of the stem portion of the recess.

8. A padlock according to claim 7, wherein the attachment member is pivotable about its end housed in the recess and the spacing portions of the internal portion of the attachment member are symmetrical.

9. A padlock according to any preceding claim further including a time-keeping mechanism and time display means.

10. A padlock according to the invention constructed and arranged substantially as herein described, with reference to the drawing.