GB2245643A

GB2245643A - Barrel lock assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2245643A
Application number: GB9114058A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Williams; Ken Murphy
Original assignee: WEST ALLOY DIECASTINGS
Current assignee: WEST ALLOY DIECASTINGS
Priority date: 1990-07-02
Filing date: 1991-06-28
Publication date: 1992-01-08
Anticipated expiration: 2011-06-28
Also published as: GB2245643B; GB9114058D0

Abstract

In a barrel lock assembly one component such as a lock barrel (2) has an abutment face 2(d) and another component such as a barrel lock housing (3) carries spring means 3(a) provided with a retainer surface (3d). During assembly involving axial movement of the lock barrel within the housing the spring means is deformed and thereafter urges the retainer surface (3d) to confront the abutment face (2d) to prevent subsequent separation of the components. The surface (2d) is the wall of a circumferential groove (2a) in the barrel, and the spring means has a finger with a surface (3d), the finger locating in the groove when the barrel is pushed home. <IMAGE>

Description

Barrel Lock Assemblv This invention relates to a lock assembly of a lock barrel and barrel lock housing and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a lock assembly of a kind in which a barrel lock housing serves as or hes associated therewith a component for fitting to support structure such as a door or frame with the lock barrel being rotatable within the housing.

In a barrel lock housing in which a lock barrel is rotatably located within a barrel lock housing it is necessary usually to provide means for preventing relative axial movement of the lock and housing Commonly this is achieved by providing an annular groove in an outer cylindrical face of the lock barrel or an inner cylindrical face of the housing and positioning a circlip in that groove to prevent relative axial movement in one direction; relative axial movement in the opposite direction is prevented by means of a shoulder machined on one of the lock barrel and housing to provide an axial abutment face for the other of the housing and lock barrel respectively.

To provide a lock assembly in which the lock barrel and housing are axially restrained either the lock and housing may be assembled prior to installation on a door or frame, or the housing may be fitted to a door or frame and the lock barrel may then be inserted from one, usually the external, face of a door or frame. A circlip or like retention device is then fitted from the other face.

Assembly of the lock barrel after fitting the housing to the door or frame is less convenient because of the need for access to both faces of the door or''frame, but is necessary if it is wished to delay a decision concerning the combination of key and lock barrel to be used until after the housing has been installed.

The present invention seeks to provide, in accordance with one of its aspects, an improved barrel lock assembly of a kind in which a lock barrel may be fitted to a housing in a first face of a support structure and to be restrained from relative axial movement without a need for access to a second face of the support structure.

In accordance with one of its aspects the present invention provides a barrel lock assembly comprising a lock barrel and a barrel lock housing having an axially extending passage to receive said lock barrel, at least one of said lock barrel and housing having an abutment face and the other having spring means, and a retainer surface associated with said spring means whereby that during axial movement of the lock barrel within the housing the spring means is deformed and thereafter urges the retainer surface to a position in which it confronts said abutment face thereby to restrain relative axial movement of the lock barrel and housing in at least one axial direction.

The spring means may be arranged to provide a snap-fit form of assembly of the lock barrel within the housing, and the spring means may be arranged to adopt a relaxed condition in the final assembly of the lock barrel and housing.

The spring means may be of a metallic material such as spring steel or it may be of a flexible and elastically deformable material such as plastics. It may be formed of the same material, e.g. a plastics material, as that used to form the or a part of the housing or lock barrel and may be integral therewith.

In accordance with another of its aspects the present invention provides a lock barrel assembly comprising two components one of which is formed integrally with an elastically deformable spring means of a kind which provides a retainer surface and the other of which has an abutment face, the retainer surface and abutment face being arranged to lie in a confronting relationship in an assembled condition of the components thereby to restrain relative movement of those components in at least an axial direction.

The integral spring means may be of plastics material forming at least p part of one of the lock components.

The retainer surface may be a surface, such as an end or edge surface, of the deformable material of the spring means or it may be the surface of a member secured to or formed integrally with that deformable material.

The spring means preferably comprises a plurality of finger-like elastically deformable elements arranged to extend substantially parallel with said axial direction. The free end of a finger-like element may comprise a head portion having a face which lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to said axial direction.

The abutment face may be provided by a side wall of a groove or shoulder in one of the confronting surfaces of a lock barrel and housing.

Usually the lock barrel is required to be rotatable within the housing in which case the abutment face may be a substantially circumferentially continuous surface.

Embodiments of the present invention will now, be described,. by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a barrel lock assembly and part of a door in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on the plane II - II of Figure 1 and showing a part assembled condition prior to fitting of the lock barrel; Figure 3 corresponds to that of Figure 2 but with the lock barrel shown almost fully inserted; Figure 4 corresponds to that of Figure 2 but with the lock barrel shown fully inserted, and Figure 5 is an exploded sectional view of part of the assembly of Figure 4.

A barrel lock assembly 10 of a kind suitable for a use as a baggage door type of lock comprises a barrel lock housing 3 and a fixing plate 4 securable respectively to external and internal sides of a support structure comprised by part of a door 8.

The barrel lock housing 3 is formed with a cylindrical passage 12 for housing a lock barrel 2 the main body portion of which has a cylindrical outer surface and is adapted for fitting closely and rotatably within the passage.

The internal fixing plate 4 is formed with a cylindrical collar 4a from which a flange 4b extends radially inwards to provide an abutment for captive engagement of the end bush portion 5b of a cam arm 5. A spacer ring 6 lies between the flange 4b and an outwardly extending flange of the bush portion 5L and the resulting assembly, when in situ against a door face 8 allows rotation of the cam arm 5 but restricts axial movement.

The cam arm fixing plate 4 is provided with a pair of screw apertures 13 at positions aligned with a pair of location sleeves 14 which extend from the housing 3 to lie spaced from but parallel with axis of cylindrical passage 12.

The door 8 is formed with three holes before fitting the housing 3 and plate 4. One of the holes 15, the largest, is of a size sufficient to accommodate a main body portion 16 of the housing 3 and which body portion defines the lock barrel passage 12. The other two holes 17 lie equally spaced from the hole 15 at diametrically opposite positions and are sized and positioned to accommodate the location sleeves 14.

The housing 3 and internal plate 4 are secured to the door 11 by positioning the sleeves 14 in the holes 17 and then aligning the holes 13 of the plate 3 with the sleeves 14, the cam arm 5 and spacer washer 6 being arranged to lie captive against the face 8a of the door. Screws 7 are then fitted through the holes 13 to engage with the sleeves 14.

The subsequent location and retention of the lock barrel 2 is made possible by provision of elastically deformable retention fingers 3a which extend axially from that end of the lock barrel passage 12 opposite the external end 19 of that passage and in a direction away from that external end. The passage is formed with six of the retention fingers 3a which are uniformly circumferentially spaced about the longitudinal axis of the passage and are formed integrally with the plastics material thereof.

Each retention finger 3a has at its free end a radially inwardly directed head portion 3e having an axially outermost face 3d which lies in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the passage 12 and an inclined face 3b which faces inwardly towards the centre of the passage 12.

The retention fingers 3a are positioned and dimensioned whereby in the assembled lock the head portions 3t lie within an annular, circumferentially continuous groove 2a. The groove 2e is of rectangular cross-section as best seen from Figure 5 and the end portion 2c of the barrel body 2 defines a groove side wall 2d which confronts the axially outermost faces 3d of the finger head portions when in the finally assembled condition.

To form the completed assembly of Figure 4 from the part assembly of Figure 2 the lock blade 2b of the lock barrel and the slot Sa provided in the cam arm 5 to receive that blade are aligned. The lock barrel and including the key 1, is then pushed gently into the passage 12, and when nearly fully inserted the leading end portion 2c of the barrel body engages the inclined faces 3b of the fingers to result in the fingers being deflected outwardly (see Figure 3). Subsequently, when the lock barrel is fully inserted the inherent elasticity of the plastics material of the fingers results in them relaxing radially inwardly to a configuration in which the head portions 3 lie in the barrel groove 2a (see Figures 4 and 5).

In this fully assembled condition the outermost faces 3d of the fingers confront the groove side wall 2d thereby to prevent subsequent movement of the barrel outwardly from the passage 12. Inward movement of the barrel is prevented by engagement between a barrel shoulder portion 20 and a shoulder 21 lying in the passage 12 inwards of the external end 19.

Although in this embodiment the barrel groove 2a is engaged by fingers 3a associated with the housing 16, it will be appreciated that in an alternative arrangement the fingers may for example extend from the cam arm 5.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A barrel lock assembly comprising a lock barrel and a barrel lock housing having an axially extending passage to receive said lock barrel, at least one of said lock barrel and housing having an abutment face and the other having spring means, and a retainer surface associated with said spring means whereby during axial movement of the lock barrel within the housing the spring means is deformed and thereafter urges the retainer surface to a position in which it confronts said abutment face thereby to restrain relative axial movement of the lock barrel and housing in at least one axial direction.

2. An assembly according to Claim 1 wherein the spring means is arranged to provide a snap-fit assembly of the lock barrel within the housing.

3. An assembly according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the spring means is arranged to adopt a relaxed condition in the final assembly of the lock barrel and housing.

4. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the spring means comprises flexible and elastically deformable material.

5. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the spring means is formed of the same material as that used to form at least a part of the housing or lock barrel.

6. An assembly according to Claim 5 wherein the spring means is integral with the housing or lock barrel.

7. A lock barrel assembly comprising two components one of which is formed integrally with an elastically deformable spring means of a kind which provides a retainer surface and the other of which has an abutment face, the retainer surface and abutment face being arranged to lie in a confronting relationship in an assembled condition of the components thereby to restrain relative movement of those components in at least an axial direction.

8. An assembly according to Claim 7 wherein the integral spring means is formed of a plastics material which also forms at least a part of one of the lock components.

9. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the retainer surface is a surface of the deformable material of the spring means.

10. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the spring means comprises a plurality of finger-like elastically deformable elements arranged to extend substantially parallel with said axial direct ion.

11. An assembly according to Claim 10 wherein the free end of a fingerlike element comprises a head portion having a face which lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to said axial direction.

12. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the abutment face is provided by a sidewall of a groove or shoulder in one of the confronting surfaces of a lock barrel and housing.

13. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the abutment face is a substantially circumferentially continuous surface.

14. A barrel lock assembly according to Claim 1 and constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.