GB2467329A

GB2467329A - Door lock having two locking bolts driven simultaneously in opposite directions

Info

Publication number: GB2467329A
Application number: GB0901460A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Sean Jones
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-01-29
Filing date: 2009-01-29
Publication date: 2010-08-04
Also published as: GB201112533D0; GB2479102B; WO2010086661A2; GB2479102A; WO2010086661A3; GB0901460D0

Abstract

A door arrangement including a door and a locking handle, the locking handle being movable to drive an upper and lower locking member simultaneously in opposite directions between a locking position and an unlocking position. The upper and lower locking member are preferably shootbolts projecting from the top and bottom of the door; each bolt being connected to a drive bar having a toothed rack 48, 50, which is engaged by a fixed axle gear wheel 56. A sliding handle is preferably fixedly mounted to one drive bar such that downward movement of the handle moves the this drive bar and simultaneously moves the second drive bar due to rotation of the pinion 56 engaging both toothed racks of the drive rods. The locking arrangement is preferably mounted to a glass door having a full length hollow tube which can be gripped as the door handle; the elongate hollow handle is slidably mounted to the door for operating the drive mechanism which is mounted within the hollow tubular handle. A resistance means may be mounted within the handle to resist movement of the handle from one position to the other and thus provide bi-stable position in locked and unlocked positions.

Description

Door Locks The present invention relates to a door arrangement including a door and a locking handle, a method of operating a door arrangement and a method of converting a door into a door arrangement.

During out of office hours it is necessary for Automatic Money Transfer machines in banks to be filled up. This is done by an operative entering the bank, opening secure cases that they carry and depositing the contents of the case in the ATM. This has to be done repeatedly and possibly 20 times for instance in a large bank. Each time that the person enters the bank they are required to lock the door at the top, bottom and middle. Frequently operators forget or do not bother to bend down to lock the bottom and reach up to lock the top. When the top and bottom are not locked the premises are vulnerable and robbers will use a sledge hammer to break the middle lock by hitting the door at an upper or lower level. The operative then jumps over the counter and puts the shutters up leaving the money for the robber.

It is an object of the present invention to attempt to overcome at least one of the above or other disadvantages.

The present invention is defined in the claims and elsewhere in this specification.

The present invention can be carried into practice in various ways but one embodiment will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view through the lower part of a door; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of a middle region of the door; Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 of an upper part of the door, and Figure 4 is a section through a lock driving mechanism.

As seen in the figures the door comprises a sheet of glass 10 held in top and bottom rails 12 and 14. The door is mounted above a threshold 16 with the footpath 18 being on the outside of the door and carpet 20 on the inside. The door may move about a remote vertical pivot such that the part of the door shown in the figure can move in an arc over the pavement 18 or over the carpet 20 or both. Alternatively the door may be slidably mounted. Two doors may be provided with the free ends of each door meeting or being adjacent to each other in the closed position. For convenience, only the free end of one door will now be described. It will be appreciated that the other door may also operate in the same way.

The doors can be opened and closed automatically. Alternatively a handle 22 on the inside of the door can be used to open or close the door.

The handle 22 is spaced from the door and with the longitudinal axis being parallel to the plane of the door.

Top and bottom door brackets 24 and 26 are connected to the top and bottom rails 14 and 16 and extend away from the rails. The handle 22 extends between the door brackets 24 and 26.

In the normal hours of the bank the handle is able to be used in a conventional manner.

When the doors are required to be locked, such as when an operative is loading money in to an ATM inside the bank, the door can be locked. This locking is effected by causing locking bolts 28 and 30 that are connected to the handle to extend through an opening in a bracket 32 at the top and a socket 34 at the bottom. The bracket 32 is connected to a lintel 36 above the door. The socket 34 may comprise a metal socket sunk into a wooden or concrete floor.

Alternatively or additionally the socket may include a member with an opening that is welded to an existing threshold which member extends inwardly from the threshold.

The movement of the bolts between the locked and the unlocked positions will now be described.

The handle 22 is slidably mounted in sockets at the top and bottom about a fixed post 37 or on stub axles (not shown) that extend a short distance from a base 40 and a collar 44. The bottom socket is formed in a spacer 38 mounted on the bottom door bracket that supports the base 40. The top socket is formed in a spacer 42 mounted on the top door bracket 24 with a collar 44 being located at the base of that spacer. The handle is shorter than the ends of the sockets. Upwards movement of the handle 22 may be restricted by abutment with the top bracket 24 and downwards movement may be resisted by abutment with the bottom bracket 26. The fixed post 37 is fast with the base 40 and the collar 44 but for ease of understanding the fixed post is not shown in Figures 1 to 3.

When the bolts 28 and 30 are retracted from the sockets the handle will be in abutment with the top bracket 24 or close thereto. The handle is able to be retained in that position by a spring mounted ball seated in the collar 44 being biased into a recess or groove in the outer surface of the handle. This arrangement is not shown in the drawings. In order to cause both locking bolts to move into the sockets the handle is slid downwardly by 40 mm towards the lower bracket 26, in a straight linear direction, overcoming the retaining effect of the ball and groove. Downwards movement of the handle can be limited by abutment of the handle with the lower bracket 26 or by abutment of the lower locking bolt with the bottom of the socket.

In order to retract the locking bolts 28 and 30 from the sockets, the handle is slid upwardly until the handle abuts the top bracket or the ball reenters the groove in the handle.

The mechanism for locking and unlocking the door caused by the movement of the handle will now be described. The handle 22 comprises a hollow stainless steel tube having a round cross-section.

The handle is connected to the lower locking bolt 30 by a fixing 46 that extends through the tube of the handle and fastens the bolt 30 to the handle. A first toothed rack 48 is connected to the upper end of the locking bolt by a fastener 50 with the toothed rack 48 extending upwardly from the lower locking bolt 30.

A second toothed rack 52 is connected to the lower end of a threaded rod 54, the upper end of which rod 54 is connected to the upper locking bolt 28.

The first and second toothed racks 48 and 52 both cooperate with the opposite sides of splined cogs 56 at two spaced elongate locations. The operation of each cog 56 and the toothed racks are the same at each location. As seen in Figure 4 the toothed rod 48 cooperates with the cog 56 on one side with the toothed rack 52 cooperating with the cog on the other side. The cog is rotatably mounted on bearings 58 on either side. The bearings 58 and therefore the cogs 56 are fixed in their elongate extent by being fast with the fixed post 37.

As seen in Figure 4 the bearings 58 are retained in an enclosure 60 which may comprise a plastic moulding or aluminium body that holds the bearings and provides a vertical guide for each of the toothed rails. Alternatively the enclosure may comprise a stainless steel framework that again holds the bearings 58 in place and also provides a guide for the toothed rails. The enclosure may extend from within the collar 44 to the base 40 and may be immovable relative to the collar and base with the handle sliding on the enclosure 60.

Locking is achieved by downwards movement of the handle 22 with that movement causing the first toothed rail 48 to move downwardly thereby causing the lower locking bolt 30 to enter the socket. The movement of the first toothed rail 48 causes the cog 56 to rotate thereby causing the second toothed rail 52 to move upwardly to cause the locking bolt 28 to move upwardly through the socket in the bracket 32. Unlocking is a reversal of the above described sequence and is effected by moving the handle upwardly.

With such a door and handle arrangement an operative can unlock a central lock (not shown), enter the bank, close the doors and then lock the door at the top and bottom by the single act of pushing the handle down at a mid portion of the handle. When leaving the premises the handle is pushed upwardly to release the locks at the top and bottom and then locking the doors from the outside.

It will be appreciated that existing doors could be retro fitted with the handle arrangement and locking bolts as described above and as shown in the drawings.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A door arrangement including a door and a locking handle, the locking handle being movable in one of an upwards or downwards direction to cause, in use, an upper locking member to move upwardly into a locking position and a lower locking member to move downwardly into a locking position with movement of the locking handle in the other of the upwards or downwards direction being arranged, in use, to move the upper locking member downwardly away from the locking position and the lower locking member upwardly away from the locking position.
2. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 1 in which the handle is arranged to be moved in a linear direction in the upwards or downwards direction when moving the locking member.
3. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 2 in which the linear direction is straight.
4. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the handle is arranged to be slid in the upwards or downwards direction when moving the locking member.
5. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding in which each locking member is constrained to move with a driving member when moving to and from the locking position.
6. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 5 in which each driving member cooperates with a mechanism whereby, in use, when one driving member is moved upwardly the other driving member is caused to be moved downwardly and vice versa.
7. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 6 in which the mechanism includes a gear with one driving member meshing with the gear on one side of the gears' rotational axis and the other driving member meshing with the gear on the other side of the rotational axis.
8. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 7 in which the gear is constrained from moving upwardly or downwardly.
9. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the handle is a hollow member.
10. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the handle extends to a top and bottom region of the door.
11. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 7 or any preceding claim when dependent on Claim 7 wherein the mechanism is located in the handle.
12. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 11 in which the mechanism is mounted in an assembly arranged to be inserted into the handle.
13. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 12 in which the assembly extends from a top region of the door to a bottom region.
14. A door arrangement as claimed in Claim 7 or any claim when dependent on Claim 7 including a pair of mechanisms spaced from each other with both driving members being arranged to cooperate with both mechanisms.
15. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the handle is connected to the door and is spaced from the door.
16. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which both the upper and lower locking members are spaced from the door.
17. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the lower locking member is arranged to engage with a socket located in the ground.
18. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which the handle, in use, is located on the inside of a door, the other side of the door facing the outside of a building.
19. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim in which movement of the handle in a downwards direction is arranged to cause the locking members to move into a locking position.
20. A door arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim including a resistance arrangement arranged, in use, to resist movement of the handle from one end position the resistance of which has to be overcome in order to move the handle way from that end position.
21. A method of operating a door arrangement including a door and a locking handle the method comprising moving a handle in one of an upwards or downwards direction to cause an upper locking member to move upwardly into a locking position and a lower locking member to move downwardly into a locking position and moving the locking handle in the other of the upwards or downwards direction to cause the locking members to move away from their locking positions.
22. A method as claimed in Claim 21 when operating a door as claimed in any of Claims 1 to2O.
23. A method of converting a door to include a door arrangement as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 20 comprising connecting a locking handle and lower and upper locking members to a door.