IL187148A - Automatic mechanism for locking and opening of door - Google Patents

Description

187148/2 Automatic Mechanism for Locking and Opening of Door 187148/2 Description TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic mechanism for locking and opening of doors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Currently available door locks are based on a principle whereby the user inserts a key and turns it in the keyhole, and the key serves as a lever for activating the mechanism that locks or opens the bolts. The lock mechanism, subject of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "the lock mechanism" and/or "the mechanism") differs from similar known devices both in the special and advanced structure of the mechanism itself and of its parts and in the results of its operation.

Thus, for instance, the lock mechanism, subject of the present invention, enables automatic opening of the lock, whereby turning the key by as little as 10°-15° releases a safety catch and once the safety catch is released, the opening mechanism of the bolts functions automatically.

In addition, when the bolts are inserted into the jamb and reach their end point within the jamb, they rotate by 90°, thus offering additional protection against break-in.

In addition, the lock can be inserted into the body of the door from either the front or back of the door and not necessarily from the side of the door, thus leaving the frame of the door intact (except for holes required for the tongue and bolts), and without the long cutout in the side of the door through which the lock is customarily inserted into the body of the door, and which constitutes a point of weakness of the door, or in other words, a potential break-in point. 187148/2 THE FIGURES The Figures attached to the present application are not intended to limit the scope of the invention and the possible ways of its application. The Figures are intended only to illustrate the invention and constitute only one of many possible ways of its application.

Figures Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7: These Figures depict the lock, subject of the invention, including its main components, which include a main leading plate (1) at the bottom of which is a slot (5) on which the bolts (6) move. The bolts (6) move between guides (62) on the slot (5) using pin (61) causing the main leading plate (1) to move up or down. The main leading plate (1) is attached to rod (4) which is locked at the point at notch (41) on catch plate (3) of rod (4). The lock also includes a keyhole (7) with surrounding round part which when turned, causes the activating plate (8) to move, which in turn causes lever (9) to rotate so that its right-hand side rises and pushes the securing plate (10) upward, releasing the safety catch at point (110), which in turn enables the locking piece (11) to rotate due to the inward motion of the horizontal rod (12).

Figure No. 4: Figure No. 4 depicts the right-hand side of the horizontal rod (12), which is inserted into a cap (121). On the right-hand side of the rod, a spring (122) is compressed between the right-hand jamb and pin (123), which is attached to the horizontal rod (12). In addition, there is another spring (124) on the horizontal rod (12), which is compressed between pin (123) and the door at point (125). 187148/2 Figure No. 6: Figure No. 6 describes the way in which the bolt (6) rotates around its center axis upon reaching its end point within the jamb, when the door is locked. The bolt (6) includes a pin (63) that moves along slot (51) in the main leading plate (1) so that when it reaches the upper end (510) of the slot (51), the pin (63) rotates 90°, causing the bolt (6) to rotate as well. On the end of bolt (6) that is inserted into the jamb, is a pin (64), which serves to reinforce the locking of the bolt within the jamb.

Figure No. 8: Figure No. 8 presents a view of bolt (6) and all its components from the inside Figure No. 9 presents a view of the entire door from the inside, including the body of the lock and two additional sets of bolts (13). These sets function together with the bolts located in the body of the lock thanks to two rods (131) that connect them to the main leading plate (1).

Figure No. 10: Figure No. 10 depicts the body of the lock and the two rods (131) that are connected to the main leading plate (1).

THE INVENTION Terminology: "Closed door" - "Opened door" - "Locked door" - "Unlocked door". In order to create fluency in the wording of the present patent application, the term "Closed door" will refer to the state in which the door is shut (closed), regardless of whether it is locked (i.e. bolts are in the jamb) or unlocked (bolts are in the lock). The term "Opened door" will refer to the state in which the door is not closed. The term "Locked door" will describe the state in which the bolts are bolted into the jamb; whereas the term "Unlocked door" will refer to the state in which the bolts are in the lock. In addition, any time the directions "right" or "left" are mentioned, they will refer to the way the mechanism is depicted in the Figure. 187148/2 The present invention relates to a door lock mechanism. Figure No. 1 depicts the door and the lock mechanism in open position, in other words, the bolts are in the lock and not in the jamb and the door itself is open rather than shut.

The mechanism, as depicted in Figure No. 1, comprises a main leading plate (1) that can move up and down. The main leading plate (1) is made of metal or some other heavy material. The main leading plate (1) can descend by force of its own weight. When the main leading plate (1) is in "up" position, the door is unlocked, in other words, the bolts are in the lock. When the main leading plate (1) is in "down" position, the door is locked, in other words, the bolts are bolted into the jamb.

When the door is shut (closed), the lock mechanism is activated automatically according to the following chain of actions and reactions: When the door is shut and is in closed position, the main activating pin (2) is pushed to the right and into the lock due to its contact with the left-hand jamb. A small catch plate (3) is attached (and secured with a nut) to the inner end of the main activating pin (2), serving as a safety catch and preventing rod (4) from dropping. Rod (4) is permanently attached to the main leading plate (1). Rod (4) has a notch (41) in its bottom part, which leans on the catch plate (3), which serves as a safety catch, thus preventing rod (4) from dropping by force of its own weight and that of the main leading plate (1). When the main activating pin (2) is pushed inward, the catch plate (3) is released from the notch (41), causing the rod (4) and the main leading plate (1) to drop due to their own weights.

The bottom part of the main leading plate (1) has one or more slots (5) (the Figures show two slots) that serve as guides in which the bolts (6) slide from the lock into the jamb and back. The bolts (6) can move horizontally. When the main leading plate (1) moves from "up" to "down" position, it causes the bolts (6) to move from the lock out into the jamb due to the movement of pin (61) that 187148/2 connects the bolt (6) to the slot (5). In order to facilitate the movement of the bolts forward and backward, the bolts (6) are positioned between two guides (62). Thus, when the door is closed, the lock automatically locks the door by inserting the bolts (6) into the jamb. Figure No. 2 depicts the lock mechanism in closed position (locked door), in other words, the main leading plate (1) is in "down" position, the bolts (6) are in the jamb and the door is locked. Figure No. 1 depicts the lock mechanism in unlock door position.

In order to open the door and release the lock, a key is used, whose function is to release the catch plate (3), and thus causing a chain reaction that leads to the opening of the door, i.e. to a state in which the door is unlocked. Partial turning of the key in the keyhole by as little as 10°- 15° leads to movement of the activating plate (8) towards the jamb (to the left). When the activating plate (8) moves toward the jamb, protrusion (81), which is located on the bottom part of the activating plate (8), causes slight rotation of the lever (9), which is connected to the body of the lock by pin (91), which in turn serves as an axis for lever (9). When the left-hand side of lever (9) (as shown in the Figure no. 1) descends due to the leftward motion of protrusion (81) together with plate (8), then the right-hand side end (92) of lever (9) rises and causes the securing plate (10) to rise as well. The upward movement of the securing plate (10) following the swivel of lever (9) takes place because of the upper pin (102), which is connected to the securing plate (10) and is pushed upward by the right end (92) of the lever (9). The securing plate (10) serves as a safety catch by preventing the rotation of a locking piece (11), as explained below. A protruding lower pin (101) located at the bottom of the securing plate (10) is inserted into a notch (110) in the upper part of the locking piece (11). When the securing plate (10) rises together with pin (101), locking of notch (110) is released and the locking piece (11) rotates around axis (111), which connects it to the body of the lock. As a result of the pushing force of horizontal rod (12), the locking piece (11) rotates so that its bottom part moves to the left (as illustrated), towards the jamb. When the locking piece (11) rotates, its lower left-hand corner, in the form of protrusion (112), pushes the main leading plate (1) 187148/2 upwards by means of pin (Al) until the main leading plate (1) is in its "up" position (in other words, the door is unlocked) whereby it is secured by protrusion (112), which pushes pin (Al) upward, as mentioned above. When the door is opened, the main activating pin (2) is pushed outward (to the left) from the side of the door and the catch plate (3) locks the rod (4) so that the door is also unlocked. This locking, effected by the main activating pin (2) and the catch plate (3) that serves as a safety catch, enables the locking piece (11) to return to its place, as in the situation in which the door is locked. In other words, turning the key slightly causes the bolts (6) to return back into the body of the lock and causes the locking piece (11) to hold the main leading plate (1) in "up" position. Upon opening of the door, the main activating pin (2) and the catch plate (3) hold the main leading plate (1) in "up" position and enable the locking piece (11) to return to its place, as mentioned. When the locking piece (11) returns to its place, it is again locked by the securing plate (10), which drops due to pressure exerted by spring (103), which pushes it downward. Figure No. 3 depicts the state in which the locking piece (11) causes the main leading plate (1) to rise due to the contact with pin (Al).

The movement of the main activating pin (2) (to the left), out from the side of the door when it is opened, is caused by the compression force of spring (21).

The movement of the horizontal rod (12) into the lock (to the left) is caused due to pressure exerted by the horizontal rod (12), which is caused by force of the structure, as described below. Figure No. 4 depicts the right-hand part of the horizontal rod (12). The left-hand end of the horizontal rod (12) is attached to the locking piece (11) (not shown in Figure No. 4) and its right-hand part is loosely inserted into a cap (121) that protrudes toward the (right-hand) jamb through a hole in the side of the door. When the door is closed, cap (121) is pushed into the door (to the left) and compresses the spring (122) (with a force of about 25 kg). The movement of cap (121) to the left when the door is closed, does not cause the horizontal rod (12) to move since there is a gap between the right-hand end of the 187148/2 horizontal rod (12) and the inner end point of cap (121), so that only when the door is closed and the cap is pushed all the way toward the door, does the inner end of cap (121) touch the end of the horizontal rod (12). Spring (122) is compressed between the frame of the door and pin (123), which is attached to the horizontal rod (12). As a result, a force [the compression force of spring (122)] acts through the horizontal rod (12) on the locking piece (11), and when the safety catch of the locking piece (11) [at point (110)] is released, the horizontal rod (12) is pushed to the left and causes the locking piece (11) to rotate, as described above. To complete the pictures, it should be mentioned that when the horizontal rod (12) is pushed to the left, spring (124), which is wound around the horizontal rod (12), is compressed between pin (123) and point (125), which is fixed to the door. Spring (124) is weaker than spring (122). When the door opens, spring (124) causes the horizontal rod (12) to move to the right and causes the locking piece (11) to rotate back. As a result, the locking piece (11) no longer holds the main leading plate (1) in "up" position, although the main plate remains in "up" position because opening of the door activates the main activating pin's (2) safety catch at point where the catch plate (3) is positioned, as described above. Hence, opening of the door transfers the burden of holding the main leading plate (1) in "up" position from the locking piece (11) to the catch plate (3) of the main activating pin (2).

Figure No. 5 helps understand and clarify the way in which turning the key in the keyhole by only several degrees (10°-15°) causes the above-described chain reaction. The round piece (7) (which is the keyhole), into which the key is inserted, includes a protruding pin (71). When piece (7) is turned slightly, pin (71) moves pin (82), which is connected to the activating plate (8), to the left and causes it to move left and lever (9) to swivel, as explained above. 187148/2 The main leading plate (1) has a protruding pin (B l) whereby, when the bolt (6) is bolted into the jamb, pin (B l) blocks the bolt (6) and prevents it from moving backward, thus reinforcing the locking, as depicted in Figure No. 2.

The structure of the lock, subject of the present invention, causes the bolts (6) to turn by 90° upon reaching their end point within the jamb. Figure No. 6 depicts the lock from the opposite side relative to the other Figures, i.e. the bolts in Figure No. 6 move left into the jamb. Bolt (6) is depicted with the door in unlocked position (Figure No. 6 shows two bolts; the jamb is not illustrated here). As mentioned, bolt (6) can move horizontally between the guides (62), while moving along slot (5) using pin (61). The main plate (1) has another slot (51) (one or more, according to the number of bolts), in which pin (63), which is attached to pin (6), can move. When the main leading plate (1) drops, the bolt (6) moves to the right, along slot (5) and penetrates the jamb. At the same time, pin (63) moves along slot (51) and when it reaches the upper end (510) of slot (51), pin (63) rotates downward and causes bolt (6) to rotate around its center-inner axis at a 90° angle. As a result of this rotation motion, pin (64), which protrudes at the end of pin (6) and which is shown in the Figure in vertical position, rotates together with the pin and becomes horizontal. Pin (64) provides additional locking and reinforces the locking of the lock. Obviously, the hole in the jamb into which the bolt penetrates is oval or round, with two notches (one at the top of the circle and the other on the bottom). The notches enable pin (6) to penetrate together with pin (64), and when it reaches the end point within the jamb, pin (6) rotates around its inner axis as mentioned, and pin (64) is locked into an internal notch in the jamb. We wish to stress the point that the fact that the pin 63 located relatively in distance from the end point within the jamb gives the pin 63 more power (momentum) to rotate more easily the pin 6 around its center- inner axis. In addition, the fact that the rotation around its center-inner axis of pin 6 caused by the clash of pin 63 with the end 510 causes to a immediate rotation rather than gradually. 187148/2 Figures Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 depict the main components of the lock mechanism, which include the main leading plate (1), the slot (5) and the bolts (6). The bolts (6) move between guides (62) on the slot (5) using pin (61) causing the main leading plate (1) to move up or down. The main leading plate (1) is attached to the rod (4) which is locked at the point of notch (41) on the catch plate (3), which serves as a safety catch, of rod (4). The lock mechanism also includes a keyhole (7) with surrounding round part which when turned, causes the activating plate (8) to move, which in turn causes lever (9) to rotate so that its right-hand side rises and pushes the securing plate (10) upward, releasing the safety catch at point (110), which in turn enables the locking piece (11) to rotate due to the inward motion of the horizontal rod (12).

Figure No. 4 depicts the right-hand side of the horizontal rod (12), which is inserted into a cap (121). On the right-hand side of the horizontal rod (12), a spring (122) is compressed between the right-hand jamb and pin (123), which is attached to the horizontal rod (12). In addition, there is another spring (124) on the horizontal rod (12), which is compressed between pin (123) and the door at point (125).

Figure No. 6 describes the way in which the bolt (6) rotates around its center axis upon reaching its end point within the jamb, when the door is locked. The bolt (6) includes a pin (63) that moves along slot (51) in the main plate (1) so that when it reaches the upper end (510) of the slot (51), the pin (63) rotates 90°, causing the bolt (6) to rotate as well. On the end of bolt (6) that is inserted into the jamb, is a pin (64), which serves to reinforce the locking of the bolt within the jamb.

Figure No. 8 presents a cross-section view of the bolt (6) and its components.

Claims (1)

187148/3 Claims

1. An automatic locking and unlocking mechanism that comprises the following components: a main leading plate, a main activating pin, a catch plate, a rod, one or more bolts, one or more slots, an activating plate with a protrusion, a lever with a pin, a securing plate with an upper pin and a lower pin, a locking piece with an axis and a protrusion, and a horizontal rod; whereby the main leading plate can move down by force of its own weight; whereby when the main leading plate is in "up" position, the door is unlocked and the bolts are in the lock and when the main leading plate is in "down" position, the door is locked and the bolts are bolted into the jamb; whereby the main activating pin is fixed in the lock so that one end protrudes from the lock toward the jamb and the other end is attached to the catch plate; whereby a rod is permanently attached to the main leading plate and has a notch at its bottom end; whereby the activating plate has a protrusion and can move horizontally at the turn of the key; whereby the lever is attached to the lock by means of a pin so that the ends of the lever can move up and down; whereby the securing plate has an upper pin and a lower pin and can move up and down; whereby the locking piece is attached to the lock by means of an axis and has a protrusion on the bottom; whereby one end of the horizontal rod is attached to the locking piece and the other end protrudes towards the rear jamb;