IL253338B1 - A door opening mechanism - Google Patents

Description

17911 A DOOR OPENING MECHANISM TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of door opening and locking devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mechanism for opening an electrical lock by purely mechanical means, thereby enabling its use by religious Jewish people on Shabbat (Saturday) and Jewish holidays.

BACKGROUND ART The term "electrical lock" refers herein to a lock that employs electricity, and as such is forbidden for use by the Jewish religion on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

Presently, the use of electrical locks is very common in hotels and condominiums. However, for Jewish religious people such locks are an obstacle since according to the Jewish religion regulations, use of electrical devices during Shabbat (Saturday) and other Jewish holidays is forbidden.

In order to overcome this obstacle Jewish religious institutes avoid using electrical locks. However, when it comes to hotels, they prefer to look modern and as such, employ electrical locks, presenting their Jewish religious guests with a problem they must resolve. Accordingly, religious Jewish people avoid staying in such hotels during Shabbat, which of course causes loss of income. Those who cannot avoid staying 17911 on Shabbat resort to such solutions as leaving the door slightly open, thereby making their room highly vulnerable to theft.

They may also put one of the family's members on "guard duty", which is inconvenient.

As such, there is a long felt need of a satisfactory solution to the problem of unlocking an electrical lock by purely mechanical means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds. 17911 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The term "purely-mechanical means" refer herein (in description and claims) to mechanical means operable without electricity.

A purely-mechanical opening mechanism of a door (12) locked by an electrical lock (10) having a handle (18) disposed at an inner side (12i) of the door, the mechanism comprising: a wire (26), connected at one end thereof to the handle (18), passes through an anchoring element (30) disposed under the handle (18), and continues to an outer side of the door (12o) where the wire is disposed in a box (20) openable by a purely- mechanical combination lock (28), such that by pulling the wire (26) from an outer side of the door, the wire (26) is pulling the handle (18) down, thereby (a) allowing opening the electrical lock (10) by purely-mechanical means, for complying with Jewish religion regulations for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and (b) allowing only users that know a code of the combination lock (28) to open the door by pulling the wire (26).

According to one embodiment of the invention, the anchoring element (30) is disposed underneath the door (12).

The anchoring element (30) may also be a hole in the door (12), underneath the handle (18). 17911 Preferably, the wire (26) comprises a grip at the end thereof disposed at the outer side of the door, thereby providing easy pulling of the wire.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the purely-mechanical opening mechanism and the electrical lock (10) are designed as a single device, thereby providing easy installation of the purely-mechanical opening mechanism.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the wire has limited elasticity.

The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. 17911 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Preferred embodiments, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings: Fig. 1 pictorially illustrates an outer side of a door employing an electrical lock 10, according to the prior art.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate a door in which is installed a DOM from the outer side thereof.

Fig. 3 illustrates the door of Fig. 2 from the outer side of the door, including a zoomed view of the DOM thereof.

Fig. 4 illustrates the door of Figs. 2 and 3 from its inner side.

Fig. 5 illustrates the door of Fig. 2 in an open state thereof.

Fig. 6 pictorially illustrates an outer side of a door in which is installed a DOM, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 pictorially illustrates the inner side of the door of Fig 6.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 17911 DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments ("best mode"), which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting.

For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail.

Reference numeral 12i refers herein to the inner side of door 12 (i.e., the side of the room), and reference numeral 12o refers to the outer side of the door.

Fig. 1 pictorially illustrates an outer side of a door employing an electrical lock 10, according to the prior art.

From the outer side of the door (marked as 12o), the electrical lock 10 comprises a handle 14, and a slot 16. When the lock is in a locked state, the handle cannot open the lock.

In order to enable the handle to open the lock, a user must insert a code card 22 in slot 16 of the lock. The code of the card must be readable by the electrical lock mechanism 10. Thus, upon inserting the code card 22 into slot 16, the lock 10 reads the card's code, and if the code corresponds to the expected one, for a time period of a few seconds the lock enables the handle 14 to open the lock by pulling its handle. 17911 Since this mechanism involves a use of electric power, religious Jewish people avoid using it during Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

While from the outer side of the door the electrical lock can be opened only by inserting a code card 22 in slot 16, the lock is designed to be opened from the inner side of the door simply by pulling down the inner handle 18. This operation does not involve electricity.

The acronym DOM refers herein to a Door Opening Mechanism. A DOM is purely based on mechanical means, and uses no electrical power.

Each of Figs. 2 to 5 pictorially illustrates a door in which is installed a DOM (door opening mechanism), according to one embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the door from the outer side thereof, and Fig. 3 illustrates the door from the inner side thereof. Fig. 4 illustrates the door from its inner side. And Fig. illustrates the door in its open state. Fig. 2 also includes a zoomed view on a DOM as seen from the outer side of the door.

The DOM uses a wire 26 which passes from the outer side of the door, under the door, to the inner side of the door.

At the inner side of the door the wire 26 is connected to the inner handle 18 of the door. By pulling the end of wire 26 which is disposed at the outer side of the door, the inner 17911 handle 18 is pulled down, thereby opening the lock from the inner side of the door, from which no code card is required.

Thus, by using a simple mechanism such as a wire 26, which is connected to the door's handle 18 at the inner side of the door, and is reachable from the outer side of the door, one can open a door locked by electrical mechanism without employing electricity.

In order to prevent opening of the door by an unauthorized person, the end of the wire 26 at the outer side of the door is disposed in a box 20 locked by a combination lock 28. A combination lock is a purely-mechanical lock which opens upon providing a "secret" code such as a numeral code.

The provision may be carried out, for example, by a numerical keypad, a knob (such as in safe), and the like.

The combination lock has to be purely mechanical in order to be used by Jewish religious people at Shabbat and on Jewish holidays during which use of electricity is forbidden.

Upon opening box 20, the end of the wire 26 is revealed, thereby enabling a user to pull it and as a result to open the door. The end of the wire may comprise a handle, a loop, and the like, for facilitating the pulling operation.

After opening the door 12 by pulling wire 26, the user locks back the combination lock 28, thereby preventing unauthorized persons from opening the combination lock and the door. 17911 Reference numeral 24 denotes herein a tube and the like, for preventing access to the part of the wire which is exposed from the outer side of the door.

Reference numeral 30 is an anchoring element underneath the inner side of the handle 18. It may employ a pulley which facilitates the wire passage upon pulling thereof.

In Fig. 4 the anchoring element is the bottom side of the door.

Of course, a pulley or even a metal element may diminish the friction between the wire and the door.

It should be noted that instead of passing wire 26 underneath the door 12, a bore can be drilled in the door under handle 14, through which wire 26 is passed to the other side of the door. In this way a user need not bend his back in order to reach the combination lock and the combination lock 28.

Actually, the illustrated example in Figs. 2 to 5 is a simplified example which intends to facilitate the understanding of the invention. Further embodiments may be in a form of a single device comprising an electronic lock along with the DOM of the present invention, which can be installed in a door as one piece.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the wire has limited elasticity, thereby allowing the wire to be normally tensed, and as a result it does not outstand from the box 20. However, when a user pulls the wire, after it elongates 17911 a limited length, it pulls the inner handle 18 down, and allows opening the door.

Fig. 6 pictorially illustrates an outer side of a door in which is installed a DOM, according to one embodiment of the invention. And Fig. 7 pictorially illustrates the inner side thereof.

According to this embodiment of the invention, the box of the DOM is installed underneath the handle 14 of the electrical lock 10, thereby removing the need of a tube for concealing the wire of the DOM. In this case, a bore must be drilled from the inner side of the box, through the door, to the inner side of the door. The bore is actually the anchoring element 30.

In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals (Reference Signs List) have been mentioned: - numeral 10 denotes a door lock, which uses electricity; - numeral 12 denotes a door; - numeral 12i denotes an inner side of the door 12; - numeral 12o denotes an outer side of the door 12; - numeral 14 denotes a handle disposed at the outer side of the door 12; - numeral 16 denotes a slot into which a code card must be inserted in order to open a door; 17911 - numeral 18 denotes a handle disposed at the inner side of the door 12; - numeral 20 denotes a box locked by a combination lock 28; - numeral 22 denotes a code card; - numeral 24 denotes a tube and the like for preventing access to the wire 26; - numeral 26 denotes a wire (strap, cable, and the like); - numeral 28 denotes a combination lock; and - numeral 30 denotes an anchoring element disposed under the inner handle 18.

In the description herein, the following references have been mentioned: The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.

Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should to be interpreted according to this definition.

The reference numbers in the claims are not a part of the claims, but rather used for facilitating the reading thereof.

These reference numbers should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form.

Claims (6)

17911 - 12 - CLAIMS

1. A purely-mechanical opening mechanism of a door (12) locked by an electrical lock (10) having a handle (18) disposed at an inner side (12i) of said door, said mechanism comprising: a wire (26), connected at one end thereof to said handle (18), said wire passes through an anchoring element (30) disposed under said handle (18), and continues to an outer side of said door (12o) where said wire is disposed in a box (20) openable by a purely- mechanical combination lock (28), such that by pulling said wire (26) from an outer side of said door, said wire (26) is pulling said handle (18) down, thereby (a) allowing opening said electrical lock (10) by purely-mechanical means, for complying with Jewish religious regulations for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and (b) allowing only users that know a code of said combination lock (28) to open said door by pulling said wire (26).

2. The purely-mechanical opening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said anchoring element (30) is disposed underneath said door (12).

3. The purely-mechanical opening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said anchoring element (30) is a hole in said door (12), underneath said handle (18). 17911 - 13 -

4. The purely-mechanical opening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said wire (26) comprises a grip at the end thereof which is disposed at the outer side (12o) of said 5 door, thereby providing easy pulling of the wire.

5. The purely-mechanical opening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said purely-mechanical opening mechanism and said electrical lock (10) are designed as a 10 single device, thereby providing easy installation of said mechanism.

6. The purely-mechanical opening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said wire has limited elasticity. ןבואר ןמרב ךריע םיטגטפ .*ז.מ 228