NZ205412A - Multiple bolt lock and electrically-energisable striker with multiple apertured alignable keeper - Google Patents

Description

2 05 Pilnrity Date(s): Complete Specification Filed: Publication Date: 3.

P.O. Journal, No: NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, J 953 No.: Date: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION LOCKS )t/We, Chubb Security Installations Limited a British Company of 51 Whitfield Street London WlP 6AA, England hereby declare the invention for which/ we pray that a patent may be granted to job^us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- 205412 This invention relates to locks.

Where passage through a doorway into offices or other premises is to be controlled remotely it is common to utilize 5 a conventional key-operated or latching lock-mechanism on the door to engage its bolt within an electrically-releasable striker box on the door frame. Such box either pivots as a •whole, or has as one of its sides a flap that pivots, under control of a solenoid mounted in the door frame. The bolt of 10 the lock mechanism is retained by the striker box to preclude opening of the door until such time as the solenoid is energised electrically, whereupon the box or the flap pivots to release the bolt and thereby free the door for opening.

With electrically-releasable locks of the form described above, any attempt to force the door open loads the pivot-mounting of the box or flap-side, together with the solenoid-operated mechanism associated with it, making the lock very vulnerable in this respect. It is one of the objects of the 20 present invention to provide a form of lock that may be used in this context to reduce vulnerability to forcing and generally to improve security.

According to the present invention, there is provided an 25 electrically-releasable lock assembly for controlling access through a doorway, comprising: a lock unit for mounting to a door and a striker unit operatively associated therewith for mounting at a location adjacent to the door; the lock unit including a plurality of spaced-apart bolt 30 members adapted to extend from the door into said striker unit; the striker unit including a keep member displaceable transversely of the respective paths along which said bolt members move when the door opens, between a first 205412 and a second position; the keep member having a wall which serves to block said paths of the bolt members when the keep member is in its said first position and said wall having apertures corresponding to the bnlt members to enable the latter to pass out from the keep member along said paths when the keep member is in its said second position; and an electrically-energizable device coupled to said keep member for displacing the same from its first to its second position.

Examples of electrically-operable locks in accordance with the present invention will now be more particularly 10 described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 2 054 1 2 Figure 1 is a front elevation of a first example of an electrically-releasable lock in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the first electrically-releasable lock taken in the direction of the arrow II of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional plan view of the lock of 10 Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 illustrates the key-operable locking mechanism and bolt assembly of the lock of Figures 1 and 2; Figures 5 and 6 show parts of the striker unit of the lock of Figures 1 and 2 in their relative locations appropriate to successive locking and release positions, respectively, of the lock; Figure 7 is a side elevation of the striker unit of a modified form of the lock of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 8 is an end view of the bolt assembly of the modified form of lock; and Figure 9 illustrates a second example of electrically-releasable lock in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, the first example of lock 30 comprises a key-operated locking mechanism 1 which is mounted in a hinged door 2 and which has a bolt assembly 3, and a striker unit 4 which is mounted in the frame 5 of the door 2 to engage with the extended or shot bolt assembly 3 and thereby retain the door 2 locked closed. The lock mechanism -5 2054 1 2 I in this embodiment of the invention is that of a conventional mortice lock 6 having a dead bolt 7 which, as part of the bolt assembly 3, is fitted with an extension piece 8 that provides three spaced pin-bolts 9 for engagement with the striker unit 4.

The striker unit 4 incorporates a fixed channel-member 10, illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, that is set perpendicularly to the general plane of movement of the bolt assembly 3 in 10 the opening-closing swing of the hinged door 2. Three slots II in the front upstanding wall 12 of the channel-member 10 are aligned with the three pin-bolts 9, respectively, of the bolt assembly 3, so as to allow the pin-bolts 9 to pass 4 freely through the wall 12 upon closing or opening of the 15 door 2 with the bolt 7 shot. A keep channel-member 13 that also has three slots 14 in its front upstanding wall 15, is mounted to slide up and down within the channel-member 10, between an upper position in which the three slots 14 are in register with the three slots 11 respectively (as illustrated 20 in Figure 6), and a lower position in which the two sets of slots 14 and 11 are out of register with one another (as illustrated in Figure 5). The keep channel-member 13 is coupled via a rod 16 to a solenoid 17 to be lifted into the upper, release position against the action of a spring 18, 25 when the solenoid 17 is energised electrically.

While the door 2 is closed with the bolt 7 shot, the three pin-bolts 9 project into the keep channel-member 13. If the keep channel-member 13 is then in its lower, locking position 30 (illustrated in Figure 5) the slots 11 are blocked by the wall 15 of the channel-member 13 so that opening of the door 2 is precluded. Opening of the door 2 remains precluded in this way until either the lock mechanism 1 is operated by means of its key to withdraw the pin-bolts 9 from engagement 2054 1 within the channel-member 13, or the solenoid 17 is energised to lift the channel-member 13 to its upper, release position. When the solenoid 17 is energised and the channel-member 13 is thereby lifted into the release position (illustrated in 5 Figure 6) the slots 14 are brought into register with the slots 11. This unblocks the paths of the pin-bolts 9 through the slots 11 and consequently allows the door 2 to be opened.

Provision is made for latching the keep channel-member 13 up 10 in its release position once the solenoid 17 has been energised to free the door 2, until the door 2 is closed again. To this end, and with particular reference to Figures 5 and 6, a spring-biased catch 19 projects through a slot 20 in the rear upstanding wall 21 of the channel-member 10 and 15 a corresponding slot 22 in the rear upstanding wall 23 of the channel-member 13. While the channel-member 13 is in its lower, locking position (Figure 5) there is overlap between the slots 20 and 22 but only to an extent to allow a finger-element 24 of the catch 19 to project through the wall 23 20 into alignment with one, in this embodiment the uppermost, slot 11. However when the channel-member 13 is lifted by energisation of the solenoid 17 into its release position (Figure 6), the slot 22 moves into register with the slot 20. This allows the body 25 of the catch 19 to enter the slot 22 25 under the action of its biasing spring 26, and so latch the channel-member 13 in its release position with the slots 11 and 14 in register with one another.

Closing of the door 2 returns the pin-bolts 9 to pass through 30 their respective aligned slots 11 and 14 into the channel-member 13. The uppermost pin-bolt 9 strikes the projecting finger-element 24 displacing the body 25 of the catch 19 back against its spring 26 out of the slot 22. This releases the channel-member 13 to move downwardly under the action of the 205412 spring 18# to its locking position (Figure 5) in which the pin-bolts 9 are trapped within the keep channel-member 13, locking the door 2 closed. The spring-biased abutment of the finger-element 24 with the uppermost pin-bolt 9 within the 5 channel-member 13, ensures that the pin-bolts 9 are held positively against the front wall 15 of the channel-member 13 while the channel-member 13 is in its locking position. Also it ensures that the pin-bolts 9 will release cleanly from the striker unit 4 when the solenoid 17 is energised to bring the 10 slots 11 and 14 into register with one another again to free the door 2 to open.

Any attempt to force the door 2 open while the channel-member 13 is in its locking position, acts through the pin-bolts 9 15 upon the front wall 15 of the channel-member 13 and thence upon the front wall 12 of the fixed channel-member 10. Since the walls 15 and 12 are at right angles to the direction of movement of the channel-member 13, such action is ineffective to load the solenoid 17 and its intercoupling rod 16. The 20 security of the lock is thus not dependent ultimately on the load-resistance of the operating mechanism of the striker unit 4, but rather on that of a structural item, namely the fixed channel-member 10, that provides the strike abutment for the bolt assembly 3.

The provision of the mutually-spaced pin-bolts 9 (rather than of a comprehensive, single bolt dimensioned to provide comparable strength) to engage the striker unit 4, has the advantage that the stroke of the solenoid 17 required to 30 release the lock, is reduced. It also has advantage from the secui"ity point of view since any attempt to force the lock by firearm attack for example, is less likely to free the bolt assembly 3 from retention within the striker unit 4. 20S4 1 2 The striker unit 4 includes provision for opening the door 2 from the inside in the event of an emergency or other condition. To this end a pivoted lever 27 (Figure 2) is provided at the rear of the striker unit 4 to engage, when 5 depressed, with the rod 16. Such engagement lifts the rod 16 so as to move the channel-member 13 to be latched in its upper, release position in the same manner as upon energisation of the solenoid 17, until reset by re-closing of the door 2. The lever 27 pivots upon each operational 10 movement of the channel-member 13 during normal electrical actuation of the lock, thereby providing a continual checking indication of the functionality of the lever 27 for emergency use.

A modified form of the lock described above with reference to Figures 1 to 6 is shown in Figures 7 and 8. In this modified form, as shown in Figure 7, a slotted bar 29 provides the strike abutment for the correspondingly-slotted keep channel-member 30. Also, the latching of the keep channel-member 30 20 is effected by a catch 31 that is located to be engaged by the middle of the three pin-bolts. The middle pin-bolt 32, as shown in Figure 8, is slightly out of alignment with the upper and lower pin-bolts 33 such that it enters the keep channel-member 30 slightly in advance of them. This ensures 25 positive release of the latch, and thereby of the channel-member 30 into its locking position. It also ensures spring-biased retention of the pin-bolts 3 2 and 33 fast within the channel-member 30, so as to provide a positive release action when the channel-member 30 is returned to its upper, release 30 position.

With the modified form of striker unit shown in Figure 7, the channel-member 30 is urged towards its locking position by a spring 34 that acts on an emergency-release lever 35. The 3 5 lever 35 as acted upon by the spring 34, bears down at its 2054 1 2 inner end 36 on a pin 37 that projects from a rod 38 which intorcouples the channel-member 30 with the operating solenoid 39. Depression of the lever 35 against the action of the spring 34 for emergency release of the lock brings the 5 inner end 36 of the lever 35 into engagement with the solenoid core 40 to effect the lifting required of the channel-member 30 for latching it in its release position.

The keep member in each of the two forms of lock described 10 above is of channel section, but this is not an essential of the present invention. A form of lock utilizing a cylindrical keep member is illustrated in Figure 9 and will now be described.

Referring to Figure 9, the cylindrical keep member 41 is coupled with the solenoid (not shown) by a rod 42 that provides for axial displacement of the member 41 from an upper, release position, in which three arcuate guide slots 43 cut in the cylindrical surface of the member 41 are 20 aligned (through slots in a fixed casing not shown) with the three pin-bolts 44 of the locking mechanism 45, to a lower, locking position. The member 41 is mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis, and the extended pin-bolts 44 enter the slots 43 laterally upon closing movement of the 25 door so that they urge the member 41 to rotate through ninety degrees during completion of the closing movement. The pin-bolts 44 are by this rotation entered into axially-directed slots 46 in the cylindrical surface of the member 41, thereby allowing the member 41 to be displaced downwardly into its 30 locking postion in which the pin-bolts 44 are trapped within the member 41 to lock the door. This downward displacement takes place under the action of resilient bias that is provided by a mechaniam (not shown) that responds to the ninety-degree rotation of the member 41. Energisation of the 35 solenoid lifts the member 41 to its release position against 2 0 5412 the action of this bias, returning the pin-bolts 44 to the arcuate slots 43. Movement to open the door (which may be urged by the member 41 under the action of a spring that is wound up during rotation of the member 41 upon closing of the door) rotates the member 41 back to free the pin-bolts 44 from the slots 43.

Claims (13)

-11- 205412 What we claim is

1. An electrically-releasable lock assembly for controlling access through a doorway, comprising: a lock unit for mounting to a door and a striker unit operatively associated therewith for mounting at a location adjacent to the door; the lock unit including a plurality of spaced-apart bolt members adapted to extend from the door into said striker unit; the striker unit including a keep member displaceable transversely of the respective paths along which said bolt members move when the door opens, between a first position and a second position; the keep member having a wall which serves to block said paths of the bolt members when the keep member is in its said first position and said wall having apertures corresponding to the bolt members to enable the latter to pass out from the keep member along said paths when the keep member is in its said second position; and an electrically-energizable device coupled to said keep member for displacing the same from its first to its second position.

2. A lock assembly according to claim 1 wherein the striker unit includes a manually-operable non-electric displacement device accessible from one side only of the doorway when the door is closed and coupled to said keep member for displacing the same from its first to its second position notwithstandi, non-energization of said electrically-energizable device.

3. A lock assembly according to claim 2 wherein said displacement device is coupled to said keep member such as to cycled between associated first and second positions upon each energization of said electrically-energizable device.

4. A lock assembly according to any preceding Claim wherein the keep member is located behind a fixed strike member of the striker unit that provides an abutment for the keep member in blocking said paths, and the strike member is apertured correspondingly to the keep member such that said apertures of the keep and strike members are out of register with one another when the keep member is in its said first position and in register with one another when the keep member is in its said 205412 12 - second position.

5. A lock assembly according to Claim 4 wherein the strike member is a channel member within which the keep member slides during displacement between its said first and second positions.

6. A lock assembly according to any preceding Claim wherein the keep member is a longitudinally-sliding channel member.

7. A lock assembly according to any preceding Claim wherein the striker unit includes a latch for retaining the keep member in its said second position and which is released to enable the keep member to move to its said first position in response to entry behind said wall of a said bolt member.

8. A lock assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the keep member is mounted for both pivotal and lineal displacement upon a longitudinal axis thereof and the first and second positions of the keep member are displaced from one another both longitudinally and angularly with respect to said axis.

9. A lock assembly according to Claim 8 wherein the keep member is a cylindrical member that is slotted circumferentially to receive the bolt members as the door is closed and to be angularly displaced thereby about said axis, with further axially-directed slotting longitudinally of the keep member interconnected with the circumferential slotting, whereby longitudinal displacement of said keep member into its said first position captures the bolt members within the axially-directed longitudinal slotting of the keep member.

10. A lock assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bolt members are part of a key-operable lock unit so as to be withdrawable from capture by the keep member by key operation of the lock unit. "~ "r 205412 -13-

11. A lock assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A lock assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A lock assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 9 of the accompanying drawings. >) 6HUSB eeutpsny CdD By bis/their authorised Agents. A. J. PARK fk SON, \ kr —