US1139939A - Locking device for desks and the like. - Google Patents

Description

c. T. WESTMORELAND.

LOCKlNG DEVICE FOR DESKS AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION men MN. 3,191'3.

1,139,939. Patented May 18, 1915.

4 7. Z I Z6 3 I h] I I 7160 U} I 5- t l 8 TMfiwre/amj IE NORRlSFETERS COU PHO70-LITHD-, WASHINGTON, D- C.

' um'rsn STATES 'r TnN'r 'orrion rs CRAWFORD THEODORE WESTMORELAND, OF HIGH PoINT, NORTH CAROLINA, AssIeN'on. TO MYRTLE DESK COMPANY, A oonronn'rron or NORTH CAROLINA.

LocKINGn vIon FoanEsKs-nnD THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I CRAWFORD Trm'ononn WVEsTMoRELAND, a citlzen of the United States, residing at High Point, in the countyof Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Locking Devices for Desks and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in looking devices for. desks, cabinets or other. pieces of furniture having a plurality of drawers the locking of which is controlled by some movable portion usually under controlof lock and key and common to all the drawers.

7 ing of the tiers of drawers by the roll top,

and in the case of a flat top desk to control the locking of a plurality of the drawers from one drawer, which later is locked and unlocked by a key. It is a commonfault with devices of this character now generally in use that the lockingmechanism for the sev 'eral drawers easily gets out of order, due in locking devices as are operated'by the roll top of desks must be capable of withstanding considerable rough treatment as. it were,

without getting out of order, owing to the common practice of sending back the roll tops of such desks with considerable force in opening them. The same thing applies perhaps to a lesser degree to desks of the flat top variety in which the closure of one drawer automatically looks a series ofother closed drawers, but in the latter case the controlling drawer is not usually closed with the violence that is common l-Il opening a desk of the roll top type."

The, object of this invention is to provide a locking device of the abovev character which shall possess the desirable qualities" stated, and which shall at the samestime be extremely simple in construction and sure in operation. i

In order to more fully describe'my said For example, in the case of roll top desks it is common to control the lock invention, reference will be had tothe companylng drawings wherein:-

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 1 8, 1915'. Application filed January s, 1912. S eria11io. 74 O, (l8 1.;. 1 1 if Figure 1, represents in vertical section a desk of the roll top type equippedwith one form of my said invention; Fig. 2, a top plan'vlew of the' said locking mechanism,

this portion of thedesk, further descrip;

tion 'of the construction of 1 this portionis not necessary here. as is also well known, usually under control of a lock and key, and when unlocked Such rolltops are, if

and. slid back usually operate jmechanism which unlocks the tier drawers, such .as

drawers '2, 3 and 4.

-- The locking mechanism tom, respectively, to two brackets 7* and 7 p which I, provide 1n the present case, ;compri ses preferably'a wooden upright? made fast top and'botwhich are in turn made fast preferably 2 screws to the back of the desk as shown, the said upright being in'the rear of the tier of drawers, 2, 3 and 4; a series ofpreferably;

metal locking dogs 8, 9,.a'nd 10,pivoted::to one face of said upright; a movable member 11, preferably a wooden rod or bar,.tov

one face of which the tails of .aIl' the-ESaid dogs are pivotally secured, and a spring'12 attached inthe case shown at one end to the stationary upright "7, and at the" movable member 11. I

,The heads ofthe several dogs arel g vided, respectively, with shoulders 13, 14 and 15, adapted to-engage the innerside of the rear of the, drawers.

'Theup'pe'r end of the member l l is pro vided with an'extension or head 16 which:

the other end to. y

loo!

passesupward through an opening 17in the flat t p alinernent with .the travel of the roll top '5, and is adapted to be struck directly by the rearof said roll top when'the latter is slid of the desk. This head is in backin the openposition. When the roll top thus strikes the head 16, the memberrll is sentdownward against the tension of i 60 showing parts of the desk broken away, and

member 11 will rise under the action of the spring 12 and will send all the dogs into the locking position, as shown in Fig. 1. The upward movement of the member 11, and therefore the downward movement of the heads of the several dogs is limited by stops 18, 19 and 20, which the dogs are adapted to engage.

If all the drawers are closed at the time the dogs are sent into the locking position, they will all be locked as shown. If, however, one or more of the drawers is not in the closed position when the pressure on the head 16 is released, any of the drawers may be locked by pushing them in to the full closed position. Vhen this is done the rear end of the drawer engages its dog, the head of which yields upwardly against the action of spring 12 and permits the rear end of the drawer to pass the shoulder of the dog, after which the dog drops to the locking position with its shoulder on the inside of the rear of the drawer.

For the purpose of causing the rear end of the drawers on engagement with the heads of the dogs to raise them as described, the heads of the said dogs are provided, respectively, with curved cam faces 21, 22 and 23.

The mechanism herein shown and described is, as will be readily seen, extremely simple, and is particularly well adapted to stand the rough usage to which such parts are usually subjected, as pointed out in the general introduction to this specification.

Anotherimportant advantage of my improved locking device is that the entire mechanism, including the attachment of the upright 7 to the brackets 7 and 7 and the attachment of the member 11 to the locking dogs which solely support and carry the same, may be assembled before it is put in the desk. Again the connection of the spring 12 from one of the upright members to the other, as shown, is a decided improvement over the ordinary W ay of arrang- 1ng the springs of this class of locking devices. Also, the form of locking dog herein shown may be and preferably is stamped out of plate or sheet metal which greatly reduces the cost of manufacture. These dogs possess the further advantage that they will not split or break in operation as is the case with the wooden locking members commonly in use.

It should be understood, however, that while I have herein shown my invention as applied to desks only, it may equally as well be applied to cabinets, or other pieces of furniture having a series of drawers, the locking of which is contr lled from some one movable part of the article ordinarily under lock and key, and in the claims I use the word desk in a generic sense to cover all such articles.

t will be further understood that modifications may be made in the construction of the locking mechanism itself without departing from the true spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

A desk having a plurality of drawers and a roll top, in combination with an upright bar rigidly secured to the desk in the rear of said drawers, a plurality of locking dogs fulcrumed intermediate their ends upon said bars, each dog being provided with a locking head adapted to engage with the rear end of an individual drawer, an upright bar pivotally connected to the tails of all said dogs and extending upward through an opening. in said desk in position to be struck directly upon its top by the roll top of said desk, a spring connected to both said bars and forming a yielding connection between them against the resistance of wiich anyof the dogs in the locking position may yield to receive and lock an individual drawer, means on the first mentioned bar to limit the movement of said dogs by said spring, said bars, dogs, spring and limiting means adapted to be assembled completely outside of the desk and inserted into an operative position therein thus assembled.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CRAWFORD THEODORE WE STMQRELAND.

W itnesses:

L. I. ROCHELLE, E. S. RoorIELLn.

Copies of this patent may be obtainedfor five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). G.

Images