US2191694A - Nonlockout combination time delay lock - Google Patents

Description

C. M. HIRN NONLOCKOUT-COMBINATION TIME DELAY LOCK Feb. 27, 1940.

Filed April 27, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 fig 3 IN VENTOR.

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C. M. HIRN Feb. 27, 1940.

NONLOCKOUT COMBINATION TIME DELAY LOCK I Filed April 27, 1939 2 Sheet-s-'-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. G/Zarles JV. Hz'rro. BY

Patented Feb. 27, 1940 UNITED STATES NoNLoo-KoUr COMBINATION TIME DELAY Y LOCK Charles M. Kim, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The Mosler Lock Com corporation of'Ohio 7 Application April 27, 1

pany, Covington, Ky., a

939, Serial No. 270,406

7 Claims. (Cl. id-274) The present invention relates to time delay combination locks and has for an object the provision of a highly eflicient device embodying a; relativelyinexpensive time movement and pro viding relatively simple means to avoid a lockout in the event the time mechanism breaks down or stops for any reason during the period in which the successful opening of the lock depends upon the complete running down of the time mechai'nism.

A further object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive time delay combination look wherein the tumbler mechanism and the time movement are: disposed in sideby side relation I i ina relatively flat case and are adapted, by simple and novel means, to selective interengagement enabling the lock to be used as an ordinary combination lock or, if desired, as a time delay combination look under. a variety of circumstances.

These and other objects areattained by the means herein described and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1- is a top planview of a lock of the invention operatively mounted upon a door and having the top wall of the lock casing cut away.

Fig. 2 is a: view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3. is a view of the interior of thelock casing with the cover and its attached combination lockand time movement removed but showing the position of parts when the time mechanism is. fully wound and. at rest and the bolt is locked,

parts being broken away.

Fig. 4 isa view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the position of parts wherein the timemovement is fully unwound and the bolt is unlocked and latched in unlocked position.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the relation' of parts when the-time movement is fully wound.- andthebolt is lookedand the driver of the combination lock is ready to start the time movement.

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. i but showing the relation of parts when the time movement is partly unwound.

Fig. 7. is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the relation of parts wherein the partly unwound time movement hasbeen disabled and the means topreclude a lockout is in position to be operated. v In my United States Letters Patent No. 2,152,258, issued March-.28, 1939, there "is shown a. time delay combination lock which is useful as-an ordinary combination lock or as a delayed opening combination look by the mere selection of .the initial direction of movement of the tumbler operating knob. The said look also affords means to prevent the throwing of the bolt after the lock has beenoperated as a time delay lock, without first conditioning the time movement ,to fully wound condition. The device of the present invention embodies these same functions and in addition thereto provides simple means permitting a flatter and more compact arrangement of the parts and furthermore provides a foolproof arrangement to avoid lockouts due tofailure of the time movement.

Referring to thedrawings', the device of the present invention is arranged tobe mounted upon any suitable door I0 and consists of the usual ring H, combination number dial [2 and operating knob 13. An arbor I4 is fixed to the knob and dial and extends through the door into the fiat shallow lock casing l5. The bottom wall I6 of the casing abuts the; door to and is secured ,in place by one or morescrews such as ll. Surrounding the arbor I4 interiorly of the casing is an annular boss 1'8, the exterior circumference of which serves to position and limit the movement of an odd-shaped-fioating lever l9 which slides upon the inner face of base l6 and isnormally influenced to the position shown in Fig. 2 by a spring which is anchored to one of the posts 2! that receive'the fastening screws 22 for the casing cover 23. Fixed in the base iii are short pins 24 and 25 between which a finger 26 of floating lever l9 extends. Pivoted at 21. is a lever 28' which extends alongside floating lever l9'and is adapted under extraordinary conditions and in the fashion hereinafter detailed to shift lever l9 against the influence of its spring 20 and other forces from a position wherein. the finger 26 .isshifted from a position against pin 25 to a normal position abutting pin 24. A bell crank lever 29 is pivotally mounted on base i6 and has at its; one end a hook 30 and at its opposite end a finger 3|. Spring 32, seated in a slot in lever .29 and abutting a stud 33 serves to urge the hook end of the lever toward the projecting finger 26 on floating lever is.

The members l9 and 23 play important parts in the normal operation of the device when used as an ordinary combination lock or as a time delay combination lock. The secret lever member 28 is utilized only in the event of a lock-out due to the failure of the time movement after partial operation and serves specifically as a means, actuatable through the agency of a secret combination of the lock tumblers operated by the knob and dial,.to move the floating lever 19 from the position shown in Fig. 6 to the position 55 ing lever 9.

shown in Fig. '7. It will be noted that a shouldered notch 34 in the forward end of floating lever H3 is positioned so as to bafile or hold the gate 35 out of contact with the tumblers against the yielding resistance of spring 353, wherefore in that position the lock cannot be operated even though the tumbler notches are aligned with the gate. Floating lever or gate bafliing means I9 is arcuately cut away as at 38, immediately adjacent shouldered notch 34 so as to permit gate 35 to contact the tumblers and to enter the notches thereof when the notches are aligned by a properly set up combination. The bolt comprises a relatively heavy member 31 adapted to reciprocate through a correspondingly shaped aperture in the end wall of the lock casing to and from a suitable keeper, (not shown). A plate-like portion 38 integral with the locking bolt 3'! has an oblique slot 39 therein through which a depending pin or projection 40 extends to cooperate with the shouldered notch 34 on float The size'and shapeof slot 39 is such as to effect manipulation of bolt 38 by the coaction of the slot 4| in driver 42 with the lower portion of gate 35. Bolt 38 has an elongated central guide slot 43 therethrough which receives the short upstanding cylindrical flange 44 on boss IS. A. pair of screws 45 have the heads thereof overhanging a reduced edge thickness portion 45!} and the bolt is thus guided for longitudinal reciprocation. At the rear of the bolt is a shoulder 46 and at one side thereof a pin 4'! projects downwardly below the bottom of the plate and is adapted under certain circumstances to be engaged by the hook 30 on bell crank lever 29 to latch the bolt 38 in open position (see Fig. 4). r

Pivoted between the base l6 and cover 23 is a time setting post 48 which is spring urged in either direction by a spring 49 to assure entry of an integral lever 5|] thereon into the notch 4| in driver wheel 42 (see Fig. 5). Below lever 5|! and fixed to the time setting post 48 is a time setting finger 5| which cooperates with finger 3| when the lock is conditioned to release the time movement. The top of post 48 is cut away to form a cam or cam nose 52 which is adapted to be engaged by an extrusion 53 on the first or number one tumbler indicated at 54 (see Fig. 1). From the foregoing it will appear that when the extrusion 53 engages cam 52 by the proper setting of number one tumbler the time setting post may be turned upon its axis and held in the position shown in Fig. 3, wherein finger 5| is held substantially against the side of the casing wall and lever 5|] is restrained against possible entry into the notch 4| of the driver. The parts hold this position when the combination lock is used without the cooperation of the time delay movement, viz., when the lock is used as an ordinary combination lock only. If the tumblers are initially turned so that number one tumbler has the extrusion 53 thereof moved past cam 52 so that lever 53 may enter notch 4| of the driver and turn the time setting post on its axis, then finger 5| will pass by the yieldably positioned finger 3| on bell crank lever 29. If the finger 5| is now forcibly returned, it will again engage finger 3| and rock the bell crank lever on its axis to start the operation of the time movement by the means and in the manner which will now be described.

Secured to the cover 23 in any suitable fashion ing shaft 550 adapted to enter a corresponding aperture 53 in time wheel 51. The time wheel has a frictionally retained finger 58 thereon. A conventional tension washer and locking ring assembly 510 serves this purpose. The time wheel also has a peripheral notch 59 into which an abutment such as upstanding pin 60 on the finger portion 23 of floating lever I9 may seat. The abutment 68 is resiliently retained against time wheel 57 at all times by reason of the pressure exerted on the floating lever by the spring 20. Projecting through and depending from the lower face of time wheel 51 is a pin 6| which may pass through a groove 62 in the hooked portion of bell crank lever 29 but cannot pass the finger 3| thereof. An external winding stem 63 has a key receiving socket 64 whereby, upon the reception of a square ended winding key, the time move- 7 ment is wound and the time wheel is manually turned permitting the pin 6| to pass through the major portion of a circumference, during winding movement in the direction of the dotted arrow in Fig. 4. The pin passes through the groove 62- and continues until said pin 6| engages finger 3| and thereafter turns the bell crank lever to '2 the position shown in Fig. 3. At this time notch 59 receives abutment 60 which is at all times yieldably urged toward the time wheel. Upon the completion of one revolution of the winding stem and the time wheel by manual operation, the time mechanism is held at rest in fully wound condition by suitable means commonly provided upon commercially available time movements.

Oneexample of this holding mechanism is illus trated and described in my hereinbefore mentioned United States Letters Patent No. 2,152,258. In order to start this time movement after being fully wound and arrested as aforesaid, it is necessary to manually turn the time wheel for a short distance in order to unseat the holding means.

This movement is effected by first setting the ment fill out of the notch 59 in the time whee-l against the resistance of spring 20 whereupon the gate bafile or floating lever I9 assumes and retains the position which is best shown in Fig. 6 wherein the shoulder 34 holds gate 35 out of contact with the driver and the combination lock tumblers. When the notch 59 is brought into registry with the abutment pin 68 at the end of one revolution of the time wheel, the pin 60 drops into notch 59 and thus allows floating lever or gate baffle l9 to shift, under the influence of spring 2!! to the inoperative position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon the gate 35 contacts the periphery of the tumblers. When the tumbler notches and driver notches are aligned by settingup the lock combination in known fashion, the gate 35 may enter said aligned notches and the pin 40 on the bottom of the gate is free to move through the slot 39 in the bolt. Upon further operation of the dial knob, in known fashion, the gate retracts the bolt and the pin 41 at the rear end of the bolt is engaged by the hook 30 on the bell crank lever thus latching the bolt in unlocked condition, making it impossible to again shoot the bolt without first manually winding the time movement at the winding arbor 63. The time first number.

movement is ordinarily constructed to run for an interval: sufficient to-baflle daylight holdups, viz., from fifteen to thirty minutes.

The foregoing explanation detailed the operation of the mechanism as a time delay combination lock. The external operation of the dial knob I3, in order to bring the time movement into operation is as follows: Having wound the time movement fully (while the door is open) the door is closed and the bolt shot in the ordinary known manner. The dial may be turned at least four times to the right and allowed to stop on any number except within five marks of the At this time the operator may elect to operate the device either as an ordinary combination lock or as a time delay combination lock. To prepare the look so that it may be opened only as a time delay combination lock, the dial is turned one or more complete revolutions to the left and allowed to stand on any number upon which the mechanism is positioned as shown in Fig. 5. If now the dial is turned to the right, finger 5| is caused to rock toward the adjacent side of the'casing and move finger 3| and pin 6|, thus starting the time movement. Floating lever or gate baffle I9 is projected to the operative positionv shown in Fig. 6 wherein the gate 35 is held free of the tumblers and driver so that it is impossible to open the lock regardless of whether or not the correct combination isset up. When the time wheel completes its revolution, the pin abutment again enters notch 59 of the time Wheel, thus allowing floating lever 19 to release the gate.

It will be apparent that should the time mechanism fail before completing its revolution after once having been started, it would be quite impossible to remove the fioatin-g lever 19 from the position shown in Fig. 6 so that a lock-out would result. In order to prevent a lock-out under such circumstances, an auxiliary gate is provided and it has a bottom portion projecting into an aperture lit in the lever 28 at the side of floating lever i9. Auxiliary gate 65 may have the tumbler slots and driver slots aligned opposite its edge by the operation of a secret combination which, in the present instance, .will be that of the ordinary combination plus a predetermined additional number of marks representing the circumferential distance between the position of gate 35 and the position of auxiliary gate 65. Having set up the secret combination the auxiliary gate may enter the tumbler slots whereupon a pressure imposed on the tumblers by forcibly turning the dial knob toward the left will cause the depending portion of gate65 to rock lever 28 toward, the left sufiiciently to rock floating lever or gate baflle l9 likewise to the left and thus unseat the notch 34 from gate 35. During this movement the finger 26 of the fioating lever moves to the right and abuts pin 25. Since gate 35 has now been released, the normal combination may be set up and the lock opened.

In order to prevent the successful use of the secret combination at any time save when the time mechanism. is actually disabled, the frictionally retained finger 58 is constantly urging in B0 on finger 26 toward stop pin 24 while the time wheel is in motion, therefore if the secret combination is set up while the time wheel 51 is slowly moving under the influence of the time movement and in the direction of the solid line arrow in Fig. 6, it will be apparent that even though the secret combination is employed to effect the movement of lever 28 and floating lever approved ordinary construction save that the boss or extrusion 56 is formed on the number one tumbler disk. In the form herein exemplified, the mechanism used is a key change combination tumbler mechanism which has a key change bar 67 associated therewith adapted to be operated in known manner by a combination changing key insertable through the cover of the casing. The key change mechanism is of ordinary construction, and forms no part of the present invention wherefore a detailed description is omitted.

From the foregoing, it will be noted that the device of theinvention is particularly compact, (being here shown in Fig. 1 in exaggerated thickness) and in practice is readily contained in a casing not in excess of one inch in thickness.

that are commonly protected by combination or time delay looks. The range of utility of the lock of the present invention is very wide. The time movements employed are desirably selected from present day commercially available time movements such as are embodied in window lighting controls and in utility timers. The entire assembly is materially compacted by the disposition of the timing movement and the tumbler mechanism in close side by side relation in the case and by the employment of the inexpensive fiat members, namely, fioating member l9, bell crank lever 2t and secret lever 28, all in a common plane in the normally wasted space below bolt member 38.

The structure is comparatively simple and is foolproof in operation. The lock is useful as an ordinary tumbler combination lock, if desired, and it is at all times adapted to use as an antibandit lock or time delay lock which is furthermore selectively conditionable for such use at r prevent improper use of the secret combination if an attempt is made to circumvent the operation of the properly functioning time mechanism.

What is claimed is:

l. A delayed opening lock comprising a combination lock including tumbler mechanism, a bolt and a bolt operating gate, a normally wound clockwork, means controlled by the initial direction of operation of the combination lock for selectively initiating running movement of the clockwork, gate bailling means controlled by the clockwork during running movement of the clockwork, and secret means operable by the tumbler mechanism for disabling the gate baffling means when the clockwork is arrested in partially wound condition.

2. A delayed opening lock comprising a combination lock including tumbler mechanism, a

bolt and a bolt operating gate, a normally wound clockwork, means controlled by the initial direction of operation of the combination lock for selectively initiating running movement of the clockwork, gate bafiling means controlled by the clockwork during running movement of the clockwork, means operable by the tumbler mechanism for disabling the gate bailiing means when the clockwork is arrested in a partly wound con: dition and means effective while the clockwork is in operation for rendering the gate bailiing means operative after being disabled by said second gate.

3. A delayed opening lock comprising a combination lock including a bolt operating gate, a normally wound clockwork, a timewheel having a peripheral notch assuming a predetermined position when the clockwork is fully wound or fully unwound, a gate baflie fioatingly mounted and having an abutment end yieldably contacting the periphery of the timewheel whereby the bolt operating gate is normally rendered inoperative when the clockwork is in partially wound condition, and lock operated means comprising a secret lever to disable the baffle when the clockwork is in partially wound condition.

4. A delayed opening lock comprising a combination lock including a bolt controlling gate, a normally wound clockwork, a floating gate baflie beneath the lock and having an abutment finger adjacent the clockwork, a notched timewheel on the clockwork peripherally contacting the said abutment finger, whereby the baffle is rendered operative when the clockwork is in partially wound condition, means efiective upon secret setting of the lock for disabling said baflle while clockwork is in last named position and means on the timewheel for immediate restoration of the baffle upon continued operation of the clockwork. Y e

5. A delayed opening lock comprising a combination lock including a bolt controllinggate, a fioatingly mounted gate baflle, a normally clockwork, a timewheel on the clockwork urg-.

ing the baffle to operative position when the clockwork is partially wound, a frictionally mounted finger on the timewheel in constant contact with the bafile, and secretly operable means to shift the bafiie from operative position to an inoperative position against the frictional resistance of said finger when the clockwork is in partially wound condition, said finger, under the influence of continued operation of the timewheel, serving to quickly restore the baffle to operative position.

'7. In a non-lockout mechanism for a delayed opening combination lock the combination with a bolt operating gate structure, of a floatingly mounted gate baffle, means yieldably urging the bafile to inoperative position, a normally Wound clockwork including a timewheel having a peripheral notch wherein the baflie enters when the clockwork is at rest in fully wound or' in fully unwound condition, the periphery of said timewheel at all other times holding the floating bafile in operative position, means operable for shifting the bafiie from said operative position to an abnormal inoperative position and means frictionally supported on the timewheel and engaging said baflie for shifting the b aille from said abnormal inoperative position upon continued movement of the timewheel.

CHARLES M. I-HRN.

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