US2793521A

US2793521A - Safety lock

Info

Publication number: US2793521A
Application number: US452111A
Authority: US
Inventors: John I Cannon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1954-08-25
Filing date: 1954-08-25
Publication date: 1957-05-28
Anticipated expiration: 1974-05-28

Description

M y 8, 1957 J. I. CANNON 2,793,521

SAFETY LOCK Filed Aug. 25, 1954 United States Patent SAFETY LOCK John I. Cannon, Garden City, Pa. Application August 25, 1954, Serial No. 452,111

1 Claim. (Cl. 70-181) This invention relates to safety locks and more particularly to an interior safety lock for doors of automotive vehicles.

The conventional interior door lock mechanism for automobiles comprises a generally cylindrical actuator disposed in an aperture in the door window sill. This actuator is normally movable downwardly to render the conventional exterior door handle ineffectual to unlatch the door. In this position the actuator may be grasped and raised to a position in which unlatching of the door by means of the door handle is again possible.

In some instances the device is releasable automatically when the interior door handle is operated to unlatch the door. In other instances the device is effective to render both the exterior and interior door handles inoperative to open the door so that the door cannot be opened from either side until the aforesaid actuator is manually ele vated. It is to the latter type of door latch mechanism. that the present invention particularly pertains.

A disadvantage of this type of actuator is that it may readily be raised to the unlocked position by a child who may subsequently turn the door handle and thus open the door. Frequently children are seriously injured by falling through the opened door and very often the automobile is damaged in an elfort to save the child. A principal object of the invention therefore is to provide an interior safety lock for the doors of automobiles which may be unlocked only by a volitional act of a responsible person.

A further object of the invention is to provide a safety lock of the stated character wherein no substantial modification of the existing door lock structure is required.

The invention resides further in certain structural details hereinafter described and illustrated in the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational View showing the inside of automobile doors and the relation of the lock actuator of the present invention to the conventional door unlatching mechanism;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view partly in section showing the position the actuator element assumes when the interior door handles are incapable of unlatching the vehicle doors;

Fig. 3 is a similarly enlarged view of the door lock actuator of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 showing the door lock actuator in the position it assumes when the interior door handle is capable of actuating the conventional door latching mechanism and showing also the means by which the actuator is raised to this unl-atched position;

Fig. 5 is :a sectional view taken substantially on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a tool for raising the actuator to the position shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view in vertical section of the actuator.

With reference to the drawing and more particularly to 2. Figs. 2 and 4, the embodiment of the invention therein disclosed comprises a manually displaceable body member 10 which is designed to replace the conventionalautomobile door lock actuator of the type shown at 11. In Fig. 4 the element 10 is shown in elevated or latch release position. When the element is moved downwardly as shown in Fig. 2 the shaft 12 causes the bell crank 13 to pivot about the axis 14 to render both the exterior door handle (not shown) and the interior door handle 15 inoperative to actuate the door latching mechanism 16.

In accordance with the present invention the body member 10 is dimensioned so as to lie substantially flush with the sill of the vehicle window when in the depressed or safety position wherein the interior handle 15 is inoperative as described. In this position it is manifestly impossible to grasp the body member with the fingers and the door cannot be unlocked from the inside without the use of a special tool hereafter described for elevating the said member. This is in direct contrast with conventional locking devices of the type shown at 11 in Fig. l where the actuating element still remains in position readily accessible for finger operation when in the depressed or latch locking position.

As shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, the body member is provided with a longitudinal slot 17 terminating in a generally cylindrical cavity 18 of greater diameter than the narrow cross-section of the slot, thus forming

shoulders

20 and 21. This slot is designed to receive a key 19 having a wing 22 projecting outwardly from each side of the shaft portion 23. The shaft of the key is dimensioned so as to be capable of rotation in the slot, while the wings can be turned only when received in the cavity 18. When the key is turned in this manner it interlocks with the body member to afford :a finger grip for displacement of the member to the position shown in Fig. 4.

In operation, the key is inserted in the slot so that the wings are received in the cavity 18. The key is then rotated to the position shown in Fig. 4 wherein the wings underlie the

shoulders

20 and 21. The key is then drawn upwardly, thus pulling the body member and the shaft 12 upwardly so that the handle 15 again becomes operative to unlatch the door.

As shown in Fig. 2, a threaded aperture 33 in the body member receives the correspondingly threaded upper end of the shaft 12. Passage of the tool into the slot 17 may be facilitated by chamfering the edges of the slot, as at 34.

The above-described device is capable of locking a vehicle door so that the vehicle operator is free to devote his full attention to operation of the vehicle without fear that juvenile passengers will inadvertently open a door and thereby become injured. The lock of the present invention requires no modification of existing structure other than the simple removal of the conventional door lock actuator and substitution of the improved actuator described above. The device is economical of manufacture and lends itself readily to production by relatively simple casting or molding operation, or by fabrication from sheet metal. If made of hard rubber or other material in which the stern 12 would be self-threading, the device would have a universal application regardless of the type of threading on the rod and in such case, the bore for reception of the rod would be unthreaded.

Iclaim:

In an automobile door safety lock of the type comprising a button actuator projecting through an aperture in the door structure and displaceable inwardly to immobilize the door latching mechanism and, outwardly to release the latch, the improvement which consists in the relative arrangement of elements whereby the outer end of said button when the latter is in the inwardly displaced and door latch immobilizing position lies within the said aperture so that the outer end surface of the button conlatter is inaccessible to the fingers for subsequent displacement outwardly to the latch release position, said button having a-socket opening to said outer end surface and containing'an undercut shoulder, and an instrument adapted for insertion in said socket and from the said end surface and having a lateral projection for engagement under said shoulder so as to provide a means for applying a manual withdrawing force to the button to displace the latter to the latch release position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS