US2882112A - Drawer lock - Google Patents

Description

April 14,1959 c. w. JARVI 2,882,112

v LOCK Filed Dec. 4, 1956 I: Quail-Inf:

United States Patent DRAWER LOCK Carl W. Jarvi, Wexford, Pm, assignor to Haskell Manufacturing (20., Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 4, 1956, Serial No. 626,190

1 Claim. (Cl. 312--221) This invention relates to furniture, and more particularly to furniture in which drawers are locked automatically when they are closed.

Any piece of furniture containing an enclosure provided with a drawer will be referred to herein as containing a cabinet, but the invention is concerned primarily with oflice desks and file cabinets. As is well known, desks and file cabinets are often provided with means for locking the drawers automatically when they are closed. For example in an oflice desk having a center drawer and side drawers, the latter are locked shut when the center drawer is closed, and they cannot be opened again until the center drawer has been pulled out a short distance to release the locking mechanism. There are times, however, when it is desirable that one or more of the side drawers shall not become locked when it is closed.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a cabinet which contains one or more drawers that normally are locked automatically when they are closed, which has at least one drawer than can be kept from locking when desired, and which includes readily accessible means for rendering the locking means inelfective.

In accordance with this invention, a drawer that is sildably mounted in a cabinet has between its ends a locking surface facing the front end of the drawer. Mounted in the cabinet is a locking member that is movable into engagement with that locking surface to lock the drawer shut, and means are provided for moving the locking member away from the locking surface to unlock the drawer; Manually positionable means is mounted on the drawer for holding the locking member out of locking engagement with the locking surface when desired, whereby to keep the drawer from being locked.

The'invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of an office desk;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary vertical sections taken on the lines III-III and IV--IV, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line V---V of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line VI-VI of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the lock preventer; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modification of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, an office desk is shown for the purpose of illustration. It is presumed to be made of metal, although that is not necessary. It is provided with a shallow center drawer 1 that can be locked with a key. The pedestals at the opposite sides of the center drawer form cabinets 2, in each of which three drawers 3 are shown in superimposed relation. As will be described, these six cabinet drawers are locked automatically when the center drawer is closed, whereby locking of the center drawer by a key will lock all of the drawers of the desk.

In the desk shown, each of the side or cabinet drawers 3 has metal channels extending along its opposite sides, with the channel webs 5 secured thereto as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. The flanges 6 and 7 of each channel project laterally away from the drawer and into other channels 8 secured to the frame of the desk. The stationary desk channels therefore form tracks which support the drawer channels and permit the drawers to slide in and out. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, a short length of the front end of the top flange 6 of each drawer channel next to the center drawer is cut away so that the front end 9 of that flange terminates a little ways behind the front of the drawer. The top flange of the supporting desk channel 8 may be cut back a little further.

Extending across the outside of the webs of the desk channels next to the center drawer and near the front of the desk is a vertical bar 10 provided with vertical slots 11 beside the channels as shown in Fig. 4. Extending through each of the slots is a headed stud 12 that is mounted in the adjoining stationary channel. The heads of the studs engage the bar loosely enough to enable the bar to slide up and down. It is urged toward its upper position by a coil spring 13, which may be attached to the upper stud and to the bar below it. The bar carries three locking members, preferably in the form of hooks 14. Each of the hooks has its rear end connected to the bar above an adjacent channel by a horizontal pivot .pin 15. The books extend forward and each is urged downward into inclined position by a wire torsion spring 16 coiled around the adjoining pivot pin and having an upper end hookover the front edge of the bar, and a lower end hook over a lateral offset of the hook, seen best in Fig. 2 Downward pivoting of the hook is limited by its engagement with a lug17 bent .out of the bar beneath the. hook.

Secured rigidly to the upper end of the bar is a short rod 18 that extends laterally beneath the adjacent side of the center drawer. This drawer has a cam 19 on its bottom for engaging and pressing the rod down when the drawer is closed, as shown in Fig. 3. When the rod is pushed down in this manner, it pushes the bar downward on studs 12, against the resistance of the coil spring. In the lower position of the bar, shown in Fig. 4, the hooks hook over the front ends 9 of the top flanges 6 of the drawer channels. The front ends of those flanges therefore form locking surfaces, because they prevent the drawers from being pulled out of the desk as long as the hooks engage the flanges. When the center drawer is pulled open, the cam 19 is pulled away from the vertical bar, which is then raised by the coil spring to the dotted line position in Fig. 4 to lift the books out of engagement with locking surfaces 9. Due to the pivotal connection of the hooks to the bar, the side drawers can be closed and locked even when the center drawer is closed and the bar has been depressed. The hooks will be lowered into engagement with the upper flanges 6 of the drawer channels, which will merely slide along beneath the hooks until their front ends can swing down in front of the locking surfaces.

It is a feature of this invention that any one of the drawers can be fixed so that it will not be locked when it is closed. For this purpose, manually positionable means are mounted on the drawers for holding the books out of locking engagement with the adjoining locking surfaces 9 when desired. The manually positionable means may take the form of strips of spring metal that are bent to provide straight upper and lower portions integrally connected at their inner ends. Each of these lock preventers 20 is inserted between the bottom of a top flange 6 and the top of a tongue 21 projecting from the drawer channel below the front portion of the flange. The tongue can be formed conveniently by punching it out of the web of the channel. The tongue is provided with a longitudinal slot 22, into which extends a lug 23 projecting down from the bottom of the lock preventer. The lug and slot connection holds the spring member in place, but allows it to be slid from an inoperative position behind, the front end of the top flange to a projecting operative position in front of it. The tendency of the lock preventer to open up will press it tightly enough against the flange and tongue to hold it in either of its two positions. Normally the lock preventer is in its retracted position, but when it is desired to keep the drawer from locking when it is closed, the lock preventer is pulled forward to the position shown for the bottom drawer in Fig. 4. In this position it will prevent the adjoining hook from moving down in front of the locking surface 9 far enough to keep that surface from being moved forward. Although the locking surface will strike the hook when the drawer is pulled out, only the top of the hook will be engaged and it will ride over the locking surface and on to the channel on the drawer.

It will be seen that any one or more of the drawers,

may be kept unlocked in this manner without affecting the locking of the remaining drawers or drawer. Since the lock preventers 20 are near the front of the drawers and on the side next to the center drawer, they are readily accessible for manipulation by the person sitting at the desk. Whenever he wishes to keep a drawer from being locked, all he has to do is to pull it out a short distance to expose the lock preventer, and then pull that member forward to its operative position. The drawer then cannot be locked until he again pushes the lock preventer back to its inoperative position.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, locking of a drawer is prevented by a small U-shaped clip 25, which straddles the top flange of a drawer channel 26 and engages it tightly enough to stay in place. However, this clip can be slid forward on the channel by hand far enough to locate it beneath the front end of the hook that otherwise would swing down across the locking surface 27. The clip therefore prevents locking of the drawer in the same way as a lock preventer 20. A synthetic plastic has been found to be a satisfactory material for making the clip, as it will grip the channel flange fairly tightly and yet can be slid along it when desired.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claim, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

An article of furniture comprising a cabinet, 21 plurality of superimposed drawers slidably mounted therein and each having a lateral flange extending lengthwise of one side of the drawer, each flange being provided with a transverse edge facing the front of the drawer, a vertical bar slidably mounted in the cabinet beside the drawers for vertical movement, a spring urging the bar upward, hooks pivotally mounted on the bar and projecting forward therefrom, means for moving the bar downward to hook the front ends of the hooks over said flange edges to lock the drawers shut, and a manually positionable member engaging each flange and adapted to be projected in front of its transverse edge for engagement by the adjacent hook, whereby to prevent that hook from effectively engaging said transverse edge and locking the drawer when the remaining drawers are locked.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Images