US3033634A

US3033634A - Gang lock

Info

Publication number: US3033634A
Application number: US24580A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jacob J Ribbens; Richard C Dethardt
Original assignee: Tab Products Co
Current assignee: Tab Products Co
Priority date: 1960-04-25
Filing date: 1960-04-25
Publication date: 1962-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 1979-05-08

Description

May 8, 1962 J. JQRIBBENS ET AL 3,033,634

GANG LOCK Filed April 25, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: d4 (05 J. 2/555: By fem/A20 6.0mm?

A TTORNEY y 1962 J. J. RIBBENS ETAL GANG LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1960 m m m m JACOB JUQIBBEIVS By ,F/a/AwCDET/IMN' United States Patent ()fiice Patented May 8, 1962 This invention relates to a gang lock for a filing cabinet, bookcase or the like.

In recent years, shelf filing has become popular because of its compactness. By shelf filing is meant depositing and storing files on fixed shelves in the same manner that books are deposited and stored in a bookcase, instead of depositing and storing the files in drawers which slide in and out of cabinets. One of the advantages of shelf filing is that space is not required for pulling out drawers. Also, an entire shelf of files is immediately avail-able for inspect-ion and for selection of desired files.

Because of the popularity of shelf filing certain problems have arisen, among which is the problem of security. Frequently it is necessary or desirable to lock a filing cabinet so that access by unauthorized persons is precluded. For this purpose shelf files have been provided with doors which are mounted to swing about horizontal axes between open and closed positions. Preferably such doors are also mounted slidably on tracks or rails so that, when they are in open position, they can slide back or retract into the cabinet. g

It is desirable in shelf files equipped with hinged and sliding doors as described, to provide also a convenient locking mechanism for the doors. Each door can be provided with its own lock, but such practice is expensive and it is also inconvenient because each door must be locked and unlocked individually.

It is, therefore, desirable to provide a gang locking mechanism for shelf filing cabinets which is capable of looking all doors simultaneously. In such a mechanism it is desirable to provide simplicity of design and installation, and simple, secure operation. Heretofore, to our knowledge, no satisfactory gang locking mechanism has been provided which is simple in its design, which is easy to install and which is secure in its operation and easy to operate.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved gang locking mechanism for locking the doors of shelf files, bookcases and the like.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a gang locking mechanism of the character and for the purpose described which is simple in its design and operation and easy to install.

It is another particular object of the invention to provide a gang locking mechanism of the character and for the purpose described which, in the event that one or more (but less than all) of the doors of a cabinet are closed and locked while one or more doors remain open, will permit the open door or doors to be closed and locked without the necessity of unlocking the gang lock and then looking it again.

The above and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and the appended claims.

One form of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a filing cabinet employing a gang lock mechanism in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the locking assemblies, there being one such assembly for each door of the cabinet.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view, partly in front elevation and partly in vertical section, showing the main operating bar in front elevation, its connection to the key operated master lock and its connection to one of the locking assemblies. I

FIGURE 4 is a view in side elevation corresponding to the view shown in FIGURE 3 but as seen from the right thereof. 7

FIGURE 5 is a view in transverse section showing the latch member of one of the locking assemblies inside elevation.

FIGURE 6 is a section taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 3. 3

FIGURE 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of the bottom guide member for the main operating bar.

Referring now to the drawings and preliminarily to FIGURE 1, a filing cabinet is there shown which is generally designated as 10 and which includes side walls 11, a top 11a,a base 11b and shelves 12. Doors 13 are provided, each of which has a flush type of handle 14 and an opening at 15 for insertion and exposure of an identification card. Only one door is shown, but it will be understood that there is a door 13 for each shelf 12.

The doors 13 are of the horizontally swinging type. That is to say each door 13 is mounted so that it can swing up about a horizontal axis from the closed position occupied by the top door of FIGURE 1 to open position. Preferably also the doors 13 are mounted by means of glide members (one of which is shown at 16 in FIGURE 4) and runners or rails (one of which is shown at 17 in FIGURE 4) so that, after each door is swung up to horizontal open position it can be pushed back into the cabinet to occupy a horizontal retracted position.

The preferred door mounting means is that described in Foote et al. patent application Serial No. 768,726, now

Patent No. 3,014,773, issued Dec. 26, 1961, entitled Door Mounting for Filing Cabinet, filed October 21, 1958. However, any other type of door mounting may be pr vided which permits swinging a door from closed vertical position to horizontal open position.

For the purpose of providing a gang locking mechanism a main operating bar 18 is provided which is slidably supported at its lower end by a bracket 19 which is suitably fixed to the framework of the cabinet as by means of a screw or screws, by spot welding or in any other suitable manner. As will be seen, the bracket 19 has a slot 19a which slidably receives the lower end of the main operating bar 18. Referring to FIGURE 6, it will be seen that the forward edge of each side wall 11 is formed into a tubular shape 20, one of which serves as a housing for the bar 18. At intervals (i.e., at each shelf level) the main operating bar 18 is formed with a slot 21 to receive the tip 22a of a lever 22 which forms part of a door locking assembly 25. The door locking assembly 25 is best shown in FIGURE 2.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 3 and 4, a barrel type lock 26 is provided which is fitted into the framework of the cabinet and which is locked in place by a retainer member 27. The lock 26 is key-operated, it is a purchased item which may be of any suitable type and it operates in an eccentric manner whereby, as it is rotated in one direction or the other, it either lifts or lowers a lock bolt 28' (which is a part of the lock) which in turn is connected to the main operating bar 18 by means of a suitable rivet or pin 29. It will, therefore, be apparent that by operating the lock 26 with its key, the main operating bar 18is pulled up or down depending upon the direction of rotation of the lock.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 5, each shelf 12 has a downwardly extending flange 30 at its forward edge which is formed with a slot 31 through which protrudes a latch member 32 which is fixed to one end I 3 p of a shaft 33. Referring now more particularly to FIG- URE 2 the latch member 32 and the shaft 33 form parts of the above-mentioned latching assembly 25, there being one such assembly for each door at each shelf level. As will be seen the latch member 32 is fixed to one end of the shaft 33 and the lever 22 is fixed to the other end of the shaft 33. The shaft 33 passes rotatably through support brackets 34 which are formed by bending inwardly the opposite ends of a mounting strip 35 to which are welded nuts 36 in registry with holes 37. It is by means of the nuts 36 and holes 37, and also screws 38 shown in FIGURE 1, that the entire assembly 25 is mounted on the flange 3%) of its respective shelf 12.

Referring again to FIGURES '5 and also to FIGURE 7, it will be seen that each of the latch members 32 is notched at 45 and that it has a nose portion 46, the outer end of which has an inwardly and downwardly sloping cam surface at 46a. As shown in FIGURES and 7 the corresponding or mating door 13 has a horizontally extending flange portion 47 which is bent upwardly at 48. The portion 48 is depressed inwardly or recessed to form a lip 43 for a purpose explained hereinafter.

It will be understood that a latching assembly is mounted on each shelf 12 for the respective door 13, and that the lever 22 of each latching assembly 25 has its tip 22a received in a slot 21 in the main operating bar 18. It will, therefore, be apparent that, as the bar 18 is moved up by means of a key and the lock 26, all of the levers 22 will be rotated upwardly, thereby rotating the respective shafts 33 in clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURES 4 and 5. Therefore, the several latch members 32 will be rotated from the locking position shown in FIGURE 5 to a release position wherein the nose 46 of each latch member clears its lip 49. Therefore, all of the doors 13, assuming that they have been in closed, locked position, will be unlocked and can be opened. When it is desired to lock the doors 13 thay are pulled out and dropped from their horizontal, retracted positions to their vertical, closed positions so that the lips 49 are adjacent the flanges of the respective shelves 12 as shown in FIGURE 5. The lock 26' is then rotated to its locking position, whereby the main operating bar 18 is lowered and rotates the several levers 22 and with them the several shafts 33 and latching members 32 in counterclockwise direction (as viewed in FIGURE 5) so as to assume the locking position shown in FIGURE 5. The doors 13 are, therefore, securely locked in closed position.

It is an additional advantage of the design thus described and illustrated that the lips 49 are inset. This results in an abutting relation between the inset lips 49 and the shelf flanges 30 of the respective shelves 12 so that it is dithcult or impossible for an unauthorized person to open a door by inserting a knife blade or other similar instrument.

Another important advantage of the design and construction described and illustrated results from the cam surface 46a at the outer end of each of the latch members 32. As frequently happens, it may be desired to have one or more of the doors 13 open while others are closed and locked. With prior gang locks of which we have knowledge, if it is desired to close and lock the open door or doors it is necessary to unlock the closed and locked doors, then close the open door and then operate the locking mechanism to lock all of the doors again. This involves extra time and effort. Moreover it may lead to oversight. For example, a person operating under these circumstances may neglect to unlock the master lock before closing the open doors, which will, therefore, remain closed but unlocked.

With the present invention this is avoided. Assume that one or more of the doors 13 are closed and locked but that one of them is open. Its latch member 32 will be in the locking position shown in FIGURE 5 with its notch straddling the respective flange 30 and its nose 4 portion 46 on the outside of the flange. When the respective door 13 is pulled out and dropped its lip 49 will strike the cam surface 46a thereby exerting a force which will rotate the latch member 32 in clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 5, Le, toward unlocked position. Referring now to FIGURE 2 it will be seen that the shaft 33 is relatively long and has a relatively small diameter. Therefore it is twisted by the torsional force thus exerted sufficientlyto rotate its latch member 32 in clockwise direction so that it will clear the lip 49. The door 13, Will therefore, close completely and the resilience of the shaft 33 will rotate it back to its normal position, thereby locking the dropped, closed door.

It will, therefore, be apparent that a novel and very advantageous gang locking mechanism is provided for a shelf type filing cabinet, a bookcase or any other similar type of structure. It will also be apparent that the 1atching mechanism can be used with advantage in a cabinet having only a single door.

We claim:

1. In a cabinet of the character described comprising a pair of horizontally spaced side walls, a plurality of vertically spaced shelves each extending between the side walls and a door for each shelf, pivotally supported to swing between a substantially horizontal open position providing access to the respective shelf and a closed substantially vertical position providing front access to such shelf, each said shelf having at its front edge an upright flange and each door having adjacent its lower edge an inwardly projecting latch-receiving member which lies adiacent said flange when the door is in closed position, the improvement which comprises: Gang locking means in the form of a locking unit for each shelf-and-door combination, said locking unit comprising the following:

(1) a latching member cooperable with said latchreceiving member to lock the two members together; (2) a shaft aflixed to said latching member to rotate the same between a release position disengaged from and a locking position engaged with the respective latch receiving member, said shaft lying adjacent and behind the flange of the respective shelf;

(3) a pair of spaced brackets rotatably supporting said shaft and aflixed to said flange;

(4) an upright, reciprocable operating member supported in said cabinet adjacent a side thereof; and

(5) means operatively connecting said operating memher with each of said shafts to rotate the same in unison as said operating member is reciprocated.

2. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the support for each shaft is in the form of a bar extending from approximately said operating member to the center of the cabinet, and said brackets are affixed to the ends of said bar, said bar being affixed to the respective shelf flange and said latching member being aflixed to said shaft at approximately the center of the respective shelf.

3. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the side wall of said cabinet adjacent said operating member is formed at its front edge with an inwardly and rearwardly, angle-shaped extension forming a vertical, channel-like recess, and said operating member is located within and is concealed by said recess.

4. A cabinet of the character described comprising:

(1) a pair of spaced vertical side walls;

(2) a plurality of spaced horizontal shelves at their ends to said side walls;

(3) at least one of said side walls having its front edge turned inwardly and then rearwardly to form a channel-like recess which is concealed from v1evv. from the front of the cabinet; (4) each said shelf having its front edge turned down to form a vertical flange;

(5) a door for each shelf mounted to swing between an open, horizontal position exposing its respective shelf and a closed, vertical position concealing and closing said shelf;

(6) each said door having its lower edge turned inwardly and then upwardly to form a channel;

(7) a locking unit for each shelf including a mounting strip extending along and afiixed to the inner surface of the respective shelf flange, said strip being turned inwardly at its ends to form inwardly projecting mounting brackets;

(8) a shaft extending 'between, supported by and rotatable in said brackets;

(9) a latch member affixed to the inner end of said shaft and cooperable with the channel portion of the respective door to latch the same in closed position;

( 10) a vertical, reciprocable operating member located in said channel-like recess and extending substantially the height of the cabinet; and

(11) means aflixing the outer end of each said shaft to said operating member whereby, when the operating member is moved in one direction said shafts are rotated to disengage their latch members from the respective doors and, when moved in the opposide direction, said shafts are rotated to engage their latch members with the respective door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 199,383 Steinhoif Jan. 22, 1878 410,378 Rodeheaver Sept. 3, 1889 1,073,274 Millice Sept. 16, 1913 1,109,086 Stuck Sept. 1, 1914 1,859,789 Poeter May 24, 1932 2,532,942 Reimer Dec. 5, 1950 2,867,841 Baldauf Jan. 13, 1959 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,033,634 May 8, 1962 Jacob J. Ribbens er. a1.

error appears in the above numbered pat- It is hereby certified that t the said Letters Patent should read as em; requiring correction and the corrected below.

Column 4, lines 49 and 55, for the claim reference numeral "9", each occurrence, read 1 Signed and sealed this 22nd day of October 1963.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWIN L. REYNOLDS ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer Ac Li ng Commissioner of Patents