US3115028A

US3115028A - Combination lock

Info

Publication number: US3115028A
Application number: US105488A
Authority: US
Inventors: Windle John Charles
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-04-25
Filing date: 1961-04-25
Publication date: 1963-12-24
Anticipated expiration: 1980-12-24

Description

Dec. 24, 1963 c; wlvNDLE I 3,115,028'

` COMBINATION Lock Fned April 25. i961 2 sheets-sheet 1 De.24,1963 1cm/moua 3,115,028

COMBINATION -Locx United States Patent Oiiice 3d l5,28 Patented Dec. 2d., 1963 3,115,928 COMBINATIN LUCK .lohn Charles Windle, 13.9. Eon 544, S Green 'Iree Bldg., 111 N. High St., West Chester, Pa. Filed Apr. 25, 196i, Ser. No. 105,488 4 Claims. (Cl. 70-288) The present invention relates to combination locks particularly of the character which may be employed for doors of houses and industrial establishments, and on closets, vaults and cabinets.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive combination lock which will respond to the combination reliably, but cannot be readily opened by an unauthorized person who solves the combination by jockeying the lock.

A further purpose is to provide a combination lock which operates by a slider having slot means including both wide and narrow portions, the wide portions of the slot means being normally occupied by abutments of key pins which prevent the slider from sliding while the key pins are retracted, and the slot means being normally occupied by narrow portions of dummy pins when the dummy pins are retracted, the wide portions of the key pins being removed from the slot means when thekey pins are advanced and thus permitting sliding ofthe slider, but in case any of the dummy pins is advanced a wide portion of such dummy pin entering a wide portion of the slot means and preventing sliding ofthe slider.

A further purpose is to latch the slider opposite the key pins by mechanism which will prevent jockeying the slider when any key pin is retracted but which will be unlatched when all key pins are advanced.

A further purpose is to permit retraction of a bolt independently of the slider from the inside.

Further purposes appear in the specilication and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate a few only of the numerous embodiments in which the invention may appear, selecting the forms shown from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the lock of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the lock of FIG- URE l.

FIGURE 3 is a section of FIGURE 1 on the line 3 5.

FIGURE 4 is a section of FIGURE 2 on the ilne 4 4.

FIGURE 5 is a section of FIGURE 1 on the line 5 5.

FIGURE 6 is a section of FIGURE 2 on the line 6 6, r

showing all pins retracted.

FIGURE 7 is a View similar to FIGURE 6 showing a key pin advanced to unlatch the slider.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the slider retracted.

FIGURE 9 is a section on the line 9 9 of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE l() is a fragmentary view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the bolt retracted while the slider is advanced.

FIGURE Il is a fragmentary section on the line ill-lll of FIGURE 10.

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary view similar to FIGURE 7 showing a variation.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

The invention relates to a convenient, inexpensive and positive form of combination lock for doors of homes, industrial plants and the like.

It is very difficult for an intruder to analyze the cornbination, and yet very easy for an occupant of the house to open the lock. Repair and changing of the combination are accomplished easily.

The lock of the invention comprises a housing consisting of a housing body 21 which is of generally rectangular form with an open face and a cover plate 22 across the front and united to the housing body by machine screws 23 which extend through openings 24 at the corners of the body but are not visible at the front of the plate.

The body has at the sides guiding shoulders 25 and at the iront and back guiding

shelves

26 and 27 which receive and guide a slider 2S which extends lengthwise of the lock and is movable between a forward position shown for example in FIGURE 3 and a retracted position shown for example in FIGURE 8 when permitted by the combination under the action or" handle 30 extending through slot 3l in the face plate 22.

Slidably mounted in the slider 2S near the forward end is a bolt 32 which has suitable guideways at its sides 33 adjoining the slider and has a suitably tapered portion 34 at the forward end (the taper being on the side toward the inside oi the house) for engaging a keeper in the door jam when the door is locked. The bolt extends through an opening 35 in the forward end of the housing.

The bolt has at its rearward end guiding pins 36 extending through openings 37 in the slider and capable of retracting into an open space 38 near the middle of the slider. Helical compression springs 4b urge the bolt forward and surround the pins 36, acting between the rear of the bolt and the slider. At the inside of the lock (t0- ward l:he inside of the house) a handle 41 attached to the bolt extends through a slot i2 in the housing, the slot and the handle serving to limit the motion of the bolt. It will be evident that the bolt moves independently of the slider and can be retracted when the slider is orward by a person within the house.

Extending through the face plate in suitable banks or rows as shown are pin openings 43 which receive both dummy pins 4.1i and key pins d5 arranged in a combina tion unknown to any but authorized persons. There will be any suitable number of dummy pins and any suitable number of key pins. Each of the pins, whether dummy or key, has a head iti on the outside which serves to limit its motion and permits easy engagement by the finger of the user. The head S6 is suitably the head of a separate screw threaded into the pin and removable as by an Allen head screw driver in changing pins.

Each of the dummy pins 4@ has :an extension 47 through a slot LES extending lengthwise of the slider, the slot 4S having a narrow portion Sii between pin positions and a wide portion `51 opposite pin positions when the slider is advanced. Thus when the dummy pin 4d is retracted as shown in FIGURE 6 the narrow portion 4i7 of the dummy pin is at the middle of the slot and is narrower than the narrow portion Sii of the slot. Between the head 46 and the narrow portion 47 of the dummy pin there is a wide portion, boss or abutment 52 on each dummy pin, which when the dummy pin is retracted does not extend into the wide portion 51 of the slot but if by mistake a dummy pin is advanced the wide portion 52 of the dummy pin 46 will extend into the wide portion 5I of the slot and lock the slider against sliding into retracted position.

Each key pin when retracted has a boss, abutment or enlargement 53 which extends into a wide portion 51 of the slot and prevents the slider from sliding. Each key pin also has a collar 513. which engages the inside of the face plate in retracted position of the key pin.

When the key pin 45 is advanced, as shown in FIGURE 7, the abutment 53 moves out of the wide portion 51 of the slot, leaving a portion of the key pin 55 in the slot which is narrower than the narrow portion Si? of the slot and does not impede sliding of the slider.

All of the pins, both dummy pins and key pins, yare resiliently urged toward retraction. In the form of FIG- URES l to ll this is accomplished by leaf springs 56 which are mounted as by screws 57 on a rib 53 in the housing and which suitably have socket portions 6G engaging the ends of the pins and tending to retract the pins.

It is important that an unauthorized person should not be able to slightly move or jockey the slider when he does not know the combination, because if he can do this he may be able, by engagement of sensitive fingers with an individual pin or by application of electronic or other vibration detection means to such pin, to determine whether that pin is subjected to load when the slider is jockeyed and is therefore a key pin, or whether it is free from load and is therefore a dummy pin. To prevent this it is desirable to latch the slider against slight jockeying motion independently of the key pins.

ln accordance with the invention, the leaf spring S6 is extended at all positions until it is opposite a latching opening 6l lwhich is provided in the slider opposite each pin. This latching opening is -without function except at the key pins. At the key pins the leaf spring mounts a latch 62 and when the key pin is retracted this latch engages the latching opening and tends to hold the slider against sliding. When however the key pin 4S is depressed as in FIGURE 7 the leaf spring is pushed down and the latch 62 leaves the latching opening 61, so that when all key pins are depressed all latches are free and the slider 28 can be moved longitudinally to withdraw the bolt.

In some cases it is preferable as shown in FIGURE 12 to provide extensions on the key pins at 63 which engage opening 6d in the leaf springs and to provide a saddle 65 on the rib 58 which tends to curve or ybias the leaf spring into engagement of the latching opening 6l by latches 62' at the key pins.

The latching openings are not used and latches are not provided Aat the dummy pins but they are available at all positions so that in order to change the combina-tion by changing around the key pins and dummy pins it is merely necessary to disassemble the lock, remove the heads 46 which are suitably screw threaded in the ends of the pins, change around the pins and insert and remove latches so that there will be latches at all the key pins. The latches 62 can conveniently have screws that are removable to change latches.

In operation, it will be evident that the lock will be either mounted on the outside of the door by suitable bolts from the inside which do not show at the outside or will be inset into the door and fastened to it from the inside. In any case the face plate of the lock is fully visible at the outside of the door.

The authorized person desiring to enter the house and knowing the combination presses only on the key pins and pulls on the handle to retract the bolt and open the door. He then can throw the slide :forward so that the door locks, and he can close the door from the inside.

An unauthorized person not knowing the combination even if he should happen to press one or more of the key pins will likely also press a dummy pin and prevent moving of the slider.

A person inside the house can move the bolt by the handle 41 entirely independent of the slider, and when he goes out can slam the door without manipulating the slider and the bolt will retract due to the wedge action of the sloping surface 34 of the bolt on the keeper and will spring-lock the door.

In view of my invention and disclosure, variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a combination lock, a housing, a slider slidably mounted in the housing and having slot means extending through the slider in the direction of sliding, said slider slot means having enlargements therein at inten/als along its length, a bolt connected with the slider and extending to a position outside the housing in the forward position of the slider, dummy pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider at positions at which the slot means has enlargements, said dummy pins havin'T in retracted position a diameter of the portion within the slot means which is less than the narrow width of the slot means and having pin enlargements which when the dummy pins are advanced enter the slot means and have a width larger than the narrow width of the slot means and which enter the slot enlargements, key pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider at positions at which the slot means has enlargements, said key pins having in retracted positions enlargements which occupy the slot enlargements, `which key pin enlargements lare wider than the narrow width of the slot means and having in advanced positions portions within the slot means which are narrower than the narrow width of the slot means, means for retractng the dummy pins and the key pins, means for sliding the slider and the bolt when the dummy pins are all retracted and the key pins are all advanced, latch openings in the slider opposite the key pins and latches which are adapted to engage the latch openings in the slider when the key pins are retracted and which are withdrawn from the slider when the key pins are advanced.

2. In a combination lock, a housing, a slider slidably mounted in the housing and having slot means extending through the `slider in the direction of sliding, said slider slot means having enlargements therein at intervals along its length, a bolt connected with the slider and extending to -a position outside the housing in the forward position of the slider, dummy pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider at positions at which the slot means has enlargements, said dummy pins having in retracted position a diameter of the portion within the slot means which is less than the narrow Width of the slot means and having pin enlargements which when the dummy pins are advanced enter the slot means and have a width larger than the narrow width of the slot means and which enter the slot enlargements, key pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider `at positions at which the slot means has enlargements, said key pins having in retracted positions enlargements which occupy the slot enlargements, which key pin enlargements are wider than the narrow Width of the slot means and having in advanced positions portions within the slot means which are narrower than the narrow width of the slot means, means for retracting the dummy pins and the key pins, and means for sliding the slider and the bolt when the dummy pins are all retracted and the key pins are all advanced, in which the means for retracting the dummy pins and the key pins comprises leaf springs acting on the ends of said pins, latching openings in the slider opposite the key pins and latches mounted on the leaf springs opposite the key pins and adapted to engage lin the latch openings when the key pins are retracted and released when the key pins are advanced.

3. A device of claim 2, in which the leaf springs have openings opposite the ends of the key pins and the key pins have extensions into the openings in the leaf springs.

4. In a combination lock, a housing, a slider slidably mounted in the housing and having slot means extending through the slider in the direction of sliding, said slider slot means having enlargements therein at intervals along its length, a bolt connected with the slider and extending to a position outside the housing in the forward position of the slider, dummy pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider at positions at which the slot means has enlargements, said dummy pins having in retracted position a diameter of the portion within the slot means which is less than the narrow width of the slot means and having pin enlargements which when the dummy pins yare adv-anced enter the slot means and have 1a width larger than the narrow width of the slot means and which enter the slot enlargements, key pins extending through the housing and through the slot means transversely of the slider at posi- ,tions at which the slot means has enlargements, said key pins having in retracted positions enlargements which occupy the slot enlargements, which key pin enlargements are wider than the narrow width of the slot means and having in advanced positions portions within the slot means which are narrower than the narrow width of the slot means, means for retracting the dummy pins and the key pins, means yfor sliding the slider and the bolt when the dummy pins are Iall retracted and the key pins are 6 all advanced, latch openings in the slider opposite the key pins land latches which are adapted to engage the latch openings in the slider when the key pins are retracted and which are Withdrawn from the slider when the key pins are advanced, wherein Ithe dummy pins are each integnal.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,358,877 Ricks Nov. 16, 1920 1,656,699 Elinwall Jan. 17, 1928 2,772,555 Smith Dec. 4, 1956 2,967,419 Katona Jan. 10, 1961 2,997,872 -Fry Aug. 29, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 493,535 Italy Apr. 27, 1954

Claims

1. IN A COMBINATION LOCK, A HOUSING, A SLIDER SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN THE HOUSING AND HAVING SLOT MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH THE SLIDER IN THE DIRECTION OF SLIDING, SAID SLIDER SLOT MEANS HAVING ENLARGEMENTS THEREIN AT INTERVALS ALONG ITS LENGTH, A BOLT CONNECTED WITH THE SLIDER AND EXTENDING TO A POSITION OUTSIDE THE HOUSING IN THE FORWARD POSITION OF THE SLIDER, DUMMY PINS EXTENDING THROUGH THE HOUSING AND THROUGH THE SLOT MEANS TRANSVERSELY OF THE SLIDER AT POSITIONS AT WHICH THE SLOT MEANS HAS ENLARGEMENTS, SAID DUMMY PINS HAVING IN RETRACTED POSITION A DIAMETER OF THE PORTION WITHIN THE SLOT MEANS WHICH IS LESS THAN THE NARROW WIDTH OF THE SLOT MEANS AND HAVING PIN ENLARGEMENTS WHICH WHEN THE DUMMY PINS ARE ADVANCED ENTER THE SLOT MEANS AND HAVE A WIDTH LARGER THAN THE NARROW WIDTH OF THE SLOT MEANS AND WHICH ENTER THE SLOT ENLARGEMENTS, KEY PINS EXTENDING THROUGH THE HOUSING AND THROUGH THE SLOT MEANS TRANSVERSELY OF THE SLIDER AT POSITIONS AT WHICH THE SLOT MEANS HAS ENLARGEMENTS, SAID KEY PINS HAVING IN RETRACTED POSITIONS ENLARGEMENTS WHICH OCCUPY THE SLOT ENLARGEMENTS, WHICH KEY PIN ENLARGEMENTS ARE WIDER THAN THE NARROW WIDTH OF THE SLOT MEANS AND HAVING IN ADVANCE POSITIONS PORTIONS WITHIN THE SLOT MEANS WHICH ARE NARROWER THAN THE NARROW WIDTH OF THE SLOT MEANS, MEANS FOR RETRACTING THE DUMMY PINS AND THE KEY PINS, MEANS FOR SLIDING THE SLIDER AND THE BOLT WHEN THE DUMMY PINS ARE ALL RETRACTED AND THE KEY PINS ARE ALL ADVANCED, LATCH OPENINGS IN THE SLIDER OPPOSITE THE KEY PINS AND LATCHES WHICH ARE ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE LATCH OPENINGS IN THE SLIDER WHEN THE KEY PINS ARE RETRACTED AND WHICH ARE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SLIDER WHEN THE KEY PINS ARE ADVANCED.