US3129027A - Locking device for inwardly swinging doors - Google Patents

Description

April 14, 1964 5. J. SUSSINA LOCKING DEVICE FOR INWARDLY SWINGING DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26, 1962 FIG. 2

INVENTOR- By .srA/v J. sass/m A ORA/E United States Patent 3,129,4l27 LOCKING DEVICE F08 KNWARDLY SWHNGING DOQRS Stan .l. Sussina, Mamaroneclr, NiY. (226 Pelham Road, New Rochelle, N.Y.) Filed Mar. 26, 1962,8er. No. 182,405 7 Ciaims. (Cl. 292-496) My instant invention relates to a locking device for inwardly opening doors whether such doors are right or left handed.

An object of the invention is to provide a portable, selfcontained, keyless mechanical locking device which may Zlock a door in its closed, as also slightly open, position.

A further object is to provide a locking device which is burglar-proof and the use of which cannot be detected from the exterior side of the door and is totally independent of the other latches or locks installed on the door.

A further object is to provide additional privacy and security to guests or tenants of apartments, hotels and :motels where pass or master keys are available to others,

for example, superintendents, maids, front desk employees, etc., and thus protect against embarrassing and accidental intrusions and assure complete, instant and positive privacy to the occupant.

Still a further object is to provide such a locking de- -vice which will permit the occupant safely to open the door a sufficient distance and lock the door in such opened position to interview a caller, to accept a letter or tele gram, etc., and without removing the locking device to relock the door in its closed position.

Still a further object is to provide a light-weight locking device which is of such size that it may readily be carried in a pocket or purse, may be installed and removed without the use of tools, and includes no key which could be lost or misplaced.

The foregoing, and other, objects and features of my invention will be readily understood from the description vof two illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first illustrative em 'bodiment of the door locking device of my invention with the locking bar withdrawn from the housing as far as it may be pulled out;

FIG. 2 an exploded view of the locking device of FIG.

1 on a smaller scale;

FIG. 3 an elevational front view thereof with a por .tion of the housing front wall broken away;

FIG. .4 is an elevational lateral view thereof with the forward end portion of the housing top wall broken y;

FIG. 5 is an elevational front view of a second illustrative embodiment of the locking device of my invention.with the entire front wall removed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, the first illustrative embodiment ofthe locking device of nay-invention comprises a two-piece hollow rectangularshell or casing 1,

front andrear walls, for a locking button or pawl 4. The

two parts of the casing, each of which is preferably half the total length of the assembled casing, are joined to each other as by snap-fitting, pinning or cementing to each other after the elements of the device have been assembled within the front casing part. The designation of the casing walls as front, end, top, etc., of the device is as given in the drawing.

An elongated locking bar 6, of flat steel of suficient thickness, for example A to give it adequate strength, has a bent-over front end region 7, and is inserted by its back end linear region through aperture 2. Except for its bent-over front region and its back end region, bar 6 is provided its length with teeth 8 at each of its lateral edge regions, the teeth being of the mill or ripsaw type, each tooth being formed by a linear face substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the bar when stress is exerted against the door, and an oblique linear face with the perpendicular face the nearer to the bent-over bar end region 7. The array of teeth of one side is staggered relative to those of the other-array, for example A2" to allow for an adjustment of in the take-up on the bar, and to provide a relock feature should the first tooth engaged when securing the bar, or one of the bar locking arm blades, be broken, as will appear from the further description of the invention. Bent-over end region 7 is bent about thus providing a reentrant hook of about 45 to the linear portion of the bar for hooking into the strike opening at a door jamb. The other end of bar 6 is shaped to provide a male connector 9 for snap hinged engagement to the end of a cavity mounted power spring it) within the casing. The adjacent end 11 of the power spring is in the form of a pair of spaced hooks which are snapped over the respective ends of the connector 9, thus permitting the bar to be pulled out through aperture 2 a predetermined distance against the force of power spring 10. When power spring ft? is fully extended, bar

6 is pivotable about connector 9, to a position substantially perpendicular to the front wall of the forward part of easing 1 (FIG. 4), thereby permitting the door to open or close when the bent-over region is positioned in and retained by the strike of the jamb of the door to be locked from the inside by the use of my device. To accommodate the connector end of bar 6, and to permit pivoting bar 6 to such position perpendicular to the front wall of the casing 1, adjacent end 11 of power spring 10,

has a central cut-out portion 13. It will be noted that the remaining shoulder regions of such power spring adjacent end 11 will strike the rear face of the pair of locking blades, hereinafter discussed, when the bar is fully extended, and permit no further withdrawal of the bar while simultaneously signalling that the casing may be pivoted away from the door to the stated perpendicular position. Since the width beyond the inner face of the forward end wall of the casing of that portion of aperture 2 in the front wall of the casing, is substantially the same as the thickness of the bar, obviously thebar can- .not be pivoted to its full substantially perpendicular posi- -tion until the bar is fully extended.

Within casing 1, a formed internal partition 14, likewise preferably of a high impact thermoplastic, having a front wall 15 with an elongated extension in at each the top and bottom thereof to engage the adjacent front .wall of the casing, has a rear wall 17 spaced therefrom which extends the entire inner length of the casing. The

front wall 15 is of such length that its forward end, as

indicated'at 18, when fully in the casing, leaves a space to permit theformed snap hooks on end 11 of thepower spring 10, to enter such space a distance sufiicient to permit pivoting of bar 6 to the stated substantially perpendicularposition. The spacing at which front wall 15 of partition 14 is held by extensions l from frontwall of casing l is such that one face of bar 6 slides on the face of a longitudinal ledge 15A integral centrally with wall 15, while the opposite face of the bar tends to slide on the inner face of the adjacent front wall of the casing,

when the device is completely assembled. End 11 of power spring 10 thus straddles ledge 15A, the hooked ends thereof sliding, respectively, between the lateral faces of ledge 15A and of extensions 16. The rear face of rear wall 17 has a recess 20 thereacross in which the cross-piece of a U-shaped Siamese pivot pin 23 is positioned, the arms of pin 23 extending through apertures 21 and 22 through rear wall 17, with the free end region of the arms of pin 23, extending through apertures 24 and 25, respectively, in wall 15. Wall 15 is spaced from second wall 17 by cross-member 26, integral with both walls 15 and 17. Wall 15 does not extend longitudinally beyond crossmember 26 while wall 17 does so extend and with the cross-member forms an interior region 27 which is the cavity housing power extension spring 10.

One formed angular pawl 4 is pivoted about each arm of U-shaped pin 23 in the region between walls 15 and 17. The front end 30 of each pawl is substantially rec tangular, and each has a longitudinal rectangular slot 31 centered therein from its forward face for slidably receiving one arm of an angular spring locking blade 32. The other arm of blade 32 extends a sufficient distance inwardly to, and beyond, the locking bar, being of suiiicient length to just clear the inside face of the rear wall of the casing. If the blade arm were of a lesser length and the locking bar were to be slightly cocked, it could become disengaged. Thus, this blade arm engages the forward perpendicular face of a tooth, or of the end portions of the male connector with the formed snap hooks 12 of the power extension spring 1t) thereover, depending on the distance to which bar 6 has been withdrawn when the formed pawls 4- have released the locking blades as will be described. The width of each locking blade is such that at no time will the entire blade width be visible through aperture 2, precluding any malfunction caused by the blade being caught in aperture 2. The other end region of each pawl 4 has one side face 34 thereof of a large arcuate form of which at least a portion extends through one elongated aperture 3 centered both ways, in each the top and bottom wall of the casing, the aperture being of such length as to limit the outward movement of the pawl 4 that the inner linear face 36 of the rectangular front end 30 of the pawl is substantially parallel to, but spaced from, the longitudinal central axis of the casing. The dimensions of the forward end of each pawl are such that with face 36 so spaced from the longitudinal axis of the casing, its opposite linear face is spaced from the adjacent wall of the casing as to permit the necessary pivoting of the pawl. The inner and linear face 37 of the other end 33 of the pawl is at an angle to face 36 and is provided with a projection 38 at its end. A projection 19 extends from the front face of the rear wall 17 of the internal partition 14 and functions as a support for the spiral central region of torsion spring 39 of which the extending ends are anchored in a slot 46 in projection 38. Torsion spring 39 is so biased that the arcuate surface of each pawl is pressed as far through its cooperating aperture 3 to extend externally thereof as much as the length dimension of aperture 3 will allow.

It follows that when pawls 4 are depressed against the force of torsion spring 39, the forward arm of each an gular locking blade 32 is moved laterally out of the path of teeth 8 and connector 9 cooperating therewith, respectively, thus freeing bar 6 and permitting the bar to be drawn out as required but not in excess of the predetermined distance when hooks 12 strike the locking blades in the rear of the forward end wall of the casing. During the hooking of the bent-over bar end region into the strike opening, even though the pawls are manually released, bar 6 remains in a drawn-out position since locking blades 32 are engaged to teeth 8 or connector 9. When end 7 has been so hooked, casing 1 being in the path of opening of the now closed door, the pawls are pressed inwardly by encircling the casing with one hand i and pressing inwardly with the thumb and index finger on the two pawls, the casing is pushed forward or drawn forward by the extension spring, along the bar until its forward end wall is flush with and tightly against the door. Now the pawls are released manually by relaxing the pressure thereon, locking the device in such position by the forward arm of each locking blade reengaging bar 6 at the perpendicular face of the tooth of the array aligned with the blade arms. Should a tooth of either array to be engaged be missing, the next tooth of the other array will be engaged by its locking blade; similarly if one blade is broken, the other will hold the bar locked.

It will be noted that slots 31 for the locking blades are independent of the arms of U-shaped pin 23 about which the pawls pivot to permit them to float to and from the forward end of the casing, thereby preventing the possibility of shearing such arms by transferring all stress to the arms of locking blades 32, the blades adjusting themselves generally flush with the inside surface of the forward wall of the casing.

Upon completion of the assembly within the forward casing portion, the rear portion of the casing is snapfitted, pinned or cemented to the forward portion to complete the device. Actually, the design is such that the only function of the rear portion is to protect the assembled parts, the lock functioning perfectly even without the rear portion of the casing.

In a second embodiment of my invention, power spring 10 is omitted and in its place a draw thong is used. As shown in FIG. 5, the draw bar 60 is longer than bar 6 of the first embodiment, being longer than the latter by substantially the length within the casing which is occu' pied by power spring 10 of the first embodiment when its bar 6 is completely retracted to engage bent-over portion 7 to aperture 2, the additional length of bar 60, as compared to bar 6, being likewise provided with teeth 61 of the same size, form, and staggered relation to each other as teeth 8 of bar 6, bar 60 terminating in a male connector 9 the same as male connector 9 of bar 6. In addition, front wall 62 of the internal partition of this embodiment, however, may extend substantially the entire length of the casing in that the cavity for a power spring is no longer required. A relatively short but wide, flat fitting 63 has a pair of spaced hooks 64 at its transverse end regions which engage the ends of male connector 9'. A thong or string 65 is threaded through a pair of spaced apertures 66 in fitting 63, the ends of the thong extending through an aperture 67 in the back end wall of the casing, the thong being of suificient length that when bar 60 is fully withdrawn pivoting of bar 60 to the perpendicular position, as described for the first illustrative embodiment, is possible and the tied and knotted ends of thongs 65 will be loosely against the external face of the casing back end wall. The operation of the second embodiment readily follows from the above described operation of the first embodiment of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A locking device for locking an inwardly opening door to its door-frame strike, comprising an elongated locking bar of rectangular cross-section,

the intermediate portions of each lateral side of the bar being provided with an array of saw-teeth,

the saw teeth of each array being staggered in relation to the saw teeth of the other array,

means at one end of the bar for engaging the bar to the strike,

a housing,

the locking bar except for its strike engaging means being normally within the housing,

stop means at the other end region of the locking bar to limit to a predetermined amount the distance the bar may be withdrawn from the housing, and manually operable latching means extending from the exterior into the interior of each lateral wall of the housing and on operation to permit relative movement of the housing on the bar within the predetermined amount on engagement of the strike engaging of the stop means of the bar to prevent movement of the bar when said one arm of the lever is springpressed to project through its aperture and to remove said other leg of the right-angle from such path when means of the bar with the strike and on release to 5 the levers are manually pressed into their apertures lock the housing to the bar with the housing in the against the bias of the spring to permit movement path of opening of the door. of the bar so that when the hooked end region of the 2. The locking device according to claim 1 in which bar is hooked onto a strike, the housing is movable each manually operable latching means comprises along the bar for any desired distance up to that at a spring biased lever pivotally mounted in a lateral wall 10 which the stop means strikes the end wall defining of the housing and has two arms of which one arm the first aperture to position the housing selectively extends to the exterior of the housing and its other tightly against the door to prevent any opening of the arm is wholly within the housing at all times and door and at a slight distance from the door on releasincludes ing manual pressure on the levers to lock the righta longitudinal recess open at its forward end, and angles to the adjacent saw tooth of each array. an angle of spring metal has one arm slidably disposed 5. The locking device according to claim 4 in which in the recess and its other arm extending into the an internal frame is positioned within the housing, path of the saw-tooth array in the lateral side of the the frame having an upper and a lower wall, bar adjacent to the lever when the lever is in its each lever of the pair is pivoted to the lower wall of normal biased position and is removed from such the frame, path when the other lever arm is manually pressed the upper wall of the frame being spaced from the top inwardly. wall of the housing a distance to provide a sliding 3. The locking device according to claim 1 in which fit therebetween for the bar, the housing is of rectangular shape and a spacer supporting the upper frame wall on the lower the locking bar is withdrawable from the housing frame wall,

through an aperture defined in the housing wall at the lower frame wall extends substantially the interior the region of joinder of an end wall and the top of length of the housing and the upper frame wall exthe housing, the bar being pivotable about the stop tends to the spacer to form between the end wall of means at its end region when the bar is completely the housing opposite to that defining the first aperwithdrawn to engage the bar stop means to the inture, the spacer and the lower frame wall a recess, terior face of the apertured end wall the bar to a and position substantially perpendicular to the top of the a power spring of which the free end is connected to housing facilitating engagement of the strike engagthe end region of the bar mounting the stop means ing means to the strike. disposed in the recess to restore the bar automatical- 4. A locking device for locking an inwardly opening ly to its normal position in the housing on disengagdoor to its door-frame strike selectively to permit but ing the hooked end region of the bar from the strike limited opening and to prevent any opening of the door while applying manual pressure to the two-armed comprising levers.

a rectangular housing of lightweight material and defin- 6. The locking device according to claim 4 in which ing a first aperture in an end and the top wall at the the housing comprises two partial housings snap-titted region at which such end and top walls join and to each other. a pair of apertures respectively in the front and rear 7. The locking device according to claim 4 in which walls, the bar end region supporting the stop means is conan elongated flat bar having one end extending through nected to drawing means extending through the end the first aperture, wall opposite to that defining the bar having a hooked end region incapable of the first aperture for restoring the bar to its posipassing through the first aperture in its portion tion within the housing by pulling manually on extending beyond the housing, the withdrawing means after disengaging the an array of saw teeth at each edge region of the bar hooked end region of the bar from the strike normally within the housing and while applying manual pressure to the levers. a stop means incapable of passing through the first aperture at the end of the bar within the housing, References Cited in the file of this patent a two-armed lever pivotally mounted within the housin to each side of the longitudinal axis of the housing UNITED STATES PATENTS a spring biasing each two-armed lever so that one arm 57 4 7 Nagle F b, 2, 18.97 of each lever is pressed against its cooperating aper- ,977 430 D l O 16 1934 ture of the pair and projects with its intermediate 2 35 2 2 T 11 at A 21, 1953 portion externally through the aperture and the 2,673,112 Andrews Man 23, 954 other arm is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the 714,0 0 Gardner July 2 1955 housing, a recess in such other arm of the lever, and 60 2 924 479 Butler F b 9 1960 a right-angle of spring metal of which one leg is slidable in the recess and of which the other leg extends FOREIGN PATENTS into the path of the adjacent array of saw teeth and 630,106 France Aug. 9, 1927

Claims (1)

1. A LOCKING DEVICE FOR LOCKING AN INWARDLY OPENING DOOR TO ITS DOOR-FRAME STRIKE, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED LOCKING BAR OF RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION, THE INTERMEDIATE PORTIONS OF EACH LATERAL SIDE OF THE BAR BEING PROVIDED WITH AN ARRAY OF SAW-TEETH, THE SAW TEETH OF EACH ARRAY BEING STAGGERED IN RELATION TO THE SAW TEETH OF THE OTHER ARRAY, MEANS AT ONE END OF THE BAR FOR ENGAGING THE BAR TO THE STRIKE, A HOUSING, THE LOCKING BAR EXCEPT FOR ITS STRIKE ENGAGING MEANS BEING NORMALLY WITHIN THE HOUSING, STOP MEANS AT THE OTHER END REGION OF THE LOCKING BAR TO LIMIT TO A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT THE DISTANCE THE BAR MAY BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE HOUSING, AND MANUALLY OPERABLE LATCHING MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE EXTERIOR INTO THE INTERIOR OF EACH LATERAL WALL OF THE HOUSING AND ON OPERATION TO PERMIT RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF THE HOUSING ON THE BAR WITHIN THE PREDETERMINED AMOUNT ON ENGAGEMENT OF THE STRIKE ENGAGING MEANS OF THE BAR WITH THE STRIKE AND ON RELEASE TO LOCK THE HOUSING TO THE BAR WITH THE HOUSING IN THE PATH OF OPENING OF THE DOOR.

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