US3389586A

US3389586A - Non-binding locking levers for padlocks

Info

Publication number: US3389586A
Authority: US
Inventors: Daniel J Foote
Original assignee: Master Lock Co LLC
Current assignee: Master Lock Co LLC
Priority date: 1966-06-13
Filing date: 1966-06-13
Publication date: 1968-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 1985-06-25

Description

June 25, 1968 D. J. FOOTE 3,389,586

NON-BINDING LOCKING LEVERS FOR PADLOCKS Filed June 13, 1966 INVENTOR '1 DANIEL J. FOOTE 40 BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent f 3,389,586 NON-BINDING LOCKING LEVERS FOR PADLOCKS Daniel J. Foote, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to Master Lock Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed June 13, 1966, Ser. No. 557,263 7 Claims. (Cl. 70-38) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spring-loaded, axially-movable locking lever in a padlock body for releasably engaging and holding the notched leg of a reciprocatable shackle leg in its closed position which lever has a portion of its shackle-engaging edge convexly curved in transverse planes to form a cam surface engageable with said shackle leg, said cam surface causing said locking lever to move smoothly into and out of said shackle leg notch without binding or wedging.

This invention relates to improvements in non-binding locking levers for padlocks, and more particularly to a padlock locking lever wherein the edge of the padlock shackle-engaging arm is crowned.

In the padlock art it is customary to employ a locking lever to engage and hold the padlock shackle in its locked position. Such locking levers, incorporated in padlocks, are usually spring-loaded, and being under compression by means of'a coil or leaf spring serve to hold the shackle in its locked position. In conventional arrangements it has been found that when the lever is retracted under the compression of its spring there has been a tendency for the lever to tip, stick, or bind in its back travel so as to become blocked or restrained, thereby causing ditficulties in the locking of the padlock. Additionally, dirt and dust may cause the locking lever to become tight or diflicult to actuate, with the result that the lever will fail to release itself within the padlock which is a fault with conventional padlock levers having straight or squared shackle-engaging edges.

With the foregoing in mind, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide in a padlock, a locking lever which is susceptible of free and easy movement without binding or tipping, the present locking lever being characterized by a crowned formation of its shackle-engaging edge, the same being curved in two planes at right angles to one another.

A further object of the invention is to provide a locking lever for a padlock which will operate freely and easily without binding, regardless of whether or not its spring, due to off-center pressure, should cause it to tilt.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a locking lever for a padlock wherein the effective edge of the shackle-engaging arm thereof is crowned, whereby, during operation of the lever, it will be self-aligning to prevent undesirable binding, wedging, cocking, or turning, insuring that the padlock lever will at all times operate smoothly for engagement with the padlock shackle.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide in a padlock, a locking lever wherein the effective edge of the shackle-engaging arm is curved in two planes at right angles to one another to eliminate friction in its engagements with the shackle end to and from locking positions.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a padlock lever with a crowned working edge to facilitate non-binding operation of the locking lever, which is readily suited for incorporation in any form of shackle-equipped padlock, which is relatively simple to manufacture, which is smooth and positive in its opera- 3,389,586 Patented June 25, 1968 tion, and which is well adapted for the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of the non-binding locking lever for padlocks, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claims, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. 1 is an enlarged side view of a padlock equipped with the improved non-binding locking lever, parts being broken away and shown in section, and the shackle end being shown in its position of locked engagement with the locking lever;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 only showing a slightlytilted position of the locking lever;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary detail view, partly in section, of the locking end of the shackle in contact with the crowned portion of the locking lever, prior to being pushed inwardly to its locked position;

FIG. 4 is a detail sectional view of the locking lever taken approximately along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the locking lever, as indicated by the line 5-5 in FIG. 2, showing the crowned formation of the effective edge of the shackle-engaging arm; and 1 FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the locking ever.

Although the invention is not to be restricted thereto, for purposes of illustration the padlock body or case 10 is of laminated construction and built up of a plurality of superimposed, secured-together plates 11 provided internally with partitions and walls to define cavities for certain of the lock mechanism. However, within the contemplation of the present invention the padlock body or case 10 may be die cast, laminated, or a combination thereof. Housed within a suitable cavity within the case 10 is a locking lever generally indicated by the numeral 12 which, as best shown in FIG. 2, may be of right angular formation and includes an outer transverse shackle leg-engaging arm 13. Said locking lever may be blanked, extruded or die cast, or formed of powdered or isintered metals. As will hereinafter appear, the present invention is concerned primarily with the formation of the outer effective edge of said lever arm 13. To react against the inner end of the other leg of the locking lever 12, there is a spring 14 which in practice may be a coiled or a leaf spring.

Regardless of the form the padlock body 10 takes, it is provided with a pair of spaced-apart, longitudinallyextending shackle leg-receiving

openings

15 and 16 which open through the top plate of the padlock body and which longitudinally-movably receive, respectively, the short leg 17 and the long leg 18 of the padlock shackle 19. The short leg or toe 17 of the padlock shackle at its inner end is provided with a shouldered notch 20 which is engaged by the outermost longitudinal edge of the locking lever arm 13 for shackle locking purposes. The inner face of the extremity of the shackle leg 17, beyond the shouldered notch 20, is beveled or inclined as at 21 to facilitate its riding over the crowned edge of the locking lever arm 13, as will hereinafter appear.

As previously mentioned, the present invention is characterized by the specific formation of the locking lever 12 and particularly its lever arm 13 which is directed transversely to the axis of the short leg 17 of the shackle 19. As is shown in the drawing, and particularly in FIG. 6, the locking lever arm 13 along the outer edge portion of its top and forward faces is arched upwardly between the lines a and b, as indicated by the numeral 22, and is rounded downwardly from lines 0 to d, as indicated by the numeral 23. Hence, the major extent of the outer longitudinal edge surface of the lever arm 13 is curved in two planes at right angles to one another to form a crowned surface. Said crowned surface, however, terminates short of the opposite ends of the lever arm 13 and results in curved end shoulders 24.

In FIG. 3 there is illustrated the function of the crowned surface of the lever arm 13 during depression of the short arm 17 of the shackle before it is completely pushed into its locked position. As shown, the lower end of the shackle arm 17 has been pushed into the body opening of the padlock, and the beveled or inclined face 21 of the shackle end, below the notch 30, rides on the crowned surface of the lever arm 13 between the shoulders 24. Further downward pressure on the shackle cams the locking lever 12 rearwardly against the tension of its spring 14 until the shackle leg notch registers with the locking arm 13, whereupon the spring 14 will snap the locking lever arm 13 forwardly into the notch 20, thereby locking the padlock shackle. The crowned construction of the lever arm 13 is such that regardless of the force exerted by the spring 14 against the inner end of the locking lever 12, such spring force can be exerted against any portion of the locking lever in a non-binding manner without impairing its correct entry into the shackle leg notch. The crowned edge of the locking lever arm accurately enters into the shackle notch 20 without such friction, binding or deflection as would impair the locking action. The crowned edge portion of the lever arm 13, between the shoulders 24, can freely contact any portion of the beveled face 21 of the shackle leg 17 before entering into the shackle leg notch 20. Of course, when the shackle arm 17 is released from the locking action of the locking lever 12 by the operation of a proper key, the levers easy non-binding contact with the beveled face 21 of the shackle arm 17 takes place, with the latter riding over the crowned edge of the locking lever arm 13. In FIG. 2 of the drawing shackle leg 17 is shown as being lockingly engaged by the lever arm 13, with the locking lever 12 being slightly canted or titlted due to the force of the spring 14. However, as shown and as explained, the canted condition of the locking lever does not in any way affect the free and easy non-binding operation of the parts.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the improved locking lever is formed with a shackle-engaging arm whose shackle-engaging edge is curved in two planes at right angles to one another to result in a crowned cam surface. Consequently, during operation of the lever in relation to the notched end of the shackle arm, there will be a self-aligning action between the beveled end of the shackle leg and the locking lever arm of such a nature as will prevent undesirable binding, wedging or canting to insure smooth and easy engagement between the locking lever arm and the padlock shackle leg. The improved nonbinding locking lever arm may be readily incorporated in various types of padlocks, is relatively inexpensive and simple to manufacture, and is well adapted for the purposes set forth.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In a padlock having a reciprocatable shackle wherein one leg of the latter is notched with a contact surface there adjacent extending to the free end portion of said leg, said notch extending inwardly of said contact surface, a yieldably mounted locking lever having an arm directed transversely of said shackle leg notch, the leading longitudinal edge portion of said arm being formed as a cam surface to ride on the contact surface of said shackle leg to smoothly guide said lever arm into the shackle leg notch upon a predetermined movement of the shackle leg and yielding movement of said locking lever, said cam surface being upwardly arched longitudinally of the arm and curved downwardly on a radius transversely of said arm, and there being upstanding shoulders formed on said lever arm at the opposite ends of said cam surface.

2. In a padlock having a reciprocatable shackle wherein one leg of the latter is notched with a contact surface adjacent said notch, a yieldably mounted locking lever having an arm directed transversely of said shackle leg notch and having a shackle-engaging edge, a portion'of the latter being formed as a cam surface to ride on the contact surface of said shackle leg during movement of said lever arm to smoothly guide said lever arm into the shackle leg notch, and there being upstanding shoulders formed on said lever arm at opposite ends of said cam surface.

3. The padlock structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein the contact surface of the shackle leg is beveled.

4. The padlock structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein the cam surface on the locking lever arm edge is crowned.

5. The padlock structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein the cam surface of the locking lever arm edge is curved in two planes at right angles to one another.

6. The padlock structure as claimed in claim 5 wherein one plane of curvature of the cam surface on the locking lever arm edge extends longitudinally of said arm and the other is transversely thereof.

7. The padlock structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein the cam surface on the locking lever arm edge is upwardly arched longitudinally of the arm and is curved downwardly on a radius transversely of said arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,747 12/1934 Gahagan 38 2,824,439 2/1958 Soref 70-38 3,194,033 7/1965 Markert 7038 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

E. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner.