US3485521A - Seal - Google Patents

Description

5. M. MCBERG Dec} 23, 1969 SEAL Filed Jan. 10, 1964 United States Patent 3,485,521 SEAL Sigurd M. Moberg, East Orange, N.J., assignor to E. J. 'lIirooks Company, Newark, N.J., a corporation of New ersey Filed Jan. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 336,953 Int. Cl. B65d 55/06 US. Cl. 292-320 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seal comprising a housing of plastic material, shaped to receive a wire shackle having hook means formed to be embedded in the material of the housing when an attempt is made to withdraw the shackle from the housing.

This invention relates particularly to seals in which a relatively stiff, resilient wire serves as a shackle or loop, captured securely within a housing to close and lock the loop; the general function of the seal being somewhat similar to the function of a padlock but differing from the latter in that, once it has been locked, it cannot be opened except by so breaking or deforming it as to render it incapable of being re-used.

Such seals have hitherto been made with a sheet metal housing into which the ends of a wire shackle are inserted and held captive within the housing by engagement of hooks formed on the ends of the shackle with notches formed in the interior of the housing.

The formation of such interior notches in a metal housing necessitates making the housing in two pieces which must be riverted, welded or otherwise fastened together; a relatively costly procedure. Moreover, the metal used in the housings is relatively costly; and such metal seals are relatively heavy, thereby giving rise to high cost of transporting them to their users.

Apart from such high costs, it has been found possible to pull the wire shackle from such a metal housing because when a substantial pull is applied to the wire, the hooks bend within the housing and lose their locking effectiveness. When a wire shackle has been pulled from the housing, an interloper may reapply the seal or lock by reshaping and reinserting the ends of the shackle, or he may use a new piece of wire, something quite easily obtained.

An important object of this invention is the provision of such a wire shackle seal which cannot be opened except in such a manner as to render it non-reusable.

Another important object is to provide such a seal with a housing which is of material lighter in weight and less costly than metal and which can be manufactured more economically than a metal housing.

Another important object is the provision of such a seal in which the wire shackle, in the device as manufactured and delivered to a user, is attached to the seals housing in such a way that the shackle, in non-locked condition is closed against becoming entangled with other similar seals, yet can be instantaneously opened to enable it to be applied to an object to be sealed.

Another important object is the provision of such a seal in which its housing lends itself to being firmly 3,485,521 Patented Dec. 23, 1969 grasped to serve as a handle facilitating application of the device to an object to be sealed.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the present description and the accompanying drawing in which this invention is set forth and shown, for illustrative purposes, as used to seal a cover upon a meter without, however, limiting the invention to that particular use.

These objects are achieved, for the most part, by providing such a seal with a housing of plastic material which is adequately non-deformable to serve as a housing. However, the plastic material is soft enough that. if the shackle is forcefully pulled in an attempt to remove it from the housing, hooks at the ends of the shackle pierce and enter endwisely into a mass of the plastic material of the housing. The application of a pull, sufficiently forecful to pull out either end of the wire shackle, ruptures the housing to such an extent as to render it non-reusable. Ordinarily, an interloper, after rupturing such a seal, would not have a replacement seal and, therefore, would leave evidence of theft or tampering.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the subject seal as applied to a meter.

FIG. 2 is a moderately enlarged front elevational view of the seal in locked condition.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the seal, enlarged over FIG. 2, substantially on the line 3-3 of the latter figure, the shackle being partly broken off.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the seal, generally similar to FIG. 2, but showing the seal in non-locked condition; one side portion of the wire shackle being shown in chain lines as in closed position, preventing entangling of plural similar seals, and in full lines as released from closed position to open position in readiness to be applied to an object to be sealed.

FIG. 5 is a central sectional view substantially on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a view generally similar to FIG. 5, but illustrating the effect of an attempt to pull the shackle forcefully from the housing.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view substantially on the line 7--7 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a central sectional view generally similar to FIG. 2, illustrating a modification of this invention; the modified device being in locked condition.

FIG. 9 is a view generally similar to FIG. 8, but illustrating the efiect of an attempt to pull the shackle forcefully from the housing of the modified device.

It should be noted that in this specification "and in the accompanying claims certain terms are employed to have meanings as follows (1) locked to refer to the seal and its parts in a condition, as shown, for example in FIGS. 2, 5, and 8 in which the wire shackle is a closed loop which cannot be pulled from the related housing without destroying the device, (2) open to refer to the seal with one end of the wire free of the housing, as shown in full lines in FIG. 4, so that the shackle can be applied to an object to be sealed, and (3) closed to refer to the closed but non-locked condition of the wire shackle as shown in chain lines in FIG. 4.

The seal illustrated in FIGS. l-7 comprises a wire shackle 10 and a housing 12. The shackle should be of stiff spring steel wire, preferably about .045 to .050 inch thick, the wires characteristics, in any event, being such that the device will function as hereinafter described. The housing should preferably be of plastic material which gives it such rigidity as to hold portions of the wire shackle locked therewithin against possible removal therefrom without so damaging the device as to render it nonreusable.

The shackle 10 is formed with a relatively short free leg 14, a relatively long anchored leg 16 and a loop portion 18 integrally interconnecting the two legs. Said legs, respectively, are bent inwardly to form detents in the form of reversely bent hooks, reversed end portions 20 and 22 of which diverge from an adjacent portion of the shackle.

The housing 12 may be formed of plastic material which is suitable in the sense of enabling the housing to cooperate with the wire shackle in the manner hereinafter set forth. The material may, for example, be polyethylene which molds to a hardness of approximately 95 on the durometer scale.

The housing 12, in the form illustrated, is generally rectangular in shape, and its bottom is somewhat rounded. It is approximately three times the thickness of the wire used for the shackle 10 and is formed with two identical pockets 24 and 26, only slightly wider, from front to back, than the thickness of the shackle wire, and symmetrically disposed toward opposite sides of the housing. These pockets are separated by an inner rib 28 on opposite sides of which are formed notches 24a, 24b, 24c and 26a, 26b and 260 (identified in FIGS. and 6), disposed in three pairs; the constituents of each pair being in a common plane extending transversely of the housing.

The mentioned notches may be formed, as an incident of the molding of the housing, by small transverse ridges provided on inner mold members which form the pockets 24, 26; said members being Withdrawn from said pockets as soon as the molded material commences to solidify. At that time, the material will yield sufficiently to permit withdrawal of the mold members and then will go back to its shape as initially molded. Thus, the housing can be formed in a single molding operation.

The tops of the two opposite side walls of the housing are formed with notches 24d and 2611; one of such notches being related to each of the pockets 24 and 26. The housing also is formed with lateral flanges 30 at the top of each side wall extending from the notch 24d or 26d on that wall to the opposite edge of the same wall. These flanges strengthen the top of the housing and facilitate handling and locking of the seal.

The seal, as delivered by the manufacturer to the user, is as shown in FIG. 4 with the wire shackle in its condition, as indicated in broken and chain lines, in which the end of hook 22 of the shackles leg 16 is seated within notch 24a and a knee portion of hook 20 projects into notch 26d of the housing without being locked within the pocket 26. The end of hook 20, at that time, projects from the housing so that, when the seal is to be applied to some object such as, for example, a hasp assembly 60 on a meter cover 62 (FIG. 1), the hook 14 can easily and quickly be manually sprung clear of the housing to its condition as shown in full lines in FIG. 4.

The hook 14 is then pushed through a hasp eye 64 of the hasp assembly, after which the knee of hook 14 is reinserted in the notch 26d. After the seal has been thus applied to the hasp assembly, the housing 12 is pushed upwardly in relation to the shackle to cause the latters hook 22 to slide downwardly in pocket 24 from notch 24a into notch 24c (FIG. 5) and to cause hook 20 of the shackle to slide downwardly in pocket 26 to seat the end of the latter hook into notch 2612. During this sliding, said hooks become compressed to some extent whereafter they expand, due to the resiliency of the shackle wire, so that the ends of said hooks seat firmly within the latter two notches, thereby firmly locking the device so that it cannot be opened without becoming incapacitated for further use.

Such incapacity for further use .arises from the fact that, if one attempts to open the seal by forcibly pulling the wire shackle from the casing, the ends of the hooks 20 and 22 burrow into the plastic material of the rib 28 from notches 26b and 24c. The hooks, because of their angular attitude when the device is locked as in FIG. 5, and because of their resiliency, tend to burrow more deeply into the rib 28 as such a pulling force is increased. The more deeply such burrowing progresses, the more support is derived by the hook from the surrounding plastic material of the burrow to prevent collapse and withdrawal of the hook from the housing.

It often happens that an interloper desires to commit theft or to tamper with some device without leaving evidence of his acts. As he, ordinarily, would not have a similar replacement seal, the use of seals according to this invention defeats such unauthorized activities.

However, one authorized to remove such a lock for servicing or other proper purposes, would merely cut the wire shackle to remove a previously applied lock, and he would have a similar lock to replace the removed lock. It will be realized that locks or seals, according to this invention are so inexpensive that they may be discarded after a single use.

The modification, illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, differs from the seal of FIGS. 1-7 chiefly in having only a single pocket 64, and in that its shackle 50 has legs 54 and 56 with hooks 60 and 62 which, instead of facing each other and engaging notches at opposite sides of rib 28, face in the same direction and engage notches 64a, 64b, and 640 in a wall of said single pocket.

When the modified seal is closed for delivery by the manufacturer to the user, but not locked, hook 62 is engaged within notch 64a and the knee of hook 60 is seated within the upper end of the pocket 64. Thus, as With the embodiment of FIGS. 17, the short leg 54 may easily be pulled clear of the housing after which the open seal may then be applied to the hasp assembly 60 (or equivalent) and then closed thereon by re-positioning the knee of hook 60 and then pushing the two hooks downwardly in the pocket 64 until they engage the notches 64b and 64c to put the seal in locked condition as in FIG. 8.

It may be seen from FIG. 9 that, if the shackle 50 is forcefully pulled upwardly in the housing 52, the hooks burrow into the plastic material of the housing with much the same effect as in the device of FIGS. 17, particu larly as illustrated in FIG. 6.

It will be clear that the concepts disclosed herein may be put into practice in various other ways without, however, departing from this invention as set forth in the disclosure.

I claim:

1. A shackle seal comprising a housing of plastic material formed with a deep pocket therein and a shackle connected at one end to said housing and having, at its other end, a resilient, reversely bent, wire hook with a divergent free end portion; said hook being insertable into said pocket endwisely of the latter and, when in said pocket, being compressed whereby the free end extremity of said divergent portion is in forceful engagement with a side wall portion of said pocket, and the degree of hardness of said plastic material and the stiffness of the wire of the hook and the thickness of said wire at said extremity being such that, upon attempted forcible pulling of the hook from the pocket, the hook expands and its divergent end portion burrows into plastic material of the housing which defines said pocket, to oppose displacement of the hook from within the pocket, said pocket being of a breadth only slightly greater than the thickness of the wire of said hook, said housing being formed with a pair of such pockets, in side by said, parallel relationship, and said shackle having such hooks at opposite ends thereof adapted for in- .l l S pockets in side by side, parallel relationship and for such engagement therein; one of said hooks comprising means by which the said shackle is connected at one end to said housing, said shackle consisting of a single piece of wire having an intermediate loop portion, and a relatively short leg and a relatively long leg on which legs said hooks are disposed, and said housing being formed with a plurality of internal notches in said pockets; one of said notches in each pocket being adapted for engagement by said extremity. of the hook on said long leg to hold the shackle to the housing in an unlocked condition and for engagement by said extremity of the hook on said short leg to retain the latter hook in the housing in a locked condition, of the shackle, and another of said notches in each pocket being adapted for engagement by said extremity of the hook on said long leg in locked condition of the shackle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD D. MOORE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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