USRE16643E - Locking device for trunks - Google Patents

Description

May 31, 1927. M. H LUCE LocKINe DEVICE FOR mums 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Jan. 17. 1923 y M. H. LUCE LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS Original Filed Jan. 17. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Milt un- H-LucE y Mww/ Reissuea Ma 31 1927.

urn'ron n. LUCIE, or

My invention relates to improvements in locking devices for trunks, and is particu; larly' applicable general type disclosed in Letters Patent of 5 the United States to'George H. Whea'ry,'No.

' 1,134,17 5, dated April 6, 1915, although it is also applicable to ordinary trunks, such for example, as those disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States to said George H.

1 Wheary, No. 1,158,412, dated October 26,

1915, and to numerous other trunks in common use.

provide improved means whereby the mo- 1 tion of a movable member associated with a 7 key operated lock may be transmitted to one or more distant locking members to automatically operate the latter, whereby the closin and locking together of the parts of a trun at one point, will withoutany attention on the part of the user'result in a doweling, bindingand locking together of trunk parts at one or more other points. p

Further objects of this invention are to provide means whereby motion transmitting mechanism located within one section of a trunk may be utilized to operate locking devices located wholly or partially exterior to the trunk walls to provide means whereby auxiliary locking devices, dependent for locking operations upon a movable member associated with a manually operable lock, may be automatically retracted when such movable member is unlocked or retracted to provide means whereby the auxiliary looking devices will eifectively draw the associated sections of the trunk into binding relation with each other ;to provide auxiliary locking devices which may be protected by suitable housings located in part upon the interior face and in part upon the exterior face of the associated wall. of a trunk section which the housing also reenforces;- to. provide means'whereby an auxiliary locking device, when released, will initially open or separate the parts controlled thereby; and in general to provide auxiliary locking 'devices of he above described type which will not only be eflicient and durable under conditions of severe use, but which will also be capable of use without reducing the capacity of the trunk, injuring its contents or UNITED STATES Original No. 1,578,537, dated larch 30, 1926, Serial No. 618,136, Med January 17, 1923. for reissue filed January 5, 1927. Serial No. 159,247.

to wardrobe trunks of the v The primary object of this invention is to v in any manner interfering with the use of,

LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS.

Application the trunk for any ordinary purpose or the proper packing or unpacking thereof.

As applied to wardrobe trunks, it is an obect ofmy invention to provide means whereby all movable parts of the auxiliary lockingmechanism may be mounted upon or in the wardrobe section of the trunk, leaving thelnterior of the body section wholly free and unobstructed for the reception of packed fabrics or the operation of drawers or other receptacles within which clothing is to be packed. It is well known that the ordinary wardrobe'trunk has a body section which is usually subdivided by shelves, drawers or partitions into compartments within which clothing may be packed or within some of wh ch articles may be placed which would be 1n ured by compression or packing. One other section, commonly termed the wardrobe section, is utilized to receive articles of wearing apparel which may be su ended from hangers mounted upon suitab e su ports at one end of the trunk or section. t

KANSAS CITY, mrssormr, nssroivon To wnEAnY 'rmmx corrrun, or moms, wrscousm.

is desirable that the body section be wholly unobstructed by any movable or motion transmittingkparts or mechanisms for lock- I ing the trun sections together, inasmuch as such parts either occupy space exterior to the drawers or other compartments and thereby reduce the capacity of the trunk body or allow the articles packedin the trunk body to contact with and be injured by such movable parts. This invention,

therefore, contemplates a location of the movable connections for the auxiliary locking devices in the wardrobe section where suspended clothing will bear onl lightly against the locking devices even i the latter' are ex osedn In the rawings:-

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a wardrobe trunk equipped with my improved lockin mechanism, the section bein drawn to a plane transverse to that which includes the meeting edges of the body and wardrobe sections.

Figure 2 is a view of a fragment of the wardrobe section showing my improved locking mechanism applied to one side wall thereof.

Figure 3 is a detail'view of thelocking lever and associated catch plate.

Figure 4 is a top view of the locking lever showing the catch in sectionon line 44 of Fi ure 3.

igure 5 is a'fragmentary view of the upper end of a wardrobe trunk, partly 1n elevation andpartly in section, showing a sli ht modification. igure '6 isan elevation of an ordinary trunk illustrating my invention as applied a body section 1, a wardrobe section 2, and

housing 6. Thehousing 6 is provided'with Figure-1O is a view of the same as seenfrom the inner side of the trunk wallx Like parts are identified by the same ref erence characters throughout the several v1ews.

F igure 1 shows a wardrobe trunk having a lid or cover section 3, all organized and arranged substantially as disclosed in said former patent to George H. Wheary, No. 1,134,17 5. But in place of the locking mecha nism disclosed in sai patent for holding the lower portions of th wardrobe section and body section together, I employ a locking lever 4 which is fulcrumed at 5 within a end flanges 7and 8 which are secured to the inner face offthe side wall 13 of the wardrobe section and the flange 8 has a semicylindrical offset portion 10 which forms a guideway for'the vertically disposed operatmg bar 11 and a partial enclosure for a coiled, compression spring 12, the lower end of which is anchored to the bottom of the guideway 10 and the upper end of which is seatedagainst a bracket 13 carried by the bar 11..

.;=awith a'slot14 in which a The lower end of the bar 11 is provided pin 15 carriedby the power-end of the lever 4 is'loosely en-- gaged. .The other end of the lever is offset and-positioned within a notch .17 formed in the supporting side wall 13 of-the wardrobe section 2 andthis voffset portion of the lever is provided at its free endwith a projecting a stud 18, preferably exterior to saidsection wall, but protected byia housing plate or member 19 which may constitute an extension of the reenforcing corner-piece 20.

A housing 19 also forms a doweling pocket to receive a doweling catch plate 22 carried by the opposing'wall of thebody section 1. This doweling catch plate-is provided with a curved slot 23adapted to receive the stud portion of the trunk being showngin of the slot 23 is so formed that the stud 18 may move with a wedging action thereon when the lever is swung to locking position,

thereby drawing the opposin side walls of the wardrobe section and-'bo y section into binding pressure contact. The inner wall of i the slot 23 is, also formed to receive the pressure of the. stud 18 while the lever is being swung from locking to unlocking position, whereby said opposing walls may be initiallyseparated during this movement of the locking lever.

The spring 12 tends to hold the bar 11 .in a raised position with the inner end of the lever 4 correspondingly raised and the outer or looking end, with the locking stud'18, depressed to releasin position, 1.v e., to a position with the stu% 18 withdrawn from the .doweling catch plate 22. The lever 4 is swung to locking position by applying downward pressure to the bar 11 and this downward pressure may be applied by the lid or cover section 3, preferably through a bracket 25 secured to the inner face of said section in a position to bear upon the upper end of the bar 11 and push said bar downwardly when the lid or cover section 3 is swung to closed position. Said lid or cover section may be locked in closed position as disclosed in-said former Patent No. 1,134,175, but as no specific locking mechanism is essential it is not deemed necessary to illustrate or describe it. It is obvious that as long as the lid or cover section is closed the bar 11 will be held in its depressed position. And the arrangement is such that when the bar 11 is thus depressed'the locking lever 4 will occupy a osition substantially as indicated by dot-te lines in'Figure 1 with the locking stud 18 near the upper end of the slot 23 in the catch plate 22, in which position the edges of the wardrobe section of the trunk will be in binding pressure engagement with the meeting edges or margins of the body section.

Guide clips 27 and 28 are preferably applied to the sidewall 13 of the wardrobe sec tion to hold the rod 11 in operating position.

In Figure, 5 the parts illustrated are identical with those illustrated in Figure 1, except that the looking bar-1'1 is made a little Ion er and the lid section 3 is not provided wit the bracket 25. The top of the lid section 3, therefore, bears directly upon the operating piece or bar 11.

In Figure 6 a trunk is illustrated with a body section 1 and a cover section 2" which may be takenjas representative of any ordinary trunk in -common use. The cover section is locked to thelbody section by an ordinary key operated lock'h'aving a hasp 3* which corresponds functionally with the lid 3 shown in Figure 1 so far as the'inventio-n herein disclosed is concerned. The hasp 3f constitutes a swin 'ng member, the motion of which is utiliz to actuate the operating piece of bar 11* throu h means similar to that disclosed in Silk? former patent to Wheary No. 1,290,445, '1. e., through the curved lever arm disclosed in Figure 8 of the drawings of this application. The hasp is provided with an ordinary locking barrel 39 which, when the hasp is in looking position, bears upon the free end of lever 35 and pushes the lever inwardly. Near its fulcrum the lever bears upon the end of the locking bar 11 and pushes the same in opposition to the retractingspring 12, thereby'swinging the locking lever 4 into locking relation to the doweling catch 22% In the structure disclosed -in Figure 6 the locking lever l directly co-operates with the key operated lock to hold the respective ends I of the lid section 2 in contact with, the opposing mar "ns of the body section. One ey is, there ore,-utilized to lock the lid section to'the body section at two widely separated points. x

If greater security in the fastening of the lid section 'is desired, the structure illus- 'trated in Figures 7, 9 and 10 may be utilized.

In these views a trunk is illustrated in which the hasp 3" is centrally located and the looking barrel 39" is utilized to actuate two oppositely disposed, curved levers 35 and 40,

I respectively. The lever 35" actuates an operbar- 11 inexactly the samemanner atin as a ove described with reference toFigure 6, whereby the locking lever 4 near one end of the trunk is actuated tolocking position. The lever 40 similarly, but in the opposite direction transmits motion through a sliding bar 11 to' a locking lever 4 located near the other end-of the trunk disclosed in Figure .7.

The lid of this trunk is, of course, provided with two doweling catches 22* and 22 which are, respectively, engaged by the locking levers 4" and 4. p

From the foregoing description of the modified forms disclosed in Figures 5, 6 and 7 it will be obvious that my invention is not limited to-the use of any allyoperable swinging)mem r for actuating an op rating piece or ar, such as the bar 11, to transmit motion to the locking lever. Any member of the trunk, such as the cover 3, which requires to be manually operated or moved when closing the trunk may be uti lized to apply the necessary power to the operating piece 11 and transmit motion. ,to

them together with binding pressure and not only release them when the manually operable member is moved to releasing POSI- articular manution, but automatically separate them initially to a suflicient extent to allow the user to grasp the separated margins and to open the body and wardrobe sections of the trunk without difliculty.

As applied to awardrobe trunk, my invention has the further advantage above noted, viz, that all of the parts are located outside of the body section and all of the movable parts are located within or upon the wardrobe section. Also the locking mechanism per se is located at the lower end of the wardrobe section below the point reached by any'but the longest garments 'to be suspended within said section, these locking parts furthermore being housed in such a manner as to prevent them from catching in the fabric of any clothing contained in clothing being caught by the doweling catch v 22 and forced into the housing 19 or entangled with the stud 18.

I claim:

1. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with the meeting margins of two trunk sections, of a locking lever fulcrumed to the wall of one section, the adjacent margin of the section being recessed and said lever having an ofiset portion adapted for swinglngmovement 1n 'saldreportion of the lever, and a co-operating 'cat'ch carried by the registering wall member of the opposing trunk section.

cess, a locking device carried by the ofiset 2. Trunk locking mechanism com rising the combination with trunk sections wall of one section adapted to serve as a dowelingmember, a housing on the opposing side wallof the other section adapted serve as a doweling socket, a locking lever within said last mentioned housing, fulcrumed thereto, and having an offset portion in said doweling socket adapted to engage the doweling catch to lock the latter in said.

.within said last mentioned section, fulcrumed thereto and having an ofisetportion in said doweling socket adapted to engage the doweling catch to lock the latter in said socket, a distant manually operable memher, and motion transmitting connections for utilizing its, movement in one direction to actuate said lever to locking position.

4. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunk sections havaving mating margins, of a fixed catch on the side ion ing mating margins, of a fixed catch on the side Wall of one section exterior to the inner surface of the wall, a lever fulcrumed to the opposing wall of the other section and having a projection adapted toiengage actuating member.

5. In a trunk locking mechanism, the combination with a trunk section wall provided with a recess, of a locking lever fulcrumed adjacent to said recess and having a working end portion ofifset into said" recess and provided with a locking projection, a sliding bar mounted upon the inner face of said section and having'slotted pivotal connection with one end of the lever, resilient means for normally holding the bar and 1ever in unlocking position, and manually operable means for actuating said bar to swing the lever into locking position. v

6. In a trunk locking mechanism, the combinationw'ith a trunk section wall provided with a recess, of a locking lever fulcrumed adjacent to said recess and having a working end portion ofl'set into said recess and provided with a locking projection, a

sliding bar mounted upon the inner face of said section and having slotted pivotal connection -with one end of the lever, resilient means for'normally holding the baiand 1ever in unlocking position, manually operable means for actuating said bar .to swing the lever into locking position, said manually operable means having a key-controlled lock adapted to hold the manually operable means and thereby the bar and lever inlocking position. I V

7. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the, combination with trunkrsections having meeting margins, of a fixed catch on the side wall of one section, providing a curved slot,

'a lever fulcrumed to the opposing wall of the other section and having a projection adapted to engage in said slot, motion transmitting connections for actuating said lever to locking position from a distant point, and a=spring for retracting said lever when the actuating pressure is relieved, said slot having curved margins adapted to be engaged by the projection on the lever and so formed.

as to draw the sections together when the lever. moves to locking position and to force them apart to some extent when the lever is moved to unlocking position. 8. In a trunk locking mechanism,the combination with a trunk section wall provided with arecess, of a doweling housing on one side of said recess, a. lever housing on the other side of said recess, a lever fulcrumed 9. In a trunk locking mechanism, thea combination with a trunk section wall provlded with a recess, of a doweling housing on one side of said recess, a lever housing on the other side of said recess, a lever fulcrumed within the lever housing and having a portion extending into the doweling housing, another trunk section provided with a catch adapted to enter the doweling housing when. the sections are closed together, said catch being adapted to be enga ed by said lever, together with a manua ly operable device for securing said sections together at a point distant fromsaid lever, and means for automatically tra nsmitting motion from the manually operable securing device to move said lever to lock-- ing position when the securing device is in securing position.

10. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with a trunk having )1 body section, a wardrobe section, and a lid section adapted to close one end of the wardrobe section, of means exterior to the body section andwardrobehection for doweling and locking said sections together near-their lower ends, and lock actuating means with in the Wardrobe section adapted to be actuated by the lid section into loc'kingposition, together with means for automatically re.-

leasing the wardrobe section from lock end gagement with the body section when the lid section is raised.

1'1. Trunk locking mechanism comprising :the combination with a trunk having a body section, a wardrobe section, and a lid section adapted to close one end of the wardrobe section, of a dowelin catch projecting from the lower end of the body section, a locking lever fulcrumed at the lower end of the wardrobe section, and adapted in one position to engage the doweling catch, means for transmitting motion from the lid section to said locking-lever to move the same into such engagement, and means for automatically retracting the lever when the lid section is swung to open position.

12. The combination with a wardrobe trunk having. a pair oif hingedly connected sections, one section having an open top closed by a movable cover, of co-operating locking elements carried by the hinged sections and actuating means for the locking elements carried by one section and normally extending above the top thereof and in the path of the movable cover whereby movement of the cover to its closed position engages the actuating member to actuate the locking elements and lock the hinged sections closed."

13. In a 'wardrobe trunk having a pair ofhingedly connected sections, a fixed top for one section and a movable lid for the other section which, when closed, secures the sections together adjacent their'tops, afixed locking element carried by one section, a movable locking element carried by the other section and engageable with the fixed ele- I ment to lock the sections togethenadjacent their bottoms, an actuating member carried ing an open top closed by a movable cover,

a substantially fixed locking element, a movable locking element cooperating with the fixed element to secure the sections closed, means normally urging the movable locking element out of engagement with the fixed element, and an actuating-member being engaged by the movable top to-actuate thesame. Q

15. In a wardrobe trunk having a 'pair of sections hinged together, one section having an open top closed. by a movable cover, a

- substantially fixed locking'element, a movable locking element co-operating with the fixed element to secure the sections closed, means normall urging the movable locking element out o engagement with the fixed element, an actuating memberfor the movable locking element andnormally lying within the path of but disconnected from the movable top, whereby closing of the movable top engages the same with the actuating member to o erate the same and engage the movable locking element with the fixed locking element. Y

16. In a wardrobe trunk having a pair of sections hinged together, a fixed top for'one section and a movable top for the other section, a substantially fixed locking element, a movable locking element co-operating with v the fixed element to secure the sections closed,

means normally urgingthe movable locking element out of engagement with the fixed ele- 7, ment, an actuating member for the movable locking element and a part carried by the actuating member ahd extended to lie with- 'in the path of the movable top and adapted to be depressed by the top when the same is closed. V

17. In awardrobe trunk having a air of sections hinged together, a fixed top or one section and a movable top for the other, a

substantially fixed locking element carried by one section, a movable locking element carried by the other section andcooperating with the fixed element to secure the sections closed means normally urging the movable locking element out of engagement with the fixed element, an actuating member for the movable locking element, and a member car-I ried by the movable top and engageable with the actuating memberwhen the top is closed to move the same against the urging means and engage the movable locking element with the fixed locking element.

18. In a wardrobe trunk having a pair of hingedly connected sections and a movable top hinged to one section and movable over the other section tosecure the sections together at their tops, of a fixed locking means carried by one section, a movable locking means carried by the other section and engaggeable with the fixed locking means to loo the sections together at their bottoms, a housing carried by one sectionside wall and enclosing one locking means and "providing a doweling socket, the other locking means serving as a doweling member en aging in the doweling socket when the t sections are "closed, an actuating member carried by the section mounting the'movable, locking means, and an operating connection between the movable locking means and the actuating member, said actuating member being actu ated by the movable top in closing to engage the movable locking means with the fixed locking means.

- 19. In a wardrobe trunk having a pair of hingedly c'onnectedsctions and a movable top hinged to one section and movable over the other to secure the sections adjacent their tops, of a fixed catch member carried by one section, a movable catch member carried by the other section and, engageable with the fixed catch member to lock the sections adjacent their bot-toms, a housing carried by one section side wall and enclosing one of said catch members and, with a recess in the adjacent section side wall, form? ing a doweling" socket, the other member serving as a doweling member engaging in the doweling socket when the'trunk sectlons are closed, and means operable by the closing of said movable top to engage the m ovab e catch member with the fixed catch member and secure thesections closed.

20, In a wardrobe trunk having a pair of sections hinged together, a movable top carried by one section and overlying the other when closed, a. locking element carried by one section and a second locking element movabl carried by the other section and adapte to engage the former when the sections are closed, means normally urging the second locking element out of engagement with the first, and an actuating member connected with the second locking element and having its free end lying within the path of the movable top whereby closing movement of the top depresses the actuating member to lock said'sections together. i

21. In a wardrobe trunk having a pair of sections hinged together, a movable top carried by one section and overlying the other 7 when closed to lock the sections together at one end, locking means adjacent the other end of the sections and operable upon the closing movement of said movable top, said.

MILTON H. LUCE.

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