WO2006039751A1

WO2006039751A1 - A mortice lock

Info

Publication number: WO2006039751A1
Application number: PCT/AU2005/001572
Authority: WO
Inventors: Martin Goetz
Original assignee: Nova Hardware Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-10-11
Filing date: 2005-10-11
Publication date: 2006-04-20
Also published as: NZ554490A; CN101076643A

Abstract

A mortice lock comprising: a housing (12) supporting two split hub handle actuators (15), one to each side of the housing, that are independently rotatable to engage with a locking bolt (13) to withdraw the locking bolt into the housing from a front of the housing; a locking bar (20) slidable within the housing between an unlocked condition and a locked condition, the locking bar being capable of selecting actuation of one or both or neither handle actuators;two detents (22a, 22b) carried by the locking bar, each detent independently moveable relative to the locking bar between an unlocked position and a locked position, each detent in the locked position stopping actuation of a corresponding handle actuator, wherein a biased member (39) associated with each detent and accessed from a rear of the housing enables the detent to move linearly between the unlocked and locked position.

Description

A MORTICE LOCK

The present invention relates to a mortice lock capable of selecting actuation of one or both handle actuators.

A mortice lock is installed into a mortice or recess at. the side edge of a door to engage with a striker plate in the doorframe. In order to be more versatile mortice locks have been designed to disable actuation of one or the other door handle depending on which side of the door is to face the outside. Many people prefer the outside door handle to only be operable to open a door with a key. On the other hand, it is undesirable to use a key every time a door is opened from the inside. The desired "hand n. of the door lock can hence be set to the inside such that a locked door can only be unlocked from the outside with a key but from the inside by simply using the door handle.

. The mechanisms employed to.select the hand of a door lock are often complicated and involve many parts where if one part fails the entire door lock fails. Additionally, where frequent traffic is experienced through doors carrying such mortice locks, the doors have been known to unintentionally shut while in the locked position thereby locking out users.

The present mortice lock attempts to provide a more reliable and durable lock, that overcomes the above known problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a mortice lock comprising: a housing supporting two split hub handle actuators, one to each side of the housing, that are independently rotatable to engage with a locking bolt to withdraw the locking bolt into the housing from a front of the housing; a locking bar slidable within the housing between an unlocked condition and a locked condition, the locking bar being capable of selecting actuation of one or both or neither handle actuators; two detents carried by the locking bar, each detent independently moveable relative to the locking bar between an unlocked position and a locked position, each detent in the locked position stopping actuation of a corresponding handle actuator, wherein a biased member, associated with each detent and accessed from a rear of the housing enables the detent to move linearly between the unlocked and locked positions.

According to a further embodiment the present invention provides a mortice lock comprising: a housing supporting two split hub handle actuators independently rotatable to engage with a locking bolt and withdraw the locking bolt into the housing; a locking bar slidable within the housing between an unlocked and a locked condition, the locking bar being capable of selecting actuation'of one or both or neither handle actuators; and - an anti-lockout member carried by the locking bar and slideable relative to the locking bar between an ^λon' and ^xoff' position wherein, in the instance of the locking bolt withdrawing into the housing while the locking bar is in a locked position and the anti-lockout member is in an 'on' position, the anti-lockout member engages with the locking bolt and is thereby forced to cause the locking bar to slide into an unlocked condition. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment, incorporating all aspects of the invention, will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l(a) is a side sectional view of a mortice lock in accordance with an embodiment of a present invention;

Figure l(b) is a front view of the mortice lock of Figure 1 (a) ;

Figure l(c) is a rear view of the mortice lock of Figure 1(a) ;

Figure 2 is a side sectional view of the mortice lock in a hand locked condition; Figure 3 is a side view of the mortice lock in an anti-lock condition; and

Figure 4 is an oblique exploded view of the hand selecting mechanism of one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The Figures illustrate a door mortice lock 10 for installing into a recess or mortice at the edge of a door and in which the hand of the mortice lock can be changed so that the door can be opened at either: only the inside door handle, only the outside door handle or both door handles. The hand of the lock is selected during installation' in the mortice. ^•

. The door lock 10 also has an anti-lockout feature whereby an anti-lockout mechanism can be activated to prevent unintentional locking out of persons if the door accidentally slams shut. The anti-lockout feature is also set during installation. The Figures illustrate a mortice lock 10 that is adapted to be installed into a mortice of a door (not shown) such that only the front face 11 (Figure 1 (b) ) is visible. The rear 21 of mortice lock 10 is illustrated in Figure l(c) . The mortice lock has a housing body 12 that houses the operating components of the mortice lock 10. The mortice lock has all the usual features found in a mortice lock including a main bolt 13 carried by a bolt bracket 29 and moveable in conjunction with a dead latch pin 14.

Pin 14 is designed to extend out of the housing and assist in locking the door to the door frame and provide a back-up security feature in case of external manipulation of bolt 13. When unlocking the door, pin 14 is released and together with bolt 13 is withdrawn back into the housing 12.

Actuating means releases pin 14 and draws bolt 13 into the mortice lock housing 12 to allow a door to be opened. The actuating means is in the form of split hub handle actuators 15 each actuable by a corresponding door handle (not shown) on either side of the door. The split hub handle actuators allow one handle to operate the door lock independently of the other handle.

A square section 17 located centrally of each actuator 15, receives a spindle (not shown) for allowing split hub 15 to turn by way of the corresponding handle. An actuating arm 54 on each actuator 15 engages with bolt flange 16 when actuator 15 is rotated, thereby releasing pin 14 and withdrawing main bolt 13 into the housing 12 to unlock/open the door.

Springs 18 bias the hub actuators towards keeping the main bolt 13 protruding from the front face of the mortice lock. Main bolt 13 is itself biased to protrude from the front face by bolt spring 55. Bolt spring 55 is housed between bolt bracket 29 and housing body 12. Bolt bracket 29 and bolt flange 16 are integrally connected with main bolt 13 to move with main bolt 13. ^{' ' '}

A hand selecting mechanism is located towards the rear of the mortice lock and selectively engages with none, one or both of the hub actuators 15. The hand selecting mechanism is operated by a key-driven cylinder lock 19. Alternatively, the key-driven cylinder lock may be replaced by an adapter driven by a thumb turn or similar mechanism. The presently described embodiment shows a key-driven cylinder lock.

The hand selecting mechanism comprises an elongated locking bar 20 that is guided to slide in the housing between an unlocked position as illustrated in Figure l(a), and a locked position as illustrated in Figure 2.

When in the unlocked, inoperative position, the locking bar does not interfere with the actuators 15, and the handles on both sides of the door are freely able to rotate to release pin 14 and withdraw main bolt 13 into the housing 12 • When in the lowered, locked position, left hand and right hand detents 22a and 22b can be adjusted to selectively interfere with none, one or both of the handle actuators 15 such that both actuators can unlock the door, only one actuator can unlock the door or neither of the actuators are able to unlock the door. Figure 4 illustrates the locking bar and components in an exploded view.

Locking bar 20 also contains a protruding stop 57 biased outwardly of locking bar 20 by spring 59. Stop 57 engages with one of two stop recesses 58 in the housing 12. Recesses 58 define the upper and lower positions of locking bar 20 and namely the unlocked and locked positions respectively. Recesses 58 prevent locking bar 20 from sliding past these end positions.

As an upward or downward force is applied to locking bar 20 the force overcomes the spring force of spring 59 that causes stop 57 to protrude into recess 58 such that stop 57 displaces inwardly of locking bar 20 thereby allowing the locking bar to be moved up or down. Stop 57 has a triangular pointed profile such that inclined sides of stop 57 can, with the appropriate amount of force, slide against matching surfaces in recess 58 and overcome the spring force of stop 57.

Locking bar 20 is lowered by way of a key inserted into cylinder lock 19 to rotate cylinder lock 19 to the right as illustrated by Arrow A in Figure l(a) . Cylinder lock 19 is rotated until a small cam 23 on cylinder lock 19 engages with a lower reaction surface 25 on locking' bar 20. Rotation of cylinder lock 19 pushes against reaction surface 25 and causes locking bar 20 to slide downwards into the locked position as illustrated by Arrow B in Figure 1 (a) .

On the opposite side of the mortice lock to cylinder lock 19 is a large cam 27 actuable by another cylinder lock or thumb turn (not shown) . Large earn 27 is hence actuated from the opposite side of the door to small cam 23. When rotated in an anti-clockwise direction in Figure l(a), large cam 27 engages bolt flange 16 to withdraw bolt 13 into the housing 12 to allow the door to be opened.

The position of large cam 27 and small cam 23 may be swapped depending on which side of the door it is desired to unlock the door using a key (outside typically) and which side it is desired to set the locking functions (typically inside) . Lower reaction surface 25 is located at an upper end of locking bar 20. Left hand detent 22a and right hand detent 22b are located at a lower end of locking bar 20.

Detents 22a, 22b are independently slidable in a longitudinal direction of locking bar 20 such that the detents can be moved to protrude past the locking bar 20 to the point where the left and/or right detent interferes with the corresponding left and/or right handle actuator 15. The detents only interfere with the actuators when they are in a lowered, locked position. In the locked position the detent will prevent the respective handle actuator 15 from rotating and withdrawing the bolt into the housing. That is, effectively locking the door from that respective side.

The handle of the door that is locked corresponds to the detent 22a or 22b that is lowered to the locking position. For example, lowering right hand detent 22b prevents actuator 15 associated with the right door handle

(not shown) from rotating. The right side of the door is thereby locked and unable to be operated to open the door. In this example, the left hand detent 22a is kept raised in the unlocked position, which does not interfere with the left hand actuator and allows left hand actuator to rotate in response to rotation of the left handle.

By way of the hand selecting mechanism, the door can be opened from one side but not from the other. The hand of the door is adjusted as desired to either lock the. left or right side, or to even lock both sides such that the door can only be opened by way of a key inserted and rotated in cylinder lock 19.

Detents 22a and 22b are adjusted before insertion of the door lock 10 into a mortice by pressing respective sprung push buttons 30a and 30b. Push buttons 30a, 30b are located in button recesses 32 in each detent. The push buttons are biased outward of the recesses 32 to protrude through an aperture 34 in the locking bar 20 by^¬ way of springs 35. When in a rest position and biased outwardly of apertures 34, a narrow throat 37 in each aperture 34 acts as a stop preventing displacement of push buttons 30 and any sliding movement of detents 22a, 22b in locking bar 20. However, the apertures need not be provided with a narrow throat, and the detents may move within an oval shaped aperture.

To change the hand of the door lock the respective detent is slid up or down in locking bar 20 by pressing the respective push button 30a, 30b to clear throat 37 and use the push button to manually slide the detent into a raised or lowered configuration. The push button may be designed to be pushed and moved by a pointed implement. As illustrated in the drawings, the push button includes a central hole 39 in which a pointed implement, such as a pen tip or specific tool, can be captured and used to slide the detent. Alternatively, the buttons may be structured to permit manipulation by an operator's fingers. For example, the push buttons may have a feature that allows a part of the button to be pulled outwardly or flipped up and outwardly to enable the button to be manually gripped.

To open a door from the side where the handle actuator is locked, a key (not shown) is used to raise locking bar 20 to an unlocked condition. The key is inserted into cylinder lock 19 to rotate it in an anti¬ clockwise direction (when viewed as in Figure 2) such that small cam 23 engages an upper reaction surface 26 on locking bar 20. This slides locking bar 20 into a raised, unlocked condition thereby freeing the locked handle actuator to enable the handle to be rotated and the door opened. If the handle actuator on the other side of the door is also locked, the door is unlocked by rotating large cam 27 (anti-clockwise in Figure 2) to force against bolt 5 flange 16 and withdraw main bolt 13 into the housing and then rotating the door handle on that side of the door handle.

If the handle actuator is not locked, that side of 10 the door can simply be opened by rotating the- door handle.

The anti-lockout feature of the mortice lock is effected by anti-lockout mechanism 40, which is carried on the locking bar 20. Specifically the anti-lockout 15 mechanism operates when the locking bar is moved to a lowered, locking position by way of cylinder lock 19 such that one or both of the handle actuators 15 are potentially locked. If in this instance the door accidentally shuts a person could potentially be locked

20 out and unable to open the door without a key. The anti- lockout mechanism prevents locking out by raising the locking bar 20 to an inoperative position such that both handle actuators are rendered useful to withdraw bolt 13 back into the housing and thus open the door. 25

The anti-lockout mechanism 40 comprises a lockout member 42 that is moveable longitudinally of the locking bar 20 between a raised "off" position and a lowered "on" position. Hence, the anti-lockout function can be set to

30 on or off, usually at mortice lock installation. Lockout member is moveable by lockout push button 44 located in button recess 45 in member 42 and protruding out through locking bar aperture 46. Similar in principle to push buttons 30a and 30b in respect of detents 22a and 22b, 35. lockout button 44 is biased by spring 47 to extend outwardly of aperture 46. A narrow throat 37 (Figure 4) located centrally of aperture 46 keeps lockout member 42 in the set "on" or "off" position.

Lockout member 42 extends laterally from longitudinal locking bar 20 and inwardly of housing 12 so as to extend towards main bolt 13. Lockout member 42 has a diagonally inclined face 49 that corresponds to and is parallel with a similar inclined face 51 on the end of bolt bracket 29. Bolt bracket 29 is mounted on and carried by main bolt 13..

Inclined faces 49 on lockout member 42 and inclined face 51 on bolt bracket 29 are designed to meet. Specifically, when lockout member is lowered to the "on" position and the locking bar is lowered to a locking position (as illustrated in Figure 3) , inward movement of main bolt 13, caused by unintentional closing of the door against the door frame, will cause bolt bracket 29 to meet and impart an upward force onto inclined face 49. This upward force causes locking bar 20 by way of locking member 42 to slide back up to a non-operative position thereby releasing any locking action on the handle actuators 15.

Without the anti-locking function unintentional closing of the door could render one or both handle actuators inoperative with the door only being able to be unlocked by use of a key in cylinder lock 19. However, with the anti-lockout function active, the closing action of the door will cause bolt bracket 29 to push locking bar 20 upwards and safely into an unlocked position clearing all detents of the handle actuators. Once the door is intentionally closed locking bar 20 can be moved back into the locking position by way of key driven locking cylinder 19.

The present door lock provides a simple and uncomplicated mechanism for setting the hand on a door lock. The hand is set by accessing the rear 21 of the lock 10_/ which can only be accessed during installation or if the mortice lock is unscrewed from the side edge of the door and pulled out of the mortice. Accordingly, the hand cannot be tampered with from either side or the front of the door.

The mortice lock also provides the advantage of an anti-lockout mechanism that safely allows the pre-set side of the door to be locked with a key, but only when the door is closed. This avoids unintentionally locking people out on the locked hand side of the door.

The mortice door lock provides a safe and affordable means of selecting a desired locking combination and preventing any opportunity of tampering.

It will be understood to persons skilled in the art of the invention that many modifications may be made . without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A mortice lock comprising: a housing supporting two split hub handle actuators, one to each side of the housing, that are independently rotatable to engage with a locking bolt to withdraw the locking bolt into the housing from a front of the housing; a locking bar slidable within the housing between an unlocked condition and a locked condition, the locking bar being capable of selecting actuation of one or both or neither handle actuators; two detents carried by the locking bar, each detent independently moveable relative to the locking bar between an unlocked position and a locked position, each detent in the locked position stopping actuation of a corresponding handle actuator, wherein a biased member associated with each detent and accessed from a rear of the housing enables the detent to move linearly between the unlocked and locked positions.

2. The mortice lock claimed in claim 1, wherein when the locking bar is in the locked condition, rotation of a handle actuator will be stopped if the respective detent is also in the locked condition.

3. The mortice lock claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein when the locking bar is in an unlocked condition, both handle actuators are operable regardless of the position of the detents.

4. The mortice lock according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the biased member is a press button biased by a spring.

5. The mortice lock according to claim 4, wherein the detents are slideable within a lower end of the locking bar and the biased buttons are contained within respective recesses in the detents and the buttons are biased outwardly of apertures on the locking bar.

5 6. The mortice lock according to claim 5, wherein the apertures are elongated with a central throat. "

7. The mortice lock according to claim 4, wherein the button has grip means that can be extended outwardly to enable a user to grip the button.

10.

8. The mortice lock claimed in claim 4, wherein the buttons are provided with a central recess.

9. The mortice lock claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking bar is slideably moved by rotation of a key-driven cylinder lock or a

15 manual turn mechanism.

10. The mortice lock according to any of the preceding claims, including a dead latch pin slideable between an extended position from the front of the housing and a retracted position inside the housing.

0 11. The mortice lock according to any of the preceding claims, including an anti-lockout member which when activated causes the locking bar to move to an unlocked condition if the locking bolt is moved into the housing.

5 12. The mortice lock claimed in claim 10, wherein the anti-lockout member is carried by the locking bar and is slideable thereon between an 'on' and ^loff position.

13. The mortice lock claimed in claim 10 or claim 11, 0 wherein the anti-lockout member has a face that engages with a corresponding face carried by the locking bolt such that when the locking bolt moves into the housing and the anti-lockout member is in the ^lon' position the face on the locking bolt engages with and imparts a force on the face on the anti-lockout member which in turn moves the locking bar into an unlocked condition.

14. The mortice lock, claimed in claim 11, wherein the anti-lockout member is sTideable on the locking bar between an ^λon' and 'off position by way of a biased press button.

15. The mortice lock claimed in claim 11, wherein the position of the anti-lockout member is accessed from the rear of the housing.

16. The mortice lock claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking bar includes a stop for holding the locking bar in the unlocked or locked condition.

17. The mortice lock claimed in claim 16, wherein the stop is a spring biased detent that is received in a stop recess internally of the housing.

18. A mortice lock comprising: a housing supporting two split hub handle actuators independently rotatable to engage with a locking bolt and withdraw the locking bolt into the housing; a locking bar slidable within the housing between an unlocked and a locked condition, the locking bar being capable of selecting actuation of one or both or neither handle actuators; and an anti-lockout member carried by the locking bar and slideable relative to the locking bar between an On' and ^λoff position wherein, in the instance of the locking bolt withdrawing into the housing while the locking bar is in a locked position and the anti-lockout member is in an 'on' position, the anti-lockout member engages with the locking bolt and is thereby forced to cause the locking bar to slide into an unlocked condition.

19. The mortice lock according to claim 18, including an anti-lockout member which when activated causes the locking bar to move to an unlocked condition if the locking bolt is moved into the housing.

20. The mortice lock claimed in claim 18, wherein the anti-lockout member is carried by the locking bar and is slideable thereon between an 'on' and 'off position.

21. The mortice lock claimed in claim 18, 19 or 20, wherein the anti-lockout member has a face that engages with a corresponding face carried by the locking bolt such that when a locking bolt moves into the housing and the anti-lockout member is in the 'on' position the face on the locking bolt engages with and imparts a force on the face on the anti-lockout member which in turn moves the locking - bar into an unlocked condition.

22. The mortice lock claimed in claim 18, wherein the anti-lockout member is slideable on the locking bar between an 'on' and Off position by way of a biased press button.

23. The mortice lock claimed in claim 18, wherein the position of the anti-lockout member is accessed from the rear of the housing.