WO2012081018A1

WO2012081018A1 - Protected padlock

Info

Publication number: WO2012081018A1
Application number: PCT/IL2011/050002
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jonathan Elmaliach
Original assignee: Jonathan Elmaliach
Priority date: 2010-12-15
Filing date: 2011-11-02
Publication date: 2012-06-21

Abstract

A padlock structure comprising a shell comprising complementary formed first and second shell halves, the halves respectively configured to be attachable to adjacent respective sides of a door opening and first and second pins, wherein the first pin is affixed to the first shell half and the second pin is affixed to the second shell half. A recess, into which the first and second pins project is provided, when the first and second shell halves abut each other, wherein the recess is configured to allow insertion of a padlock body into the recess, and to allow the padlock body to engage with the first and second pins, and be locked with the pins.

Description

PROTECTED PADLOCK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to padlocks. More particularly, the present invention relates to padlocks integrated with protective shells.

BACKGROUND

Structures of padlocks protected by shells are known. For example, US Patent 4,548,058 to Bahry and Dolev describes a padlock assembly that includes two complementary shells halves, which when abutting each other, enclose the entire padlock. Each shell half has an opening from the top for the insertion of one leg of the shackle, and a larger opening from the bottom to house the lock body when the shells abut against each other. However, such protection of padlock leaves at least part of the shackle exposed, such that cutting of the exposed part allows removal of the lock body (together with some of the cut shackle), and accessing the place that was locked.

Moreover, in such partial shell-protected padlock structures unlocking involves both raising the shackle and dropping the lock body out of the shell. In many locking arrangements there is lack of space to conveniently do both actions.

WO2007/122609 describes a lock structure in which a locking assembly is housed in a first shell half, with a locking bolt arranged for sliding motion through a first bore formed in the first half, and when a second half is aligned with the first half, the locking bolt is slideable halves together. The unlocking may involve dropping the bolt partially out of the assembly. The assembly provides little access to the bolt (similar to the shackle in US 4,548,058). However, the locking assembly (similar in function to the lock body in US 4,548,058) is integrated with the shell, which may pose difficulties. In some instances, it would be necessary or desirable to replace the locking assembly after it is affixed (for example by welding) to doors, hatches etc. Should a key of the locking assembly be stolen, the entire lock structure would have to be removed and replaced with another.

Furthermore, locking with only a single bolt may perhaps result in the structure being weaker than a structure such as described in US4,548,058, such that it is generally easier to break or cut to unlock.

A purpose of the invention is to provide an improved padlock structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect, a padlock structure is provided, the structure comprising:

a shell comprising complementary formed first and second shell halves respectively configured to be attachable to adjacent respective sides of a door opening;

first and second pins, wherein first pin is affixed to the first shell half and the second pin is affixed to the second half;

a recess, into which first and second pins project, when the first and second halves abut each other,

wherein the recess is configured to allow insertion of a padlock body into the recess, and to allow the padlock body to engage with the first and second pins, and be locked with the pins.

In some embodiments, the shell halves are casts. In some embodiments wherein the shell halves are casts, the pins are affixed to the shell halves, for example during the casting, i.e. before the shells harden.

In some embodiments the pins and the shells are configured to allow screwing the pins into the shell halves.

In some embodiments at least one face of each of the halves is rounded.

In some embodiments at least one face of each of the halves is attachable to at least one of adjacent respective sides of a door opening, and said attachable faces are flat.

In some embodiments the structure is a adjacent to a wall.

Preferably, the structure is spaced away from the wall such that the padlock body is barely insertable into the recess.

In some preferred embodiments further comprising a protective plate affixed to a side of the padlock body in which a keyhole is situated, the plate comprising a hole which allows access to the keyhole.

Preferably, the plate extends to seal the recess.

Preferably, the hole is shaped to allow minimal access to a key.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings.

With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention; the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a PRIOR ART elevation of a swinging door provided with a protective shell for a padlock;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of said PRIOR ART shell on a larger scale showing the padlock in dash-dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a perspective exploded view partially in section of a padlock and protective PRIOR ART shell;

Fig. 4 is a bottom perspective view of an improved padlock structure sans a standard lock body;

Fig. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the improved padlock structure shown in Fig. 4, from a different angle;

Fig. 6 is a perspective frontal view of the structure shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a back perspective view of the structure shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a frontal view of an improved padlock structure affixed and locking together surfaces;

Fig. 9 is a view of the padlock structure from below, into the recess, showing an embodiment with a protective plate providing improved protection of a padlock body from tampering;

Fig. 10 shows in perspective an embodiment having some additional features - tightening assembly and padlock body storage, the shell has an opening for easy installation of pins;

Fig. 1 1 shows the embodiment depicted in Fig. 10 in a perspective exploded view, and

Fig. 12 shows in perspective an embodiment with a closed shell and demonstrates installation of pins. DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

A swinging door 1 which is mounted between two jambs 2 is provided at its edge remote from the hinges with a padlock and a shell thereof, generally referenced by 3. As can be seen in Fig. 2, said shell is made of two complementary halves 4, one of which is fastened to door 1 and the other to jamb 2. Said halves 4 are here shown as having a height covering the entire padlock 5 indicated in dash-dotted lines; however the shackle 6 is left at least partially exposed from above.

The shell halves 4 comprise a cut-out 7 at the bottom (Fig. 3) to cover the body of the padlock and at the top are provided with a channel 8. Said channel 8 is cylindrical for most of its length leading at the bottom into cut-out 7, and at the top has a transverse part 9 which is curved internally as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, so that it can house substantially half the shackle 6. When door 1 is closed so that its vertical edge lies adjacent post 2, the shells complement each other to provide in their bottom the space for padlock body 5. The shackle 6 can be inserted in channels 8 from the top and pressed into padlock body 5 to be closed.

However, such locking arrangement is relatively easily breached, by for example cutting shackle 6 at lines 16a, 16b from above, for example with welding equipment, thus allowing the padlock body 5 to drop out of the shell together with shackle parts 16c, 16d locked thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figs. 4 and 5 are bottom perspective views of an improved padlock structure embodiment 100 sans a padlock body. The lock body is preferably a standard padlock body, such as the prior art lock part 5.

The structure comprises: complementary formed shell halves 104a and 104b respectively configured to be attachable to adjacent respective sides of a door opening (not shown); first pin 106a and second pin 106b, wherein pin 106a is affixed to shell half 104a and second pin 106b is affixed to second half 104b. The structure further has a recess 107, into which pins 106a, 106b project, when the halves abut each other such as shown in Figures 3, 4. The recess 107 is configured to allow insertion of a padlock body (not shown) into the recess 107, and to allow the padlock body to engage with the pins 106a, 106b, and be locked with the pins 106a, 106b.

The term "door" includes, but is not limited to, wooden or metal swinging and sliding doors or gates which may be used within a wooden or metal door frame or between posts of a gate, hereinafter called collectively- jamb.

The pins may be affixed by various methods to the shell halves. In some embodiments, the shells may be cast from high-strength materials, and the pins may be affixed during the casting, i.e. before the shells harden. In alternative embodiments, the pins and shells are configured to allow screwing the pins into the shells.

In some embodiments, faces of the halves are rounded, which may encumber attempts to forcibly unlock the locked structure. Fig. 6 is a perspective frontal view of one such embodiment 200, showing rounded faces 120a and 120b.

Fig. 7 is a back perspective view of an embodiment 300 in which faces 130a, 130b of the halves attachable to at least one of adjacent respective sides of a door opening (not shown) are flat.

Fig. 8 is a frontal view of an improved padlock structure

embodiment 400, the first shell half 404a affixed to surface 440a, the second shell half 404b affixed to second surface 440b. The structure 400 is shown in locked position, locking together surfaces 440a, 440b. Furthermore, the structure is a adjacent to a wall 440c. The structure 400 is preferably spaced away from the wall 440c such that the padlock body (not shown) is barely insertable into the recess 107, thus providing maximum protection from forced unlocking. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, as a result of its structure, opening the lock involves inserting a key into the padlock body and turning the key, and then sliding the padlock body out of the recess. In other embodiments, in which the recess faces downwards, instead of sliding the padlock body out of the recess, the padlock body is simply allowed to drop out of the recess. Such embodiments are easier to manipulate but may provide less protection than embodiments wherein the recess faces a wall (as in Fig. 8). In yet other embodiments, the padlock body is drawn upwards, i.e. the recess faces upwards. Such embodiments may be more difficult to open than embodiments where the recess faces downwards, but they may minimize the padlock body inadvertently falling on a ground or someone's feet.

In some embodiments, a protective plate is affixed to a side of the padlock body in which a keyhole is situated, as shown in Fig. 9 for example.

The plate 550 has a hole 552 which allows access to the keyhole 560. Preferably, the plate 550 extends to seal the recess. The hole 552 may be shaped to allow minmal access to a key, as is indeed shown in the fugure, to help confound attempts to open the lock by manipulations via the keyhole 560 or parts of the padlock body proximal to the keyhole 560.

The shell halves may be affixed to surfaces, or removably engaged thereof. For example, the halves may each be welded, bolted, tied, hung, or stuck to surfaces.

To help in bolting the halves to a surface, a tightening assembly such as described in US 7,412,855 may be used to define a mounting template for complete, accurate, safe and easy installation.

Fig. 10 shows a padlock 600 having some additional features. The padlock 600 includes a tightening assembly 670. Figure 1 1 shows in exploded view the same padlock 600. Shell halves 604a and 604b, when joined together with tightening assembly 670 in a common plane, serve as a built-in template for accurate placement and perfect alignment of drilling holes 672a, 672b to mount the padlock 600 on various types of doors and door posts using common fasteners, such as metal screws, bolts, and the like. To mount the padlock 600, shell halves 604a and 604b are initially provided without pins 606a, 606b installed. Shell halves 604a, 604b are approximately aligned and then attached to each other by the tightening assembly 670, for example by means of a bolt 674 together with a washer 675 and nut 676, as well as protrusions 677a, 677b of the tightening plate 671 engaging matching slots 678a, 678b. The shell 603 may then be initially attached to the wall/door/post in which a hole has been drilled, by means of a screw or bolt 679a going through a hole 673a. After the initial attachment of the shell 603, other holes may be made in the door/wall/post, and other bolts 674b etc. may similarly be used to further attach the shell 603 to the door/wall/post. Note that in some embodiments the shell halves 604a, 604b may simply be slid onto bolts 679a, 679b. As shown in Fig. 1 1 , hole 673a is half open to allow this. Such hole 673a may be used with any of the embodiments described herein.

After attachment of the shell 603 is completed, the pins 606a, 606b may be installed. Due to temperature fluctuations or manufacture errors, the pins 606a, 606b may not easily fit into the lock body 605. Therefore, the distance between pins 606a, 606b is preferably adjustable. Holes 684a, 684b in the shell halves 604a, 604b are preferably elongated to allow some freedom of movement of the pins towards and away from each other, thereby easing the insertion of the pins 606a, 606b into the lock body 605. Pins 606a, 606b may also be tapered at their ends to further facilitate their insertion into the lock body 605, i.e. the part of the pins 60a, 606b first entering the lock body 605 is considerably narrower than the lock body's sockets 688. Furthermore, the pins 606a, 606b may have flat sides 686 that facilitate correct orientation of the pins relative to the lock body 605 to allow locking. The pins 606a, 606b may have grooves 682, into which "C" shaped flat washers 683 of suitable size are inserted, to prevent pulling the pins 606a, 606b out of the padlock when the lock body 605 is removed. Alternatively, the pins may be screwed into the shell. The screw/bolts 679 typically each have a length and a flat head to minimize interference with the lock body 605 during its insertion and removal from the recess within the shell 603. The heads of the pins 606a, 606b are preferably flush with the shell 603 to discourage tampering with the padlock 600. Beads 692a, 692b made of hard material such as steel, vanadium, titanium, molybdenum, metal carbides, nitrides etc may be installed into pins 606a, 606b to further discourage and complicate undesirable drilling of the pins 606a, 606b.

A common problem with padlocks is what to do with the lock bodies, and often it is tedious to carry the lock body away after opening the padlock 600, as well as the lock body being prone to getting lost.

The padlock 600 may thus further comprise a lock body storage 694 comprising pins 696a, 696b. The pins 696a, 696b are configured to allow secure engagement of the lock body 605 to the padlock 600 without locking the padlock 600, i.e. after opening the padlock 600.

Note that contrary to other embodiments described above, the padlock 600 has an open shell 603, i.e. when viewed from above (Figs. 10, 1 1) the pins 606a, 606b are visible. The padlock 600 may be more vulnerable to tampering than a padlock with a completely closed shell, but on the other hand the pins 606a, 606b are easily installed. However, the shell 603 is sloped to help prevent effective tampering from, for example, hammer blows.

Figure 12 shows a half-shell 704a of another padlock 700, wherein the shell can be completely closed (except for an entrance to allow insertion and removal of the lock body therein). The half-shell 704a has drill-holes 772'a, 772"a, pin insertion hole 784a, and bolt-holes 773'a, 773"a. Assembly of the padlock 700 is similar to the assembly described above. However, the pin 706a is inserted as shown in the figure, after holes have been made in the wall/door/post and attachment of the bolts to the wall/door/post, but before attachment of the pin 706a to the half-shell 704a. As in the more open embodiment 600, the head of the bolt is preferably flush or sunken relative to the inside wall of the half-shell 704a, and the half-shell is slideable on the bolts by the bolt-holes being semi-open. Note that while the bolt-holes 773'a, 773"a are open to the right, the bolt-holes of the matching half-shell (not shown) are open to the left, so that the matching two half-shells can be brought together. Note that the contours of the two half shells match (not shown) to allow the essentially hermetic closing of the shell.

Similar to the other embodiment 600, "C" shaped washers may be used, to reduce movement of the pin 706a perpendicular to the pin insertion hole 784a, or the pins may be screwed into the shell.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and includes both combinations and sub combinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof, which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.

In the claims, the word "comprise", and variations thereof such as "comprises", "comprising" and the like indicate that the components listed are included, but not generally to the exclusion of other components.

Claims

1. A padlock structure for a door opening, the structure comprising: a shell comprising complementary formed first shell half and second shell half, the two shell halves respectively configured to be attachable to adjacent respective sides of the door opening;

a first pin and a second pin, wherein said first pin is affixed to said first shell half and said second pin is affixed to said second shell half;

a recess, into which said first pin and said second pin project when said first shell half and said second shell half abut each other, wherein the recess is configured to allow insertion of a padlock body into the recess, and to allow the padlock body to engage with said first pin and said second pin, and be locked with the pins.

2. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the shell halves are casts.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the pins are affixed to the shell halves.

4. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the pins and the shell halves are configured to allow screwing the pins into the shell halves.

5. The structure of claim 1 , wherein at least one face of each of the shell halves is rounded.

6. The structure of claims 1 , wherein at least one face of each of the shell halves is attachable to at least one of adjacent respective sides of the door opening, and said attachable faces are flat.

7. The structure of claims 1 , wherein the structure is adjacent to a wall.

8. The structure of claims 7, wherein the structure is spaced away from the wall such that the padlock body is barely insertable into the recess.

9. The structure of claim^"! , further comprising a protective plate affixed to a side of the padlock body in which a keyhole is situated, the plate comprising a hole which allows access to the keyhole.

10. The structure of claim 9, wherein, the plate extends to seal the recess.

1 1. The structure of claim 9 or 10, wherein the hole is shaped to allow minimal access to a key.

12. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, further comprising a tightening assembly.

13. The structure of claim 12, the tightening assembly comprising a plate, a bolt, a washer and a nut, wherein the shell halves joined together with the tightening assembly serve as a template for placement and alignment of drilling holes to mount the structure on the door opening.

14. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, the shell halves further comprising bolt-holes, wherein the shell halves are attachable to the door opening in which a hole has been drilled, by means of a screw or bolt going through the bolt-hole, the bolt-holes being half-open such as to allow the shell halves to slide onto said screws or bolts.

15. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the distance between the pins is adjustable.

16. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the pins are tapered such as to facilitate insertion of the pins into the padlock body.

17. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the pins have flat sides such as to facilitate correct orientation of the pins relative to the padlock body to allow locking.

18. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the pins may have grooves into which "C" shaped flat washers of suitable size are insertable, thereby preventing pulling the pins out of the structure when the padlock body is removed.

19. The structure of claim 1 , wherein each of the screws/bolts have a length and a flat head configured to minimize interference with the padlock body during insertion and removal therefrom the recess.

20. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the pins comprising heads flush with the shell so as to discourage tampering with the structure.

21. The structure of claim 20, further comprising beads made of hard material installed into the pins so as to discourage and complicate drilling of the pins.

22. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, further comprising a lock body storage comprising pins configured to allow secure engagement of the padlock body structure after opening the structure.

23. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the shell has an opening allowing the pins to be installed.

24. The structure of claim 23, wherein the shell is sloped so as to help prevent effective tampering with the structure.

25. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the shell is completely closed except for an entrance to the recess.

26. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein each half-shell has drill-holes, pin insertion hole, and bolt-holes.

27. The structure of claims 1 , 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the contours of the two half shells match, allowing essentially hermetic closing of the shell.