WO2019229461A1

WO2019229461A1 - Door locking devices

Info

Publication number: WO2019229461A1
Application number: PCT/GB2019/051502
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard William Maris
Original assignee: Richard William Maris
Priority date: 2018-06-01
Filing date: 2019-05-31
Publication date: 2019-12-05
Also published as: GB201809035D0; GB2574268A; GB2574268B

Abstract

A removable locking device secures an inward-opening door (1) against unwanted opening from the outside. A corner piece (9) fits over a corner of the door (1), with at least one tongue (6) projecting from the outside of the door. An apertured locking plate (7) can slide along and over the tongue (6) to clamp a jamb (3) of the door frame (2) between the locking plate (7) and the corner piece (9). The tongue (6) has a row of holes (16) along its length and the locking plate (7) comprises a shield (30), which permits access to only one of the holes (16). Thus a shackle of a padlock (8) can be passed through the exposed hole (16) to secure the locking plate (7) but the shield (30) prevents a second padlock from being added by another person, which would prevent the door being re-opened. The corner piece (9) may have a releasable fastening (33,35) on its inner face, to permit the door (1) to be locked or unlocked by someone inside the room.

Description

TITLE

Door locking devices

DESCRIPTION

Field of the invention

This invention relates to removable devices for locking doors that open inwards, to prevent them being opened from outside. It is thus most useful for locking an internal door of a building to secure the contents of a room against unwanted intrusion but may also be used to lock external doors that open inwards. The invention has application in domestic, commercial, institutional, and industrial premises.

Background

A greater number of people now work from their home office electronically, having confidential files, and handling hard copies of client information that they have assured their employers shall remain secure at all times. Situations may occur when the worker has to leave home urgently, having no time to secure the work, especially when a computer program is running, from inquisitive family members, and their friends. Also, as there is no lock fitted to the great majority of modem domestic internal doors.

Students in shared accommodation, sales representatives in lodgings, and similar persons in transitory venues require their personal belongings, course work, expensive samples, demonstration units and the like, to be kept safe and secure, whilst they are elsewhere. Even if the door to their room has a key, card, or push-button lock installed; the landlord, maintenance personnel, maid, cleaner, or owner shall hold duplicate, or master keys to gain access into their room which may be considered unwarranted, in which case their possessions are not secure.

In fire and life threatening situations doors will be broken down by the emergency services. It may thus be necessary to ensure that an inward-opening door is locked to prevent unwarranted access by persons who may be considered undesirable - whether they are the owners, maintenance staff, or other occupants of the premises - in order to safeguard and provide protection for oneself and one’s personal belongings, whilst the normal room occupier is elsewhere.

A temporary door lock should be capable of being released from inside the room so that it cannot be used to trap someone in the room against their will. On the other hand, a user of the device may wish to provide themselves with a level of safety and security while in the room by locking the door from inside.

United States patent 4653785 discloses a device for securing temporarily to a comer of an inward-opening door, to lock the door in a closed condition. The closed door rests against one side of a door jamb. A comer piece is fitted over a comer of the door before closing it. The comer piece has a pair of tongues that project away from the door, each tongue comprising a row of holes along its length. A locking plate comprises a pair of apertures that allow it to slide along the tongues, the plate being generally parallel to the door, until an edge of the locking plate engages the opposite side of the jamb from the door. A padlock’s shackle can then be passed through the hole in one of the tongues that is closest to the locking plate to secure the locking plate to the comer piece and clamp the door jamb between them. This prevents the door from being opened.

The device in US 4653785 has at least two disadvantages. First, it leaves exposed the holes in the tongues that are further away from the locking plate, so that another person can apply a second padlock and prevent the door being re-opened by the rightful occupant. Second, the device cannot be opened from the opposite side of the door so it can be used to imprison someone in a room. Summary of the invention

The invention provides a removable locking device for an inward-opening door, as defined in claim 1. It further provides a method of locking an inward-opening door, as defined in claim 11 Preferred features of the invention that are not essential are defined in the dependent claims.

The shield of the invention prevents others from installing their own padlocks that would also prevent the rightful user re-gaining access through the door, as the remaining shield holes do not align with any remaining free holes in the tongue(s). An optional extra that may be used is a tongue hole mask which is clipped into position onto the unused tongue to prevent another padlock having a smaller diameter shackle from being inserted through the non-circular gaps left between the shield and the tongue; this mask blocks all tongue holes off completely.

The optional fasteners on the inside-facing part of the comer piece permits the device to be released from the inside of the door, so it cannot be used to imprison someone.

The door locking device according to the invention is able to be used, whether or not the door already has door locks installed.

The invention is defined in relation to a door that opens in one direction only and that, when closed, rests against the jamb of a door frame. The direction in which the door opens is defined as“inwards” and terms such as“outwards”,“inside” and“outside” are defined accordingly.

The term“through-hole” is used to indicate a hole that extends through the entire thickness of a component. It may comprise holes that are formed through two or more walls of the component and are aligned on a common axis.

The thickness of the wall in which the door is located is immaterial to the invention. The drawings

Figure 1 is a front view of the outside of a door, to which a locking device according to the invention has been fitted.

Figure 2 is an enlargement of the locking device of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a standard domestic door.

Figure 4 shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a hotel / office fire door.

Figure 5 shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a steel door.

Figure 5 A shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a glass door.

Figure 6 shows a tongued comer piece forming part of the invention in two views, namely a side elevation, and front view.

Figure 7 shows a locking plate forming part of the invention in two views, namely a side elevation and front view.

Figure 8 shows the rear elevation of the device, as viewed from inside the locked room, with a part plan of the rear face.

Figure 9 shows the optional accessories: packing shims that allow the device’s bespoke installation to doors of varying thickness, the packing shim for door frames having minimal doorjamb widths, and their self-adhesive hook and loop pads, and the common tongue hole mask.

Generally where a 45° centre (short dash-long dash) line is shown, the device is symmetrical about that line, and the plan view mirrors that of the side elevation. Figure 1 shows a typical internal door (1) that opens inward into the room, as viewed from outside the room. It has a doorframe (2) to which is secured the door jamb (3). A door locking device (4) according to the invention is depicted as being installed on the top door comer, opposite to the door hinges. An alternative locking location (5) is shown in dashed line symbology.

Figure 2 shows the front view of the door locking device (4) as installed on the top door comer, as would be viewed by the installer. The two tongues (6) of a tongued comer piece (9) are shown in hidden detail. The tongue hole mask (22) is shown inserted into the unused tongue. Two shields (30) of a locking plate (7) may be rectangular hollow steel extrusion to fit over the tongues (6) like a sleeve. A padlock (8), of prior art, is depicted in the secure, locked position, passing through two aligned holes that form a through-hole (29) in the shield (30) and a hole in one of the tongues (6). An alternative padlock location according to the particular door-set application is also indicated in short-dashed line symbology. Welded shield end connections (31) close the ends of both shields (30) and joining angle (34) provides extra reinforcement maintaining structural integrity.

Figure 3 indicates the device of Figure 2, shown as a section through a domestic door and door frame taken at right angles, and depicting the door locking components as fitted. It can be seen that the tongued comer piece (9) fits between the door (1) and the doorframe (2) and jamb (3). Modem standard door frame installations typically have both a door edge to frame perimeter minimum clearance of approximately Vio” (2.5mm), and a closed door face to jamb minimum clearance of V25” (lmm). Figure 3 shows how the tongue (6) has two rows of holes (16) along its length. The shield (30) has a single pair of through-holes (29) aligned with the respective rows of holes (16) of the tongue (6) so that, as the shield (30) slides over and along the tongue (6), the through-holes (29) of the shield (30) come into alignment with successive holes of the tongue (6) and define different positions at which the locking plate (7) can be secured. The holes (16) in the respective rows of the tongue (6) are mutually offset along the length of the tongue to double the number of securing positions. The other tongue (6) has a similar arrangement of holes (16), except that they are also offset to double the number of possible locking positions again.

The device may be provided with a plurality of self-adhesive loop fastening pads (10), for attaching packing shims (11), (13) and (14) to adapt the comer piece (9) to different thicknesses of door. This comer piece (9) may be used as is, for the standard l¾” (44mm) thick fire-rated door. The sectional view in Figure 3 shows a 4mm thick packing shim (11) having a plurality of self-adhesive hook pads on one side, and a plurality of self-adhesive loop pads on the other side, used alone for make-up for a door thickness of l V₂” (38mm). One similar lmm thick packing shim (14) may be added for the standard l³/s” (35mm) thick door; and a further additional lmm thick packing shim (14) for the door thickness of l¼” (32mm). Each hook or loop pad is assumed to be lmm thick, under gentle compression.

It is easy to envisage other ways of adapting the comer piece to different thicknesses of door, either by using alternative means to pack its interior or by providing means to adjust the dimensions of the comer piece itself. One such means may be with the use of a plurality of machined screws through holes in the release door with locking nuts on either side of the door, but this involves the use of a spanner, and may be considered to be over-complicated and not user-friendly.

Figure 4 shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a hotel or office door (1) and doorframe (2). It may be installed onto a l¾” (44mm) thick door having draught, intumescent fire protection, and or sound attenuating baffles between the door and the door frame, and the standard model of the device shall also be suitable as shown for installation in a door frame having a doorjamb width of up to 3” (76mm).

Figure 5 shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a steel door (1) of l³/4” (44mm) thickness. It also shows the locking plate (7) having an 8mm thick‘L’- shaped packing shim (15) that is attached by a plurality of self-adhesive hook and loop pads to make up for the thin steel 3mm wide doorjamb (3).

Figure 5A shows the device of Figure 2 in vertical section through a glass office door (1) of ¾” (lOmm) thickness. It again shows the‘L’-shaped shim (15) necessary for the thin door jamb (3). Both 30mm and lmm thick shims (13), (14) are required to be installed to ensure a snug fit of the comer piece over the door.

Figure 6 shows a side view (17), and a front view (19) of the tongued comer piece (9), all as would be positioned onto the door (1), and as would be seen prior to fitting the locking plate (7). The tongue (6) that shall be un-used is shown having the tongue hole mask (22) attached, which is pushed into position by handle (21) and retained in position by the springiness of the steel against the tongue’s spot-weld flat. The construction shows the tongues (6) which have pegs that locate into slots on the front face of the comer piece (9), to allow the end flats that are at right angles to the tongue to be spot-welded to the front face of the comer piece. Each tongue is preferably provided with a slim‘L’ shaped cross-section for rigidity. The physical clearance between the external edges and faces of the tongues (6), and the internal faces of the shields (30) is lmm, when the tongues (6) are located centrally in the shields (30).

The rear face of the tongued comer piece (9) is designed to form an escape door, and comprises a release plate (32) connected by top hinge (33), which has a removable hinge split pin (36). At 90° to it, the release plate (32) is also connected by side hinge

(35), having a removable hinge split-pin (36). The split-pins (36) shall be, when required, easily removable, allowing the release plate (32) to be either swung out, or removed, clear of the area swept by the room door, so that the door can be opened from inside the room in order to prevent illegal enforced imprisonment, or the user becoming the victim of a student prank. An adhesive label on the rear face of the release plate may indicate the method of escape. By reversing this action, the user of the device can also provide for their own security and safety by effectively locking themselves into the room when it is felt necessary to do so.

The split-pins (36) shall generally be held in place by friction between the pins and the internal faces of the hinge knuckles of release plate (32). 1” (25mm) diameter standard key-rings of prior art (not shown) may be threaded onto looped ends of the split pins (36) in order to enable the split pins to be withdrawn in easier fashion when the device is used predominantly for the owner’s protection. The hinge knuckles (33 & 35), the springy quality of the pins (36) and their friction developed, may be increased and adjusted to suit by removing the pins, inserting a screwdriver between the pin legs in their mid-position twisting to open slightly, and re-inserting the pins

(36) into the re-aligned hinge knuckles of release plate (32), and comer piece (9) hinge knuckles (33 & 35). Alternatively, if it is decided that the split pins (36) shall be loosely inserted they shall be prevented from falling out of the hinge knuckles by a suitable cable tie of prior art (not shown), which shall be threaded through both loop ends of split-pins (36) and secured. To allow escape, the cable tie shall be either cut, or levered off to break it, to enable easy removal of the split-pins.

Alternative means for releasably fastening the comer piece to the door can easily be envisaged. It will be understood that the releasable fastening that permits escape from inside the room is not dependent on the presence of a sleeve or other shield to block access to the tongue holes on the outside of the room. These aspects of the disclosure could be put into practice independently of one another. Figure 7 indicates views of the locking plate (7); in front view (24) seen as it is applied onto the tongues (6), through the slots (25), and showing jamb flanges (26). The edge of door elevation (27) shows shields (30), shield strengthening joining piece (34), and strengthening flanges (28), to which the shields (30) are aligned and welded. Also indicated are the alternative padlock shackle locking through holes (29).

Figure 8 shows a plan (20) part of the tongued comer piece (9) and a rear view (18) of the comer piece (9) as seen from inside the locked room. They show the removable hinge split-pins (36), packing shim (11), and hook & loop pads (10 & 12). Figure 9 shows the optional accessories: the 4mm (11), 30mm (13) and lmm (14) thick shims with their self-adhesive loop pads (10) and self-adhesive hook pads (12); the 8mm thick‘L’ shaped thin jamb packing shim (15); and spare self-adhesive loop pads (10) for attachment to the rear of the locking plate to be used when required. Also shown is the tongue hole mask (22), in front and end elevations, with plan view, which is located in position by peg end (23) into the end slot of a tongue (6) and retained in position by springy handle (21).

In order to lock and secure a door using the device of the invention, the door’s thickness is required to be checked; it may be necessary to apply one or more of the packing shims (11,13,14) provided, in order that when a tongued door comer piece (9) is fitted over the top, bottom, or both door comers, furthest from the door’s hinges, snug fit(s) is/are obtained. If the doorjamb (3) is very thin, it may also be necessary to apply a shim (15) to the rear of the locking plate (7).

Having the tongued door comer piece in place, the door is then pulled-to, closed and latched, so that the tongues project outward, and beyond the furthest edge of the door jamb (3) from the outside door face. The locking plate (7) is then introduced over and around surrounding the tongues (6), and pushed further along the tongues until the plate (7) makes contact with the door jamb (3). A through-hole (29) in one of the shields (30) is aligned, and visibly seen to align, with the hole (16) in a tongue that is closest to the outside edge of the door jamb, allowing a padlock’s shackle to be introduced through the shield/tongue/shield assembly, to ensure the closest fit. If it is considered necessary, for the particular door-set and local circumstances in question, the tongue that shall not receive the padlock shackle may be fitted with the tongue hole mask (22), the locking plate (7) being temporarily removed to enable the fitting of the mask (22) onto the unused tongue (6); the locking plate (7) may then be re positioned against the door jamb (3), and padlock shackle introduced. The padlock shackle is then locked. The shields (30) act as shields to prevent a second padlock being introduced through any of the tongue holes that are further from the door. Door locking is complete; the door is secure. Unlocking is simply a reversal of the locking procedure. The door remains undamaged in any way, and the device may then be used repeatedly on the same, or different doors in the future. Re-entry can then only be gained without force by unlocking the padlock. Forced entry shall require removal of part or all of the lock-side (external) door jambs, the use of a hacksaw to cut through the tongues in line with the doorjamb, the use of a crow-bar on the lock, or simply breaking down the door; all of which are impossible to be undertaken covertly, quietly, or quickly, and shall be immediately noticeable by other building occupiers. The device can be used whether the door is hinged on the left or right side. For additional security, devices may be fitted on both the upper and lower comers of the door. Sleeves that fit over both sides of the tongues are the preferred way of shielding the unused holes of the tongues against someone applying a second padlock to the device. However, it would in principle be sufficient to block access to the holes from just one side, e.g. by providing a shield in the form of a strip that lies alongside the tongue, provided the strip could be made sufficiently rigid. (The optional mask that can be applied to the unused tongue operates in this way.) For convenience and rigidity, the shields are preferably formed integrally with the locking plates (7). However, the invention could work with shields that were formed separately, so that they could be omitted if the risk of double-padlocking was not thought to be significant.

Claims

1. A removable locking device for an inward-opening door (1), comprising: a comer piece (9) for fitting over a comer of the door (1);

a tongue (6) projecting from the comer piece (9) on the outside of the door (1), the tongue (6) comprising at least one row of holes (16) along its length;

a locking plate (7) comprising an aperture that fits over the tongue (6), whereby the locking plate (7) can slide along and over the tongue (6) to secure a jamb (3) of the door frame (2) between the locking plate (7) and the comer piece (9); and

a shield (30) comprising one through-hole (29) for each row of holes (16) along the tongue (6), the shield (30) being capable of location adjacent to and extending along the tongue (6), such that a respective through-hole (29) of the shield (30) is aligned with each row of holes (16) along the tongue (6), whereby, when the locking plate (7) is in position to secure the jamb (3), a through-hole (29) in the shield (30) can be aligned with a selected hole (16) in the tongue (6) to permit a shackle of a padlock (8) to pass therethrough, while the shield (30) blocks access to holes (16) in the tongue (6) that are further than the selected hole from the door (1).

2. A locking device according to claim 1, wherein the shield (30) is integral with the locking plate (7).

3. A locking device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the shield (30) is a sleeve that fits over the tongue (6), each through-hole (29) in the shield extending through two opposing walls of the sleeve.

4. A locking device according to any preceding claim, wherein the tongue (6) comprises two or more rows of holes (16) along its length, the holes (16) in the respective rows being mutually offset along the length of the tongue (6); and wherein the shield (30) comprises two or more through-holes (29) that are aligned respectively with the two or more rows of holes (16) along the tongue (6).

5. A locking device according to any preceding claim, further comprising:

a second tongue (6) that projects from the comer piece (9) parallel to the first tongue (6), the holes (16) in the rows of the respective tongues (6) being mutually offset along the length of the tongues (6); and

a second shield (30) that is capable of location adjacent to and extending along the second tongue (6).

6. A locking device according to claim 5, wherein the two tongues (6) are substantially planar, lying in respective planes that, in use, are substantially parallel to a side edge of the door (1) and to a top or bottom edge of the door (1).

7. A locking device according to claim 5 or claim 6, further comprising a mask (22) that can be placed, in use, against whichever of the first and second tongues (6) the padlock (8) is not applied to, in order to block all the holes (16) in that tongue (6).

8. A locking device according to any preceding claim, wherein the comer piece (9) comprises at least one fastening (36) that is accessible, in use, from the inner side of the door (1), whereby the fastening (36) can be unfastened to release the door (1) from the comer piece (9).

9. A locking device according to claim 8, wherein the comer piece (9) comprises a release plate (32) that, in use, lies on the inner side of the door (1) and substantially parallel to the door (1), the release plate (32) being connected to the comer piece (9) by a first hinge (33 or 35) that is aligned in use with one of the two edges of the door (1) that meet at the comer, whereby, when the or each fastening (36) is unfastened, the release plate (32) can pivot about the first hinge (33 or 35), or be removed completely to release the door (1) from the comer piece (9).

10. A locking device according to claim 8, wherein the comer piece (9) comprises a release plate (32) that, in use, lies on the inner side of the door (1) and substantially parallel to the face of the door (1), the release plate (32) being connected to the comer piece (9) by first and second hinges (33,35) that are aligned in use with the two edges of the door (1) that meet at the comer, each of the first and second hinges (33,35) comprising two interdigitating knuckles that combine to form a bore, and a pin (36) that passes through the bore, whereby the pin (36) can be removed to permit the two knuckles to separate.

11. A method of locking an inward-opening door (1 ), comprising:

fitting a comer piece (9) over a comer of the door (1) such that a tongue (6) projects from the comer piece (9) on the outside of the door (1), the tongue (6) comprising at least one row of holes (16) along its length;

sliding an apertured locking plate (7) over the tongue (6) to secure a jamb (3) of the door frame (2) between the locking plate (7) and the comer piece (9);

applying a shield (30) adjacent to the tongue (6); and

passing a shackle of a padlock (8) through a through-hole (29) in the shield (30) and through a selected hole (16) in the tongue (6), while the shield (30) blocks access to holes (16) in the tongue (6) that are further than the selected hole from the door (1).

12. A method of releasing, from the inside, a door (1) that has been locked according to claim 11, comprising:

unfastening a release plate (32) of the comer piece (9) that lies on the inside of the door (1) and generally parallel to the face of the door (1); and

pivoting the release plate (32) about a hinge (33,35) that connects the release plate (32) to the comer piece (9), or removing the release plate (32) from the hinge (33,35), thereby to release the door (1) from the comer piece (9).