AU767998B2 - A lock - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Address for Service: Lockwood Security Products Pty Limited CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 239 George Street, Brisbane, QId. 4000, Australia.

Invention Title: A Lock The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:

TITLE

A LOCK FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a lock and particularly relates to a lock for a sliding door or window where the lock can be quickly opened to allow emergency exit through the door or window, and where the lock components are such that the lock can be used on a right or left-hand opening window or door.

BACKGROUND ART Emergency exit doors, and particularly fire exit doors, often have a horizontal hand bar which can be pushed down to open the door outwardly to allow emergency exiting. Usually, such doors are swing doors.

15 Occasionally, emergency doors are of the sliding type and *are latched or locked by a lock assembly on the door.

*The sliding doors (or possibly sliding windows) may be right-hand or left-hand opening. To date, it has been necessary to supply two types of locks for such S 20 windows and doors, the locks being "handed", that is, one "0 lock suitable for a left-hand opening door and one lock suitable for a right-hand opening door. Handed locks 0:0.increase inventory costs, are more complicated to manufacture and assemble, and have other undesirable properties.

w o Another desirable feature of fast exit sliding windows or doors is that the lock handle must be easy to manipulate to unlock the door or window, especially under conditions of low visibility which can occur during smoke, or blackout.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been developed to provide a lock which can be used on sliding windows or doors and having a mechanism to allow easier unlocking, for instance, under conditions of panic, and where the lock components can be such to allow the lock to be interchanged between a lock suitable for left-hand opening doors or windows and right-hand opening doors or windows.

It is an object of the invention to provide a lock which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form the invention resides in a lock for a sliding door, the lock having a lock body, a lock tongue which is moveable between a locked position and an unlocked position, a handle to move the lock tongue between its said positions, the handle itself being moveable between an upper position where the lock tongue is locked, and a lower position where the lock tongue is unlocked, at least some of the lock components being reversible to allow the lock to be fitted to a right-hand or left-hand opening door with the lock tongue being in ogo 15 the unlocked position when the handle is in its lower position.

S..

."It should be appreciated that the lock may be used for sliding windows, sliding security doors, security windows, and other types of sliding wings.

ooooo 20 By having the handle moveable between upper and lower positions (for instance, a lever handle), and with the lock being unlocked in the lower position, there is provided an easier opening lock assembly as this arrangement is superior to a rotatable handle where under panic conditions the handle may be rotated wrongly.

The lock tongue may have a nose portion which S"is hooked or has a parrot beak configuration. The lock tongue is therefore able to hook behind a keeper positioned in the door or window jamb. The lock tongue may however be otherwise configured to allow it to be retained within a striker or keeper.

The handle is suitably of an extending lever handle configuration which can therefore be readily pushed down the release the lock tongue.

The lock tongue may comprise the nose portion as described above and a main body portion which, in use, locates substantially within the lock body.

The handle similarly may comprise a main body portion which, in use, is also located generally within the lock body.

The lock tongue and the handle may be attached together such that movement of the handle causes corresponding movement of the lock tongue. Suitably, the lock tongue is adjustably attached to the handle to allow adjustments to be made to the degree of extension of the lock tongue from the lock body. The main body portion of the lock tongue may be attached to the main body portion of the handle.

The handle and the lock tongue may be rotatably mounted relative to the lock body and are preferably rotatably mounted to a projection such as a drive cylinder. The drive cylinder may form part of or be coo• 15 attached to the lock body, and the handle and lock tongue 0 00 may be supported for pivoting movement about the drive cylinder.

Although the lock tongue is described as being moveable between a locked and unlocked position, the term 20 "locked position" is meant to include a key locked position where a key is necessary to unlock the lock tongue, and a latched position where the lock tongue can o be moved to its unlocked position by movement of the handle and without requiring a key.

To fully lock the lock tongue (such that a key or other type of member is required to allow the lock "tongue to the moved to the unlocked position), a locking member can be provided. The locking member may be biased into engagement with other lock components to prevent movement of the lock tongue. The locking member may be moveable between a locking and unlocking position and in the unlocking position, the lock tongue is in its latched position.

A release member may be provided to move the locking member between its locking and unlocking positions. The release member may comprise a cam. The cam may be rotatably mounted to the drive cylinder and may be operable via a key.

4 The lock tongue may be biased into its locked position (that is either key locked or latched) by a biasing means. The biasing means may be in the form of a spring. A biasing means is suitably also provided to bias the handle towards its lower (unlocking) position to assist in ready unlocking of the lock to provide emergency exiting through a sliding door or window.

Suitably, a single spring is provided to provide both types of biasing, that is, biasing of the lock tongue in its locked position and biasing the handle towards it unlocked position. This can be achieved by providing a type of over centre mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention will be 15 described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 shows a view of a lock and lock components for a right-hand assembly; Figure 2 shows the lock of Figure 1 assembled 20 for a left-hand assembly; Figure 3 shows some of the more important lock components; Figures 4a 4d show stepwise some of the more important steps in assembling the lock; Figures 5a 5f show how the lock can be converted from a right-hand assembly as illustrated in Figure 1 to a left-hand assembly as illustrated in Figure 2.

BEST MODE Referring initially to Figures 1 3, there is shown a lock 10 which can be used for sliding doors.

Lock 10 has a lock body 11 which can be formed from die cast metal and is rectangular when viewed in plan. Lock body 11 has a main body portion in which the components can be assembled (and which can be identified with reference to numeral 11), and a top portion (not shown) which can include the key cylinder barrel and a handle pull to assist in opening the sliding door to which lock is attached.

Lock 10 has a lock tongue 12 formed from steel and which has a hooked nose portion 13 to allow it to hook over a striker or keeper in the door jamb (not shown). Lock tongue 12 also has a main body portion 14 which is more clearly shown in Figure 3 and which main body portion is generally positioned within lock body 11.

Lock 10 has a handle 15 which is of a lever configuration having an upwardly extending grippable portion 16 and a main body portion 17 (more clearly illustrated in Figure 3) and which sits generally within lock body 11. The main body portion 17 of handle 15 and the main body portion 14 of lock tongue 12 both include apertures 18, 19 to allow the components to be mounted over an •go S 15 upstanding drive cylinder 20 (see Figure Drive cylinder 20 is formed from die cast metal and extends *"through an opening in lock body 11 and functions as a pivot point to allow lock tongue 12 and handle 17 to be mounted relative to drive cylinder 12 for rotational ee 20 movement.

The main body potion 14 of lock tongue 12 is attached to the main body portion 17 of handle 15. Lock tongue 12 has a further aperture 21 through which a screw (not shown) can pass and which screw can be threadingly engaged with a threaded aperture 22 on handle Aperture 21 is elongate to allow the lock tongue to be S"adjustably mounted relative to handle 15 and thereby to adjust the degree of extension of nose portion 13 from lock body 11. To prevent unwanted sliding movement between the two components, lock tongue 12 has a serrated portion 23 which mates with a serrated portion 24 on handle 15 to firmly lock the two components together against unwanted relative sliding movement.

To convert lock tongue 12 from a latched to a fully locked position, a locking member in the form of a locking lever 25 is provided. Locking lever 25 is formed from metal and has an arcuate body shape. One end of locking lever 25 is pivotly mounted at pivot 26 to lock body 11. The other end of locking lever 25 has an upstanding shoulder portion 27 (see Figure 3) which abuts against a corresponding shoulder portion 28 on handle 17.

Locking lever 25 is attached to a torsion spring 29A, the torsion spring having a main body extending about pivot 26 and an arm which is attached to shoulder portion 27, thereby biasing locking lever into engagement with shoulder portion 28 on handle To unlock lock tongue 12 from its fully locked to a latched position, locking lever 25 is pushed against its bias away from shoulder 28 by a release member in the form of cam 29. Cam 29 is illustrated in plan in Figure 3 and in Figures 1 and 2, cam 29 is positioned underneath *the main body portion 17 of handle 15. Cam 2 9 has a centralised aperture 30 which has opposed parallel side *.*walls to allow it to mate with drive cylinder 20 such that rotation of drive cylinder 20 causes rotation of cam *29. As apertures 18 and 19 on lock tongue 12 and handle are of larger size, rotation of handle 15 and lock 20 tongue 12 will not result in rotation of drive cylinder A clutch 31a is positioned on top of lock tongue 12 and is securely fastened to the upper portion of drive cylinder 20 through a screw 32. Thus, rotation of clutch 31a causes rotation of drive cylinder 20 which in turn causes rotation of cam 29. It can therefore be seen that rotation of clutch 31 rotates cam 29 which in turn pushes locking lever 25 away from or into engagement with shoulder 28 on handle Clutch 31a includes one or more abutments 33 which engage with the projection of a key cylinder barrel. Thus, rotation of the key cylinder barrel causes rotation of clutch 31a which in turn can fully lock or atci-f56-k-- Eongue 12 through cam pushing away locking lever 25 or allowing locking lever 25 to engage against shoulder 28.

Clutch 31a is suitable for pin cylinders while clutch 31b (see Figure 3) is suitable for disc cylinders.

Lock tongue 12 is biased into its locked position as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 by a spring arrangement which comprises a helical spring 34 and a con rod 35. One end of helical spring 34 abuts against a shoulder 36 while the other end of helical spring 34 abuts against a thickened portion (in the form of a loop) 37 on con rod 35. It can thus be seen that spring 34 maintains a downward thrust on con rod 35. Con rod is attached to the main body portion 17 of handle 15 and the attachment is forward of the central pivot point when in the fully locked or latched position (the pivot point being defined by drive cylinder 20). Thus, it can be seen that spring 34 through con rod 35 pushes nose portion 13 into its fully locked or latched position.

ee However, when handle 15 is pushed downwardly, *"the main body portion 17 of handle 15 rotates which in turn causes the attachment point 39 (that is, where con rod 35 is attached to main body portion 17) to move to behind the central pivot point (defined by drive cylinder o oo S" 20 20). As soon as this occurs, spring 34 pushes con rod downwardly which in turn assists in pushing handle down to its lower unlocked position.

e e It can be seen by having attachment point 39 forward and rearward of the central pivot point, an over 25 centre type mechanism is provided which allows a single spring 34 to both assist in locking lock tongue 12 and also assists in pushing handle 15 down.

Referring now to Figures 4a 4d, there is shown step-wise some of the more important assembly sequence steps.

Referring initially to Figure 4a, it can be seen that drive cylinder 20 has already been attached to lock body 11 with the upstanding pin portion 40 of drive cylinder 20 being illustrated and showing that the pin portion is not round but instead has opposed parallel walls. At this stage, locking lever 25 is also assembled and placed within housing 11. Afterwards, and now referring to Figure 4b, cam 29 is pushed over pin portion and because of the complementary configuration of opening 30 in cam 29, it can be seen that cam 29 rotates with rotation of drive cylinder 20 (or, rotation of cam member 29, causes rotation of drive cylinder 20). Figure 4b more clearly illustrates the function of cam 29 and how cam 29 has a camming portion 41 which when rotated anti-clockwise as shown in Figure 4b will cause camming portion 41 to push back locking lever Referring now to Figure 4c, handle 15 and lock tongue 12 are initially screwed together and the combined unit is loosely placed over pin portion Referring to Figure 4d, clutch 31a is placed on top of lock tongue 12 and is fixed to pin portion (suitably by a screw) rooo 15 After assembly of the central portions, spring 34 (see Figures 1 and 2) can be placed over con rod and assembled in the manner shown in Figures 1 and 2. A top (not shown) can be placed on top of lock body 11 and the top may include a key cylinder barrel, a pull handle, 20 and the like.

Figures 5a 5f show the reversibility of the various components of the lock to allow the lock to be changed from a right-hand assembly to a left-hand assembly without requiring additional components.

25 Figure 5a shows a right-hand lock identical to a. .a Figure 1 while Figure 5f shows the left-hand lock identical to Figure 2. Initially, the right-hand lock of Figure 5a is disassembled by opening the top (not shown) and initially removing spring 34 and con rod Thereafter, and as illustrated in Figure 5b, the screw 43 which fixes clutch 31a to drive cylinder 20 is removed and clutch 31a is removed followed by removal of locking tongue 12, handle 15, and cam 29. After removal of these components, the lock looks like that illustrated in Figure 5c. Lock body 11 is then rotated 1800 as illustrated in Figure 5d and locking lever 25 is removed from its position shown in Figure 5c and reattached to the position shown in Figure 5d which is now about pivot point 44. Cam 29 is also replaced in its new position where it now rotates clockwise to push locking lever away from its engagement with shoulder portion 28 on handle Lock tongue 12 and handle 15 are disassembled from each other and the lock tongue is replaced on the other side of handle 15 and reattached through the fastening screw. The plate-like configuration of both lock tongue 12 and handle 15 allows this reversibility to occur.

The assembled handle and lock tongue are then replaced over drive cylinder 20 and clutch 31a is reattached, the spring and con rod are reassembled and attached to housing 11 as shown in Figure oooo 15 After the assembly steps illustrated in Figures 5a 5f, it can be seen that the right-hand lock is now converted to a left-hand lock without requiring any new components to be introduced into the lock itself.

It can be seen that a lock according to the 20 invention is versatile in its ability to be reversible oo and this can be achieved by having the key lock components able to be turned around without creating assembly difficulties. By having the lever handle arrangement, the lock can be readily moved to an unldcked 25 position simply by leaning on the handle or pushing it down which is important for emergency exits. The spring and con rod assembly also assist in rapid opening of the lock but also in maintaining the lock in the latched or fully locked position.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention.

Claims (16)

1. A lock for a sliding door the lock having a lock body, a lock tongue which is moveable between a locked position and an unlocked position, a handle to move the lock tongue between its said positions, the handle itself being moveable between an upper position where the lock tongue is locked, and a lower position where the lock tongue is unlocked, at least some of the lock components being reversible to allow the lock to be fitted to a right-hand or left-hand opening door with the lock tongue being in the unlocked position when the handle is in its lower position.

2. The lock of claim i, wherein the lock tongue has a hooked nose portion to enable it to hook behind a 15 keeper positioned in an adjacent jamb.

3. The lock of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the handle is a lever handle.

4. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lock tongue has a nose portion, and a main body portion which locates substantially within the lock body.

5. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handle has a main body portion which is located generally within the lock body. 25

6. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lock tongue is adjustably attached to the handle to allow adjustments to be made to the degree of extension of the lock tongue from the lock body.

7. The lock of claim 6, wherein the main body portion of the lock tongue is attached to the main body portion of the handle.

8. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handle and the lock tongue are rotatably mounted relative to the lock body and are rotatably mounted to a drive cylinder, the drive cylinder forming part of or attached to the lock body, the handle and lock tongue being supported for pivoting movement about the drive cylinder.

9. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, including a locking member to fully lock the lock tongue such that a key is required to allow the lock tongue to the moved to the unlocked position.

10. The lock of claim 9, wherein the locking member is biased into engagement with other lock components to prevent movement of the lock tongue.

11. The lock of claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the locking member is moveable between a locking and unlocking position and in the unlocking position, the lock tongue is in its latched position.

12. The lock of any one of claims 9 11, wherein a release member is provided to move the locking member between its locking and unlocking positions. 15

13. The lock of claim 12, wherein the release member comprises a cam which is rotatably mounted to the drive cylinder and is optionally operable by a key.

14. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lock tongue is biased into its locked 20 position and the handle is biased towards its lower position by a single biasing member. 0:0

15. The lock of any one of the preceding claims, 04 0wherein the lock has an outer lock casing, the casing having duplicate means for supporting the reversible lock f 25 components.

16. A lock substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 23rd day of April 2001 LOCKWOOD SECURITY PRODUCTS PTY L IMTED By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.