CN218991206U - Child safety locking mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The present utility model relates to a child-resistant locking mechanism for a cabinet or drawer comprising at least one movable door or drawer and a fixed frame (5), said locking mechanism comprising: a latch assembly and a latch hook member mounted on an inner surface of a movable cabinet door (5 a) and a fixed frame, the latch assembly comprising a latch housing (3) and a movable latch portion (4), and the latch portion (4) comprising an upstanding latch hook (10 c), wherein the latch portion (4) abuts the upstanding latch hook (10 c) in a locked position and is no longer aligned to abut the upstanding latch hook (10 c) in an unlocked position. The latch portion (4) comprises a magnet or magnetizable material so that the latch portion (4) can be moved within the latch housing (3) by the action of a magnet key.

Description

Child safety locking mechanism

Technical Field

The present utility model relates to a retrofittable safety lock for cabinets, cabinet doors, and the like, and more particularly to a "child resistant" latch that includes features that make it difficult for a child to actuate the latch.

Background

Various materials are used for the working surfaces of kitchen cabinets and cutlery. Materials such as quartz, granite, wood, acryl, laminate are often used for their aesthetic qualities and surface treatments, as these surfaces can be very important features of a room.

These cabinets are commonly used in everyday life in kitchens, bedrooms, offices, etc. for storing various items, some of which may be harmful to children. Infants may also attempt to climb onto or even into the cabinets and cabinets to attempt to hide. Cabinets and cabinets may house many types of materials (e.g., pharmaceuticals, household cleaners, knives, tools, paint, etc.) that may be potentially harmful to children.

To prevent young children from entering these storage areas, many items have been patented and sold, most of which are multi-piece components. Generally, some sort of longitudinal member with a hook portion is attached to either side surface of the cabinet or cabinet handle to limit the amount of opening of the cabinet door. The hook portion may engage a securing means on the cabinet handle or cabinet door. An adult can depress the latch on the hook to release the hook from the cabinet handle or fixture on the cabinet door.

While it is relatively easy for an adult to unlatch, the purpose of the latch is to make it difficult for a child to maneuver.

These products typically require attachment to the interior surface of the cabinet or drawer, which typically includes the use of screws or adhesives. These products are also often secured to the top interior surface of the cabinet so that they are most easily released from above, and thus are easier for adults than young children. In particular magnetically operated safety latches have been developed which allow the door to remain fully closed during activation and release of the latch and now have a visible activation portion. An example is shown in WO2020141441 of 3M company. When the magnet is present in the correct position on the outer surface of the cabinet door, the inner latch is pulled in a rotating manner towards the magnet and out of engagement with the shackle, thereby releasing the lock. However, a disadvantage of such devices is that a certain depth is required in the cabinet space to install the latch assembly, but such depth is not available in cabinets with space-occupying sinks, bathtubs, water tanks or other large immovable items. Furthermore, the frame elements of some cabinets make it difficult to mount the shackle or latch portion to the cabinet frame.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present utility model there is provided a child resistant locking mechanism for a cabinet or drawer comprising at least one movable door or drawer and a fixed frame, the locking mechanism comprising: a latch assembly and a latch hook member mounted on an inner surface of the movable cabinet door and the fixed frame, respectively, the latch assembly comprising a latch housing and a movable latch portion, and the latch portion comprising an upstanding latch hook, wherein when the latch housing and the latch portion are in place, the latch portion aligns against the upstanding latch hook in a locked position to prevent the movable cabinet door from being fully opened, wherein the latch portion is disposed within the latch housing and movable to an unlocked position in which the latch portion is no longer aligned against the upstanding latch hook, and the movable cabinet door can be opened; and wherein the latch portion comprises a magnet or magnetizable material such that the latch portion is movable within the latch housing by the action of a magnet key containing the magnet or magnetizable material located on or near an outer surface of the movable cabinet door, wherein the latch portion is arranged to move within the latch housing in a vertical sliding direction such that a user can move the magnet key in an upward sliding direction on or near the outer surface of the cabinet door to cause the latch portion to move vertically upward to release the latch portion from abutment with the upstanding shackle, thereby allowing the cabinet door to be opened, and when the magnet key is removed, the latch housing falls vertically back to the locked position under the force of gravity.

In particular, the shackle member is U-shaped and includes an upper leg and a lower leg forming a hollow portion therebetween.

In particular, an upstanding latch hook is arranged at the distal end of the lower leg.

In particular, the upper leg comprises attachment means for attachment to a cross beam or rail of the stationary frame.

In particular, the latch housing includes a latch body and attachment wings for attaching the latch housing to an inner surface of the cabinet door.

In particular, the latch portion is located within a latch body within which the sliding channel constrains the latch portion to move in a vertical sliding direction.

In particular, the latch body of the latch housing and the hollow portion of the shackle member have respective dimensions such that the latch body fits in the hollow portion when the cabinet door is closed.

In particular, the upper leg comprises respective tongues and grooves for attachment to respective tongues and grooves of the rail attachment member.

In particular, the rail attachment member comprises an upper groove and a lower groove corresponding to the uppermost and lowermost side arms of the pre-existing U-shaped channel of the fixed frame.

In particular, the upper leg comprises at its upper end an L-shaped portion comprising a vertically extending upper leg portion and a horizontally extending lower leg portion, the upper leg portion and the lower leg portion being at right angles to each other and comprising respective upper leg inner surfaces and lower leg inner surfaces arranged to conform to respective outer surfaces of the horizontal wooden cross beam of the frame.

In particular, the upper leg inner surface and the lower leg inner surface are pre-coated with an adhesive layer to firmly adhere to the frame.

In particular, the upper or lower leg portions are made of a deformable elastic plastic to be compressible and deformable so as to conform to irregularities in the surface of the frame.

In particular, the upper or lower leg portions are attached to the horizontal and vertical surfaces of the frame by one or more set screws.

In particular, the upstanding latch hook includes an angled outer surface that engages the underside latch portion when the cabinet door is closed, such that the latch portion rides on the upstanding latch hook and rests within the hollow portion with the underside latch portion engaged rearwardly of the upstanding latch hook to prevent the cabinet door from opening.

In particular, the lower latch portion has an inclined surface at its lower end.

Drawings

Fig. 1: there is shown a perspective view of a rail attachment of a first embodiment of the safety lock of the present utility model,

fig. 2: a perspective view of the shackle member of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 3: a perspective view of the latch member housing of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 4: a perspective view of the latch member of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 5: a perspective view of a cabinet to which the safety lock is to be attached is shown,

fig. 6: a side view of the first step of the security lock installation of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 7: a side view of a subsequent step of the safety lock installation of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 8: a perspective view of a subsequent step in the installation of the security lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 9: a side view of a subsequent step of the safety lock installation of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 10: a perspective view of a subsequent step in the installation of the security lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 11: a perspective view of a subsequent step in the installation of the security lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 12: a perspective view of the installed security lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 13: an enlarged side view of the installed security lock of the first embodiment is shown in the locked position,

fig. 14a: a side view of the first step of unlocking the safety lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 14b: a side view of a subsequent step of unlocking the safety lock of the first embodiment is shown,

fig. 15: a side view showing the subsequent steps of unlocking the safety lock of the first embodiment, and

fig. 16: an enlarged side view of an installed security lock in accordance with a second embodiment of the utility model is shown.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 to 4 show four components of a retrofittable safety lock according to a first embodiment of the utility model, comprising a rail attachment member 1, a shackle member 2, a latch housing 3 and a latch portion 4. In this first embodiment, the safety lock is adapted to be mounted on a cabinet comprising a metal frame, as shown in fig. 5, comprising a fixed frame (e.g. a horizontal frame member) 5, as shown in fig. 6. Such a fixed frame (e.g. a metal frame element) 5 generally comprises a U-shaped channel 7, which channel 7 generally comprises arms 7a, 7b of different lengths. The rail attachment member 1 comprises grooves corresponding to the length of the arms 7a, 7b of the channel 7, which grooves are commonly present in certain cabinet types. In this embodiment it can be seen that the uppermost arm 7a is obviously longer than the lower arm 7b, and accordingly the upper recess 8a has a sufficient depth to receive the upper arm 7a and the lower recess 8b also has a corresponding depth to receive the lower arm 7b. Thus, in the first step of the safety lock installation of this first embodiment shown in fig. 6, the rail attachment member 1 is slid into place by aligning the grooves 8a and 8b with the respective arms 7a and 7b, inserting the arms 7a and 7b into the respective grooves 8a,8b, the installed rail attachment member 1 being as shown in fig. 7.

In a subsequent step of the safety lock installation of this first embodiment shown in fig. 8, the shackle member 2 is correspondingly mounted to the rail attachment 1 by means of a corresponding tongue 6a arranged at the lower end of the rail attachment member 1 and an attachment means, i.e. a groove 6b, arranged at the upper end of the shackle member 2. This mounting position is shown in fig. 9. The rail attachment member 1 and the shackle member 2 are typically made of molded plastic, but may be made of any suitable non-magnetic material. The shackle member 2 comprises a hollow portion 10, which hollow portion 10 is formed between an upper leg, in which the groove 6b is arranged, and a lower leg 10b, which lower leg 10b comprises an inclined surface along the distal edge.

Referring now to fig. 10, there is shown a third step in the installation of the security lock, as shown in fig. 10, by inserting the latch portion 4 into the latch housing 3. The latch portion 4 includes an upper slide portion 11 and a lower latch portion 13, the lower latch portion 13 including an inclined surface 14.

Fig. 11 shows a subsequent fourth step in which the latch housing 3 is positioned and secured on the inner surface of the cabinet door 5a. The latch housing 3 is positioned by aligning the latch housing 3 with the mounted shackle member 2. The latch housing 3 may be attached to the interior of the cabinet door 5a by any suitable known means, such as adhesive strips, velcro strips or screws. The alignment of the mounted shackle member 2 with the latch housing 3 is such that: when the cabinet door 5a is closed, the lower end of the latch portion 4 (including the inclined surface 14) engages with the inclined surface 12 of the latch hook member 2 so that the latch portion 4 is pushed upward, which allows the latch member to be located within the hollow portion 10 of the latch hook member 2, thereby allowing the door to be fully closed and the lock to be engaged.

Fig. 12 shows the open cabinet door 5a with the shackle member 2 and latch housing 3 in their mounted positions. Fig. 13 shows a cross-sectional side view of the interior of the cabinet, showing the position of the lock when the cabinet door 5a is closed, the lock resting in the locked position so that the cabinet door 5a is not openable by a child. When the door is closed, the respective inclined surfaces 12, 14 of the lower leg 10 and lower latch portion 13, respectively, contact and raise the latch portion 4 upwardly, thereby raising the lower latch portion 13 above the inclined surface 12 and past the upstanding shackle 10c, the lower latch portion 13 and the respective entire latch portion 4 falling under gravity behind the upstanding shackle 10 c. Thus, the lower latch portion 13 is caught behind the upstanding latch hook 10c, and the cabinet door 5a is then not accidentally opened by merely pulling the cabinet door 5a (e.g., by grabbing the lower edge of the door). The latch portion 4 of the latch housing 3 comprises a latch body 3a and attachment wings 3b for attaching the latch housing to the inner surface of the cabinet door 5a. The latch portion 4 is located within the latch body 3a, in the latch body 3a, the sliding channel 3c restricts the latch portion 4 to move in the vertical sliding direction, and the latch portion 4 includes a magnet or magnetizable material such that when the magnet key 15 appears on the outer surface of the cabinet door 5a at the level of the latch portion 4, the latch portion 4 is driven upward when the magnet key 15 slides upward, thereby disengaging the lower latch portion 13 from the vertical latch hook 10c and allowing the cabinet door 5a to be opened.

This upward sliding action of the magnet key 15 relative to the latch portion 4 in the desired position is a readily known technique for adults, but is indeed difficult for children to replicate, so that the security lock according to the utility model is an extremely effective child resistant lock. This is shown in fig. 14a and 14 b. The magnet key 15 includes a finger-sized aperture 16 to allow the magnet key to fit over the user's finger (which is a convenient location) as a ring, and also to allow the user to release the lock by a sliding action of the finger or hand.

It will be appreciated that the magnet key 15 may include an unlocking magnet that acts on a magnet located in the latch portion 4, or alternatively, in a simpler embodiment, the latch may contain iron or other magnetizable material that may be moved by the unlocking magnet of the magnet in the magnet 15, or similarly, the latch portion 4 may include a magnet, and the magnet key 15 may be made of only iron or other magnetizable material.

As can be seen by reference to fig. 13 or 14 and 14, the thickness of the lock of the present embodiment is much less than previously known child locks of this type, which enables the lock to be mounted on a cabinet that has been occupied by fixed and relatively large items (e.g. kitchen sink) that leave a small amount of space between them and the cabinet door for mounting the components of the lock.

Referring now to fig. 16, there is shown an alternative embodiment for a different type of cabinet including a conventional frame 25, rather than rails as in the first embodiment. As can be seen in fig. 16, the sink 19 is located within the cabinet, which leaves a small amount of space between the sink 19 and the cabinet door 25a. In this example, the frame 25 is a wooden frame, and the lock of this alternative embodiment of the utility model can be attached to the frame 25 and occupy the same thickness as the frame 25 itself, more effectively the same thickness as the frame 25 itself, and therefore can be installed in a small space between the sink and cabinet door 25a.

In this embodiment, there is no intermediate rail attachment measure, but rather the shackle member 22 comprises at its upper side end an L-shaped portion 29, which L-shaped portion 29 comprises a vertically extending upper side leg portion 26a and a horizontally extending lower side leg portion 26b, which upper side leg portion 26a and lower side leg portion 26b are at right angles to each other and comprise attachment means, i.e. a respective upper side leg inner surface 21a and lower side leg inner surface 21b, which upper side leg inner surface 21a and lower side leg inner surface 21b are arranged to fit against a respective outer surface of a horizontally directed wooden cross beam or cabinet frame 25.

The upper leg inner surface 21a and the lower leg inner surface 21b are pre-coated with a layer of adhesive so as to be firmly adhered to the frame 25. Preferably, the upper and lower leg portions 26a, 26b are made of a deformable resilient plastic so that they can compress and deform to conform to irregularities in the frame surface. Alternatively or in addition to the use of an adhesive layer, the lower leg 26 may also be fixed to the horizontal surface of the frame 25 by means of one or more fixing screws 27.

As in the first embodiment, the shackle member 22 includes a hollow portion 30, with an underside leg 30a including an upstanding shackle 30c having an inclined outer surface 32. A latch housing 23 is provided, the latch housing 23 comprising a latch portion 24, the latch portion 24 comprising an upper slide portion 31 and a lower latch portion 33, the lower end of the lower latch portion 33 having an inclined surface 34. As with the first embodiment, the latch housing 23 is aligned with the hollow portion 30 of the shackle member 22 before the latch housing 23 is secured in place on the inner surface of the cabinet door by an adhesive layer or screws or velcro as described above. Similarly, the latch portion 24 includes a magnet or magnetizable material and operates in the same manner as the previous embodiment to release the lock to open the door 25a.

Also in this embodiment it can be seen that the vertical movement of the latch portions 4, 24 by the sliding action of the user causes the lock to occupy a much smaller thickness than the locks known in the prior art, and therefore the lock assembly can be installed in the space between the cabinet door and a stationary item, such as a sink in a cabinet.

In both embodiments, when the user leaves the cabinet and takes away the magnet key, the latch portion 4, 24 also falls under gravity back to the original resting position of the bottom of the hollow portion 10, 30, in which position the latch portion 4, 24 automatically returns to the locking position by the inclined surface 12, 14, 32, 34 when the cabinet door is closed.

Another advantage of the first and second embodiments is that the lock is secured to the frame member of the cabinet, which eliminates the need for modification or securement of the top surface of the cabinet or drawer for the child resistant lock to be installed. This is advantageous when high quality kitchen or countertops are used and anything fixed to the panel surface would spoil the appearance quality.

Parts list:

1-rail attachment member

2-latch hook component

3-latch housing

3 a-door lock body

3 b-attachment wing

4-latch portion

5-fixed frame

6 b-groove

7-U-shaped groove part

7 a-uppermost arm

7 b-lower arm

8a,8 b-groove

9-upper leg

10-hollow part

10 b-underside leg

10 c-upwardly extending latch hook 11-upper slide movement portion

12-inclined surface

13-underside latch portion

14-inclined surface

15-magnet key

16-well

18-19-flume

20-safety lock

21 a-upper leg inner surface 21 b-lower leg inner surface 22-shackle member

23-latch housing

24-latch portion

25-frame

25 a-cabinet door

26 a-upper leg portion 26 b-lower leg portion 27-one or more screws 29-L-shaped portion

30-hollow part

31-upper slide portion

32-inclined surface

33-underside latch portion 34-inclined surface

Claims (15)

1. A child-resistant locking mechanism for a cabinet or drawer comprising at least one movable door or drawer and a fixed frame (5), the locking mechanism comprising: a latch assembly and a latch hook member mounted on an inner surface of the movable cabinet door (5 a) and the stationary frame, respectively, the latch assembly comprising a latch housing (3) and a movable latch portion (4), and the latch portion (4) comprising an upstanding latch hook (10 c), wherein when the latch housing (3) and the latch portion (4) are mounted in place, the latch portion (4) is aligned to abut the upstanding latch hook (10 c) in a locked position to prevent the movable cabinet door (5 a) from being fully opened, wherein the latch portion (4) is disposed within the latch housing (3) and movable to an unlocked position in which the latch portion (4) is no longer aligned to abut the upstanding latch hook (10 c) and the movable cabinet door (5 a) can be opened; and wherein the latch portion (4) comprises a magnet or magnetizable material such that the latch portion (4) is movable within the latch housing (3) by the action of a magnet key containing the magnet or magnetizable material located on or near the outer surface of the movable cabinet door (5 a), characterized in that the latch portion (4) is arranged to move within the latch housing (3) in a vertical sliding direction such that a user can move the magnet key in an upward sliding direction on or near the outer surface of the cabinet door (5 a) to urge the latch portion (4) to move vertically upwards to release the latch portion (4) from abutment with the upstanding latch hook (10 c) allowing the cabinet door (5 a) to be opened and when the magnet key is removed the latch housing (3) falls vertically back under gravity to the locked position.

2. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the latch hook member (2) is U-shaped and comprises an upper leg (9) and a lower leg (10 b) forming a hollow (10) between each other.

3. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that an upstanding latch hook (10 c) is arranged at the distal end of the lower leg (10 b).

4. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that the upper leg (9) comprises attachment means for attachment to a cross beam or rail of the stationary frame (5).

5. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that the latch housing (3) comprises a latch body (3 a) and attachment wings (3 b) for attaching the latch housing to the inner surface of the cabinet door (5 a).

6. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that the latch portion (4) is located within the latch body (3 a), and that the sliding channel (3 c) constrains the latch portion (4) to move in a vertical sliding direction within the latch body (3 a).

7. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that the latch body (3 a) of the latch housing (3) and the hollow part (10) of the latch hook member (2) have corresponding dimensions such that the latch body (3 a) fits in the hollow part (10) when the cabinet door (5 a) is closed.

8. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that the upper leg (9) comprises a respective tongue and groove (6 b) for attachment to a respective tongue and groove of the rail attachment member (1).

9. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 8, characterized in that the rail attachment means (1) comprises an upper groove (8 a) and a lower groove (8 b) corresponding to the uppermost side arm (7 a) and the lowermost side arm (7 b) of the pre-existing U-shaped channel (7) of the fixed frame (5).

10. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that the upper leg (9) comprises at its upper end an L-shaped portion (29) comprising a vertically extending upper leg portion (26 a) and a horizontally extending lower leg portion (26 b), the upper leg portion (26 a) and the lower leg portion (26 b) being at right angles to each other and comprising a respective upper leg inner surface (21 a) and lower leg inner surface (21 b), the upper leg inner surface (21 a) and the lower leg inner surface (21 b) being arranged to fit with respective outer surfaces of a horizontally oriented wooden cross beam of the frame (25).

11. Child-resistant locking mechanism according to claim 10, characterized in that the upper leg inner surface (21 a) and the lower leg inner surface (21 b) are pre-coated with an adhesive layer to firmly adhere to the frame (25).

12. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 11, characterized in that the upper side leg portion (26 a) or the lower side leg portion (26 b) is made of deformable elastic plastic to be compressible and deformable so as to conform to irregularities of the frame surface.

13. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 10, characterized in that the upper side leg portion (26 a) or the lower side leg portion (26 b) is attached to the horizontal and vertical surface of the frame (25) by means of one or more set screws (27).

14. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 10, characterized in that the upstanding latch hooks (10 c, 30 c) comprise inclined outer surfaces (12, 32) which engage with the lower latch portions (13) when the cabinet door (5 a) is closed, so that the latch portions (4) ride on the upstanding latch hooks (10 c, 30 c) and stay in the hollow portions (10) with the lower latch portions (13) engaged behind the upstanding latch hooks (10 c, 30 c) to prevent opening of the cabinet door.

15. Child safety locking mechanism according to claim 10, characterized in that the lower latch portion (13, 33) has an inclined surface (34) at its lower end.

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