US1369850A - Lock - Google Patents

Description

J. L'STEEN.

LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED lAN.9, 1920.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

I V EN TOR.

A TTQRNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COMBINATION LOCK COMPANY, OF WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

Application filed January 9, 1920. Serial No. 350,298.

To all whom it may concern. I

Be it known that I, JOHN I. STEEN, a at}- zen of Finland, residing at Waukegan, 1n the county of Lake and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to keyless locks of the pad-lock type, and has some resemblance to a lock of a similar type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,291,228, issued to me on the 14th day of January, 1919, and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, 'novel arrangement and combination of the various parts thereof as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

The objects of the invention are to provide a simple, inexpensive, strong, durable and efficient lock of the permutation padlock type, to be used for any of the purposes for which a pad-lock may be employed, and so made that it can not be unlocked without a knowledge of the combinations of the look, but which may be unlocked by one possessing such knowledge, in light or darkness.

Another object is to so construct the device that the shackle of the lock may not be entirely removed from the casing, thus preventing its loss or misplacement, yet so that it can be removed at one of its ends from engagement with the casing and turned to free it from or to place it in engagement with thepart or parts to be locked. in which open posltion of the shackle its portion located within the casing will maintain such relation and position with respect to other parts of the look as to prevent turning of the tumblers and thereby breaking or losinothe combination.

Still another object is to provide means for preventing the correct combination being ascertained by the clicking of the tumblers in turning the same, as is usually done in combination locks as heretofore generally constructed.

A still further object is to provide means for preventing the operating knob being caused to bind on or against the dial plate to such an extent as to render said knob non-rotatable and the lock inoperative.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the followin description and explanation.

Flg. 4 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken online 44 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig, 5 is an enlarged view taken on line 55 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, and

Fig. 6 is a group view showing some of the members comprising the lock in detached perspective relation to one another.

Like numerals of reference refer to like parts throughout the different views of the drawing.

The casing of the lock is indicated in the different views of the drawing by thereference numeral 10, and as shown in F ig.'6, has in its wall a pair of slightlyelongated openings 11, for the reception and operation of,

theprongs 12 and 14 of theshackle 13. One of the prongs of the shackle, for example, the prong 12 is provided at its free or inner end with a laterally extended lug 15 and opposite said lug with a beveled portion 16 which are for the purposes'to be presently explained. The prong 12 of the shackle is provided ner or free end with an angular recess 16* for engagement and co-action with a spring actuatedpawl 17 used for locking the tumblers, in position.

hecasing 10 is preferably annular in shape and has one of its ends closed and its other end provided on its inner surface with anannular shoulder 18 from which is upwardly or outwardly extended a reduced portion 19 of the wall of the casing, which construction is employed for a desirable and important object, as will be below explained.

Snugly fitted in the casing to rest on the bottom or closed end thereof is adisk 20 which has at its periphery a sleeve or loop 21 which is located in alinement or register with at a suitable distance from itsinthe opening 11 of the casing, in which the prong 12 of the shackle operates, in such a manner that theprong 14 can be inserted through said sleeve and from thence through the opening 11 adjacent thereto and moved outwardly from the casing until the lug or projection 15 on the inner or free end of the prong 12 rests against the sleeve or loop 21 thereby preventing further upward or out- Ward movement of the shackle. When in this position as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing it is obvious that theprong 14 can be turned to about the position shown in Fig. 2 where it will be in place to enter theopening 11 in the casing therefor by pressing the shackle inwardly to cause the parts thereof to assume the positions shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

Thedisk 20 can be secured to the bottom or closed end of thecasing 10 in .any suitable manner and has extended centrally therefrom a spindle 22 which is by preference riveted to thedisk 20 and is of suflicient length to extend through asuitable opening 23 in the dial plate. Thisdisk 20 is provided near the lower part of the sleeve or loop 21 thereon with a slot or depression 24 for the reception of the projection 15 on the prong 12 of the shackle when the same is turned to position to permit of theprong 14 being freed from its engagement with the casing, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawing. Thedisk 20 is provided near its periphery and at a point between theopenings 11 of the casing with apost 25 on which is pivotally mounted thebase portion 17 of thepawl 17 which pawl projects upwardly from said base portion and has secured thereto one end of aspring 26 which spring is coiled around the post.25 and has its other 'end secured to aprojection 27 on the upper surface of thedisk 20 which projection is by preference formed by being punched out of said disk.

By reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 6 of the I drawings, it will be seen that the spindle 22 is provided with alongitudinal groove 28 for the reception of suitable projections on the spacing members or washers for the tumblers.

Located on the upper or inner surface of thedisk 20 and SLIIIOllIlCllIlg the spindle 22 thereof is the base orlower tumbler 29 which is provided in its periphery with arecess 30 and on its upper surface with apin 31 which-is located between the opening 32 in said tumbler and its periphery- Mounted on top of thetumbler 29 is a spacing member orwasher 33 which surrounds the spindle 22' and is in the form of a ring or washer and has on its inner periphery apro ection 34 to engage thegroove 28. of said spindle.

Located on the upper surface of themember 33 is anintermediate tumbler 35, see Fig. 4, which is of the same construction as the 1 ,seaeao tumbler 29 except that thetumbler 35 has orwasher 38 which is of the same construction as themember 33 and above described. On the upper or outer surface of the last named spaclng member or washer is mounted the uppermost orouter tumbler 39 which I has in its periphery arecess 40 to receive one edge of thepawl 17 when the parts of the v lock are placed in the positions they will assume when the shackle is unlocked, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. Thetumbler 39 is provided on its upper or outer surface with a cylindrical projection 41' which has an opening 42 to receive the outer portion of the spindle 22 on which the tumbler and itsprojection 41 is closely fitted.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 4 theprojection 41 extends through thecentral opening 23 of thedial plate 43 which has a graduatedscale 44 surrounding said opening; This dial plate is of suflicient size to fit snugly in the annular and reduced portion of the wall of'thecasing 10 and to rest on theshoulder 18 thereof, in which position it will be firmly held by means of .an inturned bead or flange 45 produced by spinning the upper ortion of the reduced part 19 of the wall 0 the casing over said dial plate.

As will be seen and readily understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawing,

thedial plate 43 is provided at suitable spaced apart positions on the graduatedscale 44 with a series ofoutward projections 46 which are by preference formed by being embossed thereon, that is, by forcing said projections outwardly on the outer surface of said plate. Firmly fitted on the outer portion of theprojection 41 of thetumbler 39 is a cap orknob 47 which has on its inner portion anannular flange 48 provided with anindicator 49 to be used in pointing out the numbers or graduated marks on thescale 44 of the dial plate. Thecap 47 may be milled on its periphery so as 'to be readily turned' to operate the lock mechanism.

By reference to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the tumbler, 39 has on its lower surface near its periphery a downwardly or inwardly extendedpin 50 to engage the upwardly extendedpin 37 on the intermediate tumbler. Thetumbler 39 also has anannular shoulder 51 from which projects upwardly anannular portion 52 which is of slightly greater length than thethickness of the dial plate which plate surrounds said annular portion and rests on theshoulder 51 as shown in Fig. 4 ofthe drawing.

At the upper portion of theannular part 52 the tumbler 39is provided with another shoulder '53 on which the base ofthe knob orcap 47 rests. By this arrangement it is obvious that the spun head or flange 45 will hold the dial plate and the other parts of the lock againstdislocation without great difficulty.

In the operation of setting the combinations of the lock, which is done at the factoiy, I employ a temporary dial plate which is of the same construction as that shown in the drawings, except that between theprojections 46 on said plate is located an oblong opening through which when the temporary plate is in location on thetumbler 39 andcasing 10, will permit the recesses in the tumblers being seen so that said tumblers may be shifted or turned to the proper position for thepawl 17 to be received by their recesses. As thepawl 17 rests in the recesses of the tumblers when the shackle is in its unlocked position as shown in Fig. 2, it .is obvious that the tumblers cannot be turned so as to break or lose the combination as the longer prong of the shackle willrestrict the outward movement of the awl.

By my improvements, provide a lock with practically unlimited combinations,

, that is, the combination of each lock can be made a different one from any other by changing the location of the pins on the tum blers with respect to the recesses in said tumblers or by changing the location of the indicator with respect to the recess on the outer tumbler.

Furthermore, by my improvements, when the combination is known, the device can be unlocked in the dark, for example, by performing the following operation, to wit:

Assuming that the combination is set on the numerals 18422 of the dial plate, the thumb or finger of one hand can be placed thereon between the projections at the numerals l5 and 20 when by turning the knob to the right theindicator 49 will pass under the thumb or finger until it reaches themark 18. Then by turning the knob to the left to themark 4 Where it can be felt bythe thumb or finger located between the projections at 0 and 5, then again turning the knob to the right until it stops, the shackle will be unlocked and can be withdrawn from the casing at one of its ends.

Having thus fully described my invention,

openings, of a shackle having one of its prongs longer than the other and provided at the end of the longer prong with a lateral projection andnear said end with a recess, said longer arm being rotatably mounted in one of said openings and said shorter arm adapted for insertion into and for withdrawal from the other of said openings, a disk fitted in the casing and having a centrally located spindle extended therefrom Within the casing, said disk having a sleeve located in register with one of said openings and surrounding the longer arm of the shackle and provided with a slot at one end of said sleeve, a spring-actuated pawl mounted on the disk for movement toward and from the spindle and having at its free portion oppositely disposed parts, a base tumand each having a peripheral recess, a spacing member interposed between the base tumbler and intermediate tumbler and'fixed against rotation on the spindle, a spacing member interposed between the intermediate and outer tumblers and fixed against rotation on the spindle, said base tumbler and outer tumbler having on their adjacent faces pins, said intermediate tumbler having a coinciding pin or projection on each of its faces for engagement with the first named pins, a dial plate surrounding a portion of the outer tumbler and closing the end of the casing adjacent to said tumbler, and an indicator for registering with the graduations on the dial plate.

2. A lock of the class described, including in combination, a casing, an orificed plate closing one end of the casing, a tumbler rotatably mounted in the opening of the plate and having a shoulder on which said plate rests and another shoulder at the outer face of said plate, the distance between said shoulders beln slightly greater than the thickness of the tumbler and resting onthe outer surface of the outer shoulder thereof.

plate, and a cap fitted on the

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