US2996322A - Cabinet door bolt locking device - Google Patents

Description

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 6, 1958 INVENTOR: RALPHZTMBELBLLAN.

ATTYE.

Aug. 15, 1961 R. E. MQCLELLAN 2,996,322

. CABINET DOOR BOLT LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 6, 1958 4 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 HALPHEMMLELLAM.

Aug. 15, 1961 R. E. MOCLELLAN CABINET DOOR BOLT LOCKING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 6, 1958 INVENTOR. HALPHEMUFLBLLAM r 7 .AT'IY.

Aug. 15, 1961 R. E. MOCLELLAN 2,996,322

CABINET DOOR BOLT LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 6, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORI FAg PHE. MUELELZJAN United States Patent 2,996,322 CABINET DOOR BOLT LOCKTNG DEVICE Ralph E. McClellan, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The Meilink Steel Safe Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 719,677 14 Claims. (Cl. 29236) This invention relates to locking mechanisms for protective cabinets or safes. More particularly, it relates to means or devices for preventing jambing of the locking bolts and/or to prevent improper sequential closing and locking of plural doors to such a cabinet, as well as to provide safety relocking features that are operative under certain conditions.

The protective cabinets referred to herein are known more commonly as fireproof safes or vaults, and include those built with widely spaced side walls and a relatively shallow depth in order to provide for easy reach or access to the interior. The doors of such cabinets usually are dual and comprise mating and interacting half sections, each half section being supported for opening or closing movement on hinges at the opposite sides of the safe, with a common meeting line of the doors at or near the center of the front wall of the safe. Ordinarily the doors for cabinets of this type have overlapping stepped engagement with corresponding stepped formations around the door openings and these stepped formations provide at least a partial barrier against tampering and seepage of water or smoke in case of fire. This overlapping stepped construction usually is continued into the centrally meeting edges of the doors and of course necessi tates the closing of one door prior to the other.

One of the difficulties arising from the construction outlined above is the fact that one of the doors may become inadvertently closed and locked and thereby interfere with proper closing and locking of the opposite door.

It is an object of this invention to produce an efiicient, simple, effective and economic means for precluding the actuation of the bolting mechanism unless the door or doors are in final door bolting position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a lock means for plural doors for a safe which lock means are dependent for operation upon a predetermined sequential order for closing of the said doors.

Another object is to provide a boltwork protective device which deadlocks the boltwork in the unlocked position as a door is opened and releases it automatically as the door is closed.

Another object is to provide a resilient means for automatically re-bolting the doors including when unauthorized tampering is attempted to forcefully unbolt the doors during attempted entry into the safe.

Still another object is to provide a boltwork protective device which automatically deadlocks the boltwork in the bolted position when the lock for controlling the boltwork is destroyed or displaced.

Generally speaking, this invention comprises a protective cabinet having a door opening, a door or doors for closing the said opening, bolting means for the door or doors, a lock for the bolting means, and control A 2,996,322 Patented Aug. 15, 1961 thereof when the bolting means is in its unbolted position and its door is also open.

This invention also may comprise means for maintaining a resilient actuating force on the bolting means which will act simultaneously and automatically to rebolt the doors including when forceful tampering is attempted to unbolt the doors, such as the fracture of a lock or of a connection in said bolting means between the bolts and their manually operated handle. It may also comprise a lock mechanism adapted to prevent movement of the bolting means to unbolt the door or doors.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be understood best by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of this invention adapted to a dual door safe and showing the doors in opened position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the dual door safe taken along line IIII shown in FIG. 1 showing the doors in completely closed position, some parts of the doors also being shown in phantom lines in partially closed position;

FIG. 3 is a larger side elevational view of the left-hand door of the safe shown in FIG. 1 showing in more detail the bolting, relocking and the latching mechanism of this invention included therein.

FIG. 4 is an edge elevational view of the door of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a larger side elevational view of the righthand door of the safe shown in FIG. 1 showing in more detail the bolting, relocking and the latching mechanism of this invention included therein;

FIG. 6 is an edge elevational view of the door of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged detailed sectional view along the line VII-VII of FIG. 5 showing the construction of a spring loaded relocking bolt.

(1) Cabinet structure The specific embodiment of this invention shown in the drawings comprises a cabinet of a two door front open safe having a rear wall 10 (see FIG. 2), side walls 11, 12, top wall 13 and bottom wall 14. Wheels 15 may be provided along the bottom wall 14 to facilitate movement of the safe or cabinet. Dual doors 16, 17 may be mounted on hinges 18 to provide a closure of the open side or opening 20 of the cabinet (FIG. 1). The doors 16 and 17 and walls 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 may be con structed of inner and outer metal panel sections, with a space between which usually is filled with a fire resistant material such as asbestos or a concrete.

The opening for the doorway usually is fabricated with a stepped or shouldered land area to create a zig-zag or lapped interfitting contact for the outer edges of the doors both in the jambs against the walls of the cabinet and against the meeting edges of the doors (see FIG. 2). In order to continue the shouldered landarea cross the central and adjoining edges of the doors, the doors may be constructed with matching land areas for that purpose. This requires that one of the doors must have steps eX- tending progressively away from the door boundary, Whereas the opposite door musthave similar steps extending progressively inwardly from the door boundary; thus necessitating the closing and bolting of the left hand door 16 prior to the closing and bolting of the other or right hand door 17 and then locking or securing the doors of the safe or cabinet with a lock mechanism associated with the bolt mechanism.

In cabinets of this type, the bolting mechanism may be similar for both parts of the door and a bolt operating handle 22 and associated stem 23 may be provided for bolting the left-hand door 16 in closed position. A similar bolt operating handle 24 and associated stem 25 may be provided for bolting the other or right-hand door 17 in closed position. A combination lock 26 having a thumb knob 27 may be provided to lock the bolt works of at least one and preferably the right hand or overlapping door of the cabinet against unauthorized entry.

(II) Door bolting means The handle 22 on the left-hand door 16 may have its stem 23 attached by means 28 (see FIG. 3) with a rockplate 30 adapted to actuate a bolt operating bar 31 within the structure of the door 16. A stud 32 on the rock-plate 30 may limit the movement of the rock-plate 30 between limit stops 33a, 33b of a U-shaped member 33 mounted on a bracket 34 on the door 16 The rock-plate 30 herein may be provided with a slot 35 adapted to engage a pin 36 on the actuating bar 31 for transmitting an oscillating motion to a series of sub-rock- plates 37, 38 pivoted on studs 39, 40 on'or inside the door 16. The sub-rockplate 38 shown herein is provided with a link connection 41 to another sub-rock-plate 42 pivoted for rocking motion on a stud 43. The sub-rock- plates 37 and 42 at the top and bottom of the door 16, respectively, may have a drive pin 44 in engagement with door locking bolts 45 adapted for longitudinal movement into and out of door bolting position. The intermediate sub-rock-plate 38 also may have a drive pin 46 in engagement with a horizontally movable T-shaped bar 47 adapted and interconnected by pins 48 to actuatebolts 49 into and out of door bolting position along the door jamb in the side wall 11 adjacent the hinges 18 for said door 16. These bolts 45 and 49 may be guided by means of self lubricated sleeves 50 into seats 51 provided in the stepped door jamb formed along the edge of the top and bottom walls 13 and 14, and

a side wall 11, respectively.

Similarly, the door bolting handle 24 and stem 25 in the right-hand door 17 may be in fixed engagement with a rock-plate 60 (see FIG. which is provided with a slot 61 for a pin 62 connecting with a vertically movable bar 63 adapted to move sub-rock plates 64, 65, 66 in limited oscillating movements through pin connections 67, 68, 69, respectively therewith. The rock-plate 60 also may have a notch 70 for alignment with a latch 71 of the combination lock 26, which latch may be operated to lock the bolt works and rotation of the rock-plate 60 to prevent unbolting of the door by operation of either the handles 22 or 24, since the door 17 overlaps the door 16 along their adjacent edges. Furthermore, the rock-plate 60 may be provided with :a stop pin 72, which may be mounted for a limited movement between opposed cars 73 on a bracket 74 for the purpose of limiting the throw of the bolts when bolting or unbolting the door. The sub-rock- plates 64, 65, 66, may be pivoted on studs 75, 76, 77 attached to or in the door 17, and may be connected by means of pins 78 to lock bolts 80 which may be guided in a common manner in self lubricated sleeves 81 for engagement with mating door bolting holes or seats 82 in the adjacent edge of the door 16 (see FIG. 4). The bolting mechanism for this right-hand door 17 and its vertically mounted operating bar 63 may also include a T-bar 87, as T-bar 47 in the door 16, which may be mounted for horizontal movement in a guide 88. One of the extremities 89 of the T-bar 87 has a pin connection 93 with the rock-plate 65, so as to be moved in and out of door bolting position thereby. The extremities 94 of the T-bar 87 have pin connections 95 with the bolts 97 guided in other self lubricated sleeves v81, which bolts 97 enter seats 98 in the door jamb along the edge of the side wall 12 when the door is closed and the bolting handle 24 is turned to the line position as shown in FIG. 2. a

(III) Bolt latching device Occasionally these bolting and locking mechanisms are subject to undesirable mishandling through the promiscuous or premature throwing of the bolts when the doors 16 and/or 17 are open, and the consequent possible damage to the doors, the door jambs, and/ or the bolting mechanisms when the doors are slammed to closed position while the bolts are thus in extended position. When the doors of the cabinet are in their open position as shown in FIG. 1 or in phantom lines position 16a and 17a in FIG. 2, the bolting mechanisms maybe restrained against such undesired movement, which might result from a premature operation of the bolt handles 22, 24 to throw and unthrowthe bolts 'unwarrantedly. This restraint may be accomplished by the provision of a bolt latching mechanism which may be incorporated in the bolting mechanism of either or both of the doors to render each particular bolting mechanism and its corresponding operating handle inoperative unless the doors are closed, and furthermore with more than one door, that they are closed in their proper sequence.

As the door 16 is swung into its final closed position, such a latching device 100 shown in FIG. 3 adjacent the sub-rock-pla-te 37, is actuated. This latching device provides a positive means for restraining the bolts 45 and 49 in their unlatched position while the door 16 is open, and immediately removes this restraint when the door is closed, to then permit operation of the bolting movement. For this purpose the latching device 100 may comprise a latch arm 101 pivoted upon a pin 102 and may engage a notch 103 on the rock-plate 37, whereby the rock-plate 37 may be held in bolt withdrawn position when the door is in open position. A latch finger or plunger 105 may project upwardly from the shell or top edge of the door 16 and be adapted to disengage the latch 101 from its notch 103 engagement with the plate 37, when the door is closed. This occurs when the outer end of the latch finger 105 strikes or abuts the bevelled inner edge of the top wall 13 (see FIG. 4) of the cabinet to depress the finger 105 against a compression spring 106, and pin connection 107 with the arm 101 to disengage the latch member 100 from the plate 37, and thereby permit subsequent operation of the door bolting mechanism. Thus, only when the left-hand door 16 is in its completely closed position (FIGS. 1, 2) can the handle 22 be turned from its dotted line position 22a to its full line position 22, and thereby move the bolts 45 and 49 outwardly to bolt the door. Accordingly FIG. 2 shows the left-hand door 16 of the cabinet in its partly closed position 16:: slightly ahead of or in advance of the partly closed position 17a of the right-hand door 17.

Now with the left-hand door 16 in its final closed position (see FIG. 2) the other or right-hand door 17 may be swung closed, so that a similar bolt latching mechanism 110 (see FIG. 5) may be operated to permit bolting and locking of the door 17. This latch mechanism 110 is provided to lock the rock-plate 60 against turning movement and thus maintain the bolts 80 and 97 in unbolted position when the door 17 is not completely closed. The rock-plate 60 may be provided with a notch 111 into which an arm 112 of a bell-crank lever of the device 110 may project. A pivot 113 may be provided to permit oscillation of the bell-crank lever of the device 110 between latching and unlatching position. The other arm 114 of the bell-crank lever may be connected to a spring loaded extension plungerllS, which spring 116 (see FIG. 2) is adapted :to urge the plunger outwardly through an opening 117 in the edge of the door 17. A strike or stop 119 (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 4) may be provided on the adjacent edge of the door 16 adapted to engage the outer projecting end of the latch plunger 115 when the door 17 is being swung to closed position. Thus, the bolt work of or in the door 17 cannot be operated until the plunger 115 contacts the plate 119 on door 16, and insures that door -16 is fully closed before the door 17 can be closed and locked.

From the above description it will be seen that the latch mechanism 100 on the door 16, and the latch mechanism 110 on the door 17, act individually to prevent turning ,of the bolt operating handles 22, 24 respectively, while the doors are unbolted and standing open (FIG. 1); and thus act to prevent extension of their locking bolts when the doors are open and thereby prevent damage to the doors, framing, or bolt mechanisms if the doors are suddenly closed.

Furthermore, while the right-hand door 17 can be closed first, it cannot be bolted and locked in its improper sequence; but may be swung open again to permit prior closing and bolting of the other or left-hand door 16, because its bolt latching device 11% cannot be operated by contact with the stop 119 on the still open door 16.

The proper order of operations for closing and bolting the doors 16 and 17 of the safe shown herein, is as follows: the door 16 is first swung to closed position thus causing the plunger 105 to strike the inwardly sloping edge of the top wall 13 of the cabinet, and thereby release the latch arm 101 from the pivoted plate 37. When the latch arm 101 is so released and the door 16 is in closed position, the bolting mechanism for the door 16 may be operated by turning the handle 22 to its door bolting position 22. The left-hand door 16 thus may be closed and bolted with the stop 119 thereon at rest and in its final operative position. The right-hand door 17 may now be closed, with its inner edge overlapping the adjacent edge of the door 16, so that the latch 115 of the right-hand door 17 will be depressed by abutting against the stop 119, thereby causing the arm 112 to be unseated from the notch 111 to free the rock-plate 60 for rotation and operation of the bolting mechanism for the door 17. The combination lock 26 may now be set to lock the door bolting mechanism in its bolted position by extending the latch 71 forwardly into the notch 70 of the rock-plate 60 which has now become aligned with the latch 71.

In the case of a safe or cabinet having a single door, either the mechanism 100 or 110 can be used for latching the bolting mechanism of such a door. The mechanism 110 may be readily adapted to abut against a stationary door jamb instead of against a stop 119 on the edge of another door.

(IV) Bolt relocking devices The bolting means of a cabinet incorporating this invention may also include one or more other safety features, such as bolt relocking devices to automatically lock, throw or relock the bolting means in the event of unauthorized tampering therewith.

In the first place one or both of the bolt operating bars 31 and 63 may have tension springs 121 and 123 (FIGS. 3 and respectively, connected to them, such as between them and their respective rock- plate brackets 34 and 74, not only to normally urge or maintain the bolts 45 and 49 of door 16, and bolts 80 and 97 of door 17 into their door bolting positions automatically bolting doors, but also to move or maintain them into said door bolting positions in the event the door handles 22 and 24, their respective stems 23 and 25, and/ or their rock- plates 30 and 60 were broken or removed from connection with their bolt operating bars 31 and 63.

Furthermore, a bolt relocking mechanism 130 (see FIG. 5) may be employed comprising a spring loaded plunger 131 normally held in inoperative position by a pin and groove engagement 132 with a bar 133 mounted on the lock 26 of the door 17 When the bolting means is in door bolted position, a notch 134 in the side of the bar 63 will be brought in alignment with the plunger 131 of the relocking device 130. When an attempt is made to tamper with the lock mechanism such as forcefully pounding away or otherwise removing the lock 26 from its normal position, the pin 132 thereon will become disengaged from the groove in the spring loaded plunger 131 and this plunger will instantly move under action of spring 135 to enter the notch 134, and thus prevent further movement of the bar 63 and accordingly any of its associated door locking bolts and 97.

Another such safety device may comprise a rebolting mechanism as shown in FIG. 7 in which the individual bolts 45, 49, 80 and/or 97 may be preloaded with compression springs 140 arranged to bear against the inward end of the door bolt 97, etc., and normally tend to urge the bolt outwardly into door bolting position and bolt the door automatically as soon as the latching devices 100 and/or are released by the movement of their respective doors into their closed positions. The pin connection 95 with the bar 94 acts to control the position of the bolt 97 and to hold it in such a controlled position. When the door 17 is closed and bolted, the bars 94, 87 and 63 act collectively to maintain the bolts in door bolting position, but when an attempt is made to disjoint or sever any of the bolt connections with the bars 63, 87 and/or 94 in the bolting system in an attempt to unbolt the doors, the springs at each bolt 80 M97 will immediately act to rebolt any of these bolts which may have become disengaged from their operating bars, either through cutting or otherwise fracturing the bars, studs, or their connecting pins. These spring loaded bolts as shown in FIG. 7 can also be employed for the bolts for the door 16.

While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A latching mechanism for a closure for a cabinet having an opening closed by a pair of mating doors, comprising: a bolting mechanism for each of said doors, means for latching said bolting mechanism on at least one of said doors, and control means on said one door responsive to a pre-determined movement of said one door relative to the closed position of said other door for releasing said latching means whereby the bolting mechanism in said one door may be operated.

2. A latching mechanism according to claim 1 including a second latching means on said other door, and a second control means responsive to a pre-determined movement of said other door relative to said cabinet for releasing said second latching means whereby the bolting mechanism of said other door may be operated.

3. A latching mechanism according to claim 1 including a resilient means for normally urging said latching means to engage its corresponding bolting mechanism.

4. A latching mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said bolting mechanism comprises at least one pivoted member and one slidable member; and wherein said latching means is directly engageable with said pivoted member of said bolting mechanism; and including abutment means adjacent the opening closed by said closure engageable by said control means when said closure is closing said opening, whereby said bolting mechanism can be moved into and out of its closure bolting position only when said closure closes said opening.

5. A latching mechanism according to claim 1 in which said bolting mechanism comprises at least one cabinet engaging bolt, means to operate said bolt, and a resilient means associated with said bolt to normally urge said bolt into closure bolting position, whereby any disconnection of said :bolt operating means will cause said resilient means to maintain said bolt into closure bolting position.

6. A latching mechanism according to claim 5 including means for blocking said operating means when said bolt is in its extended position.

7. A latching mechanism according to claim wherein said resilient means acts directly on said bolt.

8. A latching mechanism according to claim 5;wherein said resilient means is connected to said operating means.

9. A latching mechanism according to claim 5 including a plurality of said bolts and a separate said resilient means acting directly on each of said bolts.

10. A latching mechanism for a closure for a cabinet having an opening closed by a pair of mating doors, comprising: jambs for and :between said doors adapted so that; the edge of one door overlaps the other door at said jamb between said doors, a bolting mechanism for each of said doors, a first means for latching said bolting mechanism in said other door, a first control means responsive to the movement of said other door intoits closed position relative to its jamb for releasing said first latching means whereby the bolting mechanism of said other door may be operated, a second means for latching said bolting mechanism in said one door, a: second control means responsive to the relative movement of said one door into its closed position after said other door is in its closed position relative to said jamb between said doors for releasing said second latching means whereby the bolting mechanism of said one door may be operated.

11. A latching mechanism according to claim 10 wherein said bolting mechanisms comprise at least one jamb engaging bolt in each door, and a resilient means connected to said bolting mechanism in each door normally urging said bolts into their jamb engaging positions.

12. A latching mechanism according to claim 11 including separate said resilient means acting directly on each said bolt. 7

13. A latching mechanism according to claim 10including a resilient means for normally urging both said latching means to engage its corresponding bolting mechanism.

14. A latching mechanism for a protective cabinet having an opening closed by a closure, comprising: a plurality of bolts extendable between said closure and said opening when said closure closes said opening, means for operating said bolts, means for latching said bolt operating means when said closure is away from its closed position, control means responsive to a predetermined movement of said closure relative to its closed position in said opening for releasing said latching means whereby said bolt operating means may be operated, connecting means between said bolt operating means and said bolts, and separate resilient means for and acting directly on each of said bolts for normally urging said bolts into their extended positions for locking said closure in said opening automatically when said closure is moved into its closed position and said control means releases said latching means, whereby-a disconnection of said connecting means at any point between said bolt operating means and any one of said bolts will maintain all of said bolts operated in their closure locking position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,483,474 Ohnstrand Feb. 12, 1924 1,660,516 Meilink Feb. 28, 1928 1,674,760 Carroll June 26, 1928 1,870,746 Pyle Aug. 9, 1932 1,996,865 Haag Apr. 9, 1935

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