Locks – Special application – For portable articles
Patent
1994-09-28
1997-02-11
Gall, Lloyd A.
Locks
Special application
For portable articles
70 65, 383 79, 383 92, A45C 1310, E05B 6552
Patent
active
056009780
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
The present invention refers to a device for the closure of bags and the like, as well as to a security seal usable with the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,047 (Brazilian patent application PI 8903982 of 08.08.89) discloses a security envelope suitable for the transport of confidential documents or money. The envelope is provided with a closure and seal device that comprises a first elongate part having a series of locking pins distributed along its length, a second elongate part integral with and foldable over the first part to assume a closed configuration with the pins penetrating a series of orifices in the second part, the mouth of the envelope being held between the first and second parts in the closed configuration with the pins passing through it. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,047, each orifice in the second part of the device comprises a locking cavity and each pin in the first part has a head cooperable with a respective cavity. In other words, the device incorporates as many security seals as there are locking pins. When the bag has to be opened, it is sufficient to cut the other end of the envelope with a pair of scissors or the like to permit removal of the contents without interfering with the closure device the inviolability of which can later be checked should a document or money be missing.
Although the closure device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,047 is very suitable for its intended use and has been well received on the market due to its simplicity of use and to the high degree of security that it offers, both the envelope and the device are disposable. Consequently, the device cannot be used for bags and the like that are designed for repeated use.
The present invention refers therefore to a device of the above general type, but with the purpose of providing a new device that may be used many times without compromising the degree of security obtained.
SUMMARY
According to the present invention, a device for the closure of bags or the like, comprises a first elongate part provided with a series of pins distributed along its length, a second elongate part cooperable in face to face relation with the first elongate part and having a series of orifices distributed along its length to receive the locking pins in a closed configuration and locking means for locking the first and second parts in the closed configuration. The locking means comprise:
(i) a longitudinal passage formed along the second part;
(ii) an elongate locking element housed in such passage and shiftable longitudinally therein between a first free position in which the respective pins can fully penetrate the orifices in the second part, and a second locked position in which the pins are locked in the orifices; and
(iii) means permitting the immobilisation of the locking element in the second locked position by the application of a security seal.
With a device according to the present invention, instead of sealing the free end or head of each pin in the respective orifice in the second part, the locking element is manually shifted to a position wherein each pin is locked to prevent opening of the device (and consequently to maintain the bag positively closed) and thereafter the locking element may be sealed in such position by means of a single security seal which is destroyed to permit its unlocking and the opening of the bag which will then be re-usable.
Preferably, the locking element is formed to leave the above mentioned orifices in the second part substantially unobstructed when in the first position mentioned and partially obstructed when in the second locked position. The locking element may further be formed with elastically deformable regions to interfere slightly with the passage of the pins into the orifices in the second part, so as to retain the pins elastically therein until the locking element is shifted to the second locked position.
In the preferred embodiments of the closure device, as will be described later in detail with reference to the drawings, the passage for the locking element is formed internally in
REFERENCES:
patent: 428387 (1890-05-01), Enholm
patent: 829087 (1906-08-01), Rice
patent: 1155375 (1915-10-01), Shannon
patent: 2843309 (1958-07-01), Wheeler
patent: 3727829 (1973-04-01), Huni
patent: 4042267 (1977-08-01), Clinch et al.
ELC Produtos de Seguranca e Comercio Ltda.
Gall Lloyd A.
Pham Tuyet-Phuong
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