Locks – Portable – Padlocks
Reexamination Certificate
2004-03-09
2004-11-02
Gall, Lloyd A. (Department: 3676)
Locks
Portable
Padlocks
C070S049000, C070S052000, C070S056000, C070S417000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06810698
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to firearm safety lock devices and more particularly to cable type locks arranged to extend through the barrel and/or the cartridge ejection port.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Thousand of handguns, shotguns and rifles are purchased every year by citizens for use in sporting events, such as hunting or trap and skeet shooting, or for use in home protection. Typically, guns are stored at one's home or apartment in drawers, closets or even under the bed. While a minority of gun owners have gun safes to store their guns, most gun owners store their guns in unlocked areas of the home accessible to others dwelling there. As such, guns provide a danger to children or adolescents whose curiosity may lead them to find and play with a gun. Additionally, a child finding a firearm may take it to show friends or take it to school. While adults may believe that guns are safely put away, children and adolescents always seem to find them, and as a result, fatalities and injuries resulting from the accidental discharge of firearms, particularly by children, has become problematic. Also the intentional use of guns by children against classmates and teachers in schools has been increasing over the last several years. Suicides by use of firearms are also at an alarming rate. In response to the rise of this danger, the US Congress and many state legislative bodies throughout the country have enacted or are in the process of enacting legislation requiring that each new purchase or transfer of a gun be accompanied by the purchase or transfer of a suitable lock.
Most conventional gun locks are made of an easily manufactured material such as die cast aluminum or plastic to make the locks economically feasible for the gun manufacturers to bundle with each gun or the gun owner to purchase separately. Such material is subject to being compromised, for example, by forced removal of the lock by a prying and/or sawing attack.
This latter problem came to a head early in 2001 when the California legislature, aware that there were many inadequate gun locks on the market, passed legislation which will make it unlawful for a firearm to be sold or transferred within the State of California after Jan. 1, 2002 without an approved safety device. In implementing the legislation the California Department of Justice, Firearm Division, has required that among other things any approved lock resist destruction of the lock.
Gun locks are typically classified into two categories, i.e., trigger locks and cable locks. Trigger locks such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,119 and 5,918,402 and application Ser. Nos. 09/593,533, 09/871,753 and 10/029,689, assigned to the assignee of this application, have two sides which clamp around the trigger guard of a gun to prevent access to the trigger. While trigger locks, if properly constructed, function as satisfactory determents to the unauthorized use of a firearm, such locks have a drawback of not insuring that a bullet is not present in the chamber of the locked gun. In addition, trigger locks are generally more expensive than cable locks.
A typical gun cable lock includes an elongated flexible cable which is generally armored, i.e., the individual sockets or links (not shown) are joined together by a twisted wire with the links being made of hardened steel to deter access to the inner wire. The flexible cable is shown in
FIG. 1
as being threaded through the barrel
12
of a handgun
14
. The fixed end
10
a
of the cable is secured within a lock housing
16
by means of a sheave
16
b
wedged within a groove
10
b
in the fixed end. See
FIGS. 2-4
. The lock housing is formed from a plurality of steel laminations
16
c
secured together via rivets
16
d
and includes a cable free end receiving bore
16
e
within which is positioned a plunger member
18
biased upwardly by compression spring
20
. See
FIG. 2A
plastic cover
22
encompasses the sides and a portion of the top and bottom of the housing.
A conventional key cylinder lock
28
, mounted in the lock housing, includes a spring biased split tumbler casing
28
a
and a plug or inner barrel
28
b
which is rotatable, through a given angle, 90° or less, with a key
29
. The plug
28
b
is formed with two upwardly projecting spaced posts
28
c
positioned on the underside
30
a
of a cam
30
which includes downwardly projecting triangular-shaped stops
30
b
. Only one of the posts is shown in
FIGS. 2-4
. The stops
30
b
are engaged by the posts
28
c
to rotate the cam to its unlocked position by action of the key
29
as will be explained. An upstanding rib
30
c
and a short spring retaining rod
30
d
are formed on the upper surface
30
e
of the cam. See
FIGS. 7 and 8
. A spiral spring
32
extends between a center in the rod
30
d
and a stationary notch
16
f
in one of the laminated plates, to bias the cam in a counterclockwise direction viewing the top surface of the cam as is illustrated in FIG.
7
. The cam and bias spring are sometimes referred to as a spring/cam assembly herein.
A locking member or bar
34
rides on the upper surface
30
e
of the cam and is biased toward the bore
16
e
but prevented from entering the bore by the spring biased plug
18
unless the free end of the cable has depressed the plunger and placed an annular groove
10
c
at the cable free or active end
10
d
opposite the locking member
34
. In this case, the locking member is pushed by the rib
30
c
into the groove via the action of spring
32
to lock the cable free end
10
d
to the housing.
The prior cable lock housings, designed to deter a cutting or sawing attack, employ hardened steel laminations with non-hardened rivets to secure the laminations together. While the laminations are stamped out and partially assembled by automatic machines there is still some hand labor involved in inserting the key lock cylinder, cam, locking bar, sheave and plunger/spring components (if used) during the assembly process. In total about 20 laminations, 4 rivets, a key cylinder, a locking bar and a cam (assuming that the plunger/spring is not used) are needed for each lock housing.
There is a need for a simpler, less expensive and lighter lock housing for cable locks designed to meet anti-strict testing criteria now in place in at least one state and under consideration at the Federal Government.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention an elongated cable, preferably armored, or alternatively a shackle, is provided with a free end. The free end of the cable is adapted to be inserted through a barrel, cartridge ejection port or magazine chamber of a firearm and a fixed end which is not insertable through such firearm. The shackle is adapted to be inserted through a hasp, for example. The free end defines an annular groove or detent.
A lock housing, formed of an inner substantially rigid non-steel body encapsulated or enclosed within a hardened steel shell, has a top and bottom wall and a cable (or shackle) free end receiving bore defining a longitudinal axis extending from the top wall and capturing the fixed end of the cable. The rigid inner body, having a hardness value less than steel, shell may, for example, be made of plastic. The housing further includes a lock cylinder cavity extending into the housing from the bottom wall and also oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis, the housing having a key access opening into the cavity.
A key lock cylinder is mounted in the cavity and includes a rotatable plug for receiving and turning through a predetermined angle from a locked to an unlocked position with a key. A locking member or deadbolt is coupled to the cylinder and arranged for movement out of the cable (or shackle) free end receiving bore when operated by the key to enable the cable or shackle free end to be removed from the housing. Preferably the deadbolt or locking member moves into and out of the cable free end receiving bore only in response to the rotation of the plug to the locked (first) and unlocked (second) positions, respectively
Gall Lloyd A.
Jackson Harold L.
Weinraub Enterprises, Inc.
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