Locks – Special application – For portable articles
Patent
1995-05-26
1998-08-18
Dino, Suzanne
Locks
Special application
For portable articles
70279, 109 53, 109 57, 340568, E05B 6552
Patent
active
057944660
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an electronic door or wall mounted key safe which allows selective access to the interior of the safe so that various categories of users can be provided key access (or access to the safe for maintenance purposes) while maintaining a high level of security against unwanted users.
Manual key safes are a well-known means of providing selective access to a key which can then be used to open a door, or be used for access to any secured device, such as electronic or manual HVAC controllers, or process controllers in industrial settings. A common application is in the real estate business where numerous agents require access to a single lock but it is not cost effective or appropriate from a security standpoint to provide all such persons keys to that lock.
Numerous key safes appear in the prior art. My own prior invention, detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,544, describes a combination electronic/manual key safe the interior of which includes a tethered, retractable key. The retractable key is held within a separate key compartment which can be accessed only by electronically or manually manipulating a solenoid activated latch. While the key safe of U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,544 represented a significant advance in key safe technology, certain problems inherent to providing wide ranging access, i.e. to various categories of users, while at the same time maintaining a completely secure system were not addressed in that invention.
In particular, my earlier invention still required the use of a "hard" key in some circumstances. By "hard" key, I mean a standard physical (as opposed to an electronic code) key which is used for access to the key safe which in my earlier invention was used by a specific category of user, or during a power failure. For this reason it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic key safe for which no "hard" key access is necessary under any circumstances.
Specifically, it is a further object of this invention to provide such a key safe which eliminates the need for hard key access even during power failures, and without compromising the security of the system.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an electronic key safe which houses not a key for opening a lock, but rather houses a lever for opening a lock directly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To meet these and other objects, the present invention provides a key safe having an outer housing, a releasable mounting assembly, a releasable opening assembly, an electronic code entry pad, and activation circuitry. The outer housing is for housing a key and includes walls that define an interior region in which a hard key is kept. Alternatively, the outer housing is for housing not a key, but a lever for opening a lock directly. The releasable mounting assembly mounts the outer housing to a wall, door or other surface so that the outer housing may be completely removed from that surface upon entry of an electronic code, e.g. when maintenance is required. The releasable opening assembly permits access to the interior region of the outer housing when an electronic code is entered, e.g. to allow access to the key inside the housing. An electronic code entry pad is positioned in the outer housing walls and is exposed to the exterior of the outer housing so that a code entry pad is accessible to a user for entry of a key code. Activation circuitry is positioned in the interior of the housing and is responsive to the electronic code entry pad for selectively releasing the releasable mounting assembly and the releasable opening assembly.
In one embodiment of the invention, the releasable mounting assembly includes an electronics member positioned within the outer housing, a mounting bracket for mounting on the mounting surface, and a mounting latch for latching the electronics member to the mounting bracket. The releasable opening assembly includes an outer housing latch for latching the outer housing to the electronics member. The activation circuitry selectively releases
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OSI Security Devices, "Omnilock", Date Unknown.
Marlock, "Solitaire Systems", Date Unknown.
Schlage, "Key'n Keyless", Date Unknown.
Continental Instruments Corp., "CardAccess 25", Date Unknown.
Simplex Security Systems, Inc., "Unican 1000", Date Unknown.
Supra Products, Inc., "All Products KeyBox" and Homeowner KeyBox, Date Unknown.
Yale Security Inc., "The Touchcode System", Date Unknown.
Brodel John Frederick
Hungerford Robert Edward
Access Technology Inc.
Dino Suzanne
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