Locks – Operating mechanism – Using a powered device
Patent
1995-02-16
1997-09-09
Dino, Suzanne
Locks
Operating mechanism
Using a powered device
70413, 70 38C, E05B 4700
Patent
active
056644493
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to magnetic locks.
The invention relates more particularly to magnetic locks operated by magnetic cards in which provision is made to prevent the lock being opened by sharp impacts or so-called "rapping".
Early card-operated locks were designed for installation inside a wail or door and the key was inserted into a slot in a flush-mounted faceplate. Applying impacts to the slot or to the surface of the door or wall seldom caused unlocking as the pins moved perpendicularly to the plane of the card slot, but when the same lock was housed in a box and mounted on the surface of the wall or door, or on a post for access by car drivers entering a parking garage, the top surface above the lock was available for impacting and sharp blows could often jar the pins up and down. If a non-magnetic card-shaped object was inserted in the slot during the "rapping", the lock could sometimes be unlocked. Magnetic pin card-operated locks which are susceptible to this type of tampering are described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,566,017, 2,648,729, 2,732,703, 2,769,873, 2,931,953, 3,271,983, RE27,753, 3,595,042, 3,581,030, and 3,995,145. U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,277 describes the problem and discloses a solution which utilizes a "tamper-resistant non-magnetic pin" which, when moved by a rapping impact causes the lock to remain locked by blocking movement of the slider that contains the tumbler pins.
Nearly all of the above locks were required to be mounted horizontally, (parallel to the floor), as the pins were held in locking positions mainly by gravity. However, where a steel shield plate is used to attract all the magnetic pins towards the slot, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,197, the lock is able to be mounted vertically. U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,460 describes how a magnetic pin can be used to block slider movement if the lock is rapped on the front surface in direct line with the locking pins. This "anti-rap" pin has been shown in subsequent U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,133,194, 4,676,083, 4,312,198 and 4,932,228.
Padlocks incorporating a magnetic card-operated lock such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,197 are known in the art, however this type of lock has not been successfully produced due to its possible susceptibility to being unlocked without a correct card being inserted, by rapping on the body of the lock while a blank card is in the slot, and held under constant or intermittent pressure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a magnetic key operated lock comprising a slide member movable from a locked position to an unlocking position with a key having a magnetic code encoded in it inserted in the lock, a plurality of magnet pins slidable transversely of the slide member from a first position locking the slide member in said locked position to a second position unlocking said slide member on operation of the lock by a said key, and a locking plate alongside the slide member having a plurality of apertures for receiving remote ends of the magnet pins when the slide member is in the locked position, the position and polarity of some or all of the magnet pins forming a code for the lock, in which at least one of the magnet pins is supported in the slide member so that its remote end is prevented mechanically, even if the lock is rapped, from moving transversely from its locked position in use whenever the slide member is urged from the locked position towards the unlocking position unless a coded key is inserted in the lock which first causes the remote end to move out of the locking plate.
The at least one magnet pin must be pivotably mounted in the slide member about an axis transverse to the slidable axes of the other magnet pins so that the remote end can move out of the locking plate by pivoting in the direction of movement of a correctly coded key into the lock.
The at least one magnet pin may extend or have a housing extending beyond its pivot point and the lock includes a shoulder which bears against the extension or housing to pivot th
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