Locks – Portable – Fetters
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-07
2004-01-27
Gall, Lloyd A. (Department: 3676)
Locks
Portable
Fetters
C030S233000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06681603
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a steel cable lock structure with internal multidirectional locking effect, which can be easily operated to control the winding and unwinding of the steel cable in multiple directions.
FIG. 7
shows a conventional steel cable releasing/retracting controlling structure of a steel cable lock (Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 131371). The lock includes a housing
50
, a steel cable retracting/releasing device
51
, multiple numeral wheels
52
, a press button lock bolt
53
, a resilient abutting pin
54
and steel cable clutch controller
55
. The rear end of the steel cable retracting/releasing device
51
is equipped with an engaging head
511
which can be inserted and locked in a latch hole
501
. When the engaging head
511
is inserted and locked, the abutting pin
54
is pressed to move toward the press button
551
in the housing
50
. The steel cable clutch controller
55
is disposed on the lower press button
551
which is pivotally disposed on a shaft
552
at the button hole. The press button
551
has a button bar
553
extending to inner side of the housing
50
. The innermost end is connected with a dog
554
for engaging with the ratchets of the reel. A stop board
556
is connected with upper side of the press button
551
. In locked state, the stop board
556
is stopped by lower end of the pressed abutting pin
54
, whereby the press button
551
cannot be pressed. The button bar
553
via a button spring
558
is resiliently connected with a cable pressing plate
557
to push the dog
554
in normal state to engage with the ratchets
555
of the reel. When the dog
554
is engaged with the ratchets
555
, the cable pressing plate
557
presses the steel cable
512
to prevent the steel cable
512
from being drawn. When the lower press button
551
is released, the cable pressing plate
557
synchronously presses the steel cable
512
to further prevent the steel cable
512
from rushing back into the housing
50
due to inertia when the cable winding device
51
is instantaneously stopped by the dog
554
. This avoids loosening of the wound cable and truly controls the extensible length of the steel cable
512
. However, there are still some shortcomings existing in the operation of the dog
554
as follows:
1. The center of the pivot shaft
552
of the dog
554
is positioned behind the dog
554
. Accordingly, when the dog
554
is engaged with the ratchets
555
of the reel, the length from the center of the pivot shaft
552
to the tip of the dog
554
is longer than the length from the center of the pivot shaft
552
to the tip of the ratchets
555
. This causes that when the dog
554
is turned to disengage from the ratchets
555
, it is necessary to first apply a force to push and reversely turn the reel. In addition, the application force arm is shorter than the resistance force arm. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a greater force for pressing the press button to disengage the dog
554
from the ratchets
555
. Under such circumstance, the reel can be rotated to release the steel cable
512
.
2. It can be found from
FIG. 7
that the steel cable
512
is pulled in such a direction that a push force is exerted onto the cable pressing plate
557
and the button bar
553
to loosen the same. This makes it impossible to truly restrict the steel cable
512
and the reel. In addition, due to the pulling force exerted onto the cable pressing plate
557
by the steel cable
512
, a very great torque is created at the pivot shaft
552
of the steel cable clutch controller
55
. This is very likely to lead to damage of the stop board
556
.
3. Moreover, the inner end of the resilient abutting pin
54
must bear greater lateral pressing force coming from the button bar
553
when locked. Such lateral pressing force exerted onto the end section is not an optimal force application measure with respect to the resilient abutting pin
54
. (The optimal measure should be an action force in axial direction of the abutting pin.) This tends to bias the resilient abutting pin
54
to abrade the wall of the pin hole through which the abutting pin
54
is passed.
4. When locked, the inner end of the resilient abutting pin
54
extends into the swinging space of the stop board
556
to stop the stop board
556
so as to prevent the press button
551
from being pressed. However, it is found that the length from the center of the pivot shaft
552
to the stop board
556
is much shorter than the length from the center of the pivot shaft
552
to the rear end of the dog
554
or the button bar
553
. Therefore, in locked state, in the case that a small gap exists between the stop board
556
and the resilient abutting pin
54
, the rear end of the dog
554
or the button bar
553
may have larger swinging tolerance. This seriously affects the reliability of controlling of the steel cable retracting/releasing device
51
and cable pressing plate
557
by the steel cable clutch controller
55
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a steel cable lock structure with internal multidirectional locking effect. In the steel cable lock structure, a dog is resiliently deflectable to engage with the ratchets of the reel. When a lower end press button is pressed, an oblique slot of the lower end press button biases and guides the dog. Basically, simply by means of slightly pushing the lower end press button toward the dog, the oblique slot can drive and deflect the dog in conformity with the rotational direction of the reel releasing the steel cable so as to disengage the dog from the ratchets. Therefore, when releasing the steel cable, the pressing force applied to the lower end press button is apparently minified so that the operation is facilitated.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above steel cable lock structure in which a stop plate is disposed at rear end of the dog. When the lower end press button is released, the stop plate instantaneously abuts against the steel cable to stop the steel cable from rushing back. In unlocked state, in the case that the lower end press button is not pressed, the steel cable still cannot be drawn out. This is because when the dog is resiliently deflected to constantly engage with the ratchets of the reel, the stop plate also constantly abuts against the steel cable. Moreover, the steel cable is drawn out in such a direction that the dog is more tightly engaged with the ratchets so that the steel cable can be hardly drawn out.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above steel cable lock structure in which the lower end press button, button bar and dog are driven in the same straight line. This obviates the shortcoming of poor reliability of the conventional leverage swinging type.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above steel cable lock structure in which the locking device is formed with numeral windows corresponding to the respective numeral wheels. A window shielding plate is drivingly connected with the upper end press button for pressing the locking device. In unlocked state, when pressing the upper end press button, the correct numbers of the numeral wheels in the windows are shielded by the window shielding plate. Therefore, when unlocked, an unauthorized person can hardly see the numbers.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
REFERENCES:
patent: 4033160 (1977-07-01), Mima
patent: 4543806 (1985-10-01), Papandrea et al.
patent: 4896517 (1990-01-01), Ling
patent: 5156028 (1992-10-01), Jiang
patent: 5786759 (1998-07-01), Ling
patent: 5960652 (1999-10-01), Marmstad
patent: 6192719 (2001-02-01), Stukas et al.
patent: 2002/0129628 (2002-09-01), Skalberg
Gall Lloyd A.
Troxell Law Office PLLC
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