Patent ID: 9289061
Filing Date: 2016-03-22
CPC Classification: A47B,E05B

Claim Text:
1. A storage cabinet arrangement for secure storage of documents and/or other materials for which limited authorized access is to be provided, comprising: a cabinet including left and right side walls, a rear wall, and a front frame having at least one drawer opening; at least one respective sliding file drawer mounted in an associated one of said at least one drawer opening of the front frame and having at least one back wall, the file drawer being adapted to be pulled proximally out from said cabinet to an open position for permitting access to contents of said file drawer, and to be pushed distally in to the cabinet to a closed position in which the back wall of the file drawer is positioned adjacent the rear wall of the cabinet; a locking mechanism for releasably locking the at least one file drawer in its closed position within said cabinet, the locking mechanism including for each of said at least one file drawer: a controller mounted within said cabinet having an input and at least one output coupled to the electromechanical actuator of the associated latch mechanism; and an interface arrangement coupled to the input of said controller for permitting an authorized person to interface with said controller to release the latch mechanism from the latch pin of one of said at least one file drawer to permit the drawer to be pulled out to its open position; wherein the at least one file drawer comprises a front wall and left and right side walls extending from said front wall to said back wall, and each of said right and left side walls includes an elongated channel portion extending along the top thereof from the back wall to the front wall; and the at least one file drawer further including a plurality of transverse dividers situated between the left and right side walls and which define individual storage compartments within said file drawer; each of said storage compartments having a lid that is normally locked down but is selectively releasable to permit the lid to open for access to the associated compartment, each said lid having a hinge pin extending out of a rear portion thereof and journaled in said left and right side walls to permit the lid to pivot from a lowered closed position to a raised open position, and wherein a lock pin extends from each of the right and left edges of the lid into the respective channel portion; left and right slide bars disposed in the respective channel portions of said side walls and adapted to move for at least a limited distance along the respective channel portions, said slide bars each having slots along side edges thereof which slots align with the respective lock pins of said compartment lids when said slide bars are moved to different respective positions along said channel portions, and such that any compartment lid in which the lock pins align with the respective slots in said slide bars may be lifted open, but the remaining lids in said at least one file drawer are blocked from opening; said slide bars each having ends projecting into the and back wall of said at least one file drawer; and further including controlled motor means affixed onto the back wall of said at least one file drawer for moving each of said slide bars to selected positions so as to align, at each selected position, a given slot of each of said left and right slide bars with the lock pin of a selected one of said compartments to permit the associated lid to be lifted open but to lock each of the other of the lids from opening; with the front wall of said at least one file drawer being sufficiently thick to allow for play or movement of the slide bars, and the back wall of said at least one file drawer being sufficiently deep to conceal the ends of the slide bars and the controlled motor means and to prevent manipulation of the slide bars when the at least one file drawer is pulled out to its open position.