Patent ID: 6477870
Filing Date: 2002-11-12
Classification: E05B,Y10T

Abstract:
A locking device for securing a cable or shaft end, said locking device comprising;(a) a cylindrical housing shell; said shell including a cylindrical cavity that is concentrically disposed along a longitudinal axis, said shell having a circular opening to said cavity at one end, and an axial circular first hole which is cut in a distal end and defines a cable entry end, said first hole being sized to allow passage of a swaged end of a cable; (b) a cylindrical piston that fits in the opening and cavity of said shell in sliding engagement with an inner wall surface of said cavity; said piston including a bore opening in one end to a cylindrical bore that extends axially from said bore opening for a distance sufficient to accommodate an entire swaged end of a cable; said bore having a longitudinal axis that is laterally offset approximately 2 mm from the longitudinal axis of said piston; said bore opening having a diameter identical to the diameter of said first hole in said cable entry end of said shell; and, (c) means for locking said piston inside said shell and holding said bore opening in an end of said piston in close contact with said cable entry end of said shell; said means for locking said piston inside said shell including a cylinder lock plug that is sized to fit slidingly into the cavity opening in an end of said shell until an end of said cylinder lock plug abuts said piston; said cylinder lock plug including a locking cam which protrudes radially from a side; and, a wide, deep groove that is cut circumferentially in a wall surface of said cavity in said shell, said deep groove being located to engage said locking cam of said cylinder lock plug when said piston is placed fully inside said cavity; said cylinder lock plug, when being manually locked by a key, causing said locking cam to become engaged by said deep groove and to lock said piston in place against said cable entry end of said shell; said bore opening in an end of said piston, when held in close contact with said cable entry end of said shell, resulting in an overlapping of said bore opening and said first hole radial peripheries, creating a non-circular diminished size aperture that prevents the withdrawal of any cable swaged end that may have been previously inserted into said shell and into said bore of said piston.