Safe bolt mechanism

An improved safe bolt mechanism characterized by: slide bolts coupled to an inner surface of the safe's door by an elongated channel member; guide bars intespaced with the slide bolts and guided by the channel member for movement perpendicular to the slide bolts; elongated, bent cam rods journaled within apertures provided in the slide bolts and connected at their ends to successive guide bars; and a lockable bolt actuating mechanism for moving the guide bars within the channel member and thus extending or retracting the slide bolts due to the interaction of the cam rods and the slide bolts. Each of the slide bolts is individually locked by the cam rods to make forced entry into the safe more difficult. Optional locking pins attached to the guide bars can engage transverse bores provided in the slide bolts to lock the individual slide bolts even more securely.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to security devices and more particularly 
to safes and safe mechanisms. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Safes generally include a fortified box having a single opening or access, 
and a strong, lockable door associated with the opening. The doors on 
larger safes are usually hinged to the safe box. 
A safe bolt mechanism is typically either built into the safe door or is 
attached to the inner surface of the safe door. The mechanism includes one 
or more slide bolts, a slide bolt actuating assembly, and a lock for 
disabling the actuating assembly. The locks are usually combination type 
locks because they have no keyholes into which explosives or lock-picking 
tools can be inserted. 
Most quality safes are provided with multiple slide bolts operated 
simultaneously by the actuating assembly. Examples of multiple bolt safe 
mechanisms can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 609,416 of G. L. Damon, and 
4,168,616 of Goldman. 
Multiple slide bolt mechanisms of the prior art can be defeated by the 
experienced safe-cracker. Since all of the slide bolts are coupled 
together, the canny thief can drill through the side of the safe box and 
drive out a single bolt to open the safe. This presents very real security 
problems to any multiple slide bolt safe having an exposed safe box. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of this invention is to provide a multiple slide bolt safe 
mechanism which is highly resistant to tampering. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a safe construction 
particularly suited for the safe bolt mechanism described herein. 
Briefly, the safe of the present invention includes a safe box, a safe door 
hinged to the safe box, a channel shaped guide track attached to the inner 
surface of the safe door, a number of slide bolts engaged with transverse 
bores provided through the sidewalls of the track, a plurality of locking 
bars interspaced with the slide bolts and guided by the sidewalls of the 
guide track, and a number of elongated, angled cam rods attaching 
successive locking bars together and engaging transverse apertures 
provided in the slide bolts. The locking bars are moved along the guide 
track by means of a linkage assembly coupled to the bolt actuating handle 
of the safe. As the locking bars are moved, the cam rods cause the slide 
bolts to move between their bolted and unbolted positions. 
When extended, each of the slide bolts is individually locked in place by 
an associated cam rod and locking bar. For even greater security, each of 
the locking bars can be provided with a locking pin which engages a bore 
provided in the slide bolts when the slide bolts are in their extended or 
bolted position. 
The linkage coupling the the bolt actuating handle to the locking bars 
includes an elongated swivel link, a cantilever link coupling the shaft of 
the actuating handle to a mid-length portion of the swivel link, and a 
slide link coupling a lower end of the swivel link to one of the locking 
bars. The tongue of a combination lock mechanism abuts a second end 
portion of the swivel link to engage or disengage that link from a locking 
pin affixed to the inner surface of the safe door. 
A major advantage of this invention is that each of the slide bolts is 
individually locked into place so that the safe cannot be operated by 
driving out a single slide bolt. 
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no 
doubt become apparent upon a reading of the following descriptions and a 
study of the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
Referring to FIG. 1, a safe 10 in accordance with the present invention 
includes a box or main body 12, a safe door 14 attached to the main body 
by hinges 16, a bolt actuating handle 18, a combination lock 20, and a 
pull handle 22. The main body, safe door, and external fixtures of the 
safe are preferably hardened and reinforced in ways well known to those 
skilled in the art. 
Shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, the main body 12 has a lip 
portion 24 at least partially surrounding the mouth of the safe. Attached 
to the inner surface of safe door 14 are a channel shaped guide member 26, 
fixed bolts including a fixed bolt 28, and the body 30 of the combination 
lock. A number of slide bolts including a slide bolt 32 are engaged with 
transverse bores provided in the sidewalls of the guide member 26. 
In FIG. 3 the guide member 26 can be seen to be an elongated member having 
a base portion attached to the inner surface of the safe door by a 
plurality of fasteners, and having a pair of parallel sidewall portions 36 
extending outwardly from the base portion. The sidewall portions not only 
support the slide bolts 32, 32a, and 32b for reciprocal lateral movement 
respective the guide member, but also serve as longitudinal guides for a 
number of locking bars 38, 38a, 38b, and 38c. 
The locking bars 38-38c are coupled together by a number of bent cam rods 
40, 40a, and 40b. The cam rods are elongated members having a pair of 
substantially parallel end portions obtusely depending from an angled 
central portion. The end portions of the cam rods engage transverse bores 
provided in the locking bars and are retained therein by fasteners such as 
set screws, rivets, etc. 
With additional reference to FIG. 6, each of the slide bolts 32 is provided 
with a transverse cam aperture 42 through which one of the cam rods 
extends. In the illustrated embodiment the cam apertures each include a 
first bore surface 44 extending through the slide bolt substantially 
perpendicularly to the axis `A` of the slide bolt, and a second bore 
surface 46 crossing the first bore surface 44 at an acute angle 
.theta..sub.1 relative axis `A` of the slide bolt. The angle 
.theta..sub.1, which is preferably around 45.degree., coincides with the 
complement of the obtuse angle .theta..sub.2 that the central portions of 
the cam rods make with the end portions of the cam rods. 
The interaction of the locking bars 38, cam rods 40, and slide bolts 32 
will become apparent by studying the positions of those members in FIGS. 3 
and 4. Taking FIG. 3 as a starting position, it can be seen in FIG. 4 that 
as the locking bars 38 move upwardly within guide member 26, the 
interaction of the angled, central portions of the cam rods 40 with the 
cam apertures of the slide bolts 32 causes the slide bolts to retract to 
their unbolted positions. Conversely, as the locking bars 38 are moved 
down guide member 26, the cam rods cause the slide bolts to extend to 
their bolted positions in engagement with lip 24. 
It will be noted that when the slide bolts 32 are fully extended they are 
individually locked into position by the straight end portions of the cam 
rods 40. In other words, a safe-cracker would have to drive out each of 
the three slide bolts to open the safe. 
For extra strength, each of the locking bars 38 can be provided with an 
auxiliary locking pin 48 adapted to engage a transverse bore 50 provided 
through each of the slide bolts. As seen in FIG. 3, the individual locking 
pins 48 augment the locking effect of the cam rods 40 when the slide bolts 
32 are in their extended or bolted positions. 
With additional reference to FIG. 5, it may be seen that an angled end 
portion 52 of locking bar 38b extends through a slot 54 provided in the 
inner sidewall 36 of guide member 26. Attached to portion 52 is a slide 
pin 56 which loosely engages a bore 58 provided near the lower end of an 
elongated swivel link 60. The swivel link is coupled to the rotary shaft 
62 of bolt actuating handle 18 by its pivotal attachment to a cantilever 
link 64 attached to the end of the shaft. A leaf spring 66 attached to the 
swivel link and bearing against a sidewall 36 of the guide member 26 
biases the lower end of the swivel link towards the guide member. Also 
seen in FIG. 5 is a fixed locking pin 68 attached to the inner surface of 
the safe door by an angle bracket 70. 
Extending from body 30 of the combination lock is a locking tongue 72 that 
is in sliding engagement with an upper end portion of swivel link 60. When 
the swivel link is positioned as shown in FIG. 3, the extension of the 
locking tongue causes locking pin 68 to engage bore 58 at the lower end of 
the swivel link, immobilizing the bolt actuating handle 18. 
To lock the safe, the safe door is closed and bolt actuating handle 18 is 
rotated to cause the slide bolts to extend to their bolted positions in 
engagement with the lip 24 surrounding the mouth of the main body of the 
safe. As shown in FIG. 5 the fixed bolts 28 attached to the door 14 is 
formed to engage lip 24 on the inner wall of the safe to prevent the safe 
door from being removed by the removal of hinges 16. The dial of the 
rotary combination lock is then spun to cause tongue 72 to press against 
the upper end of the swivel link to swivel the lower end of the link into 
engagement with locking pin 68. In this position the bolt actuating handle 
is immobilized and each of the slide bolts is individually locked in 
position. 
To unlock the safe, the correct combination is dialed on the combination 
lock to cause tongue 72 to retract as shown in FIG. 4. The bolt actuating 
handle is then able to rotate to free the end of the swivel link from the 
locking pin 68. As the actuating handle continues to rotate the swivel 
link 60 moves upwardly, causing the locking bars 38 and cam rods 40 also 
to move upwardly. As described above, the upward movement of the cam rods 
causes the slide bolts 32 to retract to their unbolted positions. 
While this invention has been described in terms of a few preferred 
embodiments, it is contemplated that persons reading the preceding 
descriptions and studying the drawing will realize various alterations, 
permutations and modifications thereof. It is therefore intended that the 
following appended claims be interpreted as including all such 
alterations, permutations and modifications as fall within the true spirit 
and scope of the present invention.