Cable lock structure

Cable lock structure including a brake having a stake and a projecting bolt and a housing formed with an internal chamber for receiving therein a reciprocally movable central shaft and multiple numeral wheels fitted on the central shaft. The housing and brake are connected with a cable the length of which is adjustable. A ridge section of the housing is formed with a post hole and a cavity. The housing and the brake with small volumes can be separately respectively passed through a ring member of an article to be locked. Then the stake is inserted into the post hole and locked with the housing. The brake can be swung from an open position until the projecting bolt gets into the cavity to be latched in a close position. The total volume of the locked brake and housing is larger so that the lock body cannot be reversely drawn out of the ring member. Accordingly, the article is locked in a desired position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to an improved cable lock structure in which the length of the cable is adjustable for snugly locking an article without random arrangement of the cable.

Taiwanese Patent Publication Nos. 370147 and 424840 disclose a lock in which two locking bolts can be expanded to lock in a hole or a cavity formed on a fixed article. Taiwanese Patent Publication Nos. 413259 and 435561 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,989 disclose a lock having two relatively movable locking plates. The locking plates can be expanded and locked in the holes of an article to be locked. Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 435725 discloses a lock in which a latch block is formed at rear end of the lock housing. The latch block axially projects from the housing and is formed with a slide channel. The latch block serves to abut against a flange of the wall face of a computer housing. The lock further includes a push pin having a restoring spring. The push pin is retractable/extensible in the slide channel of the latch block. When the lock is inserted into the hole, the push pin is moved out and the latch block is forcedly biased by a certain angle to lock in the hole. U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,989 discloses a lock in which the lock bolt is pivotally rotatable. One end of the lock bolt has an elongated transversely extending stop bar for extending into a slot of an article to be locked. The lock bolt can be rotated to forcedly rotate the stop bar by a certain angle. Accordingly, the stop bar and the slot intersect each other to achieve a locking effect.

Taiwanese Patent No. 88215819, entitled “binding collar of steel cable lock ”, Taiwanese Patent No. 84205898, entitled “rotatably fixing structure of steel cable end” and Taiwanese Patent No. 81208568, entitled “easy latch steel cable lock ” disclose improvements of components of steel cable locks.

As shown inFIG. 1, the conventional steel cable lock has a fixed end A which is wound or fixed on a fixed article B such as a column or a desk leg. The other end of the cable is a head end C having a ring C1which can pass through a ring member E of the fixed article D and locked with a lock F. A series of articles D such as computer mainframes can be locked at the same time to prevent the articles from being stolen. Basically, the cable C2has a considerable length. After locking the article D, the article D can be still moved within a certain range and may be transferred or collided by other article. This is not desirable.

In addition, in practice, in order to meet different requirements, the cable C2is often designed with longer length. As a result, excessive length of cable often remains to lead to problem of randomness. Furthermore, the conventional cable lock must be used in cooperation with the ring member E of the article. In some cases, the article may lack the ring member. For example, the cable lock can be hardly applied to a computer monitor without any ring member. Therefore, the application range of the conventional cable lock is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a cable lock structure including a lock having a housing and a brake. The housing is formed with an internal chamber for receiving therein a locking mechanism. The housing is formed with a post hole and a cavity. The brake is formed with a gate for the cable to pass therethrough. The brake has a stake formed at one end and adapted to be rotatably inserted into the post hole and a projecting bolt formed at the other end. The brake can be swung about the stake between a close position and an open position. The cable has a fixed end which can be wound around a fixed article and an operating end detained in the chamber of the housing. The lock further includes a valve having a stop pin. When the brake is swung from the open position to the close position, the projecting bolt gets into the cavity of the housing and engage with the stop pin. A restoring spring is disposed between a head end of the central shaft and the numeral wheels for constantly pushing the central shaft and the valve to a position corresponding to the cavity. When the projecting pin of the brake gets into the cavity, the stop pin is automatically inserted into a latch hole of the projecting bolt.

The housing and the brake with small volumes can be separately respectively passed through a ring member of an article to be locked. Then the stake is inserted into the post hole and locked with the housing. The brake can be swung from an open position until the projecting bolt gets into the cavity to be latched in a close position. The total volume of the locked brake and housing is larger so that the lock body cannot be reversely drawn out of the ring member. Accordingly, the article is locked in a desired position.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above cable lock structure in which when the brake is separated from the housing, a user can easily surround the article to be locked with the cable, especially in the case that the article has larger volume or diameter and has a neck section. The brake is separated from the housing so that the cable can easily directly surround the neck section of the article. Also, the cable can directly surround a fixed article such as a column of a building or the like. In addition, after the stake gets into the post hole, when the projecting bolt is not yet inserted into the latch hole, a user is able to adjust the diameter of the loop of the cable to an optimal length. After the projecting bolt gets into the housing and is locked with the stop pin, the brake is locked with the housing and the article. Therefore, the problem of random and excessively long reversed cable existing in the conventional device is solved. In addition, the article is prevented from being deflected or collided as happening in the conventional device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer toFIGS. 2 and 3. The cable lock structure of the present invention includes a lock10having a housing11defining an internal chamber12. In a preferred embodiment, the lock is a conventional key-driven lock or a numeral lock having multiple numeral wheels13disposed in the chamber12. When the numeral wheels13are turned to a preset position, a central shaft14of the lock10can be axially moved into an unlocked state.

A post hole15is formed at one end of the housing11near a corner thereof. The post hole15extends in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the housing11. A cavity16is formed at the other end of the housing11and outward extends from the internal chamber12. As shown inFIG. 4, a restoring spring30is disposed between a head end141of the central shaft14and the numeral wheels13for constantly pushing the central shaft14to the cavity16on the right side ofFIG. 4. Avalve40is mounted in the housing11on outer or right side of the head end141of the central shaft corresponding to the cavity16. An upper section42of the valve40is formed with a stop pin41. When the central shaft14is pushed by the restoring spring30toward the cavity16, the valve40is simultaneously pushed toward the cavity16, whereby the stop pin41constantly naturally extends to a position inside the housing10corresponding to the cavity16.

The present invention further includes a cable20which is coated with a gum layer23. The cable20has a fixed end21and an operating end22movable along the axis of the central shaft14of the lock10. As in the prior art, the fixed end21can be tied or fixed on a fixed article χ such as a column or a desk leg. The operating end22has a large diameter section24detained in the chamber12of the housing11, whereby the operating end22cannot be detached from the housing11. A hammer section43of the valve40abuts against the large diameter section24.

Referring toFIGS. 3 and 4, the present invention further includes a brake50having a gate51permitting the cable20to pass therethrough from one end to the other end. The inner diameter of the gate51is such that a slight damp is exerted against the cable20extending through the gate51. In the case that external force is greater than the damping effect, the cable20can be drawn and moved along the gate51to change the position of the brake50relative to the cable20. (The usage will be further described hereafter.) The brake50further has a stake53formed on a perpendicular lug52of the brake50at one end thereof and a projecting bolt54formed at the other end of the brake50opposite to the stake53. The stake53is detachably rotatably inserted in the post hole15of the housing11in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the housing11. The end of the brake50with the projecting bolt54is swingable about the stake53between a close position and an open position. The projecting bolt54of the brake50has a latch hole55. When the brake50is positioned in the locking position, the projecting bolt54can extend into the cavity16of the housing11, whereby the stop pin41of the valve40can be engaged in the latch hole55. (This will be further described hereafter with reference toFIGS. 5 and 6.)

In practical operation, the housing11and the brake50with small volumes are separately respectively passed through the hook latch member of one or several fixed articles or articles60to be locked, such as a ring member E of a computer mainframe. Then the stake53is inserted into the post hole15of the housing11.FIG. 5shows that the brake50is positioned in the open position. In this state, the brake50can be swung about the stake53toward the close position as shown inFIG. 6until the projecting bolt54of the brake50gets into the cavity16of the housing11and the stop pin41inserted into the latch hole55of the projecting bolt54. At this time, the brake50is locked with the housing11. The total height, weight or volume of the locked brake50and housing11is apparently larger than the diameter of the hole of the ring member E. Therefore, the locked bodies cannot be drawn out of the ring member E through the original path. Accordingly, the lock10and cable20lock the fixed article60as shown in FIG.8.

Referring toFIG. 7, when the numeral wheels13of the lock are turned by an operator to an unlocking position or number, the central shaft14is permitted to axially move. At this time, the operator can push the operating end22of the cable toward inner side of the housing to make the valve40and the central shaft14displace in the same direction to compress the restoring spring30. At this time, the stop pin41of the valve40is unlatched from the latch hole55of the projecting bolt54, permitting the brake50to swing back to the open position as shown inFIG. 5or the separation state from the housing as shown in FIG.4.

Basically,FIG. 5shows that the cable20is in a relatively natural state. In the case that the cable is in the state as shown inFIG. 6, the cable20is bent and an action force exists for pushing the housing11to separate from the brake50. Accordingly, a reaction force is reserved in the bent cable20. When the stop pin41of the valve40is positioned in the unlatching position as shown inFIG. 7, the reserved reaction force helps in automatically bounding the brake50to the open position as shown in FIG.5.

Please refer toFIG. 4or5, as aforesaid, when the external force is greater than the damping effect between the gate51of the brake and the cable20, the position of the brake50relative to the cable20can be adjusted. Accordingly, an operator can adjust the length of the cable20on left and right sides of the brake50in accordance with the condition of the environment. Therefore, the problem of random and excessively long reversed cable existing in the conventional device is solved. In addition, in comparison with the conventional device, the length of the cable20is adjustable so that the article60to be locked can be possibly kept in a desired position. Therefore, the article is prevented from being deflected or collided as happening in the conventional device. In special application situation such as a computer monitor without ring member E is to be locked, referring toFIG. 4, the cable20between the brake50and the housing11is adjustable to have longer length for surrounding a neck section under the monitor as shown in FIG.9. Accordingly, the application range of the cable lock of the present invention is wider.

It should be noted that when the brake50is separated from the housing11, a user can easily surround the article60to be locked with the cable20, especially in the case that the article60has larger volume or diameter and has a neck section61as typically shown in FIG.9. The brake50is separated from the housing11so that the cable20can easily directly surround the neck section61of the article60. Also, the cable20can directly surround a fixed article such as a column of a building or the like. In addition, after the stake53gets into the post hole15, when the projecting bolt54is not yet inserted into the cavity16, a user is able to adjust the diameter of the loop of the cable20to an optimal length. After the projecting bolt54gets into the housing11and is locked with the stop pin41, the brake50is locked with the housing and the article.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least a part of a ridge section17of the housing11is formed with a racket section18. When the brake50is positioned in the close position as shown inFIG. 6, the racket section18aids in pressing the cable20and preventing the cable20from moving. This helps in locating the cable20after the length thereof is, adjusted and possibly restricting the locked article60in the desired position. In a modified embodiment, the racket section18is formed on any contact face of the brake50in contact with the cable,20, such as inner surface of the gate51.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the valve40further includes a tenon44formed on an upper section42of the valve40. When the valve40is mounted in the chamber12of the housing, the tenon44is positioned on a rail19formed on inner end face of the chamber12, whereby the tenon44can move along the rail19to enhance the stability of the movement of the valve40.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the position of the brake50on the cable20can be changed, that is, the brake50can be fixed at rear end of the cable20, while a gate is formed in the lock10for the cable20to pass therethrough. When the projecting bolt54of the brake50is latched into the cavity16of the lock10, the projecting bolt54can simultaneously press and brake the cable20.