SAFE DEPOSIT LOCKER INSTALLATIONS

Abstract: In a safe deposit locker installation comprising an array of individual safe deposit lockers (1) disposed in adjacent vertical rows (R₁ - R₁₀) vertical penetration-resistant bars (2) are borne externally of the lockers for horizontal sliding movement (or pivotal movement - Figure 3 not shown) immediately in front of the lockers (1). Each bar (2) can be locked in place in front of a respective row of lockers so as to block the doors (21) of the lockers in that row from opening, and the bars (2) can be displaced one at a time to unblock the respective row (eg R₅) without disturbing the other locked bars.

Description: SAFE DEPOSIT LOCKER INSTALLATIONS The present invention relates to safe deposit locker installations. Safe deposit lockers provide an excellent facility for individual renters to safeguard their valuables. The typical safe deposit installation comprises a rectangular array of individually-lockable compartments (ie lockers) located within a secure vault or strongroom. Usually, the door of each locker is equipped with a lock which requires two separate keys to open it. One key, (different for each locker), is issued to the respective renter, while the other key is held by the bank or other organisation which administers the installation. The latter key, which is generally termed the "custodian" key, may be the same for a group of lockers. The advantage of this dual-key operation is, of course, that in normal operation both the respective renter and a member of the custodian organisation must be present whenever a locker is unlocked. However, the greater measure of security against forcible entry to the lockers is provided not by the construction of the lockers themselves but by the construction of the vault or other secure area wherein the lockers are housed and to which access is normally strictly limited. If criminals are, by whatever means, able to gain access to the room where the lockers are housed then it is an easy matter, relatively speaking, to force open or penetrate the doors of typical safe deposit lockers. It is an aim of the present invention to provide a safe deposit locker installation with increased security against forcible entry to the lockers, assuming that access to the locker room has been gained. More particularly the invention seeks to achieve increased security by providing additional elements to resist opening of the locker doors but without requiring changes in the construction of currently-produced lockers themselves, and which additional elements are of a nature to facilitate retro-fitting to existing installations. Preferably the use of such additional elements should not unduly complicate the legitimate opening of any safe deposit locker in an installation but at the same time they should offer protection against opening under duress in a "hold-up" situation; it is furthermore desirable that such additional elements can be arranged to release only a limited number of lockers for opening at any one time, while the remainder of the lockers remain protected. Accordingly the present invention provides, in a safe deposit locker installation comprising an array of individual safe deposit lockers disposed in adjacent vertical rows, a plurality of vertical, penetrationresistant bars borne for movement relative to and externally of the array of lockers, each such bar being arranged to be locked in place in front of a respective said row so as to block the doors of the lockers in that row from opening and, when unlocked, to be displaceable from that position so as to permit the doors of the lockers in that row to be opened. In one arrangement the bars are borne for horizontal sliding movement immediately in front of the array of lockers. In another, the bars are borne for pivotal movement about respective vertical axes. Preferably, the widths of said bars, (and where appropriate the geometry of their pivotal mountings) are so chosen in relation to the widths of the lockers which they -protect that any one bar can be displaced from its locked position to unblock the doors of the lockers in the respective row while the respective neighbouring bars remain in their locked positions. In this way it can be arranged that only a limited number of lockers in any array need be unblocked for opening at any one time. The respective bars may be locked in place eg by means of bolts which are thrown from the upper and lower edges of the bar into fixed detentions provided respectively above and below the uppermost and lowermost lockers in the protected row, with the bolts being selectively lockable in their thrown positions by means of a suitable locking mechanism housed in the bar. Whatever form the bar-locking means may take, in the normal arrangement where dual-key operation of the individual lockers is involved it is preferred that the bars cannot be unlocked by a "custodian" key (but rather by the normal renter's keys appropriate to the protected row or by separate keys issued only to the renters), to avoid that bank staff or the like can unlock the bars if placed under duress in a Uhold-up" situation, or that a stolen or copied "custodian" key can be used to release the bars. Although we have spoken herein in terms of dual-keyoperated lockers it is to be understood that either or both of the renters' and "custodian" locking mechanisms on a locker could instead be provided by or supplemented with a keyless combination locking mechanism or any other convenient kind of code recognition means. These and other features of the invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of part of a safe deposit locker installation equipped with locking bars in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a vertical section through one of the locking bars of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of part of a safe deposit locker installation equipped with locking bars in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 is a schematic plan view of part of the installation of Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a vertical section through one of the locking bars of Figure 3. With reference to Figure 1 there is seen part of a safe deposit locker installation including two rectangular arrays of lockers 1 disposed against adjacent walls inside a bank vault or the like secure room. The lockers themselves are of purely conventional construction, with outwardly-hinging doors 21 provided with dual-key operated locks 22. In each array the lockers -are disposed in adjacent vertical rows, such as those designated R1 - R10 for one of the arrays in Figure 1. Immediately in front of each locker array there are located a series of vertically-extending, horizontallyslidable, locking bars 2. As more clearly seen in Figure 2, each bar 2 is suspended at its upper end by pairs of rollers 3 (two pairs for each) which run in a track 4 fixed to a support member 5, the latter being rigidly mounted to the top of the locker array and (by means of struts 6 and 7) to the adjacent wall and ceiling of the vault. At its lower end the bar 2 is guided by two rollers 8 which run in a track 9 fixed to a plinth 10 which latter is rigidly mounted to the usual locker plinth 11 and to the floor of the vault. As seen in Figure 1 there is one bar 2 for each vertical locker row, and each bar can be locked in place in front of a respective row so as to block the doors of the lockers in that row from opening. To this end pairs of bolts 12 and 13 (Figure 2) can be thrown from the upper and lower ends of a lockcase 14 at the rear of each bar, into appropriately-spaced fixed detentions 15 and 16 welded into the top support member 5 and bottom plinth 10 respectively. These bolts are thrown and withdrawn by an external handle 17 provided on each bar (Figure 1) through a suitable mechanical transmission housed in the respective lockcase 14, of which many forms will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and of which details are omitted in Figure 2. This boltwork can be selectively locked in the thrown condition by a respective lock provided in each bar 2 (of which the key entrances are indicated at 18 in Figure 1). The front of each bar 2 is armoured to resist penetration by mechanical and thermal cutting tools. In a preferred embodiment this protection is provided by a slab 19 of security barrier material comprising a cast matrix of high thermal conductivity metal (eg aluminium) in which are embedded nuggets of very hard and refractory material (such as sintered or fused alumina), while the sides of the lockcase 14 behind this armoured layer may be protected, at least in the region of the lock, by plates of hardened steel. It will be appreciated that so long as a bar 2 remains in place in front of its row of lockers 1 the doors of those lockers cannot be forced open and even if a locker door should be cut through around the sides of a bar the bar will impede removal of the locker's contents, particularly when full-width inner containers such as indicated at 20 in Figure 1 are used. To obtain legitimate access to any particular locker the bar 2 for the respective locker row is unlocked and slid sideways on the tracks 3 and 9 to lie clear of the corresponding row - as indicated for the bar of row R5 in Figure 1 and the locker door 21 can then be unlocked and opened in the normal manner. In the illustrated embodiment the width of the bars 2 is slightly less than one third of the width of the individual lockers 1 so that, as shown, a single bar 2 can be displaced (to either side) from its blocking position to permit opening of the doors in its locker row, without requiring any displacement of the next adjacent bars. Only a strictly limited number of lockers (ie one vertical row) need therefore be unblocked at any one time in normal operation. Turning now to Figures 3 and 4 there is seen part of another safe deposit locker installation including two rectangular arrays of lockers 101 disposed against adjacent walls inside a bank vault or the like secure room. The lockers themselves are of purely conventional construction, with outwardly-hinging doors 102 provided with dual-operation locks 103 of a known type comprising a key-operated "custodian" mechanism plus a renters' mechanism released by turning a key and entering a specified combination on three dials 104. In each array the lockers are disposed in adjacent vertical rows, such as those designated R'1 - R'10 for one of the arrays in Figure 3. By virtueAo± the protrusi-on of the lock dials 104 from the locker doors in this arrangement it is not readily practicable to equip this installation with sliding locking bars as described above with reference to Figures 1 and 2. Accordingly in this embodiment there are associated with each locker array a series of vertically-extending, hinged locking bars 105. Each bar is mounted at its upper and lower ends to transverse cantilever arms 106 which are in turn pivoted by pins 107 to fixed structure above and below the uppermost andlowermost lockers 101 in the array. More particularly, and as shown in Figure 5, the upper pivot pin 107 is borne in a block 108 welded to a mounting member 109 which is rigidly attached to the top of the locker array and (by means of struts 110) to the adjacent rear wall of the vault; attachment points may also be provided to the ceiling of the vault. The lower pivot pin 107 is borne in a block 111 welded to a plinth 112 which is rigidly attached to the usual locker plinth 113 and to the floor of the vault. As seen in Figure 3 there is one bar 105 for each vertical locker row, and each bar can be locked in place in front of a respective row so as to block the doors of the lockers in that row from opening. To this end pairs of bolts 114 and 115 (Figure 5) can be thrown from the upper and lower ends of a lockcase 116 at the rear of each bar, into appropriately-spaced fixed detentions 117 and 118 provided in the blocks 108 and 111. As before, these bolts are thrown and withdrawn by an external handle 119 provided on each bar (Figure 3) through a suitable mechanical transmission housed in the respective lockcase 116, and this boltwork can be selectively locked in the thrown condition by a respective key lock provided in each bar 105 (of which the key entrances are indicated at 120 in Figure 3). Also as in the case of the previous embodiment, the front of each bar 105 is armoured to resist penetration by mechanical and thermal cutting tools, preferably by means of a slab 121 of security barrier material comprising a cast matrix of high thermal conductivity metal in which are embedded nuggets of very hard and refractory material, while the sides of the lockcase 116 behind this armoured layer may be protected, at least in the region of the lock, by hardened plates. Once again it will be appreciated that so long as a bar 105 remains in place in front of its row of lockers 101 the doors of those lockers cannot be forced open and even if a locker door should be cut through around the sides of a bar the bar will impede removal of the locker's contents, particularly when full-width inner containers such as indicated at 122 in Figure 3 are used. To obtain legitimate access to any particular locker the bar 105 for the respective locker row is unlocked and swung outwardly away from the lockers to lie clear of the doors 102 of that row, and the chosen locker can then be unlocked and opened in the usual way. This is indicated for the bar of row R'5 in Figure 3 and is indicated also in Figure 4 where the loci of opening movement of the illustrated bars are shown at 105' and the loci for the corresponding locker doors are shown at 102'. Figure 4 also shows that the "hand" of the hinges for the bar 105 in row R'10 - ie at the corner where the two locker arrays meet - is reversed as compared with the other rows R'1 - R'9 in the same array to permit unobstructed opening of that bar. The geometry of the mountings of each bar 105 is arranged so that any one bar can be unlocked and-swung away from its corresponding row of lockers without disturbing the neighbouring bars; only a strictly limited number of lockers (ie one vertical row) need therefore be unblocked at any one time in normal operation. As previously indicated, it is desirable that the bars 2 or 105 in either of the above-described embodiments should not be capable of unlocking by a "custodian" key, to guard against loss in a "hold-up" situation or if a "custodian" key should become compromised. It is preferred that each bar 2/105 requires a different key to pass its own lock, and that the keys for this purpose are issued only to the renters of lockers in the corresponding vertical row. The keys for this purpose can be additional to the normal renters' keys or the bar lock and the individual locks 22/103 for each locker in the same row can be suited such that the normal renter's key for any locker in that row will also unlock the corresponding bar 2/105. If desired, each bar 2 or 105 can embody a detector device to trigger an alarm in the event of an attack on the bar. In a simple form the detector may comprise a cord running in a narrow tube between the slab 19/121 and the external skin of the bar, and cnnected to a microswitch so that if the cord is cut, or slackened due to distortion of the bar, the alarm will be triggered by the switch.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A safe deposit locker installation comprising an array of individual safe deposit lockers (1;101) disposed in adjacent vertical rows (R1 - Rlo: R'1 - R'10); characterised by a plurality of vertical, penetration-resistant bars (2;105) borne for movement relative to and externally of the array of lockers, each such bar being arranged to be locked in place in front of a respective said vertical row so as to block the doors (21;102) of the lockers in that row from opening and, when unlocked, to be displaceable from that position so as to permit the doors of the lockers in that row to be opened. 2. An installation according to claim 1 wherein said bars (2) are borne for horizontal sliding movement immediately in front of the array of lockers (1). 3. An installation according to claim 2 wherein the widths of said bars (2) are so chosen in relation to the widths of the lockers (1) which they protect that any one bar can be displaced sideways from its locked position to unblock the doors of the lockers in the respective row (R1 - R10) while the respective neighbouring bars remain in their locked positions. 4. An installation according to claim 1 wherein said bars (105) are borne for pivotal movement about respective vertical axes (107). 5. An installation according to claim 4 wherein the widths of said bars (105) and the geometry of their pivotal mountings (106,107) are so chosen in relation to the widths of the lockers (101) which they protect that any one bar can be swung away from its locked position to unblock the doors (102) of the lockers in the respective row (R'1 - R'10) while the respective neighbouring bars remain in their locked positions. 6. An installation according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein each said bar (105) is mounted by cantilever arms (106) to a respective pair of pivotal bearing means (107) which are located respectively above and below the uppermost and lowermost lockers (101) in the array and spaced laterally from the respective bar. 7. An installation according to any preceding claim wherein the individual lockers (1;101) in a said row (R1 - R10; R'1 - R'10) are equipped with dualoperation locks (22;103) which require recognition of both a respective "renter's" key or other code means and a "custodian" key or other code means to unlock, and the respective said bar (2;105) is equipped with a lock (18;120) which cannot be unlocked by said "custodian" key or other code means. 8. An installation according to claim 7 wherein the lock (18;120) of the respective said bar (2;105) can be unlocked by each "renter's" key or other code means of the individual lockers (1;101) in said row (R1 Rlo; R'1 - R'10). 9, An installation according to claim 7 wherein the lock (18;120) of the respective said bar (2t105) can only be unlocked by a key or other code means different both from said "custodian" key or other code means and from each "renter's" key or other code means of the individual lockers (l;lOl) in said row (R1 - R10; R'1 - R'10). 10. An installation according to any preceding claim wherein each said bar (2;105) is adapted to be locked in place by means of bolts (12,13;114,1l5) thrown from the upper and lower edges of the bar into fixed detentions (15,16; 117,118) provided. respectively above and below the uppermost and lowermost lockers (1;101) in the protected row (R1 - R10; R'1 R 10)t and the bar houses a locking mechanism for selectively locking said bolts in their thrown positions. 11. An installation according to any preceding claim wherein each said bar (2;105) incorporates a penetration-resistant slab (19;121) comprising a cast matrix of high thermal conductivity metal in which are embedded particles of a very hard and refractory material.

Inventors: PARISI, CORRADO MARCELLO, PEGHETTI, FERRUCCIO GIORGIO
Applicants: LIPS VAGO SOCIETA PER AZIONI
Application year: 1984
Main classification: E05G1
IPC codes: E05G1