A SECURITY VESTIBULE ENTRY FOR CONTROLLED ACCESS TO BANKS AND THE LIKE

Abstract: In a security vestibule (1) entry for controlled access to banks and the like enclosures, two walls (9,10) of the vestibule have substantially circular arc bases, different diameters (D,d), and respective angular breadths (A,a) whose sum is at least 360°, being mounted on respective concentrical circular slideways (3,7; 4,8) and forming vestibule (1) doors; the security vestibule is therefore reliable, uncommonly simple in construction, and compact in size.

Description: This invention relates to a security vestibule entry for controlled access to banks and the like. As is well known, for security reasons, vestibule entries of banks and the like enclosures requiring controlled access, are to disallow, in normal conditions, any persons from entering and exiting an enclosure unchecked. In the particular instance of banks, such security vestibule entries must be made from bullet-proof materials to resist robbing attacks. Further, there exists a need for controlling a security vestibule to its "shut" condition in order to cut off a person therein, such as on the occasion of an alert situation resulting from a conventional metal detector having been tripped. For these reasons, security entries are usually equipped with a barrier system vestibule formed basically of a booth-like structure with two doorways; each doorway has a respective door, for either manual or automatic opening, which is hinged to the structure and provided with some interlocking closure means, e.g. locks or magnets, which only permit one door to be opened after the other door has been shut. This first type of security vestibule is, however, of a considerable size which cannot be reduced because this would make the passage inconvenient to use. Moreover, the passage times through the vestibule, which are tied to the door opening and closing times, would still be unsatisfactory because, with security vestibules of the type noted above, the passage times can only be shortened by increasing the door driving rates, which brings about obvious safety as well as engineering problems due to the heavy weight of such ballistic barrier doors. Other conventional security vestibules comprise booths having bullet-proof walls and automatically operated interlocked doors slidable along runways; such prior vestibules, and in particular those having sliding doors with an arcuate base for sliding along circular runways, can be made smaller than the first-mentioned type, but their construction is more complex and their door opening/closing times continue to be unsatisfactory. Also known are security vestibules including a booth apertured at opposed ends thereof, which are provided with a circular base partition formed with a 90° opening. The partition can be turned within the booth so as to bring its opening to register with either of the booth apertures. These known-type vestibules have the well-recognized disadvantage that they hinder quick escaping from the enclosure in an emergency, and fail to afford unobstructed way to handcarts, as allowed instead by the previously reviewed vestibules on disabling the door interlocking mechanisms. An additional drawback of partitioned security vestibules is that with angled entries where the booth apertures are 90° away from each other, in normal operating conditions, the partition would have to complete a 270° rotation each time, in order to avoid communicating the two booth apertures directly with each other, and this would evidently entails a long passage time. In order to reduce such passage time through the vestibule, and specifically to shorten the time required to open and close the doors, security vestibules have been proposed which also include a booth with two apertures, but have a door mounted at each aperture consisting of two sliding door wings adapted to be driven simultaneously toward and away from each other. In this way, the door opening, or closing, time is halved, but at the expense of a greatly complicated vestibule construction and an increase of its bulk dimensions. A further conventional security vestibule comprises a bullet-proof booth having a cylindrical interior shape and being provided with a revolving "gate" made up of plural segments. A vestibule to this design allow simmultaneous in and out passage, but have large sizes, hinder panic escape from the enclosure, and are generally unreliable security-wise. Another security vestibule, disclosed by DE-C-3233843 and comprising the nearest prior art document, has a cylindrical shape with two sliding curved doors and two fixed curved walls; in a closure position, each door closes the space between two walls, while in open position each door is substantially adjacent to a respective wall. A vestibule consisting of two hemicylindrical movable walls, each of them extending over at least 180°, is also known in the art. An example is shown in DE-A-1,030,550. However, according to this known type of vestibule, the hemicylindrical walls are caused to move around a vertical axis between two fixed side flat walls separating the outer space from the inner space. Such a known vestibule construction offers weak points from a security point of view, at the slinding junction between the revolving curved walls and the fixed flat walls where elastic sealing means are provided. Dangerous objects, such as a hangun, could be introduced through said weak points into the inner space which prevents the possibility of using such a type of construction as a security vestibule. Moreover, it does not permit the use of a metal detector consisting of a pair of opposing vertical panels, defining a sort of a gate, since such vertical panels can not be located in an effectively operative position for controlling the passage of any individual through the vestibule. From the operation point of view, the known vestibule according to DE-A-1,030,550, requires an overall angular movement of 360° of each wall for opening the passage from the outer side to the inner side. This presents another drawback for a security vestibule with heavy bullet-proof walls needing high revolving speeds to meet the demands of a high rate of passages. The problem underlying this invention is to provide a security vestibule for controlled access, which has such structural and operational features as to obviate the drawbacks affecting the prior art. This problem is solved according to the invention as claimed in the appended claims. The features and advantages of a security vestibule according to the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, to be taken by way of example and not of limitation in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view showing schematically a security vestibule according to the invention; and Figures 2 to 7 are schematical and fragmentary plan views of the security vestibule shown in Figure 1 at various stages of its operation. With reference to the drawing views, generally indicated at 1 is a security vestibule according to the invention, for use as a controlled access entry to banks and the like enclosures. The security vestibule 1 comprises a base plate 2 of square shape, on which two concentrical circular runways are formed, the outermost runway with a diameter D being designated 3, and the innermost runway with a slightly smaller diameter d than the diameter D being designated 4. Four vertical uprights 5 having the same length are mounted on the corners of the base plate 2. The reference numeral 6 denotes an upper plate supported on the uprights 5 and extending parallel to the base plate 2; the upper plate 6 is also provided with two concentrical circular runways 7 and 8, having respective diameters D and d and arranged to face the runways 3 and 4. The security vestibule 1 of this invention has two sheet-like walls 9 and 10 having respective circular arc-shaped bases of predetermined angular breadth A and a, and diameter D and d, respectively. It is important to observe that the sum of the angular breadths A and a, of the walls 9 and 10, exceeds 360° by a small margin. Particularly in-the example under consideration, the angular breadths A and a are identical and equal to 190°. In addition, the walls 9 and 10 are bullet-proof and formed preferably from ballistic barrier glass. The wall pair, 9 and 10, extend between the plates 2 and 6, and are mounted for sliding movement along the runways 3, 7 and 4, 8, respectively. According to the invention, the walls 9 and 10 constitute access doors for the vestibule 1, as explained more clearly hereinafter. Also provided are motive means, known per se and no further illustrated, for driving the walls 9 and 10 along their respective runways, and conventional sensor means, such as sensing platforms, photocells, and the like, for operating said motive means, as well as control means, such as travel limit switches, to stop said motive means and halt the walls 9 and 10 at selected positions. The operation of the security vestibule 1 for controlled access to banks and the like enclosures, will be described herein below with reference to a starting condition under which the vestibule would be "closed", as shown in Figure 2. Under that condition, the concave sides of the walls 9 and 10 face each other and the centerline of the vestibule 1, which centerline is indicated at X-X and identifies a passage direction through the vestibule ; accordingly under that condition, the passage through the vestibule 1, in the direction shown by the arrow in the drawing, would be blocked by the walls 9 and 10. Also under that condition, the opposedly located walls 9 and 10 would define an enclosed space therebetween. It is important to observe that since the sum of the angular breadths of the walls 9 and 10 is greater than 360°, such walls will overlap each other by a predetermined distance at the line X-X. In the example shown, the overlap is of 10°. On said sensor means becoming activated, such as on account of someone approaching the vestibule from the enclosure outside, the motive means will drive the walls 9 and 10 simultaneously along their respective runways 3, 7 and 4, 8, to cause them to complete an angular movement of about 45° (50° in the particular example under consideration). Thus, an aperture about 90° in breadth is uncovered which faces outside from the enclosure and through which access can be had to the interior of the vestibule 1 (see Figure 3). At this point, the motive means are again operated to drive the walls 9 and 10, presently partly overlapping each other, slidingly through approximately another 45°, but in the opposite direction, thereby the vestibule 1 is restored to its "closed" condition (see Figure 4) and the person inside the security vestibule 1 can be checked and recognized. Where the checking procedure is passed, e.g. if no metal objects such as weapons and the like are detected, the motive means will again drive both walls 9 and 10 through about 90° to uncover an aperture of about 90° toward the enclosure interior, through which the entering person can now be admitted (see Figure 5). After the visitor has gone through the security vestibule 1, the motive means are once again operated to restore the vestibule 1 to its original "closed" condition. The passage through the vestibule 1 in the opposite direction, i.e. exiting the enclosure, takes place in exactly the same way as described above. It is important to observe that in the event of a rush out of the enclosure, the motive means for the vestibule 1 would be operated, and one of the walls 9 or 10, preferably the wall 10, would be driven along its respective runways 4 or 8 from the "closed" position through an arc of 180° close against the other wall, thereby the concave sides of either will be facing in the same direction toward the line X-X. Thus, the passage through the vestibule 1 is unimpeded (see Figure 6). Where the small size of the security vestibule 1 disallows an easy passage under the condition depicted in Figure 6, and again on the occasion of a rush out of the enclosure, the walls 9 and 10 would be driven, the one through 45° and the other 135° so as to gather them together with their respective concave sides facing in one direction, at about 45° to the line X-X (see Figure 7). The security vestibule of this invention has shown to be highly reliable as well as uncommonly simple construction-wise and compact in size, primarily on account of its two sliding walls forming doors for the vestibule and providing a "closed" condition of the vestibule for the benefit of the secure enclosure. In addition, owing to the substantially semicircular base configuration of the two walls/doors, in order to open and close the vestibule, small angular displacements of said walls/doors are adequate. For this reason, and because such displacements are performed simultaneously, the passage times through the vestibule can be quite short. An additional advantage of the security vestibule according to the invention is that it can be readily assembled to fit a wide range of access ways from a reduced number of components. In particular, this vestibule may be used with either corner entries or straight entries, as well as with so-called self-operated security entries (cf., for example, European Patent No. EP-C-0 171 369 by this Applicant), wherein access is provided to the interior of a building, or alternatively to a get-through space separated from the building and only utilized on activation of a metal detector mounted at the entry. In this case, in fact, the sliding door movements may be easily controlled by said detector to give access into the building under normal conditions, or give access to the get-through space by appropriate rotations of the walls. The security vestibule entry disclosed herein above is obviously susceptible to many changes and modifications without departing from the true scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims: A security vestibule entry comprising a base, a top, a first wall extending from said base to said top along an arc of a circle having a first diameter, a second wall extending from said base to said top along an arc of a circle having a second dieter larger than said first diameter, opposed first circular runways associated with said base and said top for engaging said first wall for displacement along said first runway, opposed second circular runway associated with said base and said top for engaging said second wall for displacement along said second runways, said second runways being concentric with and of larger diameter that said first runways, said first and second walls having a combined angular breadth of not less than 360°, and four vertically extending uprights for supporting said top, located at corners of a square having side substantially adjacent to the runways, wherein walls are movable so as to permit passage through the vestible through openings defined by pairs of adjacents uprights, according to security and safety needs. A security vestibule entry according to claim 1, wherein each of said walls is movable in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. A security vestibule entry according to Claims 1 and 2, wherein the walls have equal angular breadth dimensions.

Inventors: COLOMBO, ATTILIO
Applicants: TONALI S.P.A.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: E05G5
IPC codes: E05G5, E06B3