An electrical safety lock, particularly suitable for miniaturization

Abstract: This invention relates to a lock, which is operated by an electronic device controlling a mechanical part, whereby the lock operates according to the principle that the striker (11) on the door (3) of the box engages the rocking lever (8) integral with the body of the box; between the hook (11a) on the striker and the dog iron (8a) on the rocking lever there is a negative angle, preferably between approx. 1° and 10°, while between the door and the body of the box there is a certain clearance, closing which, for example by applying a slight pressure on the door and contemporaneously activating the electronic opening device, it is possible to disengage the striker and the rocking lever and, therefore, to open the door.

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a safety lock which is particularly suitable for being miniaturized and adapted, for example, to payphones accepting and collecting coins in a box. BACKGROUND OF THE ART These payphone boxes are currently provided with mechanical locks which may easily be picked, since they are opened by cap keys, and because they are exposed to atmospheric agents, they are often subject to discontinuous operation and may remain blocked, so that the authorized personnel cannot open them. In order to find a remedy to this tampering possibility, these boxes may be provided with locks that feature a mechanical part that is controlled by an electronic circuit that may only be activated through the entry of special secret codes by means of an electronic key or a similar device. Document WO 84/01180 describes a lock designed with a striker (14) integral with the door (12); a rocking lever (24) pivoted in a support (38 and 36) integral with the body (20), springs (30) and reaction pins (28) capable of causing the rocking lever (24) to return to the hooked position; an electromagnet (46) capable of attracting the rocking lever (24); the lock may be operated by means of an electronic device that controls the mechanical part; The lock described in Document WO 84/01180 was conceived in particular for use in airplanes and, in particular, it is designed to avoid accidental openings due to vibrations or openings by unauthorized personnel. Document WO 97/16614 describes a safety system for the doors of cargoes which provides for a connecting mechanism (68) that includes an extended distant section (88) and an L-shaped close section (90), the section (88) is connected with the locking device (66) and a small area (92) of the L-shaped section (90) may be connected with the electromechanical actuator (56). Such a structure allows to convert the minimum linear motion into the angular motion needed to shift the device (66) from a closing to an opening position and vice versa. Besides, the latter simulates a stiff connection keeping the lock (66) in the close position and deviating all the forces of the electromechanical actuator (56) towards the housing (64) for an enhanced resistance; in this position, the system is self-locking and needs no battery feeding. Even though the state of the art describes devices that could solve the problems posed by the installation on the boxes that contain tokens or coins in payphones and the like, in practice the recourse to such devices does not allow to obtain locks having such extremely limited dimensions as those that may be obtained with the device claimed in this invention. Besides, it should be borne in mind that, in order to be activated, the locks described in the state of the art require that the control part be fed by batteries or other power supply capable of activating mechanical parts that, just on account of their configuration and intended use, oppose considerable resistance. Therefore, this invention purposes to realize a lock having very limited dimensions, suitable for being installed on boxes accepting telephone tokens and the like, that features a considerable level of security due to the mechanical closure that increases its resistance when an attempt is made to tamper with it, and an electronic part that, besides sending activation codes to the mechanical part, allows also to deliver the power needed for its operation, avoiding any problem resulting from the connection with the power supplied by batteries or other power source. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION This invention relates to a lock, which is operated by an electronic device controlling a mechanical part, whereby the lock operates according to the principle that the striker on the door of the box engages the rocking lever integral with the body of the box; between the hook on the striker and the dog iron on the rocking lever there is a negative angle, preferably between approx. 1° and 10°, while between the door and the body of the box there is a certain clearance, closing which, for example by applying a slight pressure on the door and contemporaneously activating the electronic opening device, it is possible to disengage the striker and the rocking lever and, therefore, to open the door. Furthermore, the lock has been designed to be opened by means of an electronic device, which controls the mechanical part, only after the recognition of a user code entered on the lock itself, by means of an electromagnet or the like, which attracts the rocking lever, making it rotate around a pivot and thus disengaging it, The electronic safety lock contemplated and described hereunder is essentially composed of the features according to claim 1. As mentioned above, a characteristic of the mechanical part of the lock is that, when it is closed, the angle formed by the rocking lever hook and the striker hook is negative by about 1° to about 10°, thus engaging the two hooks in a virtually inviolable position. The lock may be opened only after the electromagnet has received the necessary energy to attract the rocking lever and only if the user, by pressing the door, closes the minimum clearance of several millimetres (between approx. 0.2 and 0.8) between the body and the door, thus allowing the rocking lever hook to disengage itself from the striker hook and to rotate, until stopped in the open-lock position by the specific elastic means. A further characteristic of the lock is the miniaturized power feeder, which is very effective, especially thanks to the external ring featuring a slot of several millimetres and which is very small so as to reduce the dispersion of energy and improve the performance of the device. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows a view from above of the plan of the lock. Fig. 2 shows a view from above of the lock featured in fig. 1, in the open position. Figs. 3 to 7 show a plan of the engagement details and of the resetting tooth in the various positions, from closed to open. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Having regard to the above figures, the electronic safety lock is shown mounted on a box, or the like, but it may also be installed on any kind of door. The striker 11, fastened by means of screws or the like, on the door 3 hinged to the body 1, by means of the hinge 2, consists of an elongated element, substantially shaped like a parallelpiped, on whose internal face, for about 3/4 of its length, there is a hook 11a, after which the striker continues with a reduced width to the end, where there is a resetting tooth 12, which may clearly be seen in the detail shown in Fig. 3, hinged in 13 and provided with a spring 14, which always positions it at 45° to the horizontal axis of the striker. To the body 1 is fastened, by means of a base 4, with screws or the like, the set comprising the rocking lever 8, an electromagnet 10, and electronic opening components. The rocking lever 8 rotates around a pivot 5 and presents a spike 8a, which departs from a substantially rectangular body pivoted in 5 and provided with a spring coaxial with the pivot 5, kept in a loaded position by the reaction pin 7. An electromagnet 10 attracts the rocking lever, which features a metal plate 8b on the face toward the electromagnet, thus making it rotate. This movement occurs when the user, by means of an electronic device which is the subject of a previous patent by the same inventor, by means of an infrared transmitter sends energy and certain predetermined codes to an infrared receiver, which checks the correspondence between the received code and the set code and powers the electromagnet 10, which thus attracts the rocking lever 8. The negative angle between the spike 8a of the rocking lever 8 and the hook 11a of the striker allows the opening of the lock, after the activation of the electromagnet, only if the clearance of a few millimetres between the door and the body has been suitably closed, so that the hook 11a of the striker 11 moves inward, thus disengaging the spike 8a of the rocking lever 8. This negative angle absolutely prevents the lock from being forced or picked since, when the electromagnet is not activated, the more the door is pulled outward, by means of a crowbar or other such instrument, the stronger becomes the engagement between the spike 8a of the rocking lever 8 and the hook 11a of the striker. When the rocking lever 8 is attracted by the electromagnet 10, and after the door has been opened and kept in an open position, by rotating it by a few degrees compared to the longitudinal axis of the striker, by means of suitable elastic means, such as, for example, a presser 6, which exercises a certain force on the face of the rocking lever keeping it in the open-lock position (figs. 3 and 5). When the door 3 is closed, the resetting tooth 12, located at the end of the resetting device 13 engages the tooth 8c, located on the end of the face parallel to the striker 11 of the rocking lever 8, determining the rotation of the rocking lever 8, which moves from the angled open-lock position, toward the opposite side of the striker 11, to the closed-lock position, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the striker 11, while at the same time engaging the spike 8a of the rocking lever with the hook 11a of the striker and locking the door with absolute safety. It is obvious from the above description that, in order for the lock to work in the best possible manner, the settings of the position of the striker 11 and of the base 4 supporting the rocking lever 8 must be as accurate as possible and a certain clearance must be provided for between the door 3 and the body 1. The above describes the preferred embodiment of this invention, which may obviously be modified, as long as the following claims are complied with.

Claims: An electronic safety lock-arrangement, particularly suitable for being miniaturized, comprising a body, a door and a lock, wherein: the body (1) is a box; the door (3) is the closure of the body (1) and is hinged to the latter by means of a hinge (2) that connects the door (3) to the body (1); the said door (3) includes a striker (11), that represents the element linking the said door to the lock, and this striker (11) is integral with the door and consists of a parallelepiped-shaped body that, at three fourths of its length, forms into a hook (11a); the said striker (11) extends after the hook (11a) inside the body (1) with a reduced width with respect to the preceding section and ends with a resetting tooth (12); the said resetting tooth is hinged onto the end of the striker with an integral pivot (13) and is provided with a spring (14) which is pivoted to the said pivot (13) that elastically maintains the resetting tooth (12) at 45° with respect to the longitudinal axis of the striker (11); the safety lock arrangement further includes: a rider (8) made up by a rocking lever by means of a spike (8a) that fixes onto the said hook (11a) of the striker (11); a tooth (8c) provided on the rider (8) parallel to the striker (11) designed to engage the resetting tooth (12) provided on the striker (11); a pivot (5), and the said rider (8) rotates around this pivot (5); a spring (9) coaxial to the said pivot (5) that allows the elastic rotation of the said rider (8) in the position of engagement and disengagement; a presser (6) provided at the end facing the rider (8) with an elastic element that presses over a part of the rider (8) and keeps it in the closing and opening position; an electromagnet (10) placed close to the rider (8) that attracts it and causes it to rotate; an electronic device that supplies the energy required to feed the electromagnet (10) when enabled by the entry of given codes on the part of the user; between the hook (11a) provided on the striker and the spike (8a) present on the rider there is a negative angle ranging between 1° and 10°, thus engaging the hook on the striker and the spike on the rider in a virtually inviolable position characterized by the fact that a certain clearance is provided between the door (3) and the body (2) and, closing the clearance, activates the electronic opening device that causes the disengagement of the spike (8a) from the hook (11a) of the striker (11) and the consequent opening of the door (3). An electronic safety lock-arrangement, particularly suitable for being miniaturized, comprising a body, a door and a lock, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the electronic device feeding the electromagnet (10) is represented by an infrared transmitter that delivers energy and codes to an infrared receiver that, after having checked the correspondence between the safety codes being entered and the anticipated codes, powers the electromagnet (10). An electronic safety lock-arrangement, particularly suitable for being miniaturized, comprising a box body, a door and a lock, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the presser (6) is mounted close to the rider (8) edge opposed to the tooth (8c). An electronic safety lock-arrangement, particularly suitable for being miniaturized, comprising a body, a door and a lock, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the resetting tooth (12) engages the tooth (8c) provided on the rider (8) during the closing of the door (3) and causes the rotation of the said rider (8) that moves from the position angled towards the opposite side of the striker (11) to a position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the said striker (11), causing the engagement of the said spike (8a) with the said hook (11a) of the striker (11).

Inventors: ROSA CLAUDIO, ROSA, CLAUDIO
Applicants: ALDO BIANCONE S R L, ALDO BIANCONE S.R.L.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: E05B47
IPC codes: E05B47