Abstract:
A tubular radial pin tumbler lock is described. The radial pin tumbler lock has an outer shell, an inner shell housed in the outer shell, and a spindle housed in the inner shell. The spindle has a spindle head with an uneven number of irregular sides. A plurality of radial locking pins are arranged radially from the spindle. A crown on the spindle encases the locking pins. An anti-drill feature is included on the spindle head. An annular space between the inner shell and the spindle head allows access to the radial locking pins for operating the radial pin tumbler lock.

Description:
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Not applicable. 
   REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER LISTING APPENDIX 
   Not applicable. 
   COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
   A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office, patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to locks. More particularly, the invention relates to a split pin tubular pin tumbler lock with an irregularly shaped and sided spindle heads, an anti-drill dimple or ball, and a crown on the spindle to protect the pins. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   A weakness of conventional tubular radial pin tumbler locks is poor key control because of a limited number of keyways available for the locks. Providing a variety of keyways enables a specific key to open a lock where other keys will not open that lock. Most keys for tubular radial pin tumbler locks are round on both the outside and the inside. The number of keyways available for a round key is limited to one. Therefore, any round key may be used to open any round tubular radial pin tumbler lock of the same size. And since a large number of these locks are the same size, the same key may be used to open many locks. 
   Another problem with conventional tubular radial pin tumbler locks in that these locks are prone to picking or being drilled into in order to open the lock. Various types of split pin tubular pin tumbler locks have been designed with varying attempts to make the lock more pick resistant and drill resistant. Examples of previous attempts to solve these problems include a specifically designed key that fits into a corresponding shell. Another example of prior art demonstrates how a certain key can be designed to only fit into a corresponding shell. These solutions do not address the picking problems with picking tools that fit over a round spindle, in the above previous solutions the changes were made to the outside diameter of the key which mates to the corresponding change to the shell. No changes were made to the spindle which remained round and subject to picking tools that fit over a round spindle. Others have tried to solve the problem to lock picking by using a different shaped key that would match up with the inner part of the lock. However, these solutions provide regularly shaped keys such as, but not limited to an octagon, which does not provide additional keyways since all of the sides are equal. Other have tried to solve picking problems by using multiple keys to operate the lock. However, the use of multiple keys can be inconvenient for users. Yet others have tried by using various methods, attempting to solve the picking and drilling problems with varying degrees of success. However, no prior art provides substantial drill protection. 
   In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved tubular radial pin tumbler lock and key that provides a larger number of keyways for increased key control and more protection against picking and drilling. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an exemplary tubular radial pin tumbler lock, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  shows a full exploded view of an exemplary tubular radial tumbler lock showing the relative position of all component parts, including, but not limited to, an outer shell, an inner shell and a spindle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  shows a frontal view of an exemplary tubular radial lock, showing an inner shell and a spindle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of an exemplary spindle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  shows a side view and a frontal view of an exemplary key showing seven sides of the interior of the key, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
   

   Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   To achieve the forgoing and other objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, a variety of implementations of tubular radial pin tumbler locks are described. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, a radial pin tumbler lock having an outer shell, an inner shell housed in the outer shell, a spindle housed in the inner shell, the spindle having a spindle head, the spindle head having an uneven number of irregular sides, a plurality of radial locking pins arranged radially from the spindle, and an annular space between the inner shell and the spindle head, the annular space having dimensions allowing access to the radial locking pins for operating the radial pin tumbler lock is described. 
   In another embodiment, a radial pin tumbler locking apparatus having an outer shell, an inner shell housed in the outer shell, a spindle housed in the inner shell, the spindle having, a spindle head, the spindle head having an uneven number of irregular sides, a plurality of radial locking pins arranged radially from the spindle, a tubular key, the tubular key having a inner shape matching the spindle head, and an annular space between the inner shell and the spindle head, the annular space having dimensions allowing access to the radial locking pins by the tubular key for operating the radial pin tumbler lock is shown. 
   In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a radial pin tumbler locking apparatus having a means for receiving a tubular key having an uneven number of irregular surfaces interior to the tubular key and parallel to an axis of the tubular key, a means for encasing locking pins arranged to engage the tubular key when the tubular key is received, and a means for preventing drilling on an axis of the receiving means is described. 
   Other features, advantages, and object of the present invention will become more apparent and be more readily understood from the following detailed description, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   The present invention is best understood by reference to the detailed figures and description set forth herein. 
   Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with reference to the Figures. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limited embodiments. For example, it should be appreciate that those skilled in the art will, in light of the teachings of the present invention, recognized a multiplicity of alternate and suitable approaches, depending upon the needs of the particular application, to implement the functionality of any given detail described herein, beyond the particular implementation choices in the following embodiments described and shown. That is there are numerous modifications and variations of the invention that are too numerous to be listed but that all fit within the scope of the invention. Also, singular words should be read as plural and vice versa and masculine as feminine and vice versa, where appropriate, and alternative embodiments do not necessarily imply that the two are mutually exclusive. 
   The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
   The preferred embodiment of the present invention adds protection to a tubular radial pin lock by incorporating three design elements; an irregular shaped and sided spindle head, an anti-drill dimple or ball, and a crown on the spindle to protect locking pins. By combining these three elements, the key control of the lock is increased along with the drill resistance and the pick resistance of the lock. 
     FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an exemplary tubular radial pin tumbler lock, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. An outer shell  20  holds an inner shell  23  and a spindle  21 . In the present embodiment, spindle  21  comprises a spindle head with an uneven number of irregular sides. The present embodiment has seven sides; however, any irregular and uneven number of sides may be used. The uneven sides of spindle  21  correspond with a key, shown by way of example in  FIG. 5 . By moving the uneven sides of spindle  21  to different positions on the circumference of spindle  21 , a new keyway may be created. 
   A keyway is created when the sides of spindle  21  and the internal sides of the key match up so that the key fits over spindle  21 . Other radial pin tumbler locks use a cylindrical spindle and key or an even number of sides for the spindle and key. However with the use of an uneven number of sides, as in the present embodiment, one of the sides is shorter or longer than the other sides and multiple keyways are created instead of only one keyway as created by locks with even sided on cylindrical spindles. For example, without limitation, if the uneven side of spindle  21  is at the one or two o&#39;clock position, the uneven side must also be at the one to two o&#39;clock position on the key in order for the key to fit over spindle  21  and operate the lock. Also, a key with an uneven side at the six to seven o&#39;clock position cannot fit over spindle  21  in the present example. This key only fits over a spindle where the uneven side is at the six to seven o&#39;clock position. 
   Anti-drill dimple or ball  22  is centered in spindle  21 . Anti-drill dimple or ball  22  generally prevents any attempt to drill through the center of the lock, by preventing the drill bit to center itself in the center of spindle  21 . If a drill attempt is made on a lock according to the present embodiment, the drill bit will slip or slide off of anti-drill dimple or ball  22 . Anti-drill dimple or ball  22  is added to spindle  21  during the molding process of spindle  21 . 
     FIG. 2  shows a full exploded view of an exemplary tubular radial tumbler lock showing the relative position of all component parts, including, but not limited to, an outer shell  47 , an inner shell  40  and a spindle  25 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In at least one aspect, spindle  25  differs from prior art spindles in that the crown as been added to protect the pins and to reduce the possibility of picking. The addition of the anti-drill dimple or ball prevents drilling and the irregular shaped spindle head provides the ability to have multiple keyways in many practical applications. 
   In the present embodiment, spindle  25  is inserted into inner shell  40  and then both spindle  25  and inner shell  40  are inserted into out shell  47 . A locking bolt  49 , combination pins  41 , a spindle  25 , bottom pins  43 , bottom pin springs  44 , a lock bottom  45 , a cam stop  46 , and a locking bolt spring  48  are shown by way of example for reference and position. The cut key is inserted into inner shell  40  and over spindle head  25 . The Combination pins  41  have different lengths (e.g., 0 to 7). There are 7 combination pins  41  in the present example. The matching key has seven cuts that match pins  41 . When the key is inserted into this mechanism it pushes combination pins  41  against bottom pin springs  44 . If the cuts on the inserted key matches the corresponding lengths of combination pins  41 , a “shear line” will be created between the spindle  25  and the lock bottom  45 . When this “shear line” is created the lock will turn and open. If the inserted key does not match the length of the combination pins  41 , at least one of combination pins  41  extend through the bottom of spindle  25  into lock bottom  45  the lock will not turn. 
     FIG. 3  shows a frontal view of an exemplary tubular radial lock, showing a spindle  10 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A seven sided spindle head  11  and an anti-drill dimple or ball  12  are shown for reference. Locking pin holes  13  are shown for reference as to the location of a crown  14  on spindle  10 . Crown  14  encases locking pins on all sides of spindle  10  except for the position where the key engages the locking pins. This prohibits the locking pins from pushing outward if a picking attempt is made on the lock with either a picking tool or another foreign object. 
     FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of an exemplary spindle  15 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment comprises an anti-drill dimple or ball  16  positioned in a spindle head  19 . A spindle crown  18  protects the lock pins by providing a pin enclosure  17 . Spindle crown  18  is an improvement over current spindle designs because spindle crown  18  completely encloses the pins in pin enclosure  17 . The design of spindle crown  18  increases the anti-picking qualities of the lock by preventing the pins from being pushed out toward the outer shell, shown by way of example in  FIG. 2 . 
     FIG. 5  shows a side view and frontal view of an exemplary key  28  showing an inner shape  29  of key  28 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment inner shape  29  has seven uneven sides. Key  28  is made to mate with a spindle, shown by way of example in  FIG. 1 ,  2 ,  3 , and  4 , so that the uneven or shorter side of inner shape  29  is in the same position on key  28  and the spindle. The outer surface of key  28  is a smooth cylinder, and the open end of key  28  is not chamfered. In alternate embodiments, the outer surface of key  28  may be a different shape providing the shape matches up with the lock corresponding with key  28 . In the present embodiment, key  28  is metal. However, key  28  may be made of various alternate embodiments including, without limitation, hard plastic. 
   By adding uneven sides on the spindle and the key, an anti-drill dimple or ball and a crown to the spindle, tubular radial pin tumbler locks according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention are more protective than current tubular radial pin locks. The present embodiment is incorporated in a plug lock, however, in alternate embodiments this same design may be incorporated into most any tubular radial pin locks such as, but not limited to, cam locks, desk locks, vending locks, and padlocks. 
   All of our ideas are implemented on the spindle with the corresponding irregular sides on the key. Our spindle with irregular sides, anti-drill dimple or ball and crown can be made to a smaller diameter size to solve the same problems we have shown here, but effective on the smaller diameter sized tubular radial pin tumbler locks. The same applies with the key it can also be made smaller to match up with the smaller sized diameter spindle and lock, thereby creating additional keyways for the smaller sized tubular radial pin tubular locks. 
   In our current embodiment, our locks are made from a die cast steel material, however, other material such as rigid plastic, stainless steel, brass or other metals and or plastics may be used. 
   Having fully described at least one embodiment of the present invention, other equivalent or alternative means for implementing a tubular radial pin tumbler lock according to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The invention has been described above by way of illustration, and the specific embodiments disclosed are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed. The invention is thus to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the following claims.