Abstract:
The locking cylinder has a basic code which can be changed using at least one change key ( 17, 17 ′). A rotor ( 3 ) is mounted in a cylinder housing ( 2   a   , 2   b ) and has a keyway ( 4 ) into which a shank of a standard key which is provided with control surfaces  18  can be pushed in order to position the tumblers which are arranged in three first rows (A, B, C). Further tumblers have coding elements ( 13 ) which are arranged in further bores in the cylinder housing ( 2   a   , 2   b ) in a programming position of the rotor ( 3 ). The change key ( 17, 17 ′) interacts with three further rows (D, E, F) of tumblers in the programming position, these tumblers being arranged in slides. These further rows (D, E, F) each contain tumblers having coding elements (C). The locking cylinder can be produced with a smaller outside diameter and be installed in a particularly cost-effective manner.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The invention relates to a locking cylinder having pin tumblers, in which a basic code can be changed using at least one change key, having a cylinder housing in which a rotor is mounted which has a keyway into which a shank of a standard key which is provided with control surfaces can be pushed in order to position the tumblers which are arranged in three first rows, and having further tumblers which have coding elements and which are arranged in further bores in the cylinder housing in a programming position of the rotor. 
   2. Prior Art 
   Numerous embodiments of locking cylinders having pin tumblers whose locking arrangement can be changed are already known. For example, EP 0250701 presents a cylinder lock in which at least one pin tumbler has what is known as a combination plate. This combination plate can be accommodated by a recess in the core and thus be removed from the region of the pin tumbler. The locking arrangement of this locking cylinder can be changed without replacing and even without dismantling the lock. This is necessary, for example, when a key is lost. 
   EP 0918124 A likewise discloses a locking cylinder in which a basic code can be changed. For this purpose, a key has a recess which can accommodate an auxiliary tumbler, and therefore this auxiliary tumbler can be removed or reinserted. Rekeying of this cylinder is comparatively complex and requires an expert. 
   GB 2154652 A discloses a locking cylinder which has coding disks for collecting locking elements in a separate bore and a separate core. These coding disks can be stored away. The locking cylinder has a plurality of shear lines and can therefore be produced only with a comparatively large outside diameter. 
   OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention is based on the object of providing a locking cylinder of the abovementioned type which ensures a considerably higher locking reliability. 
   In the case of a generic locking cylinder, the invention is achieved in that the change key interacts with three further rows of tumblers in the programming position, these tumblers being arranged in slides, and these further rows each contain tumblers having coding elements. In the locking cylinder according to the invention, the rekeying can be performed simultaneously in three rows or three bore lines. The rekeying positions, and thus the tumblers having coding elements, can therefore be arranged over three planes and thus over significantly more bores. The rekeying options are significantly increased in this way. This results in significantly higher reliability. The higher reliability is produced in particular by the rekeying positions or the coding positions being reliably disguised. It is therefore impossible to determine the location of the coding positions on the key. On account of the many rekeying options, the owner of the locking cylinder may rekey or program it back and forth several times, for example 10 or 20 times. Key sets which have been used can be archived and reused after a certain period of time. The fact that a small outside diameter and also particularly simple installation are possible as a result of the further rows being arranged in slides is also significant. 
   According to one development of the invention, provision is made for the cylinder housing to have recesses into each of which a slide is inserted which accommodates housing pins of the pin tumblers. These slides can be produced and fitted with the housing pins before being inserted into the abovementioned recesses. The rotor fitted with the tumbler pins can be installed in the cylinder housing when the slides are inserted, so that the locking cylinder is already functional after the slides are pushed into the housing. This development additionally has the significant advantage that the locking cylinder can be implemented with a customary outside diameter of 17 mm. 
   One development of the invention provides for the further rows to be arranged asymmetrically with respect to a central plane of the locking cylinder. In this way, it is possible to produce a left-sided version and a right-sided version. This has the significant advantage that central systems can be constructed. In the case of an apartment block, the front door, for example, is then equipped with a left-sided locking cylinder. The apartment doors are then each equipped with a right-sided locking cylinder. 
   One development of the invention provides for at least one of the three further rows to have a fixed pin position. This pin position is preferably the rearmost position. A standard key can therefore not be used for programming purposes. A special change key or programming key is necessary for programming purposes, this key having a notch into and out of which the radially immobile pin can move. A standard key without this notch cannot be pushed into the keyway as far as the key stop in the programming position. All normal keys are therefore blocked in the programming position. 
   According to one development of the invention, the locking cylinder is a double locking cylinder. The two cylinder housings are preferably produced separately and connected to a web. The division into two cylinder halves permits particularly simple installation, during which the abovementioned slides are inserted into the recesses in the cylinder halves. 
   The invention also relates to a locking cylinder. In this case, provision is made for the change key to have at least one notch, which is open at the front, at the front end of the shank. This notch makes it possible to use the key in the programming position in which at least one pin is fixed. 
   Embodiments having two notches which are arranged to be rotationally symmetrical or four notches which are arranged symmetrically are of course also possible. Two or four fixed pins are correspondingly present in the locking cylinder. 
   Further advantageous features can be found in the dependent patent claims, the following description and the drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     One exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in greater detail in the text which follows with reference to the drawing, in which; 
       FIG. 1  shows a locking cylinder according to the invention, with the rotor and the tumblers in the installation position, 
       FIG. 2  shows the cylinder according to  FIG. 1 , but with the change key inserted, 
       FIG. 3  shows the locking cylinder after a reprogramming operation, 
       FIG. 4  shows the locking cylinder with the key withdrawn, 
       FIG. 5  shows the locking cylinder in the programming position with a second change key inserted, 
       FIG. 6  shows the locking cylinder after reprogramming using the second change key, 
       FIG. 7  shows the locking cylinder after the change key of the second type is withdrawn, 
       FIG. 8  shows a further section through the locking cylinder according to the invention, 
       FIG. 9  shows a section according to  FIG. 8 , but with the rotor in the programming position, 
       FIG. 10  shows examples of coding cards, 
       FIGS. 11   a – 11   c  show three exemplary embodiments of programming keys according to the invention, 
       FIGS. 12   a – 12   c  front views of the keys according to  FIGS. 11   a – 11   c,    
       FIGS. 13   a – 13   c  show longitudinal sections through fitted slides, 
       FIG. 14  shows a front view of a cylinder housing with recesses for the slides arranged asymmetrically, 
       FIG. 15  shows a view according to  FIG. 14 , with the recesses oriented in a different manner, and 
       FIG. 16  shows a perspective view of the cylinder housing according to  FIG. 14 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The locking cylinder  1  shown in  FIG. 1  has a rotor  3  which is mounted in a cylinder housing  2   a . The cylinder housing  2   a  usually has a cylinder holder  9  which is only partially shown here. It can be seen from  FIG. 16  that the cylinder holder  9  has a recess  8  for accommodating a connecting web (not shown here) which connects the cylinder housing  2   a  to a further cylinder housing  2   b . The locking cylinder is preferably a double locking cylinder having two cylinder housings  2   a  and  2   b  which are firmly connected to one another by a connecting web. The two cylinder housings  2   a  and  2   b  each have bores  10  for accommodating connecting pins (not shown here) for anchoring the connecting web. 
   The rotor  3  has a keyway  4  for receiving a standard key or a change key  17 . The change key  17  or programming key is preferably what is known as a turning key or flat key which, according to  FIG. 2 , has control surfaces  18  in the shank, these control surfaces being created by bores. The bores may be single bores, stepped bores, milled sections or the like. The bores are preferably arranged in the narrow sides and in the side surfaces of the key shank. 
   The cylinder housing  2   a  has six recesses  7  which extend in longitudinal directions of the keyway  4  and which each accommodate a slide  6 . According to  FIGS. 13   a  to  13   c , the slides  6  each have a plurality of bores in various bore patterns, which bores are arranged in a row and each accommodate a housing pin  12  and, in some cases, at least one coding element  13 . The housing pins  12  are each supported against a comparatively thin housing wall  30  (shown in  FIG. 16 ) by a helical spring  11  or another suitable spring element. This housing wall  30  is not shown in  FIGS. 1 to 9  for illustrative reasons. The housing pins  12  are of different lengths, as shown in  FIGS. 13   a  to  13   c  for example. 
   The slides  6  having the springs  11 , the housing pins  12  and possibly the coding elements  13  form tumbler rows A to F. The tumbler rows A, B and C interact with the standard key. In contrast, the tumbler rows D, E and F serve merely to rekey or program the locking arrangements. As can be seen, the tumbler rows A, B and C according to  FIG. 1  are arranged symmetrically with respect to a central plane M. The tumbler row A is in the nine o&#39;clock position, the tumbler row B is in the twelve o&#39;clock position, and the tumbler row C is in the three o&#39;clock position. However, the tumbler rows D, E and F which are provided for rekeying or programming purposes are arranged asymmetrically with respect to the central plane M, as can also be seen in  FIG. 1 . The tumbler row D is in the half past ten position, the tumbler row E is in the half past one position, and the tumbler row F is in the half past four position. These tumbler rows D, E and F are turned clockwise through 45° with respect to the tumbler rows A, B and C. 
   The rotor  3  is provided with three bore rows H, I and K, the first bore row H having core pins  14 , the second bore row I having core pins  15  and the third bore row K having core pins  16 . These pins  14 ,  15  and  16  generally have different lengths, even within one bore row. Core pins such as these are well known per se. 
   The rekeying of a locking arrangement using a change key  17  is explained in greater detail below with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 4 . 
     FIG. 1  shows the locking cylinder  1  in the basic position after installation. The tumblers having the core pins  14 ,  15  and  16  are in the blocking position and are therefore not positioned by a key. The shear line  5  between the rotor  3  and the cylinder housing  2   a  is crossed by the housing pins  12 ,  12 ′ and  12 ″ and the rotor  3  is thus locked to the cylinder housing  2   a . The rotor  3  is in the programming position here, that is to say is turned clockwise through 45° with respect to the central plane M. If they change key  17  is now inserted into the keyway  4  as shown in  FIG. 2 , the tumblers of the tumbler rows D, E and F are displaced radially outward. The housing pins  12 ,  12 ′ and  12 ″ no longer form a block. 
   As further shown in  FIG. 2 , two coding elements  13  of the tumbler row F are moved outward across the shear line  5  into the corresponding slide. One coding element  13  is located in the bore row I. Furthermore, two coding elements  13  are located in the bore row H. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the rotor  3  is next turned through 45° by turning the change key  17  in the counterclockwise direction. As a result, the coding elements  13  in the rotor  3  are also turned through 45° in the counterclockwise direction. These coding elements therefore change position. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the change key  17  is then withdrawn. The tumblers are then moved radially inward by the action of the springs  11  until the tips of the core pins  14 ,  15  and  16  touch. The rotor  3  is blocked as a result. This naturally applies simultaneously not only for three tumblers but for each of three rows of tumblers. The rekeying of the locking arrangement is thus concluded. As can be seen, rekeying such as this is extremely simple and can be performed very quickly by anyone in a few seconds. 
     FIGS. 5 to 7  show rekeying using a change key  17 ′, where  FIG. 5  corresponds to  FIG. 2 , but with the tumblers being radially offset in a correspondingly different manner in accordance with the various control surfaces of the change key  7 ′. The coding elements  13  are distributed over the rotor  3  and the cylinder housing  2   a  in a correspondingly different manner. The two coding elements  13  at the top left are located in the cylinder housing  2   a  when the change key  17 ′ is inserted, while the two coding elements  13  are each located in the rotor  3  in the other positions. The rotor  3  is then turned counterclockwise through 45° into the position shown in  FIG. 6  using the change key  17 ′. The change key  17 ′ is then withdrawn, and this is followed by the tumblers falling into the position shown in  FIG. 7 . The rekeying is thus complete. As can be seen, the locking arrangement according to  FIG. 7  is different to that according to  FIG. 4 . This is to say, the locking cylinder according to  FIG. 7  requires a different key to the one according to  FIG. 4  in order to position the tumblers. The locking cylinders according to  FIGS. 4 and 7  can be rekeyed again as desired. 
   The arrangement according to  FIG. 4  can thus be achieved starting from the arrangement according to  FIG. 7 , and vice versa. A used key set can be deactivated, archived and reused after a few years by rekeying the locking cylinder  1 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 8 , the last bore position of the tumbler row F does not have a radial bore into which the core pin  31  shown in  FIG. 9  could radially move. The result of this is that this pin position is radially fixed. If the rotor  3  is now turned to the rekeying position according to  FIG. 9  using a standard key, this standard key cannot be withdrawn in this position. It also impossible to fully push a standard key into the keyway  4  when the rotor  3  is in the rekeying position since the core pin  31  butts against the front end of the standard key and prevents it from penetrating any further. Therefore, a standard key cannot be used to rekey a locking arrangement. In order for this to be possible using the change key  17  or  17 ′, according to  FIGS. 11   a  to  11   c  and  12   a  to  12   c , said change key has notches  23  at the front end, these notches extending in the longitudinal direction of the shank  20 ,  21  or  22  and being open at the front. The number of notches  23  in the change key  17  corresponds to the number of fixed core pins  31 . According to  FIGS. 12   b  and  12   c , two notches  23  or four or else six notches  23  may be arranged to be rotationally symmetrical. 
     FIGS. 13   a ,  13   b  and  13   c  respectively show longitudinal sections through the fitted slides  6 ,  6 ′ and  6 ″ of the tumbler rows D, E and F. As can be seen, each slide  6 ,  6 ′ and  6 ″ has a plurality of coding positions P which each have at least one coding disk  13 . These coding positions P and the bore patterns can be varied in many ways. It is also possible to turn the slide  6  through 180°, so that another arrangement is produced. The slides  61  and  6 ″ thus correspond to the slide  6 , but are merely turned through 180°. The slides  6 ,  6 ′ and  6 ″ can be fitted outside the cylinder and form inserts  24 ,  25  and  26  which can be automatically installed. In the case of the insert  26 , the abovementioned fixed pin position is formed by a pin  28  which is inserted into a corresponding bore in the slide  6 ″. 
   A fixed core pin  31  correspondingly bears against the pin  28 . The inserts  24 ,  25  and  26  can also be interchanged, so that other locking arrangements are produced in turn. The coding positions P can therefore be varied in three planes and thus over a large number of different bores. This significantly increases the rekeying options and thus reliability. The coding positions P are therefore completely disguised and cannot be identified. 
   The cylinder housing  2   a  may be in the form of the version according to  FIG. 14  or in the form of the version according to  FIG. 15 . The difference between these two versions is the arrangement of the recesses  7 . In  FIG. 14 , three cutouts  7 ′ which are provided for rekeying purposes are turned to the right, whereas in the embodiment according to  FIG. 15  these recesses  7 ′ are turned to the left through 45°. This design means that two supplementary independent bore patterns can be included in the programming. As a result, a central system can be constructed. In this case, the cylinder housing  2   a  according to  FIG. 14  is, for example, used for the front door and the cylinder housing  2   a  according to  FIG. 15  is used for the apartment doors. The change keys  17  for the apartment doors can then not be used to rekey the front door, and vice versa. If the locking cylinder is a double locking cylinder, it correspondingly has two cylinder housings of the version according to  FIG. 14  or two cylinder housings according to the version of  FIG. 15 .  FIG. 10  shows three examples of coding cards, where the coding positions are each marked with a K and the customary locking positions are marked with an X. 
   LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS 
   
       
         1  Locking cylinder 
         2   a  Cylinder housing 
         2   b  Cylinder housing. 
         3  Rotor 
         4  Keyway 
         5  Shear face 
         6  Slide 
         7  Recess 
         8  Recess 
         9  Cylinder holder 
         10  Bore 
         11  Spring 
         12  Housing pin 
         13  Coding element 
         14  Core pin 
         15  Core pin 
         16  Core pin 
         17  Change key 
         18  Control surface 
         19  Key bow 
         20  Key shank 
         21  Key shank 
         22  Key shank 
         23  Notch 
         24  Insert 
         25  Insert 
         26  Insert 
         27  Bore 
         28  Pin 
         29  Pin 
         30  Housing wall 
         31  Core pin 
       A Tumbler row 
       B Tumbler row 
       C Tumbler row 
       D Tumbler row 
       E Tumbler row 
       F Tumbler row 
       H Bore row 
       I Bore row 
       K Bore row 
       P Coding position