Patent Publication Number: US-6668601-B1

Title: Locking device

Description:
This application claims the benefit of Provisional application Ser. No. 60/303,852, filed Jul. 9, 2001. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to locking devices. More particularly, the invention is directed to a locking device with improved anti-theft aspects. 
     2. Related Art 
     Numerous variety of door locks exist. A type of such door locks germane to the present invention have an external lock body and an internal lock body connected on the door body of the door at two opposite sides. A pair of bars mounted inside the door body are connected in such a way to longitudinally retract and extend into an unlocked/locked position. Typically, the bars are protected in some manner to permit restricted actuation of the bars. 
     The present invention improves upon this type of lock to provide a door lock which provides increased anti-theft protection. Accordingly, the invention is directed to a locking device which is configured to mount to a frame of an entry way having a lock receiving surface therein, which includes a housing forming an enclosure with a door opening and a door and having a lock for locking the door to the enclosure about the door opening. Also, a second lock for locking the device to the frame disposed within the enclosure having an unlocking portion permitting unlocking of said second lock and is disposed in a manner which provides limited accessibility when the door is open. A key for unlocking the second lock can be inserted into the limited access of the enclosure to open the second lock. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a back view of the present invention in an unlocked position. 
     FIG. 4 is a back view of the present invention in a locked position. 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view through line  5 — 5  of FIG. 2 with a door in the closed position. 
     FIG. 6 is a back perspective view of the invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a side view of a lock used in the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention relates to an anti-theft locking device  10 . The device  10  includes a housing  12  having at least a front panel  14  having an opening  16  with a door  18  hingedly connected thereto. The door  18  includes a slot  20  to receive therethrough a tongue  22  having an eyelet  24  to permit attachment of a lock  26  as seen in FIG.  5 . The tongue  22  is fixed on panel  14 , but can be configured to another part of the housing  12  to accomplish the objectives herein. 
     In the shown embodiment, the housing  12  includes a back panel  28 , end panels  30 ,  32  and side panels  34 ,  36 . Adjacent opening  16 , the housing  12  includes an inner cavity  40  which has four side walls  42 ,  44 ,  46 ,  48  and a back wall  50 . A portion  52  interconnects walls  44  and  46  and includes a slot  54  of a sufficient size to fit a key through when inserting the key from side  42  toward side  48 , for example. The size of the cavil  40  is relatively small to only enable limited key access from one side of the portion  52  to the other side. 
     End wall  30 , side  42 , and portion  52  have coaxial aligned open surfaces  58 ,  56 , and  59 , respectively, to receive a sliding bar  60  therethrough. An end  62  of the bar  60  has a bore  64  extending therein to receive a radially extending actuating arm pin which can be permanently fixed thereto. The panel  14  has a slot  15  which runs partially longitudinally there along and receives the arm pin  63  therethrough. In this way the arm pin  63  can be used to slide the bar  60  longitudinally a limited distance of travel between locked and unlocked positions. 
     The bar  60  includes a radially extending tab  61  which includes an eyelet  67  which is designed to receive a locking pin  72  of lock  66 . The portion  52  includes a slot  53  through which the tab  61  moves into a lockable position (FIGS. 2,  4 ) within the cavity  40  and an unlockable position (FIG. 3) wherein the tab  61  is hidden. 
     The lock  66  is of circumference size to substantially occupy one side of the space in cavity  40  between side  48  and portion  52 . The lock  66  is generally C-shaped with an open slot  69  which when positioned correctly within the cavity  40  in alignment with slot  53  of the partition  52  to receive the tab  61  therein. A keyhole portion  70  of the lock  66  is configured to be disposed in alignment with slot  54  of the partition  52 . A key (not shown) may be inserted through the slot  54 , into keyhole portion  70  and turned which causes the locking pin  72  to extend radially inward the eyelet  67  to lock the bar  60  in place and in turn the bar  82  against movement. 
     Opening  68  can be designed to receive the end  62  in a guided manner to ensure alignment and ease operation. This can be by a tongue end groove, for example, when end  62  is inserted into the open surface  68 . 
     As can be seen in FIG. 4, the movement of the bar  60  into the locked position causes bar  82  through the interconnecting bars  80  to extend outwardly in a generally opposite direction to enable the same to move through a frame F. As seen in FIG. 6, for example, the interconnecting bars  80  have slotted surfaces  81  which slidably receive bolts  83  therethrough which extend through and from connector sleeve  85  on bar  60  and end connector sleeve  87  of bar  82 . As seen in FIGS. 2-4 and  6 , the slotted surfaces  81  are oblong and the bolts  83  limited travel to accommodate the bars  60  and  82  to slide vertically through the sleeves  91  and  93 , respectively, without causing bowing, i.e. relative displacement between the bars, as the bars would tend to do if connected in a typical hinge fashion. Thus, this sliding hinge connection provides the means for providing the bars move parallel to one another from locked to unlocked position. The sleeve  91  extends from the end panel  30  and includes the open surface  58  and sleeve  93  is mounted to the top panel  32  by way of a bracket  95 . The sleeves  91  and  93  are laterally spaced and parallel aligned position to one another. The bars  80  are also pivotally connected to a bracket  97  which is fixed to side panel  36  (e.g., see FIG. 6) and back of front panel  14 . The bracket  97  seen in FIG. 2, for example, includes coaxial open bearing surfaces  99  in arms  101  and bars  80  include an open bearing surface  103  all of which are aligned to receive a bolt  105  therethrough and rotate thereabout. The movement of the bars  60  and  82  remain in a laterally spaced and parallel relation to one another when moved from the locked to the unlocked position. Thus, it should be understood that these bars  60 ,  82  can thereby move into a locked position within such frame F having a locking bar receiving surface S as seen in FIG. 4 or suitable structure thus locking the device  10 . It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the structure in which the locking device  10  is to be mounted would have to be adapted with retaining surfaces aligned to removably receive the bars  60  and  82 . 
     The device  10  provides deterrent of theft since there is a double lock mechanism. The first being provided by an outer locking mechanism which when released discloses a second inner locking mechanism which prevents easy access to unlock the device  10 . The second locking mechanism is configured to eliminate a drill or other destructive device from accessing the keyhole  70  of the lock  66  in a manner which would remove the pin  72  as seen in FIG.  5 .