AU781367B2

AU781367B2 - A spring device

Info

Publication number: AU781367B2
Application number: AU66531/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Rana James Waitai; Steven Frank Wilkes
Original assignee: Assa Abloy Financial Services AB
Current assignee: Assa Abloy Financial Services AB
Priority date: 1999-10-21
Filing date: 2000-10-16
Publication date: 2005-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 2020-10-16
Also published as: NZ500459A; CA2324035A1; AU6653100A

Description

DHRef: 11-196AUDLH:MM

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL s~l q T SF C ji3

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Name and Address of Applicant: InWock0.1 Group Limited! pertsmyeth Read MiNfi-r Wellington NEW ZEALAND4 c~o L~ ~3 Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service:

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RANA JAMES WAITAI and STEVEN FRANK WILKES Don Hopkins Associates Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33, St Martins Tower, 3 1 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia A SPRING DEVICE Invention Title: The following statement is a fuill description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- TITLE OF THE INVENTION A SPRING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a spring device.

Door latches and locks are known where a lock mechanism is morticed into the door. A drive shaft or bar is engaged with the lock mechanism. A door handle with 1 0 associated escutcheon plate ("handle furniture") is mounted to one or both sides of the door to operate the lock mechanism. The ends of the drive bar engage with the handle so that upon operation of the handle the drive bar is rotated to retract the latch both of the lock mechanism.

It is also known to provide a spring biasing means within the escutcheon plate to apply a pre-load to the handle.

This biasing arrangement removes any slack in the drive system so that the handle is maintained in (and returns to) its normal or desired rest position. Generally such an arrangement comprises a spring mounted by one end to a fixing within the escutcheon plate and the other end coupled to part of the handle boss where it rotatably engages within the escutcheon plate.

The construction and arrangement is such that a fiddly and sometimes time consuming assembly operation is required to install the spring in the handle face plate SPEC 1250 12 OCTOBER 2000 and attach it to the attachment part of the handle boss.

Additionally the mountings for the spring need to be duplicated so that the spring can be located in the required position dependant on the "handing" that the handle will be mounted. The adjustment of the mounting of the handle with the escutcheon plate to suit the required handing may take place at the time of installation of the handle furniture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a spring device which is self contained and when fitted with lock handle furniture can apply a pre-load to the handle.

According to one broad aspect the present invention provides A spring device including a housing, a rotatable element, the rotatable element being adapted to couple with a drive bar of a handle mechanism, the rotatable element having engagement means, a coil spring, a first part of the coil spring anchored relative to the housing, a second part of the coil spring coupled to the rotatable element, retention means, the rotatable element is retained with the housing by the engagement means engaging and being retained by the retention means following an angular displacement of the rotatable SPEC1696 FEBRUARY 2005 01/04 2005 12:38 FAX 064 6 359 0198 DON HOPKINS 002 *900*9 4 @9 @9 99 9~ 9 9 9 90 9 S S 9 6 9 9.9.

.9 6* S 9* 9 0 0 0 9000 ooe o s oe o element relative to the housing, wherein a pre-set in the coil spring is created by said initial angular displacement.

Preferably there is provided limit means to limit the permissible extent of rotation of the rotatable element from the retention position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of the spring device, Figure 2 is an exploded view of the three main components making up the spring device, and Figure 3 is a further exploded view but in a reverse direction to that of Figure 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As is readily apparent from Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the spring device 10 includes three main SPEC1696 FEBRUARY 2005 COMS ID No: SBMI-01186489 Received by IP Australia: Time 10:32 Date 2005-04-01 components being a female housing 11, a male component 12 and a coil spring 13.

The housing 11 is dimensioned such that it can fit within the confines of an escutcheon plate of a door handle and be retained in an angularly restricted position. The housing 11 may require, depending on the design of the lock handle furniture, a cut-out or relief such as that shown at 14 to provide a clearance *for some part of the 0 lock mechanism (say a drive connector to an external nib for manual operation of the lock mechanism or say a fastener used to fasten the escutcheon plate to a door construction).

The housing 11 therefore is configured to the requirements of the lock handle furniture but to ensure that it is as widely useable as possible the external dimensions of the housing 11 will be kept within limits such that the housing can be used with a variety of lock handle furniture.

The coil spring 13 has an internal tail or projection and an external curved tail 16.

A spring retaining cavity 17 in the female housing component 11 provides a floor 18 with a central opening 19. A pair of opposed and curved walls 20 and 21 are substantially concentric with the central axis of opening SPEC 1250 12 OCTOBER 2000 19. The spring component 13 can thus be located within cavity 17 so that it sits on the floor 18.

One end of wall 21 is provided with a curved return 22 (see Figure 3) about which the curved tail 16 of the spring component 13 engages. In Figure 1 the end of the curved tail 16 can be seen engaged with the curved return 22 adjacent the relief 14. Because the spring component 13 engages on floor 18 and the curved tail 16 is located beneath overhang 23 of the female housing 11 the curved tail 16 is effectively retained in place.

Each of walls 20 and 21 includes a rebate 24. At diametrically opposing ends of rebates 24 an undercut 32 is provided. With wall 21 this undercut 32 is provided by an extension 23a of the overhang 23. A recess (Figure 3) extending in from the underside of floor 18 provides the undercut in wall 20 due to the rebate 24 opening into the recess The purpose of these two undercuts 32 will be apparent from the following.

The male component 12 is generally disc shaped with a pair of diametrically opposed projections 26. A turret S 27 is of a diameter such that it can fit within the ""interior of the spring 13 and rotatably engage within opening 19 in floor 18. The turret 27 has a square SPEC1696 FEBRUARY 2005 7 shaped opening 28 through which the square drive bar (not shown) of a door lock mechanism can engage.

The spring device 10 is in the preferred method assembled by locating the spring component 13 in place on the male component 12. The female housing 11 is then fitted over the male component 12 followed by a rotational movement applied to the female component 11 relative to the male component 12 until the opposed projections 26 engage in rebates 24. The projections 26 are then allowed to drop back to the undercuts. The male component 12 is thus S.held in position.

A recess 29 in the male component 12 opens into the 15 central opening 28 via a narrow gap 30. As can be seen in Figure 1 the internal tail 15 of the spring 13 engages within the gap 30 so as to anchor the tail in contact with the male component 12.

The assembled device 10 is located within the escutcheon plate of a door handle and the drive bar for coupling the handle to the morticed lock mechanism engages through central opening 28. The device can be placed within this drive train either way around which allows the handle set to be placed on either left or right side of the escutcheon plate. The spring 13 not only pre-tensions the drive train but also holds the three components of the spring device 10 together.

SPEC 1250 12 OCTOBER 2000 8 This pre-tension arises because the spring 13 is retained within the device such that the spring is placed under tension. The projections 26 are at 1800 to each other.

The male component 12 is able to be rotated such that the projections 26 move toward the ends of the rebates 24 opposite to those having the undercut 32 within which the projections 26 will normally be located.

While the projections 26 are located beneath the undercuts the pre-load is applied to the drive train.

However, in this position the central opening 28 is so positioned that the handle coupled to the drive bar will always be set at the desired position (more particularly its rest position). As the handle is moved to a position which moves the latch tongue of the lock mechanism to an open position, the male component 12 rotates thereby causing the projections 26 to slide along the rebates 24.

When the handle is released the spring 13 applies a restoring force which assists the internal spring mechanisms of the lock to ensure that the handle is returned to its normal rest position.

The present invention thus provides a spring device which can be simply installed in an escutcheon plate with which a door handle is associated. The drive bar can engage through the spring device so that coupling of the door handle to the lock mechanism is achieved. The spring device can be fitted either way around depending on whether the handle is set to either left or the right SPEC1696 FEBRUARY 2005 hand side of the escutcheon. The installer therefore only has to simply slip the spring device into position with a small rotation to apply pre-load and then install the escutcheon on the door. No fiddly coupling of a spring between the escutcheon plate and the door handle boss is therefore required.

The amount of pre-load applied by the spring 13 ensures that in its rest position the handle is always held in 1:i 0 the required position which generally is horizontal. The S"spring additionally, however, provides a restoring force which assists the lock when the lock is returning to its latching position and therefore the handle returned to its rest position.

While the foregoing has specifically referred to the invention in the context of a door lock and door furniture, the spring device is not so limited in its end use. For example the operating handle could be used in conjunction with a lock mechanism for purposes other than locking a door eg. a window.

SPEC 1250 12 OCTOBER 2000

Claims

2. The spring device as claimed in claim 1 further including limit means to limit the permissible 20 extent of rotation of the rotatable element from the retention position. o*oo
3. The spring device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 ooi wherein the coil spring is located within a cavity defined by a floor and a pair of oppositely disposed curved walls, the floor including an SPEC 1696 FEBRUARY 2005 11 aperture which is aligned with an open center of the coil spring.
4. The spring device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said one end of the coil spring is curved and engages with a curved extension of one said curved wall, there being an overhang adjacent the curved end of the coil spring, the overhang residing in a plane spaced from that of the floor. The spring device as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein each curved wall includes a rebate and at diametrically opposed ends of the rebates are undercuts forming said retention means.
6. The spring device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the rotatable element is substantially disc shape the engagement means comprising a pair of diametrically i opposed projections, each projection being 20 engageable in an undercut. o
7. The spring device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the rotatable element includes a turret which engages in the open center of the coil spring, said turret including an angular shaped bore therethrough. SPEC 1696 FEBRUARY 2005 12
8. The spring device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the housing is physically dimensioned to, in use, fit within an escutcheon plate of said handle mechanism.
9. A spring device substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 2 4 TH Day of February 2005 Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person DON HOPKINS ASSOCIATES s* D*g *DO• O*o O* SPEC 1696 FEBRUARY 2005