GB2292413A

GB2292413A - Street furniture fastenings

Info

Publication number: GB2292413A
Application number: GB9416544A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Deborah Elizabeth Wildridge; Frederick Frank Bird; Derek Roy Folkard; Andrew Mark Mann
Original assignee: HALDO DEV Ltd
Current assignee: HALDO DEV Ltd
Priority date: 1994-08-16
Filing date: 1994-08-16
Publication date: 1996-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2014-08-16
Also published as: GB2292413B; GB9416544D0

Abstract

An article of street furniture, such as a cabinet or street lighting column, has a housing (1) with an aperture closable by a hinged door (2). On closure, the door (2) is locked automatically by a vertically shiftable locking bar (6) which engages catches (8, 9) carried by the door (2). The locking bar (6) is moved to its release position, to enable the door (2) to be opened, by energisation of a solenoid (14) disposed within the housing. The solenoid (14) is energised by either connecting an external low voltage power source across contacts which are accessible from outside the housing or by using a remote actuator to effect the connection of an internal power source to the solenoid. The locking mechanism and its manner of release are therefore not apparent, so minimising vandalism to the cabinet and its contents. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE: ARTICLES OF STREET FURNITURE This invention relates to articles of street furniture and in particular to such articles having housings with apertures closable by panels.

Articles of street furniture such as cabinets or street lighting columns have housings with apertures closable by panels in the form of hinged doors to enable access to be gained to electrical control equipment accommodated within the housings. The doors are locked usually by means of a locking mechanism released by a triangular-section key inserted into a correspondingly shaped keyhole in the external surface of the door. The keys to open these locks are readily available so unauthorised access to the housings and damage to the electrical control equipment occur frequently. Also, the visual prominence of the locks encourages vandals to attempt to force them or to fill the keyholes with glue, hindering subsequent authorised unlocking. The invention aims to provide an article of street furniture which is considerably more vandal-proof than known arrangements.

According to the invention there is provided an article of street furniture having a housing with an aperture closable by a movable panel, the panel and housing having inter-engageable means to lock the panel in a closed position in which it closes the aperture, releasing means within the housing which are capable of being electrically energised to release the interengageable means and means for energising the releasing means from outside the housing to unlock the panel.

The movable panel is preferably a door hinged along one edge to the housing and pivotally movable between an open position and the closed position.

The releasing means within the housing may include a solenoid which is electrically energisable to move a member, such as a locking bar, forming part of said inter-engageable means. The inter-changeable means on the door may be a catch (or catches) which automatically engage the locking bar when the door is closed.

In a preferred embodiment, the means for energising the releasing means include electrical contacts which are accessible from outside the housing and which are electrically connected to the releasing means to enable a source of electrical power (eg a low voltage power source) to be connected to the contacts and thereby effect release of the releasing means.

Alternatively, the means for energising the releasing means may comprise a source of electrical power disposed within the housing and a remote actuator, eg linked by infra red to a sensor within the housing, for causing the releasing means to be electrically energised by the source of electrical power.

The article of street furniture may be a cabinet or a street lighting column.

A cabinet according to the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of the cabinet with a hinged door in an open position, Figure 2 is a side view of the open cabinet, looking in the direction of arrow II in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a view of the other side of the cabinet but with the door in a closed position and with parts cut away to show internal detail, and Figure 4 is a fragmentary view, to an enlarged scale, of part of Figure 3.

The cabinet is of rectangular box-like shape and has a metal housing 1 with an open front presenting a rectangular aperture closeable by a hinged door 2. The housing 1 typically accommodates electrical equipment for controlling electrically powered items of street furniture such as illuminated bollards or traffic lights.

The cabinet will normally be installed in a publicly accessible location such as in a street.

With the object of making the cabinet resistant to vandalism, the door 2 is lockable by means which are hidden when the door is closed and therefore present the vandal with the minimum opportunity to cause damage.

Adjacent the right-hand front edge of the cabinet (looking at the cabinet from the front as in Figure 1), a fixed vertical metal bar 3 extends between the top and bottom of the cabinet.

The bar 3 has two slots, namely an upper slot 4 adjacent the top of the cabinet and a lower slot 5 adjacent the bottom of the cabinet. Behind the fixed bar 3 lies a further metal bar 6 guided for vertical sliding movement with respect to the fixed bar 3. The movable bar 6 also has two slots the upper one of which is shown at 7 in Figure 4. In a lowered and locking position of the movable bar 3, the slots in the movable bar 6 are positioned slightly lower than, and partially overlap, the respective slots 4 and 5 in the fixed bar 3. In a raised position of the movable bar 6, the slots in the movable bar are in register with the slots 3 and 4 in the fixed bar 3.

Adjacent its vertical edge remote from the hinged edge, the door 2 has two spaced catches 8 and 9 which are rigidly connected to, and project substantially horizontally from, the inner face of the door. Each catch 8 or 9 terminates in a head 10 (Figure 4) formed by a vertical step 12 the upper end of which adjoins an inclined edge 13 sloping downwardly in a direction away from the door. The catches 8 and 9 project from the door 2 in positions corresponding to the slots 3 and 4 in the fixed bar.

Within the housing, at the top right-hand front corner, a solenoid 14 is mounted. The solenoid plunger 15 projects downwardly from the solenoid coil and is attached to the upper end of the movable bar 6 which has an upper end 16 bent through 90" for this purpose. The solenoid coil is electrically connected to two electrical contacts (not shown) which are disposed on the outside of the housing, preferably in a discrete position so that they are barely noticeable. When the coil is not energised, the movable bar 6 occupies its locking position shown in Figure 4, as a result of gravity and the solenoid plunger being urged downwardly by means of a spring.When the solenoid coil is energised by the application of electrical power to the electrical contacts, the solenoid plunger 15 is attracted into the coil against the spring loading and the resultant upward movement of the plunger 15 lifts the movable bar 6 to the raised release position in which the pair of slots in the movable bar are in respective register with the pair of slots in the fixed bar. The door 2 can now be opened.

When the door is closed (the solenoid being de-energised and the movable bar being in its lowered locking position), the heads 10 of the catches pass through the respective slots 3 and 4 in the fixed bar 3, after which the inclined edges 13 engage the upper edges of the slots in the movable bar 6 so that further closing movement of the door 2 causes the inclined edges 13 to lift the movable bar 6 with a camming action. When both heads 10 have passed through the slots in the movable bar 6, the latter is no longer supported by the inclined edges and drops down behind the steps 10 to occupy the locking position shown in Figure 4.

Hence, the door locks automatically on closure. The door is now locked and any attempt to open it will be resisted by the inter-engagement of the steps 10 against the inner face of the movable bar 6. Opening of the door is achieved by an authorised person applying an electrical source of power (eg a low voltage) to the external contacts so as to energise the solenoid and cause the movable bar to be lifted to its release position, to enable the heads of the catches to be withdrawn through the aligned slots.

It can be seen from Figure 4 that the door, when in its closed position, is received within a surrounding frame 17 of the housing which effectively provides a rebate for the door, so the front of the cabinet presents a neat flush appearance, minimising the chance of a vandal obtaining sufficient leverage to force the door open. Neither the door nor the housing presents any keyholes or recesses, or indeed gives an indication of the location or type of locking employed.

Claims

1. An article of street furniture having a housing with an aperture closable by a movable panel, the panel and housing having inter-engageable means to lock the panel in a closed position in which it closes the aperture, releasing means within the housing which are capable of being electrically energised to release the inter-engageable means and means for energising the releasing means from outside the housing to unlock the panel.

2. An article of street furniture according to claim 1, wherein the movable panel is a door hinged along one edge to the housing and pivotally movable between an open position and the closed position.

3. An article of street furniture according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the releasing means within the housing include a solenoid which is electrically energisable to move a member, such as a locking bar, forming part of said inter-engageable means.

4. An article of street furniture according to claim 3, wherein the inter-enggageable means on the door comprise a catch which automatically engages the locking bar when the door is closed.

5. An article of street furniture according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the means for energising the releasing means include electrical contacts which are accessible from outside the housing and which are electrically connected to the releasing means to enable a source of electrical power to be connected to the contacts and thereby effect release of the releasing means.

6. An article of street furniture according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the means for energising the releasing means comprise a source of electrical power disposed within the housing and a remote actuator for causing the releasing means to be electrically energised by the source of electrical power.

7. An article of street furniture according to claim 6, wherein the remote actuator is linked by infra red to a sensor within the housing.

8. An article of street furniture according to any of the preceding claims and in the form of a cabinet or a street lighting column.

9. An article of street furniture constructed and arranged substantially as herein particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.