US3548620A - Cam type disc cylinder lock - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 2 2, 1970 J. M. GENAKIS CAM TYPE DISC CYLINDER LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 6, 1969 mvEN-ro JOSEPH. M. GENAKvs Dec. 22,1970 J GENAKls 3,548,620

CAM TYPE DISC CYLINDER LOCK Filed Jan. 6, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

United States Patent O 3,548,620 CAM TYPE DISC CYLINDER LOCK Joseph M. Genakis, 948 W. Boylston St., Worcester, Mass. 01605 Filed Jan. 6, 1969, Ser. No. 789,316 Int. Cl. Eb 27/08 US. Cl. 70-364 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cam type of disc lock comprising a series of keymovable cam shoes, in combination with a like series of oval cam members, the key pressing the shoes into engagement with internal cam surfaces on the cam ovals. Setting discs having notches on the peripheries thereof are attached to the cam ovals and the discs are thus aligned, with the proper key, and provide a common receptacle for a pivoted selector so that when this selector is accepted, a locking engagement is made with respect to a transmission device for a bolt or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the prior art there have been many kinds of locks designed particularly with respect to making it difficult to pick. The present invention by the construction thereof makes the lock almost impossible to pick, as the locking action is not dependent upon the turning of any locked parts, except in one particular association of several separate setting discs which is almost impossible to do no matter what picks are used for this purpose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In this invention, the lock parts are housed within a cylinder which can be applied to a mortise assembly or to the shell of a knob and in other ways and it has at its forward end a plate having a rotary plug therein with a slot for accepting a key. In the plug there are a series of independently movable shoes which are actuated by the wards of the key, the key translating motion to the shoes to make contact with the cam surfaces of a series of cam ovals, there being one of these cam surfaces for each shoe. When the key properly translates the shoes with respect to the cam surfaces, the cam ovals are relatively turned as the key plug turns under influence of the key, and this in turn rotates a series of setting discs, attached to the cam ovals each of which is provided with a series of shallow and one or more deep notches in its edges. The deep notches must align prior to operation of the lock.

Once the notches in the setting discs have been aligned, a pivoted selector is forced by means of a transmission into the combined aligned notches, and this action causes a dog on the transmission to move into a recess in the plug. Unless the notches are thus aligned, the selector will not push the dog to lock the plug and transmission together.

Reverse rotation of the key then causes the now latched transmission to e.g. thrust a bolt home, or to operate a ratchet, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the parts of the lock;

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation illustrating a cam oval;

FIG. 3 is a sectional perspective view through the housing for the lock;

FIG. 4 illustrates the locking dog on the transmission device in locking position;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view on an enlarged scale illustrating the equalizer assembly for the transmission device;

FIG. 6 illustrates an attachment for the lock;

FIG. 7 is a section through the lock;

FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are views illustrating the action of the transmission device, the keyway, and the dog lock for the transmission and the plug; parts being omitted;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the retaining lock ring assembly;

FIG. 13 is a front view of a lock ring and cam oval; I FIG. 14 is an enlarged section through the plug showing a cam;

FIG. 15 is a front view of a lock ring, looking in the direction of arrow 15, FIG. 12, and

FIG. 16 is a view in side elevation of the lock ring assembly of FIG. 12.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT. OF THE INVENTION A cylinder 10 is provided to house the locking parts, this cylinder being generally hollow and being provided with a forward plate 10a, FIG. 3, to accept and carry a plug 12, this plug being rotated by means of the key and having an end to end key slot for this purpose.

The housing 10 is provided with a pair of slots at 14 for the reception of cars 16, 16 on a series of retarding assembly (or retaining lock ring) generally indicated at 18, the parts being held together by means of conventional snap rings or the like, see FIG. 15.

Each retarder assembly 18 is provided with a central opening 20 which receives the plug 12 surrounded by a floor 22 and a flange 24, for the reception of a cam oval 26 which has the cam surface as at 28 therein.

For each cam oval there is in the plug a guide member 30, a ball 32 which may be in the nature of a ball-bearing, and a cam shoe 34 associated with the plug, there being a series of assemblies of this nature arranged on the plug. The ball may be pinched into the shoe. The shoe 34 has an arcuate surface at 36 which is adapted to bear against the cam 28 when the respective ball is elevated by means of the key. Each cam oval is provided with a setting disc 40, these setting discs each being provided with various shallow notches 42, etc., which may be of various widths, etc., and a deep notch 43.

It is to be understood that there are as many of these assemblies as may be desired, and that the more setting discs there are, the greater the possible number of permutations which may be made with the lock. It is conservatively estimated that the number of possible settings available by using setting discs with varying notches and using a varied number of setting discs, etc., goes into the millions.

In general it will be seen that when the correct key is inserted in the lock, the various wards thereof Will contact various but respective balls 32, raising the same and thrusting the shoes 34 into contact with the cam surfaces at 28 so that when the key is turned the cam ovals 26 and the setting discs 40 will also be turned but to varying degrees, depending upon the point of shoe contact on the internal cam surfaces. This degree of turn depends upon the use of the correct key which when turned sufficiently will align the correct notches 43 in the various setting discs. In order to clarify the disclosure there is only a single setting disc and cam oval shown in FIG. 1, but there may be as many of these as desired and in FIGS. 7, 12 and 16 there is shown a series of five. The interior notch 40a is provided for assembly purposes.

In any event, when the key has been turned a sufficient degree and the various setting discs have been turned their respective distances, with the correct key the correct notches 43 will be aligned.

There is a rod-like device which may be termed a selector 44. This has a radial latch 46 on it and an underlying longitudinal member 48 of less radial extent. Normally latch 46 will ride in a trailing manner on the surface of the transmission 60, but when the correct notches 43 are aligned to accept longitudinal member 48, the selector is fixed in position relative thereto. The selector 44 is located in a recess 50 in the housing made for the purpose, and held therein at its ends.

At the end of the series of setting discs 40 there is a locking disc 51 having a groove 52 and spring type retainer 53, the latter having an aligning ear 54 which may be received in a notch at 56 to hold the same from turning, and mounted on the plug after the locking and retaining disc 51 is the transmission element generally indicated at 60.

This transmission 60 is perhaps best shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 8 to 11. It has a pivoted dog 62 yieldingly held in either of two positions by means of a spring detent 64a acting on notches in one end 64 thereof, FIG. 4, the other end having a downturned portion 63. The end 64 is for engagement in one groove or the other, 68, 71 in the plug 12, for the purpose of locking the transmission 60 with respect to the plug. The grooves 68 and 71 are alike but for individual use for right or left hand motion of the lock operation or cycle. The lock is completely reversible.

This action is accomplished by means of the latch member 46 on selector 44, which is forced into notch 59, it engages the inner end of the dog 62 as is shown in FIG. 10, forcing the end 63 outwardly and the other end inwardly into engagement with for instance the notch 68 in the plug 12, see FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 10, the member 46 engages both sides of notch 59, and further rotation in this direction of the key is stopped as well as motion of selector 44, which contacts a dog element 70 on transmission 60.

With the plug and the transmission member locked together in this manner, the transmission can thus be used to slide a bolt, ratchet, or some other locking means, not shown, in a specified direction that either locks it or unlocks it, depending on the subsequent motion of the key. Slot 71 in plug 12, FIG. 1, is used to receive the end 64 of dog 62 when the lock parts are reversed.

There is a spring-pressed equalizer pin 74 having a projection 76 in the transmission member and this is actuated by a dog 78 on a plate 80 at the extreme end of the entire assembly. This is for the purpose of turning the transmission member 60 by means of the plug for instance when the dog 62 is retracted as in FIG. 9, the plate 80 being secured with respect to the plug 12.

Upon prime rotation of the plug 12 in either locking or unlocking action, a cancelling mechanism 82 is set to protruding relation to force the end 63 of the dog 62 in a direction to withdraw the toe thereof from engagement with the plug, thereby releasing the latter from the transmission 60.

The retarder cars 16 contain spring detents and 17. Thus this element acts as a detent when one of them is in contact with shoulder 19 and as a brake during the remainder of the cycle. One ear also acts as a positive stop for the entire cam when the plug is being returned to its original position, see FIG. 12.

The plug has a pin tumbler mechanism at 90 and 90a which insures the return of the transmission to original or starting position. The key cannot be extracted unless returned to its original position.

One feature is the reversibility of this lock. The parts can be reversed in direction for either left or right-hand use of the key, by reversing the cams, see FIG. 14, where the guide is shown solid and dotted. The selector in its present position however is used both for right or left-hand motion.

About three quarters of the disc surface is used for indentation for the selector and in about the last twenty percent of motion of the opening cycle of the lock, no additional settings are permitted as the entire disc assembly must travel in unison to receive the selector.

The novel lock can be keyed for individual or master key combinations. When changing the key, the discs are replaced.

Nearly one full revolution of the plug is needed to set the dog of the transmission into the plug, and a reverse movement is then used to actuate the transmission for further contact with opening devices, ratchet, etc. If the dog in the transmission is not set into the plug, the reverse movement will not actuate the transmission for its intended function.

A pin tumbler assembly is used to insure the return of the plug to its starting position. This is necessary in conjunction with the cancelling out feature of the dog in the transmission when commencing a new cycle, assuming the correct key was used in opening and closing cycles.

I claim:

1. A cam type disc cylinder lock comprising a housing, a selector mounted internally with respect to said housing, a key plug mounted in said housing for reception of and turning by a key, a series of cam ovals on the plug, a cam surface on each oval, a setting disc for each cam oval also mounted on the plug, each setting disc being provided with a series of notches in the periphery thereof, a movable cam shoe for each cam oval for selective impingement on the cam surface thereof. the key being arranged to engage and move the cam shoes into engagement with the cam surfaces on the individual cam ovals for turning the latter and the discs for alignment of certain of said notches on said discs,

a transmission, said transmission being mounted to turn on said plug, and means providing for interengagement between the transmission and the plug, said transmission having a notch receiving the operative member of the selector only when the notches on said setting discs are correctly aligned, whereby the transmission may then be turned by means of the plug under influence of the key, and means on said transmission for moving a member for locking and unlocking under influence of the key.

2. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein the interengaging means comprises a dog pivoted on the transmission.

3. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein the interengaging means comprises a dog pivoted on the transmission and having a portion engageable by the opertive member of said selector for forcing the dog into engagement with the plug when the selector operative member is received in the notch in the transmission.

4. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein the interengaging means comprises a dog pivoted on the transmission and having a portion engageable by the operative member of said selector for forcing the dog into engagement with the plug when the selector operative member is received in the notch in the transmission, and a cancelling mechanism for retracting the dog from the plug upon a certain predetermined manipulation of the key.

5. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein the interengaging means comprises a dog pivoted on the transmission and having a portion engageable by the operative member of said selector for forcing the dog into engagement with the plug when the selector operative member is received in the notch in the transmission, and a cancelling mechanism for retracting the dog from the plug upon a certain predetermined manipulation of the key, said cancelling mechanism being mounted between the transmission and the nearest adjacent disc.

6. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein the interengaging means comprises a dog pivoted on the transmission and having a portion engageable by the operative member of said selector for forcing the dog into engagement with the plug when the selector operative member is received in the notch in the transmission, and a cancelling mechanism for retracting the dog from the plug upon a certain predetermined manipulation of the key, said cancelling mechanism being mounted between the transmission and the nearest adjacent disc, and means to activate and deactivate the cancelling mechanism at certain points in the turning of the key through a complete cycle.

7. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 including a retarder ring mounted on said plug, said retarder ring having a peripheral flange for the reception of a cam oval, there being a retarder ring for each cam oval, and means on the flange for engaging certain portions of the periphery of the cam ovals for retarding the rotary motion thereof.

8. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein said selector comprises an elongated element having a limited rotary motion on its axis.

9. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein said selector comprises an elongated element having a limited rotary motion on its axis, the selector portion and the selector member being fixed to the elongated selector element in radially arranged position.

10. The cam type disc cylinder lock of claim 1 wherein each cam shoe is radially movable relative to the plug under influence of the key and each shoe includes a ball mounted thereon for engagement by the wards of the key.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner R. L. WOLFE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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