Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates to improvements in a changeable lock-cover. More particularly, the present changeable lock-cover provides a cosmetic cover for a combination or key lock with an easily removable and replaceable cover to provide a unique and protective personality to the lock.
For many people locks provide a level of protection for secured items. With the exception of the combination or the key, combination locks and key locks can all appear to have a similar appearance. For children or others that use a lock, most locks lack personality, and with the exception of a combination or key, the lock essentially appear the same. Over the years there have been a number of patents that have been issued to provide a cosmetic or ornamental cover or jacket to a lock. These provide a protective covering, but don't provide for a personalization.
A number of patents and or publications have been made to address these issues. Exemplary examples of patents and or publication that try to address this/these problem(s) are identified and discussed below.
Over the years there have been a number of different design patents for shells or protective coverings of locks. Specifically, some of these ornamental designs are found in U.S. Design Pat. D326,046, D345,094, D379,059, D406,045, D437,542, D446,441, D455,639, D569,226. While these patents provide an ornamental appearance to cover a lock, they are for the protection of the lock and do not provide any interchangeability of the front face, nor do they provide for interchangeability of parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,201,427 issued on Jun. 19, 2012 discloses a Lock Housing. The lock housing operates on a lock drawer where the lock drawer system includes a cabinet drawer having a front wall including a front surface and a rear surface and a combination lock on the drawer with a combination lock dial. While this lock housing provides a cosmetic cover and further provides an opening for a key, dial and combination viewing window, the cover does not have interchangeable faces to customize the housing.
What is needed is a changeable lock-cover that can be easily installed and removed from a combination or key lock and also provides for an interchangeable face, image or other indicia. The proposed changeable lock-cover provides the solution with a cover that can be easily personalized.
It is an object of the changeable lock-cover to operate with a combination or with a separate version/configuration for a key type lock. Minor geometry differences can be accommodated with the housing that can be made out of a hard plastic or a flexible material that conforms around the lock. The cover also provides some protection from physical and environmental conditions.
It is an object of the changeable lock-cover for the lock-cover to be easily installed and removed from a combination or key lock. The retention of the housing is with magnets, snaps or other temporary securing mechanism. This allows a person to quickly and easily customize the cover of the lock with a color or style of their own choosing. The housing essentially hinges over the housing of the lock. A person can pull apart the closure to move the cover to another lock or to change the cover to a different color or style.
It is another object of the changeable lock-cover for the housing to have an interchangeable face or indicia. The interchangeable face or indicia is held on at least one side of the housing and can be changed separately from the lock-cover. The face or indicia can take a number of different configurations including, but not limited to letters, colors, faces, insignias, moving components, lights, pictures and others. The face or indicia all have a common securing mechanism to the lock-cover that allows them to be easily purchased, traded and changed by the user without requiring replacement of the base lock-cover.
It is still another object of the changeable lock-cover for the mechanism that retains the face or indicia that is weaker than the mechanism that holds to housing closed. This allows the user to remove the face or indicia without opening the lock housing cover and potentially dropping the enclosure. One preferred closure and retention mechanism is with magnets where the attraction force can be adjusted and further the magnetic force centers the magnetic polls to make assembly simpler.
Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.
An inner wall 24 has a smaller concentric diameter from the outer wall 23. The inner wall 24 provides a step for clearance of the outer wall 40 of the front housing. A hinge 51 pivots on a hinge pin 50 to allow the front housing to swing over and away from the rear housing. The front housing can swing down or to the side. The front housing has a clearance 42 for the shackle when the front housing is secured over the rear housing. The rear housing has a magnetic clasp 21 secured in a wall 29 that is attracted to a complimentary magnetic clasp 41 in a wall 46 in the front housing. These magnets keep the housings closed, and when closed they block access to the combination dial 19 and knob 18. To access the combination dial 19 and knob 18, a gentle pull of the front housing will overcome the magnetic attraction to gain access to the interior of the housing. A recess 48 surrounds the knob 18 to provide a flattened face to the lock-cover.
A removable cover 60 is temporally secured to the front housing. The removable cover 60 is retained with a keyed system having a front face elevated wall 43 with a flat 62 that fits through an opening in the front housing and is turned so the flat contacts a wall surface 45 that prevents further rotation and the cover is secured. The cover can be changed, interchanged or replaced for style, to add personality or a cosmetic difference. Further description of the cover 60 is included later in this document.
A magnet 28 is secured into the recess 26 in the back of the rear housing. This magnet 28 attracts to the metal housing of the lock 20 to hold the combination lock seated in the back housing. Another magnet 21 is placed at the top of the rear housing to keep the front cover closed. The magnetic attraction of the top magnet 21 is not as strong as the magnet 28 that holds the combination lock in the housing. The weaker magnet 21 ensures that the combination lock remains held in the rear housing when the front housing is opened or closed. The bottom of the rear housing a hinge with a through hole that retains a hinge pin 50 that allows the front housing to hinge from the rear housing. The hinge pin is shown on the bottom of the housings, but can also be located on the side of the housings.
The front housing has a loop 52 that connects to the hinge pin 50. The front housing hinges from the hinge pin 50 to provide access to the combination dial. Magnet 41 in the front housing attracts to the magnet 21 in the rear housing to keep the front housing closed on the rear housing. It is contemplated that only one part 21/41 is a magnet and the other component 21/41 is steel or other metal that attracts to the magnet. A recess 42 on the front housing clears the vertical portion of the shackle 17. The front housing has an opening 43 for a key 44. The key 44 allows the cover 60 to engage and retain the cover in the front housing. The cover 60 shown has indicia 61 that adds personality to the cover. While a keyed cover is shown and described, the cover could also be retained with magnets or other mechanism, including but not limited to snaps, tabs or others.
Different indicia 61 is contemplated as well having the housing and/or cover made with/from a neoprene sleeve alternative. Other variations can be Neon-paint or plastics. It is further contemplated that the cover or housing has LED lights that are activated by twist and lock of faceplates. There can also be a plush series for the cover and housing components where all of the components are interchangeable. It is further contemplated that the cover can be powered to provide a clock/time function or motion activated/holographic/simple mechanical movement of ears or tail/something programmable like simple tech, maybe digital messages or mood emoji's. There can also be custom orders for the cover indicia for pictures of people, pics or pets that are printed, removable or laser engraved. The cover can have a surface texture of Burberry, camouflage, matte, metallic, gloss, wood, bling, etc. A consumer can create aftermarket customizable parts/bling/lettering/painting kits with LOCK-ITS system) like scrapbooking. The cover can be a licensed logo for sports teams or organization including, but not limited to, NBA, NFL, WWE, MLB, MLS, Warner Brothers studios, Disney, Marvell, DC Comics, etc.
The key 90 has tangs 91 that deform the deformable tabs 82 of the cover 80 to allow the removable cover 80 to be vertically slid 99 off of the front housing 49. The tangs 91 of the key 90 pass between the top face 84 and the surrounding face 83. Insertion of the key 90 is stopped when key 90 wall 93 contacts the wall 86 of the front housing 49. The key 90 has an optional hole 92 to allow the key 90 to be held on a keyring, string or the like.
When the key 90 is properly inserted with the wall 93 of the key 90 in contact with the wall 86 of the front housing 49, the tangs 91 and ramps 94 side between the walls 89 of the front housing 49 and push out the deformable tabs 82 of the removable cover 80. This opens the saddle 87 from the tabs 88 in the removable cover 80 to allow the cover 80 to be vertically removed from the front housing 49. While a key 90 is required to remove the cover, ramps 96 allow the deformable tabs 82 to deform and engage the removable cover 80 onto the front housing 49. The deformable tabs 82 slide through an opening 95 in the front housing 49.
Thus, specific embodiments of a changeable lock-cover have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
Not Applicable.
This application is a continuation-in-part of applicant's application Ser. No. 62/373,771 filed Aug. 11, 2016 the entire contents of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
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