The present invention relates to combination operated padlocks of the type typically used to secure luggage during travel and transport. More particularly, the present invention relates to combination operated luggage padlocks that also may be operated by a key to facilitate inspection of the contents of luggage. Specifically, the present invention relates to providing combination and key operated luggage padlocks and the like with a resettable indicator to advise the owners of luggage that the locks on their bags have been opened by means of a key for inspection—an indicator that preferably can be reset only by the owners after they have opened the locks by entering their combinations.
When the Transportation Security Administration took over the handling of airport security in accordance with the Homeland Security Act, the intensified effort made by federal employees to inspect the locked bags of airline passengers often resulted in the destruction of luggage padlocks when the shackles thereof were severed to permit inspection of luggage contents. The destruction of luggage padlocks unfortunately leaves inspected bags unlocked, with their contents subject to pilfer and theft during travel and transport.
To accommodate the need of travelers for post-inspection luggage security while also accommodating the need of government employees to quickly and easily open and inspect selected and suspect bags, a proposal has been advanced by an entity known as Travel Sentry for providing government personnel with “override keys” for nondestructively opening consumer owned, combination operated luggage padlocks that have built-in “key override” features. In accordance with the proposal of Travel Sentry, combination operated luggage padlocks having a “key override” capability are to be made by a number of padlock manufacturers. These padlocks may be purchased by consumers for locking their luggage; and, if their locked bags are inspected by government personnel, the padlocks will be opened for baggage inspection using keys that are made available to government inspectors (but not to the owners of the padlocks), and then will be relocked by the inspectors. Bags inspected and relocked in this manner will have their contents secured by the same combination operated padlocks that were installed on the bags by the owners thereof.
Padlocks that can be operated by combination and by key are not new. Combination padlocks have been used for many years on gym lockers in schools, with coaches and principals having keys that can open these padlocks should lockers need to be inspected, or should a padlock be snapped closed on an incorrect locker by mistake or by prank. It also is known to provide combination padlocks with keys so that their owners may elect whether to open the locks by entry of a combination, or by using a key.
It is not completely new to provide a padlock with some form of indicator. For example, padlocks (that are not of the type that can be opened both by combination and by key) have been provided with indicators that are intended to prevent accidental resettings of the combinations of the locks, or that are intended to reflect when the padlocks are incompletely or improperly relocked after being opened. However, prior proposals relating to padlocks of the type that can be opened by combination or by key have not taught or suggested the provision of indicators designed to advise the owners of the locks that the luggage on which the padlocks are installed has been inspected by opening the padlocks with a key.
The present invention relates to improvements in key and combination operated padlocks, namely to providing such locks with indicators that reflect whether government inspectors have used an override key to unlock and inspect the contents of luggage that is locked by these locks.
In preferred practice, the housing of a combination and key operated luggage padlock is provided with an indicator that normally displays a first state, such as the color “green,” when the lock has been installed on luggage by the owner for travel and transport, and that displays a second state, such as the color “red,” once the lock has been opened by using a key to inspect luggage contents. The second state continues to be displayed until the indicator is deliberately reset by the owner after the owner opens the lock using a combination known to the owner, not to the inspectors. A safeguard of the preferred practice of the present invention resides in the provision of an indicator reset mechanism that prevents the indicator from being reset while the padlock is unlocked after being opened by means of a key: therefore, government inspectors are prevented from resetting the lock's indicator.
In preferred practice, the housing-carried indicator takes the form of a window opening formed through a front wall of the housing, and an indicator carried within the interior of the housing that is movable between first and second positions wherein a first state surface or a second state surface of the indicator are displayed through the window opening, with the first state surface being displayed when the indicator is in the first position, and with the second state surface of the indicator being displayed through the window opening when the indicator is in the second position.
In the most preferred practice of the invention, the housing-carried indicator 1) is protectively enclosed by the housing, 2) is pivotally supported by the housing for movement between a first state position and a second state position, 3) is biased by an over-center spring toward the first state position as the indicator nears the first state position and toward the second state position as the indicator nears the second state position so as to retain the indicator in one or the other of the first and second state positions unless deliberately moved from one of these positions to the other, 4) is configured to be moved from its normal first state position to its second state position in response to the turning of a correctly configured key that has been inserted through a keyhole of the housing to unlock the padlock, and 5) can only be reset (i.e., moved from the second state position back to the normal first state position) after the padlock has been relocked (i.e., after the shackle has been closed and the key has been removed from the padlock) and after the padlock then has been reopened by setting a combination known to the owner. To reset the indicator, the owner of the padlock enters the correct combination to open the lock, and then manipulates the shackle in a specific way that causes the indicator to be reset.
These and other features, and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The housing 110 has opposed front and rear walls 112, 114; opposed top and bottom walls 113, 115; and opposed left and right side walls 116, 118. The shackle 120 has a U-shaped bend 122 that joins a relatively short leg 124 and a relatively long leg 126 that extends parallel to the shorter leg 124. The relatively longer nature of the leg 126 and the relatively shorter nature of the leg 124 of the shackle 120 is well illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
In preferred practice, the padlock 100 preferably is comprised of only about twenty separately formed parts. Referring principally to
Referring to
Interior features of the front housing shell 132 substantially mirror the interior features of the rear housing shell 134 that are depicted in
Except when the shackle 120 of the lock 100 is depressed for purposes either of resetting the indicator 300 of the lock 100, or resetting the combination of the lock 100, the teeth 187 of the internally toothed regions 203, 205, 207 of the dials 202, 204, 206 always drivingly engage the teeth 177 of the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176. Disengagement of the teeth 187 from the teeth 177 occurs only when the longer leg 126 of the shackle 120 is depressed, as depicted in
Each of the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176 has positions for ten equally spaced teeth 177, but only nine of these ten positions carry tooth formations 177. The fingers 272, 274, 276 of the slide 270 are configured to normally overlie one or more of the teeth 177 of the externally toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176; however, when the dials 202, 204, 206 are turned to set a correct combination for unlocking the lock 100, the fingers 272, 274, 276 are aligned with the unoccupied tooth positions of the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176 (as depicted in
The externally toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176 are journaled for rotation at spaced locations along the longer leg 126 of the U-shaped shackle 120. Also journaled for rotation at spaced locations along the longer leg 126 are the dials 202, 204, 206. While the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176 move upwardly and downwardly as the longer leg 126 of the shackle 120 moves upwardly and downwardly to unlock and lock the lock 100, the dials 202, 204, 206 do not move upwardly and downwardly, for the dials project through the slots 212, 214, 216 of the housing 110 and therefore cannot move vertically with respect to the housing 110.
The longer leg 126 of the shackle 120 is crimped not only at a location (discussed previously and identified by the numeral 149) but also at a slightly higher location where opposed projections 131 are formed on the longer leg 126 by pinching or crimping the material of the longer leg 126. The opposed projections 131 align with widened portions 133 of a top wall opening 139 (of the housing 110 through which the longer leg 126 of the shackle 120 extends) when the shorter leg 124 of the shackle 120 is in either of two positions, namely 1) when the shorter leg 124 of the shackle 120 is aligned with the recess 137 (as depicted in
The alignment and non-alignment of the projections 131 with the widened portions 133 of the top wall opening 139 determine whether and when the shackle 120 can be raised or depressed relative to the housing 110. In the locked position of the shackle 120 shown in
When the shackle 120 has been pivoted to the half-turn position illustrated in
Referring to
The series of movements described just above (which is initiated by inserting and turning the key 175 in the housing 110 to cause the cylinder 280 to rotate to rightwardly move the slide 270 so that the fingers 272, 274, 276 no longer overlie the teeth 177 hence the shackle 120 is caused to pop up to the unlocked position under the influence of the spring 145) describes how the padlock 100 is unlocked by using the key 175. A reverse procedure is followed to relock the shackle 120 after the lock 100 has been opened by the key 175. To carry out the relocking of the lock 100 after the lock 100 has been opened by the key 175, the shackle 120 is depressed while the key 175 still is in the turned position (i.e., while the key 175 still is inserted into the keyhole 350 and still is turned as is required to cause the slide 270 to move rightwardly so that the fingers 272, 274, 276 no longer obstruct downward or upward movement of the longer leg 126 of the shackle 120 which carries the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176) to bring the shackle to the locked position wherein the bottom end region 125 of the shorter leg 124 of the shackle 120 is seated in the top wall recess 137. The key 175 is then reverse-turned to move the slide 270 leftwardly to the normal position of the slide 270 wherein the fingers 272, 274, 276 overlie some of the teeth 177 of the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176, and the key 175 then is removed from the keyhole 350.
Because the steel ball 290 establishes a one-way driving connection between the cylinder 280 and the slide 270 (that permits rotation of the cylinder 280 by the key 175 to move the slide 270 leftwardly and rightwardly within the confines of the housing 110, but does not permit the slide 270 to move leftwardly or rightwardly on its own so as to rotate the cylinder 280), the cylinder 280 does not rotate out of the position it normally occupies (wherein its formation 285 is ready to be drivingly engaged by the key's end region 176 anytime the end region 176 is inserted through the keyhole 350), and the slide 270 does not move rightwardly out of its normal position wherein its fingers 272, 274, 276 overlie some of the teeth 177 so as to obstruct the upward movement of the shackle 120, thus the lock 100 remains locked until either a correct combination is entered on the dials 202, 204, 206, or the key 175 is inserted and turned so as to rotate the cylinder 280 to move the slide 270 rightwardly to unlock the shackle 120.
The indicator member 300 can pivot relative to the housing 110 to selectively expose either the first state surface 301 (that preferably is colored “green”) or the second state surface 302 (that preferably is colored “red”) to be viewed through the indicator window 250 of the housing 110. The torsion coil spring 303 is arranged to serve what is well known to those skilled in the art as an “over center” function, meaning that the spring 303 either biases the indicator 300 toward its first state position (typically displaying the color “green” through the indicator window or opening 250 defined by the housing 110) as shown in
The indicator member 300 is caused to pivot from its normal state one position, depicted in
To reset the indicator member 300 from the second state position shown in
The reason why the indicator member 300 cannot be reset after the lock 100 has been opened utilizing the key 175 is because: 1) the slide 270 must be moved to the right (by keeping the turned key 175 in place in the lock housing 110) so that its fingers 272, 274, 276 will not obstruct the downward movement of the shackle 120 that is needed to cause the reset member 310 to move rightwardly to reset the indicator 300; and 2) if the slide 270 is moved to the right (as by keeping the turned key 175 in place in the lock housing 110) to permit downward movement of the shackle 120 to effect rightward movement of the reset member 310 to reset the indicator 300, the engagement of the tab 279 on the slide 270 with the tab 309 on the indicator 300 will retain the indicator 300 in its second state position thereby preventing rightward movement of the reset member 310 as the result of downward movement of the shackle 120—thus the indicator 300 cannot be reset while the key 175 remains turned in the lock 100, and the shackle 120 cannot be depressed to reset the indicator 300 after the lock 100 has been opened with the key 175 unless the slide 270 is moved rightwardly by the inserted and turned key 175. The only way the indicator 300 can be reset is by opening the lock 100 by using a correct combination so that, when the slide 270 is depressed to move the reset member 310 rightwardly, none of the downwardly moving teeth 177 of the sleeves 172, 174, 176 (that move downwardly with the shackle 120) will have their downward movement obstructed by the fingers 272, 274, 276 of the slide 270 that must be in its leftward position, otherwise the indicator 300 cannot be reset because the tabs 279, 309 of the slide 270 and the indicator 300 will engage to hold the indicator 300 in the second state position, preventing the resetting of the indicator 300 to the first state position.
In operation, starting with the shackle 120 of the padlock 100 in its closed or locked position as depicted in
Opening the padlock 100 by entering the combination involves nothing more than dialing in the combination using the dials 202, 204, 206—so that, when the correct numbers of the combination are aligned with an appropriate portion of the housing 110, the toothless or open-toothed positions of the externally toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176 are aligned with the fingers 272, 274, 276 of the slide 270—which permits the spring 145 to pop up the shackle 120 to the unlocked position of
Once the shackle 120 of the padlock 100 has been opened as by entering a correct combination in the manner just described, any one of three actions can be taken. First, and most obviously, the shackle 120 can be relocked as by depressing the shackle 120 and rotating the dials 202, 204, 206 so that the fingers 272, 274, 276 no longer align with the toothless or open-toothed positions of the toothed sleeves 172, 174, 176. The lock 100 stays locked because the fingers 272, 274, 276 overlie at least some of the teeth 177 of the sleeves 172, 174, 176 which prevents the sleeves 172, 174, 176 (and hence the shackle 120 on which the sleeves 172, 174, 176 are mounted) from moving upwardly to an unlocked position.
A second action that can be taken when the shackle 120 has been opened by entering a correct combination using the dials 202, 204, 206, is to reset the indicator 300 (if the indicator 300 has been moved to its second state position displaying through the window 250 the second state surface 302, typically the color “red”). To reset the indicator 300, the shackle 120 is turned to the half-turned position of
A third action that can be taken when the shackle 120 has been opened by entering a correct combination using the dials 202, 204, 206, is to reset the combination that is to be employed to open the lock 100 the next time the lock 100 is locked. To do this, the shackle 120 is pivoted to the half-turned position shown in
When the depressed shackle 120 is turned a quarter turn from the depressed shackle position shown in
What permits the combination to be reset when the shackle 120 is depressed as shown in
What renders the quarter-turn shackle position shown in
As will be apparent from the foregoing, the present invention brings to combination and key operated luggage locks a clever, resettable indicator arrangement that is quite unlike other padlock indicator proposals, and that serves a need that is not met by other padlock proposals—namely a need to advise the owner of padlocked luggage that his bag or bags may have been inspected by someone who has opened the padlocks thereon using a key. If government personnel continue to insert a leaflet into inspected bags that also advises the owners of luggage that certain of their bags have been inspected, the absence of such a leaflet in a bag that is locked by a padlock having an indicator that is displaying a second state (such as the color “red”) will let the owner of the bag know that someone other than government personnel have opened the bag for pilfer or theft utilizing a key that was intended to be provided only to government inspectors.
Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. It is intended to protect whatever features of patentable novelty that exist in the invention disclosed.
The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/098,205 filed Apr. 4, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,521 by Michael O. Misner and Jian-Bing Lu entitled Combination and Key Operated Padlock With Indicator which, in turn, was a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/634,201 filed Aug. 5, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,345 by Michael O. Misner and Jian-Bing Lu entitled Combination and Key Operated Padlock With Indicator.
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