Patent Application
20120011968
NONE
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
Many business establishments, especially Hotels and Motels, are now using electronically controlled locking devices on their interior doors. Such devices are powered by electricity, either from a battery contained in the devise or some other source. Once the power source is interrupted, i.e. the battery is fully discharged, the locking device is inoperable and the door remains locked until a power source is restored. In many situations, personnel trained in the replacement or restoration of the power source is unavailable on the premises. This results in customers, guests and management being denied access to the locked room. Such a situation can be extremely inconvenient to customers and guests trying to access the room. It even creates a possible health and safety issue if a person locked inside the room is in need of medical attention and is unable to unlock the door on their own.
Many types of tools have been developed to unlock doors from the outside without the use of a key and without damage to the door or lock. Several of these devices are designed to slip under the door and to reach up to the door knob or handle and to twist and unlock it. However, none of these devices are self contained mechanisms, designed to reach up and pull down a lever-handle typically found in Hotels, Motels and other establishments using the electronic card key systems in widespread use.
Currently existing unlocking devices, such as those depicted in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,927 (1984), 5,123,307 (1992), 5,540,121 (1996), 7,255,023 (2007) and U.S. Patent Application Number 2007/0256522, are comprised of solid rods. The solid rods have various devices attached to them and are designed to slide under a locked door. Once slid under the door, the rods are used to maneuver the devices into position. The devices are then actuated by use of a separately attached cord or wire. The operation of these devices requires the operator to maneuver the rod with one hand while positioning the attached device with his or her other hand. The procedure is cumbersome and requires practice to accomplish. In the preferred embodiment of these devices, the operator is engaging the apparatus onto a door knob rather than the lever handle more commonly found in hotels and motels today.
My invention is comprised of a hollow tube through which a cable runs. This configuration allows the operator to maneuver the apparatus into position with one hand. My invention does not require the maneuvering of a cord or wire, separately attached to the device. The apparatus is self-contained, making the procedure maneuvering into position and actuating the device much simpler. Operating the device requires little or no practice to become proficient in opening the locked door.
The device in U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,218 (1981) is comprised only of a rod, with no attached devices or cords. This device is much easier device to use than the aforementioned patented devices. This rod is configured in such a way that the operator can slide the rod through a narrow opening in the door way; maneuver the rod into position with the lock; and, use the rod manipulate the locking apparatus to disengage the lock. However, this device is specific to locked elevator doors and not applicable to the lever-handled door locks addressed in my invention.
My invention is designed to easily slip underneath a door and be flipped into an upright position and aligns the door with a black line on the device. This black line indicates alignment of the apparatus with the door lever on the inside of the room. Once in position, the operator pulls a handle that pulls a cable attached to the hook. This hook grabs onto the inner lever (handle) of the locked door, pulling it down and unlocking door. The design is specific to lever-handled door openers. Because of this specific design, the process is quick, simple and effective. It requires no expertise in locksmith-ing, maintenance of electronic locks or knowledge of power source restoration. There is no damage done to the door, door lock, door jamb or an part of the premises with the proper usage of this device.
In another embodiment of my invention the device is operated in much the same way. With an extension of the tube, the device can be configured to reach to a length sufficient to engage the ball hook U shaped supplemental latch. The hook apparatus of my invention will be actuated to grasp onto the hook apparatus of the latch system. My device will then be pushed by the operator towards the locked door thus pulling the hook apparatus of the latching system away from the ball portion of the latching system and unlocking the supplemental latch. The procedure is simple and requires little or no practice to become proficient.
The invention is an apparatus and method for manipulating objects which cannot be manipulated by hand. At present, I believe that the invention operates most efficiently on the lever-handle of a locked door from outside of the room. The invention is constructed of hollow tubing which is bent into a roughly elongated “Open-ended Rhomboid” shape. The tube is hollow and is inserted with a cable which is used to actuate the device. The tube is also marked so that the operator is alerted when the proper position is attained for maneuvering the device above the inside door lever. The cable, which is contained within the tube, is attached to a hook on one end of the device and a “T” handle on the other end of the device. The hook apparatus and tube is narrow enough to be slipped under the doorway.
When confronted with a lever-handled door which is locked and cannot be unlocked by conventional means, an operator can use the invention to open the door from outside the room. The operator will position herself on the outside of the locked door. The operator will place the device on the floor and push the hook end of the device under the door. Once the hook end of the device has passed into the locked room, the operator will rotate the device by pulling the end of the device on the outside of the door up. The operator will then maneuver the device into the proper position by aligning the indicator mark of the device with the outside edge of the bottom of the door. Once aligned, the operator will pull the “T” handle of the device in an upward motion. By pulling the handle, the operator caused the cable located within the device to be pulled. This motion acts upon the hook at the other end of the device, pulling it downward. The hook being pulled downward will catch on the lever of the locked door also pulling it downward, The lever's downward action will act to release the door latch and unlock the door.
