The disclosure relates to a door mount mechanism, more particularly to a door mount mechanism for a smart lock system.
Electronic security systems have been well known for a number of years. In recent years, electronic technology has been used with traditional door locks to provide smart locks. A conventional smart lock generally includes a door mount that is adapted to be fitted onto a door lock, and that is controlled by a control system. A disadvantage of the conventional smart lock is that the installation of the door mount is relatively complicated and time-consuming.
Another disadvantage of the conventional smart lock is that the door mount of the conventional smart lock may not be properly and quickly fitted onto the thumb turn 104 of different sizes and at locations of the typical mechanical lock device 100.
Therefore, the object of the disclosure is to provide a door mount mechanism for a smart lock system that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks associated with the abovementioned prior art.
Accordingly, a door mount mechanism of the present disclosure is adapted for use in a smart lock system. The door mount mechanism is adapted to be mounted onto a door for rotating a thumb turn of a door lock which is mounted on the door. The door mount mechanism includes a casing, a rotatable component and an intermediate coupling. The casing has a door-mounting end that is adapted for abutting against the door, and defines a receiving space that is adapted for receiving the door lock, and that has an opening at the door-mounting end and adapted for extension of the door lock therethrough. The rotatable component is coupled rotatably to the casing. The intermediate coupling includes a first coupling segment that is connected co-rotatably to the rotatable component, and a second coupling segment that is connected co-rotatably to and linearly movable relative to the first coupling segment and that is adapted for driving rotation of the thumb turn of the door lock such that the thumb turn is co-rotatable with the rotatable component.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.
As shown in
The casing 1 includes a base wall 11, a surrounding wall 12 extending from a periphery of the base wall 11 and cooperating with the base wall 11 to define a receiving space 100 (see
The rotatable component 2 is coupled rotatably to the casing 1. The rotatable component 2 has a base portion 21 engaging rotatably the round hole 111 of the casing 1, and a knob portion 22 projecting from the base portion 21 away from the receiving space 100 and being accessible to a user.
The actuating unit 3 includes an actuating module 31 that includes a motor and a solenoid valve, and a gear set 32 that is driven rotatably by the motor of the actuating module 31. The actuating unit 3 is connected to a control circuit (not shown). During operation of the smart lock system, the control circuit receives commands from a user device, such as a mobile phone, and the actuating unit 3 is activated by signals received from the control circuit to operate to drive rotation of the rotatable component 2.
The intermediate coupling 4 includes a first coupling segment 41 and a second coupling segment 42. In this embodiment, the second coupling segment 42 is made from an elastic material, is configured as a hollow frame, and has two parallel side frame sections 421 and two parallel elongated slide grooves 422 (only one is shown in
In use, the casing 1 is mounted onto the door with the door-mounting end 121 of the surrounding wall 12 abutting against the door and surrounding the base plate of the door lock, and with the door lock extending into the receiving space 100 through the opening 101 until the thumb turn of the door lock is surrounded by and inserted into the second coupling segment 42. During the interconnection between the second coupling segment 42 and the thumb turn of the door lock, due to the elasticity of the side frame sections 421 and the length-adjustable, telescopic structure of the subsegments 411 of the first coupling segment 41, the side frame sections 421 are deformable in a first direction in which the subsegments 411 extend. In addition, the second coupling segment 42 is slidable relative to the first coupling segment 41 in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Therefore, the intermediate coupling 4 has a relatively great flexibility in terms of fitting onto the thumb turn of different sizes, shapes, or at various relative locations of the base plate. Therefore, when the actuating unit 3 is remotely controlled to actuate rotation of the rotatable component 2, the thumb turn is rotated together with the rotatable component 2. Moreover, with the knob portion 22 being accessible to the user, the rotatable component 2 can also be manually rotated.
As shown in
In this embodiment, the intermediate coupling 4 further includes a third coupling segment 43 interposed between the first and second coupling segments 41, 42. The intermediate coupling 4 is configured as an oldham coupling. Specifically, the first coupling segment 41 has a plate section 4101 that is formed with an elongated groove 4102, and an engaging section 4103 that projects at a side opposite to the elongated groove 4102 to be connected co-rotatably to the rotatable component 2 (see
It should be noted that, the second coupling segment 42 may be modified into a set of substitutable coupling heads. As shown in
It should be further noted that, while the elongated groove 4102 is formed only in the plate section 4101 in this embodiment, the elongated groove 4102 may be formed through the plate section 4101 into the engaging section 4103 in other embodiments (see
As shown in
In this embodiment, the third coupling segment 43 is larger than and surrounds the second coupling segment 42. The second coupling segment 42 has opposite edges coupled slidably and respectively to the third coupling segment 43 via tongue-and-groove mechanisms. The first coupling segment 41 is larger than and surrounds the third coupling segment 43, and the third coupling segment 43 has opposite edges coupled slidably and respectively to the first coupling segment 41 via tongue-and-groove mechanisms (which are not co-rotatable with the first coupling segment 41), such that the second coupling segment 42 is movable relative to the first coupling segment 41 in a first direction, and is movable relative to the first coupling segment 41 via the third coupling segment 43 in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. In addition, the second coupling segment 42 has a rigid outer part 428 coupled slidably to the third coupling segment 43, and a rotatable inner part 427 surrounded by the rigid outer part 428, formed with a cavity 4271 that is adapted to receive the thumb turn of the door lock, and made from an elastic material so that the second coupling segment 42 can fit on thumb turns of different shapes and sizes.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the first coupling segment 41 has two subsegments 411′ connected to a periphery of the rotatable component 2 (see
It should be noted that, referring to
It should be further noted that, the door mount mechanism according to the present disclosure may also be used for rotating a knob of a switch mechanism, such as a switch knob of a washing machine, an oven, and so on.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
This application claims priorities of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/061,212, filed on Oct. 8, 2014, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/061,204, filed on Oct. 8, 2014, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/061,209, filed on Oct. 8, 2014.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2015/054505 | 10/7/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2016/057677 | 4/14/2016 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4557124 | Russ | Dec 1985 | A |
5592839 | Hasan | Jan 1997 | A |
5678436 | Alexander | Oct 1997 | A |
5704235 | Stahle | Jan 1998 | A |
5887468 | Hasan | Mar 1999 | A |
6216502 | Cannella | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6324879 | Kennedy | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6591643 | Cannella et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6742369 | Veillette | Jun 2004 | B1 |
7373795 | Kilbourne | May 2008 | B2 |
8869574 | Schmidt-Lackner | Oct 2014 | B2 |
9476232 | Verdecia | Oct 2016 | B1 |
9624695 | Cheng | Apr 2017 | B1 |
20080296912 | Whitner et al. | Dec 2008 | A1 |
20090084147 | Mizutani et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
20140260447 | Schmidt-Lackner | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20170002586 | Lee | Jan 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2789278 | Oct 2010 | CA |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report, PCT/US15/054505, dated Jan. 5, 2016 (2 pages). |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20170002585 A1 | Jan 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62061204 | Oct 2014 | US | |
62061212 | Oct 2014 | US | |
62061209 | Oct 2014 | US |