1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exterior lever lock device with a clutch assembly, especially to an exterior lever lock device that whenever the lever lock is locked or unlocked, an exterior lever of the exterior lever lock device still turns.
2. Description of the Prior Art(s)
A conventional lever lock is mounted on a door and has a bolt, an indoor lever lock device and an exterior lever lock device. The bolt is mounted in the door. The indoor lever lock device is mounted on an inside surface of the door, is connected to the bolt and has an indoor lever and a switch control, such as a push button, a turn button or the like, mounted in the indoor lever. The exterior lever lock device is mounted on an outside surface of the door, is connected to the door to selectively lock or unlock the door and has an exterior lever and a lock cylinder mounted in the exterior lever.
As a person inside the house turns the switch control to lock the door, the exterior lever is fixed horizontally and is unable to be turned to unlock the door to prevent the door from being opened from outside of the house. When a key is inserted into and unlocks the lock cylinder of the exterior lever lock device, the exterior lever is turned to open the door.
However, when the exterior lever is fixed horizontally, turning force applied to the exterior lever breaks the exterior lever easily. Therefore, the conventional lever lock does not protect articles or people inside the house efficiently and practically since articles inside the house are still in danger of being stolen and the people are also in danger.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an exterior lever lock device with a clutch assembly to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide an exterior lever lock device with a clutch assembly. The exterior lever lock device is mounted on a door, is connected to a bolt and an indoor lever lock device and has a lever assembly, a driving assembly, a clutch assembly and a driven assembly. The driven assembly has an inner sleeve and a locking panel fastened to the clutch assembly and selectively engaging the inner sleeve.
Therefore, whenever the lever lock is locked or unlocked, as long as there is a turning force applied to the lever assembly, the lever assembly turns with the turning force and is not broken easily. An endurance of the exterior lever lock device is prolonged for improved lock performance.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The lever assembly (10) has an exterior cap (11), an exterior lever (12) and a lock cylinder (13). The exterior cap (11) is mounted on the outside surface of the door and has a mounting hole (111). The mounting hole (111) is formed through the exterior cap (11). The exterior lever (12) is mounted on an outer surface of the exterior cap (11) and has a mounting tube (121). The mounting tube (121) protrudes transversely from a mounting end of the exterior lever (12) and is concentric with the mounting hole (111) of the exterior cap (11). The lock cylinder (13) is mounted securely in the mounting tube (121) of the exterior lever (12) and has a key mount (14) and a driving shaft (15). The key mount (14) is formed in an outer end of the lock cylinder (13). The driving shaft (15) protrudes coaxially from an inner end of the lock cylinder (13).
The driving assembly (20) is mounted between the mounting hole (111) of the exterior cap (11) and the mounting tube (121) of the exterior lever (12) and has an outer sleeve (21) and a latch panel (22). The outer sleeve (21) is mounted through the mounting hole (111) of the exterior cap (11), protrudes into the mounting tube (121) of the exterior lever (12), is mounted securely around the lock cylinder (13) and has and at least one guiding slot (211). The at least one guiding slot (211) is formed through a sidewall of the outer sleeve (21). The latch panel (22) is radially mounted securely through the outer sleeve (21) and holds the driving shaft (15) of the lock cylinder (13).
With further reference to
The core bracket (31) has a connecting end and a slot (35). The connecting end of the core bracket (31) is connected to the lock cylinder (13) and abuts the latch panel (22). The slot (35) is formed centrally in the connecting end of the core bracket (31) and is connected to the driving shaft (15) of the lock cylinder (13).
The driving tube (32) is mounted around the core bracket (31) and has an open end, a closed end, an engaging protrusion (37) and a guiding groove (38). The engaging protrusion (37) is formed on the closed end of the driving tube (32) and is shaped as a cross. The guiding groove (38) is formed through a sidewall of the driving tube (32), may be spiral and has an engaging portion (381) and a disengaging portion (382). The engaging portion (381) of the guiding groove (38) corresponds to the open end of the driving tube (32). The disengaging portion (382) of the guiding groove (38) corresponds to the closed end of the driving tube (32).
The guiding rod (33) is mounted through the guiding groove (38) of the driving tube (32) and is attached securely to the core bracket (31).
The driven assembly (40) is mounted in the outer sleeve (21), is connected to the clutch assembly (30) and the bolt (70) and has an inner sleeve (41), a stop panel (48), a resilient element (42) and a locking panel (43).
The inner sleeve (41) has a connecting end, a mounting end, a peripheral edge and at least one locking indentation (45). The connecting end of the inner sleeve (41) is connected to the bolt (70). The mounting end of the inner sleeve (41) corresponds to the clutch assembly (30). The peripheral edge of the inner sleeve (41) is formed around the mounting end of the inner sleeve (41). The at least one locking indentation (45) is formed in the peripheral edge of the inner sleeve (41).
The stop panel (48) is mounted radially through a sidewall of the inner sleeve (41).
The resilient element (42) is mounted in the inner sleeve (41) and may be mounted between the mounting end of the inner sleeve (41) and the stop panel (48).
The locking panel (43) is fastened to the closed end of the driving tube (32), is mounted on the mounting end of the inner sleeve (41), abuts the resilient element (42), selectively engages the inner sleeve (41) and has a peripheral edge, an engaging hole (46) and at least one locking protrusion (47). The engaging hole (46) is formed through the locking panel (43), engages the engaging protrusion (37) of the driving tube (32) and is shaped as a cross. The at least one locking protrusion (46) is formed radially on the peripheral edge of the locking panel (43), is mounted in and slidable along the at least one guiding slot (211) of the outer sleeve (21) and selectively engages the at least one locking indentation (45) of the inner sleeve (41).
Thus, when a key (80) is inserted into the key mount (14) and turns the driving shaft (15) of the lock cylinder (13), the core bracket (31) rotates together with the driving shaft (13). Then the guiding rod (33) slides along the guiding groove (38) of the driving tube (32) and moves the driving tube (32) and the locking panel (43) to allow the at least one locking protrusion (46) of the locking panel (43) to selectively engaging the at least one locking indentation (45) of the inner sleeve (41).
With further reference to
Then, as a turning force is applied to the exterior lever (12), the exterior lever (12), the lock cylinder (13), the outer sleeve (21), the driving tube (33) and the locking panel (43) rotate simultaneously. Since the locking panel (43) disengages from the inner sleeve (41), the inner sleeve (41) does not rotate accordingly. Consequently, the bolt (70) is unable to be unlocked.
With further reference to
Furthermore, when the key (80) turns reversely to slide the guiding rod (33) along the guiding groove (38) of the driving tube (32) and toward the disengaging portion (382) of the guiding groove (38), the resilient element (42) pushes the locking panel (43) to disengage from the inner sleeve (41). Thus, the lever lock is locked again and although the lever lock is locked, the exterior lever (12) still turns.
The exterior lever lock device with a clutch assembly as described has the following advantages. Whenever the lever lock is locked or unlocked, as long as there is a turning force applied to the lever assembly (10), the lever assembly (10) turns with the turning force and is not broken easily. An endurance of the exterior lever lock device is prolonged for improved lock effectiveness.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
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