Claims
- 1. An access control vestibule, comprising;a vestibule frame configured to form said access control vestibule mounted in said vestibule frame; an entrance door and an exit door; an entrance door frame and an exit door frame; a panel mounted in said vestibule frame and forming a side wall section of said vestibule; said entrance door and said exit door being formed by a panel mounted in each of said door frames; locks associated with said entrance door and said exit door; a metal detector located to detect a metal object being disposed between said entrance and exit doors; control means to prevent both doors from being unlocked at the same time, and to prevent said exit door from being unlocked when said metal detector detects a metal object; said entrance door and said exit door both being manually operated; and said entrance door and said exit door each being formed by a single swinging door, and swingable towards the outside of said vestibule.
- 2. The access control vestibule of claim 1, and further comprising;a 24 volt DC power supply to supply power to the control means; and the control means including means to maintain power to the metal detector when said vestibule is shut off.
- 3. The access control vestibule of claim 1, and further comprising;a 24 volt DC power supply to supply power to the control means; and said metal detector operating at 24 volts DC.
- 4. The access control vestibule of claim 1, and further comprising;said control means including a 24 volt DC battery backup.
- 5. The access control vestibule of claim 1, further comprising:a floor and an ultrasonic sensor; and said ultrasonic sensor located to detect presence of a person above said floor of said vestibule.
- 6. The access control vestibule of claim 1, and further comprising;means to detect an object on a floor of said vestibule.
- 7. The access control vestibule of claim 1, and further comprising;means to detect a person straddling a floor of said vestibule.
- 8. The access control vestibule of claim 1, wherein the entrance door and the exit door form an entrance chamber;a secured area is formed in the interior of said vestibule; a second entrance door and a second exit door form an exit chamber; said exit chamber is arranged alongside said entrance chamber; and said control means prevents said second entrance door of said exit chamber from being opened upon said second exit door of said exit chamber being unlocked; thus said entrance chamber is configured to allow entrance into said secured area, and said exit chamber is configured to allow exit from said secured area.
- 9. The access control vestibule of claim 8, and further comprising;said second exit door of said exit chamber being configured to swing towards the outside of said exit chamber.
- 10. The access control vestibule according to claim 9, wherein said metal detector in said vestibule is located closer to the exit door than to the entrance door such that a magnetic field generated by the entrance door frame does not affect the operation of said metal detector.
- 11. The access control vestibule according to claim 5, wherein:said ultrasonic sensor disposed above said floor of said vestibule is used to detect the presence of a person in said vestibule or an object on said floor of said vestibule; and said ultrasonic sensor is located above said metal detector.
- 12. The access control vestibule according to claim 11, further comprising:a touch-sense pad located on an inside of the exit side of said vestibule; said control means to disable said metal detector when said touch-sensitive pad is touched; a first ultrasonic sensor located above the entrance side of said metal detector of said vestibule; a second ultrasonic sensor located above the exit side of the metal detector of said vestibule; said control means to detect if both said first and second ultrasonic sensors detect the presence of an object or a person at the same time.
- 13. A method of controlling access through a double-door system, the method comprising the steps of:providing a first lockable door; providing a second lockable door; providing an enclosed chamber between said two doors; providing a metal detector located to detect a metal object being disposed between said two doors; providing means to detect a presence of a person within said enclosed chamber; providing means to detect when a person touches said second door; unlocking said first door; locking said second door; locking said first door when the means to detect a presence of a person detects the presence of a person within the chamber; determining if said metal detector has detected a metal object; unlocking said second door when said metal detector has not detected a metal object and when the means to detect when the person touches the second door detects that the person touches the second door; enabling said metal detector when the presence of a person is detected and said first door is locked; and disabling said metal detector when said means to detect detects a person touching said second door.
- 14. An access control vestibule, comprising;a vestibule frame having a rectangular shape configured to form an access control vestibule mounted in said vestibule frame; an entrance door frame and an exit door frame; a panel mounted in said vestibule frame and forming a side wall section of said vestibule; a panel mounted in each of the door frames and forming an entrance door and an exit door; said entrance door and said exit door both being manually operated, each formed of a single swinging door, and each swingable towards the outside of said vestibule; a lock associated with each of the doors; a metal detector located to detect a metal object being disposed between said entrance and exit doors; and control means to prevent both doors from being unlocked at the same time when said metal detector detects a metal object.
RELATED APPLICATIONS.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/987,187, filed on Dec. 8, 1997, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/718,023, filed on Sep. 23, 1996, now an issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,867, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/255,488, filed on Jun. 8, 1994, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
268924 |
Jun 1988 |
EP |
Continuations (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/987187 |
Dec 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/441917 |
|
US |
Parent |
08/255488 |
Jun 1994 |
US |
Child |
08/718023 |
|
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/718023 |
Sep 1996 |
US |
Child |
08/987187 |
|
US |