Patent Application
20070107476
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a kind of lock, and more particularly, relates to a kind of laminated padlock having a reinforced and improved striking mechanism for effectively managing an operation of the shackle with respect to the lock body so as to substantially prolong the life span of the laminated padlock.
2. Description of Related Arts
A lock is a mechanical fastening device which may be used everywhere since it provides people with a sense of security. It is not surprised that a variety of locks are used on doors, vehicles, containers, or any means to be opened, wherein the padlock is one of the most common locks in routine applications. Ordinarily, a padlock comprises a lock body, a shackle moveably mounted onto the lock body to form a loop retaining an object in position, and a cylinder received into the lock body for maneuvering a releasing operation of the shackle, etc.
Commonly, the lock body of the padlock is prepared by an integral metal, wherein a cylinder cavity and a pair of shackle hole are defined onto the top side of lock body for respectively receiving the lock cylinder and two shackle legs. Seemingly, such kind of padlock has a relatively simpler structure to be assembled in practice. However, since the lock body is made of an integral metal block, defining an optimal shape of such cylinder cavity or shackle holes would be time consuming and mechanically challenging. Therefore, people introduced a new type of laminated padlock for replacing conventional padlock, wherein the lock body of the laminated padlock comprises a plurality of metal plates laminated together for forming a lock body. Accordingly, each individual metal plate could be purposely shaped and through-carved with openings so as to ensure the cylinder cavity to be perfectly designed.
As shown in
However, the resilient element C is ordinarily embodied as a curve-shaped spring steel, wherein one end of the spring steel is biasing against a side edge of the striking chip A, while another end and the curve portion of the spring steel are respectively positioned two corners of the striking plate B. Due to the fact that the padlock would be repeatedly locked and released in operations, the strength of the spring steel must be intensified for ensuring a consistent performance after an extended service of such padlock. However, after hundreds of thousands of the operations, the fatigue grade of the spring steel would be more or less degraded thus deteriorating the life span of the padlock.
On the other hand, the spring steel is defined as an irregular curved shape, the biasing force applied onto the striking chip A would be difficult to be controlled with an evenly distributed force. Most of the time, the striking chip would not be operated with a smooth manner, thus unnecessarily increasing the friction force between the striking chip A and the inner wall of the striking plate B. It is necessary to improve the conventional laminated padlock.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock, wherein the striking chip and striking plate structure is redesigned so as to ensure the biasing force applied onto the striking chip are evenly distributed, such at the movement between the striking chip and the striking plate would be smoothed in applications.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having a pair of striking chips orientated with opposite direction for simultaneously locking two legs of the shackle in position thus ensuring the padlock more reliable in applications.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having an improved striking structure for not only prolonging the life span of the padlock, but also for strengthening the anti-breaking function.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having an improved striking structure, wherein the convention curved shaped steel spring will be replaced with elongated resilient members, while the reciprocal movement of the striking chip would not be affected in applications.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having an improved striking structure to eliminate the likelihood of striking chips being over fractioned, stuck or snapped within the striking plates.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having an improved striking structure, wherein two striking plates are separated with strengthened enhancement plate for further intensifying the overall safety of the padlock.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated padlock having an improved striking structure, wherein no complicated structures or expensive elements would be required to achieve above mentioned objects.
Accordingly, to achieve above mentioned objects, the present invention provides a laminated padlock, comprising:
a lock body comprising a plurality of hollow body panels overlapped with each other to form a receiving cavity therein;
a cylinder unit comprising a cylinder barrel supported in the receiving cavity and a cylinder core, having a key slot for a corresponding key inserting thereinto, rotatably disposed within the cylinder barrel between a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein at the locked position, the cylinder core is normally locked in the cylinder barrel to lock up a rotation movement of the cylinder core, and at the unlocked position, the cylinder core is allowed to be freely rotated within the cylinder barrel when the corresponding key is slidably inserted into the key slot; and
a latching arrangement, comprising:
a shackle having a sliding end portion slidably mounted to the lock body in a longitudinal direction and a locking end portion arranged in such a manner that when the sliding end portion of the shackle is slid into the lock body, the locking end portion of the shackle is coupled with the lock body to form a closed loop;
a first latch slidably supported in said receiving cavity in a transverse direction to lock with the locking end portion of the shackle when the locking end portion of the shackle is coupled with the lock body, wherein the first latch is driven to slide inwardly when the cylinder core is rotated within the cylinder barrel to release the locking end portion of the shackle from the first latch so as to allow the shackle being pulled upwardly to form an open loop;
a second latch which is releasably lock at the sliding end portion of the shackle and is slidably supported in the receiving cavity in a transverse direction opposite to the first latch, wherein the second latch is driven to slide inwardly concurrently to the first latch when the cylinder core is rotated within the cylinder barrel to release the sliding end portion of the shackle from the second latch; and
means for applying an urging force against the first and second latch to normally push the first latch to engage with the locking end portion of the shackle.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
Referring to
The laminated padlock 1 further comprises a shackle 20, having two legs, moveably mounted to the lock body 10 for defining a locking loop between the lock body 10 and the shackle 20 so as to secure an object therebetween.
The laminated padlock 1 comprises a cylinder unit 30 comprising a cylinder barrel 31 supported in the receiving cavity 102 and a cylinder core 311, having a key slot for a corresponding key inserting thereinto, rotatably disposed within the cylinder barrel 31 between a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein at the locked position, the cylinder core 311 is normally locked in the cylinder barrel 31 to lock up a rotation movement of the cylinder core 311, and at the unlocked position, the cylinder core 311 is allowed to be freely rotated within the cylinder barrel 31 when the corresponding key is slidably inserted into the key slot.
Accordingly, the laminated padlock 1 comprises a cylinder unit 30 received within the receiving cavity 102. The cylinder unit 30 comprises a cylinder barrel 31, a cylinder core 311 rotatably received within the cylinder barrel 31, wherein the cylinder core 311 has a key slot for inserting a key to rotate the cylinder core 311 with respect to the cylinder barrel 31 between a locking position and a releasing position, and an activating member 32 coupled to the cylinder core 311 to be synchronously rotated along with the cylinder core 311.
Furthermore, the laminated padlock comprises a latching arrangement 40, comprising a shackle 20 having a sliding end portion slidably mounted to the lock body 10 in a longitudinal direction and a locking end portion arranged in such a manner that when the sliding end portion of the shackle is slid into the lock body 10, the locking end portion of the shackle is coupled with the lock body to form a closed loop.
The latching arrangement 40 further comprises a first latch 401 slidably supported in the receiving cavity 102 in a transverse direction to lock with the locking end portion of the shackle 20 when the locking end portion of the shackle is coupled with the lock body 10, wherein the first latch 401 is driven to slide inwardly when the cylinder core is rotated within the cylinder barrel 31 to release the locking end portion of the shackle 20 from the first latch 401 so as to allow the shackle 20 being pulled upwardly to form an open loop.
Moreover, the latching arrangement 40 comprises a second latch 402 which is releasably lock at the sliding end portion of the shackle and is slidably supported in the receiving cavity 102 in a transverse direction opposite to the first latch 401, wherein the second latch 402 is driven to slide inwardly concurrently to the first latch 401 when the cylinder core 311 is rotated within the cylinder barrel 31 to release the sliding end portion of the shackle 20 from the second latch 402.
The latching arrangement 40 further comprises means for applying an urging force against the first and second latch 401, 402 to normally push the first latch 401 to engage with the locking end portion of the shackle.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hollow body panel 102 could be defined to have a variety of shapes, such as rectangle shape, oval shape, round shape, etc. In the preferred embodiment, the hollow body panels 102 are oval shaped. As shown in
Accordingly, to ensure that the plurality of the hollow body panels 102 easily laminated together, the edges of each hollow body panel are unexceptionally provided a plurality of through holes 13 defined thereon. As a result, when such plurality of hollow body panels 102 are stacked together to form the lock body 10, the through holes 13 respectively defined on different hollow body panels are aligned together to form a plurality of longitudinal channels for receiving rivets 14 so as to reinforce the lock body 10 in applications.
As shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, the urging means comprises first and second resilient units 41 transversely and spacedly supported in the receiving cavity 102 for pushing the first and second latch panels 401, 402 towards the locking end portion and the sliding end portion of the shackle 20 respectively. Here, the first and second latches 401, 402 are two latch panels respectively and spacedly slid within the receiving cavity 102 in an opposed transverse direction. In the present invention, each of the first and second resilient units 41 comprises two compression springs spacedly and transversely urging the respective latch to evenly distribute the urging force against the respective latch.
The first and second latching panels 403, 404 are correspondingly provided under the protection panel 12, wherein each of the latching panels is formed with two slim sheet laminated together as shown in
As shown in
Moreover, the urging means further comprises two at least a pair of holding pins 4013, 4023 spacedly extended from each of the first and second latches 401, 402 to substantially hold the two corresponding compression springs in position, so as to ensure the compression springs urging the first and second latches 401, 402. Preferably, the pair of the holding pins 4013, 4023 are sidewardly and integrally projected from the supporting end of latch, wherein the resilient unit 41 is sleeved onto the holding pins for retaining the striking chip within the striking cavity in position. To ensure the resilient unit 41 apply an evenly distributed biasing force, two supporting pin are symmetrically and spacedly provided at the support edge of the striking chip. It is worth to mention that the resilient unit 41, i.e. compression spring, is made of high intensity materials, preferably, phosphoretic steel. That is to say, each of the resilient unit 41 has a supporting end sleeved onto the holding pin while another end biasing against the side wall of the latching cavity. By adjusting the strength of the resilient unit 41, a user is able to control the latching effect of the latch with a balanced manner.
That is to say, when the cylinder core 311 is shifted into the locking position, the two latches are outwardly extended to snap onto the two end portions of the shackle 20. When the cylinder core 311 is shifted into the releasing position, two latch panels respectively received within two striking plates are activated to approach with each other thus disengaging from the shackle.
As shown in
Furthermore, the latching arrangement 40 comprises a latch spacer 405 disposed within the receiving cavity 102 at a position between the first and second latches 401, 402 so as to create a moving space within the receiving cavity to allow the first and second latches 401, 402 transversely sliding therewith in an opposed direction.
As shown in
Moreover, the driving member 32 comprises a supporting disc 321 coupled to the cylinder core 311 and an activating inserter 322 for driving the latches into action. The cylinder barrel 31 is positioned with the cylinder positioning panel 409, cylinder end panel 410 and the bottom panel as shown in
What is more, there is a cylinder cavity continuously defined at the cylinder positioning panel 409, cylinder end panel 410 and the bottom panel 411 for accommodating the cylinder barrel 31. That is to say, each of the cylinder positioning panel 409, cylinder end panel 410 and the bottom panel 411 has a cylinder through opening 4092, 4102, and 4111 defined to be aligned together to form a cylinder accommodating channel. Furthermore, a reinforcement edge 41111 is provided circling around the cylinder through opening 4111 of the bottom plate 411, wherein the reinforcement edge 41111 has a diameter greater than the diameter of the cylinder through opening 4111 so as to longitudinally retain the cylinder in position.
The supporting disc 321 is disposed within the cylinder ridge stopper plate 408, and is coupled to the rotatable cylinder core 311. The flat inserter 322 is adapted to penetrate the activating member positioning panel 407, the second separation panel 406, the second latching 404, the first separation panel 405, the first latch 401, and the second latch 402 as shown in
It is noted that the two side edges of the flat inserter 322 are respectively biasing against the inner wall of the through opening 4011, 4012. When the cylinder core 311 is shifted into the releasing position, the flat inserter 322 would be rotated thus forcing two latches 401, 402 approached with each other so as to release the shackle end portions from the lock body. It is worth to mention that the one end portion is supported by a retaining spring 25 received within the lock body 10, such that when the latches are disengaged from the shackle slot 21, 22, the retaining spring 25 is capable of facilitating the shackle 20 spring out from the lock body 10.
In other words, the shackle 20 is embodied as a U shaped body having two shackle legs, namely a primary leg having a longer size moveably penetrated through the plurality of shackle slots defined onto the plurality of panels. Accordingly, each of the shackle legs has a locking slot defined thereon for correspondingly mating with the free ends of the latches. Moreover, to ensure the shackle 20 still in loose connection with the lock body 10 when the cylinder core 311 is shifted into the releasing position, the primary leg of the shackle 20 further comprises a retaining shoulder 23 defined thereon. The shackle slot 4081 of the shackle plate has a relatively smaller diameter in comparison with the diameter of the retaining shoulder 23 for preventing the released shackle from jumping out from the lock body.
Each of the first and second latching panels 403, 404 comprises two identical metal sheets as shown in
As shown in
Referring to
Another end of the latch is defined as a free end positioned close to the two end portions of the shackle 20. The free end is embodied as inserting end to be inserted into the shackle slot 21, 22 so as to lock up the shackle 20 in the locking position. Another end of the latch is retaining end retained by biasing means. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two retaining members are outwardly and integrally projected from the latch. Or otherwise, the retaining members are mounted into the coupling cavities provided at the latches.
As shown in
That is to say, the first latch 401 and the second latch 402 are orientated with opposite direction, wherein the inserting end of the latch is orientated towards the shackle 20. The first latch 401 is received within the first latching panel at a position close to the right side of the lock body 10, and the second latch 402 is received within the second latching panel at a position close to the left side of the lock body.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. Its embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure form such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
