The present application is a National Phase of International Application Number PCT/US2013/021673 filed Jan. 16, 2013 and claims priority to Chinese Application Number 2012100159502 filed Jan. 18, 2012.
The present invention relates to a lock device, more particularly to a lock used on a door of electrical appliances such as a dish-washer, washing machine, clothes dryer or microwave oven.
An electrical appliance such as a dish-washer is usually provided with a door lock. When the door is to be closed, a pushing force is applied to the door, and a door hook is inserted into the door lock and engages with the door lock to lock the door; when the door is to be opened, a pulling force is applied to the door, and the door hook retracts from the door lock and disengages from the door lock.
It is desirable to unlock such door lock from the inside of the washing machine to meet some requirement in use. It is also desirable that such door lock has a certain pulling force that can assist in closing the door and that opening and closing the door needs only a simply pulling/pushing operation without an additional operation such as turning, pinching or buckling so that the door lock is convenient in use and has well hand feeling in manipulation. Furthermore, to reduce cost, it is desirable that the door hook which is used with such kind of door lock has the simplest structure (a one-piece part which is directly fixed to the door) rather than has a removable structure constructed from a plurality of parts.
Usually, such door lock includes a pivotal lock hook and a slider for locking the pivotal lock hook. The lock hook pivots as the door hook inserts in and retracts from the lock hook, and the slider generally reciprocatingly slides in a direction perpendicular to a pivotal plane. When the slider is in a slider locked position, it is able to prevent the lock hook from rotating. When applying pulling force to the door, the lock hook pivots as the door hook retracts from the lock hook thereby applies a force to the slider. The force enables the slider to move away from the slider locking position so that the lock hook can pivot and the door is opened. Such door lock generally further comprises a locking member such as a pawl which locks the slider according to a signal indicative of locking the door lock and which is configured to keep the slider in the slider locked position to prevent the door from being opened during operation of the electrical appliance. According to safety requirements, the door lock must guarantee that during operation of the electrical appliance such as the dish-washer, the door will not be opened as being applied with an external force.
The shortcoming exits in the door lock which has the above functions is it usually has big volume or size, whereas compact figure is usually an important target for the product.
One object of the present invention is to provide a door lock which has very compact volume and easy to install and arrange.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door lock which can be unlocked from the inside of the washing machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door lock which has well hand feeling in manipulation and certain assistant pulling force in closing the door, and opening/closing the door with the door lock needs only a simply pulling/pushing operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door lock which needs an immovable door hook with the simplest structure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door lock which enables the door to bear a larger pulling force.
The present invention relates to a lock device, comprising a housing including a lock hook mounted in the housing, the lock hook pivotally moves to and away from a lock hook locked position; a locking slider for locking the lock hook, the locking slider having a locking slider first end which abuts against an axial surface of the lock hook, the locking slider is reciprocatingly slideable in a first direction parallel to the lock hook pivoting plane following pivoting of the lock hook to move to or away from a locking slider locked position; a slider locking device for locking the locking slider, the slider locking device is reciprocating slideable in a second direction following the reciprocatingly sliding of the locking slider in the first direction, the second direction crosses the lock hook pivoting plane.
The present invention further relates to an apparatus mounted with said lock device.
One advantage of the present invention is enabling the door of the electrical appliance mounted with the door lock to bear a larger pulling force when locked.
Another advantage of the present invention is, when a very large pulling force is applied to the locked door, not only reducing the force to which the pawl (or other locking members) is subjected but also avoiding generating a force applying to the lock hook parallel to the axial of the lock hook pivoting plane, thereby avoiding causing damages or position deviation to the lock hook.
Another advantage of the present invention is simply and effectively reducing the force to which the pawl (or other locking members) subjected.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become obvious for those skilled in the art after the following specific embodiments and drawings are read.
Various specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings forming a part of the specification. It should be appreciated that although directional terminology such as “front,” “rear,” “upper” and “lower” are used in the detailed description for the embodiments to describe structural portions and elements of various embodiments of the present invention, use of these terminology is only to facilitate description and these terminologies are used with reference to the orientation of the figure(s). Because the embodiments disclosed herein can be positioned in different orientations, these directional terminologies are used for purpose of illustration and are in no way limiting. Whenever possible, the same or similar reference numbers and symbols are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same parts.
In the housing 100 is further mounted a slider locking device 150 for locking a locking slider 130 at a slider locked position. An exemplary slider locking device 150 is a slider, preferably a bar-shaped slider as shown in the figures, but it may also be a locking device in other forms besides the slider.
At the end 131a of the locking slider 130 is provided two lock hook contacting surfaces 138a and 138b which respectively abuts against the lock hook radial surface 111 when the door lock is locked and opened. At an end 131b of the slider 130 opposite to the end 131a is provided an elastic member 162.
The elastic member 162 is a spring as shown in the figures, but it may also be other elastic members. One end of the spring 162 abuts against the end 131b of the locking slider 130, and the other end of the spring 162 is abutted against by the housing so as to provide a force for driving or blocking the sliding of the locking slider 130.
Alternatively, the locking slider 130 is a bar-shaped slider as shown in the figures, and the extension direction of the main body of the locking slider 130 is parallel to the sliding direction of the locking slider 130 along a straight line, and the sliding direction of the locking slider 130 lies in plane parallel to the pivoting plane of the lock hook 110, which makes the dimension of the door lock more compact.
The slider 150 is located at one side of an axial direction of the lock hook 110, an end 151 of the slider 150 abuts against a side surface 132 of the locking slider 130, and the force applied by the locking slider 130 to the slider 150 enables the slider 150 to reciprocatingly slide as the locking slider 130 slides reciprocatingly. The direction in which the slider 150 reciprocatingly slides crosses the pivoting plane of the lock hook, namely, crosses the sliding direction of the locking slider 130. Preferably, as shown in
Thus it can be seen that via the transfer of the slider 150 and locking slider 130, the rotational movement of the lock hook 110 is converted into linear movement which is in the same direction as the pivot axis of the lock hook 110. By doing so, the door lock is not only easier to control (locking/unlocking the slider 150 by an implementing mechanism or switch box via an extendable or retractable bolt), but also compact in size with a square figuration, which makes it easier to be arranged in use. Conventional door lock configuration makes the entire door lock present a thin bar-shaped appearance so that it has a large longitudinal dimension which is not advantageous for use.
The implementing mechanism or switch box used with the door lock according to the present invention comprises a locking member releasably locking the slider 150 although the locking member is not shown in the figures. An exemplary locking member is a bolt. Accordingly, a notch 158 is provided on the slider 150 to receive the bolt. It should be appreciated that the locking member further includes other means for releasably locking the slider 150, such as a pawl and so on, and the slider 150 can be provided with a corresponding receiving structure.
How the door lock of the present invention works will be exemplarily explained with reference to
In
When the door is closed, the door hook (not shown) is inserted into the door lock, pushing the lock hook to pivot in the clockwise direction of
As can be seen from
The pawl may be configured to cooperate with the notch 158 on the slider 150 to lock the slider 150 at the locking device locked position upon receiving a signal for starting operation of the electrical appliance (other conditions for the pawl to lock the slider 150 of course may be configured as needed) such that the door is locked. At this time, if the door is subjected to a pulling force, the door hook engaging with the lock hook 110 applies a force for pulling the lock hook 110 to pivot away from the lock hook locked position, and the axial surface 111 of the lock hook 110 applies to the locking slider 130 a force enabling the locking slider 130 to move away from the slider locked position so that the locking slider 130 applies to the slider 150 a force enabling the slider 150 to move away from the locked position of the slider locking device. Due to existence of the oblique surface 135 and oblique surface 155, the force applied by the locking slider 130 on the slider 150 via the oblique surface 135 is decomposed into two component of forces, one of which is transverse to the sliding direction of the slider 150 and the other of which is parallel to the sliding direction of the slider 150. The inclined angles of the oblique surfaces 135 and 155 are configured to enable the above transverse component of force to be larger but blocked by the housing 100, whereas enable the parallel component to be smaller but sufficient to be blocked by the bolt or pawl. This enables the door lock of the present invention to bear a larger pulling force for the door even though by using the same bolt or pawl as that in the prior art.
In addition, because the locking slider 130 of the present invention abuts against the radial surface 111 of the lock hook 110 and the sliding direction thereof is parallel to the pivoting plane of the lock hook 110, when applying a pulling force to the locked door, the locking slider 130 only generates a force applying to the lock hook 110 in the radial direction of the lock hook without generating a force parallel to the axial direction of the lock hook. Therefore, even if the door is applied with a very large force, the lock hook will not be damaged or deviate from its position due to subjecting to an axial force, so that the door can actually bear a larger pulling force in the locked state.
Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in the above figures, the oblique surface 135 is provided on the outward extending portion of the locking slider 130 rather than in the cavity configured in the interior of the locking slider 130 so that the dimension and the incline angle of the oblique surface 135 can be set substantially without being limited by the dimensions of the locking slider (for example, the length, height and thickness of the locking slider). Therefore, when the door is designed to bear a larger pulling force in the locked state, the area and incline angle of the oblique surface can be set in a more convenient and effective manner, for example, setting the area of the slant surface 135 to make it larger and adjusting the incline angle of the oblique surface 135, so as to enable the parallel component of force applied on the slider 150 to be still in the bearing extension of the pawl.
In
When the closed door is to be opened, the electrical appliance sends a signal indicating unlocking the bolt or pawl so that the locked slider 150 is released and the slider 150 is in a slideable state. At this moment, when the door is applied with a pulling force, the parallel component of force decomposed from the force applied by the locking slider 130 to the slider 150 pushes the slider 150 to slide in the direction shown by an arrow X in
Because the oblique surface 135 is configured on the locking slider 130 rather than being configured on the lock hook as taught by the prior art, when an outward pulling force is applied on the door, the lock hook is not subjected to the force parallel to the axial of its pivoting plane and would not be damaged or deviate from its position.
Furthermore, the door lock according to the present invention does not increase the space occupied by it as compared with the door lock in the prior art, instead, it flexibly uses the space in the interior of the door lock housing, so that it is also advantageous in compact structure.
The dish-washer in
The present invention needs to cooperate with an independent and controllable implementing mechanism or switch box to compose a set of complete door lock. The implementing mechanism or switch box may be an existed module or standard parts.
The above embodiments describe the working principles, exemplary structures and application of the lock device of the present invention with the door lock as an example, but those skilled in the art can appreciate that the lock device of the present invention is not limited to the door lock, and it may be lock device for other applications.
Although the present invention is described with reference to specific embodiments shown in the figures, it should be appreciated that without departing from the spirit and scope taught by the present invention, the lock device of the present invention may have may variations. The parts in different specific embodiments of the present invention can be interchangeable or re-combinable without departing from the spirit and scope taught by the present invention, whereby the obtained lock devices also fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Those having ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that parameters such as dimensions, shapes or types of elements or materials of the disclosed embodiments may be changed in different manners, all falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention and the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012 1 0015950 | Jan 2012 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2013/021673 | 1/16/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2013/109585 | 7/25/2013 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150021927 A1 | Jan 2015 | US |