The invention relates to a lock for a container of valuables, in particular for the door of a cash dispenser or a safe, with a housing, with a bolt, with a blocking element and with a spring element, the bolt being located to be able to move in the housing between a blocking position which is extended out of the housing and an open position which is retracted into the housing parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing and the bolt being lockable in the blocking position by means of the blocking element, and the spring element applying a force to the bolt which pushes the bolt in the direction of the blocking position.
In the locks under discussion here, which are also called security locks, the bolt is not used directly to lock the door of the valuables container which is to be secured, but to lock a bolt mechanism. The bolt mechanism is attached to the inner side of the door of the corresponding valuables container, for example, a cash dispenser, a safe or a strong room in order to protect the door in the closed and locked state against unauthorized opening. The mechanical bolt mechanism interacts with the lock which is generally screwed for this purpose on the base plate of the bolt mechanism. Locks which are used for this application can be fundamentally both mechanical and also electronic locks, but bolt mechanisms which are to meet increased security requirements being in general combined with electronic locks which generally are locked and unlocked via an alphanumeric input unit.
In the locked state of the bolt mechanism, there are one or two bolts of the bolt mechanism in a first, extended closed position, a movement of the bolt or bolts back into the second, retracted opening position being prevented by the bolts laterally adjoining the extended bolt of the lock. For intentional opening of the bolt mechanism, therefore the lock must first be unlocked and the bolt of the lock must be pulled back out of its blocking position so that the bolt or bolts of the bolt mechanism are no longer blocked by the bolt of the lock. The bolt of the bolt mechanism can be shifted out of its first extended position into its second retracted position by actuating a handle which is located on the outside of the door of the valuables container so that the door can be unlocked and opened afterwards.
If the door is to be locked again, after closing the door, the bolt mechanism must first be moved by a corresponding actuation of the handle out of its second position back into its first position. Afterwards, in addition the lock must still be locked so that the bolt of the lock is returned to its locked position in which the bolt of the lock interacts with the bolt or bolts of the bolt mechanism. The effort for locking the door is increased by the lock having to be locked in addition for locking of the bolt mechanism.
Fundamentally, two different types of locks are known, specifically “solid bolt locks” and “swingbolt locks” or “rotobolt locks”. Solid bolt locks have a rectangular bolt which can be displaced linearly and which is generally moved by means of an electric motor out of its blocking position which is extended out of the housing into the open position which is retracted into the housing. If the lock has an electric motor, the bolt of the lock is generally also moved by the electric motor out of the second opened position into the extended blocking position.
Instead of a linearly movable bolt, swingbolt locks have a pivotally mounted swingbolt which when the lock is unlocked is swiveled back into the housing by the bolt of the bolt mechanism which has been shifted in the direction of the opening position. Thus in swingbolt locks the use of an electric motor for retracting the bolt into the housing can be omitted. Via a spring which is located in the housing of the lock the swingbolt is exposed to a force which automatically swivels the swingbolt back into its blocking position, when the swingbolt is released, i.e. when the bolt mechanism has been moved beforehand into its first extended blocking position. Swingbolt locks are thus both self-closing and also self-opening, a user having to lock or unlock the lock only by inputting a corresponding code so that the actuation of a bolt mechanism is simplified accordingly.
One disadvantage of swingbolt locks is however that they can only be used in bolt mechanisms with one bolt, since based on the shape and the arrangement of the swingbolt they can block only on one side against the direction of movement of the swingbolt. Conversely, if a scissors bolt mechanism which has two bolts which move towards one another for opening of the bolt mechanism is to be used as the bolt mechanism, locks with swingbolts cannot be used. In scissors bolt mechanisms therefore solid bolt locks are always used which are connected to the bolt mechanism such that the bolt of the lock in the blocked state is located between the two bolts or scissors of the scissors bolt mechanism, as a result of which movement of the bolts of the bolt mechanism towards one another is prevented by the bolt of the lock.
Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a lock for valuables containers which can be used with a structure as simple as possible in different types of bolt mechanisms, in particular also in scissors bolt mechanisms.
This object is achieved in the initially described lock in that the bolt on its end protruding out of the housing has two bevels which each run at an angle a to the direction in which the bolt moves. In contrast to a solid bolt, in the lock in accordance with the invention the end of the bolt protruding out of the housing is thus not made rectangular, but depending on the configuration of the bevels has a roughly trapezoidal surface area. In this way the side surfaces of the bolt are not located perpendicular to the direction of movement of the bolts or scissors of the bolt mechanism, but at an angle less than 90° so that by the opening motion of the bolt mechanism a force acts on the bolt of the lock by which the bolt is moved into its open position when the lock has been unlocked.
Since in the lock in accordance with the invention the shape of the end of the bolt which is protruding out of the housing, in contrast to the shape of a swingbolt, is not quadrant-shaped and the bolt is not pivotally mounted in the housing either, the lock in accordance with the invention can also be used in scissors bolt mechanisms in which two bolts or scissors act from two opposite sides on the bolt of the lock so that the lock can be used in a very versatile manner.
Preferably, the angle a of the bevel relative to the direction in which the bolt moves is roughly 45°, but even smaller deviations therefrom being fundamentally possible. The angle a of the bevels to the direction of motion should however generally be between 35° and 55°, in particular between 40° and 50°, and the angle a of the two bevels should be the same in order to avoid canting of the bolt when pushed into the housing.
According to one advantageous configuration of the lock in accordance with the invention, the bolt is made in at least two parts, having a bolt head and a bolt shaft which are detachably joined to one another. In this way, the manufacture of the bolt can be simplified, and it is possible to combine a bolt shaft with different bolt heads which differ, for example, by somewhat different angles of the bevels. Likewise, of course, one bolt head can also be joined to different bolt shafts which can be adapted to different housing sizes. The bolt head and bolt shaft are joined preferably via a screw, as a result of which secure joining of the bolt head and bolt shaft as well as simple replacement of one of the two components are enabled. Thus, it is, for example, also possible to simply replace a damaged bolt head without having to replace the entire bolt or even the entire lock. Finally, the two-part execution of the bolt makes it possible to use different materials for the bolt head and the bolt shaft so that for the bolt head which is exposed to higher mechanical stress a harder material, for example, a precision steel casting, than for the bolt shaft can be used.
In order to ensure secure fastening of the bolt head to the bolt shaft, and in particular to prevent twisting or tilting of the bolt head relative to the bolt shaft, the bolt head according to one preferred configuration has a pocket-like recess into which the end of the bolt shaft protruding out of the housing is inserted. The end of the bolt shaft is thus surrounded by the bolt head in the manner of a hood. The free end of the bolt shaft is thus preferably matched in its shape to the shape of the bolt head so that the free end of the bolt shaft preferably also has a trapezoidal surface area.
As has already been stated above, the mechanical joining of the bolt head and bolt shaft takes place preferably by means of a screw, for which a hole for the screw is made in the bolt head and extends on either side of the recess, i.e., the hole does not end in or on the recess, but continues after the recess in the bolt head. In the end of the bolt shaft which has been inserted into the recess an elongated opening is moreover made, the hole and the elongated opening being arranged to one another such that a screw which has been screwed into the hole penetrates the opening in the bolt shaft. If an elongated opening whose longitudinal extension is greater than the diameter of the screw is formed in the end of the bolt shaft which has been inserted into the recess, it is possible to change the position of the bolt head relative to the bolt shaft in the longitudinal direction of the opening and thus also in the direction in which the bolt moves. This easily makes it possible to adjust the bolt stroke of the lock bolt, as a result of which freewheeling of the bolts of the bolt mechanism which may otherwise be present based on the bevels on the end of the bolt can be compensated.
The above described variability of the position of the bolt head relative to the bolt shaft and thus the adjustability of the bolt stroke moreover enable the lock to be easily adapted to an individual bolt mechanism, as a result of which in particular it also becomes possible to replace a lock used for a scissors bolt mechanism with a solid bolt by a lock in accordance with the invention.
The bolt stroke can be adjusted according to one especially preferred configuration of the invention in that, in the region of the recess in the bolt head, there is a fixing element which has one, preferably two wedge-shaped clamping surfaces and a hole, the fixing element being arranged such that the screw engages the hole. In the elongated opening in the bolt shaft, at least one corresponding counter-clamping surface is formed such that with the screw tightened the clamping surface of the fixing element and the counter-clamping surface interact such that the bolt head is fixed relative to the bolt shaft. Loosening of the screw conversely leads to the clamping surface and the counter-clamping surface having a short distance to one another and thus no longer interacting so that the bolt head can be moved relative to the bolt shaft in the direction of movement of the bolt.
The fixing element which, as stated above, has preferably two clamping surfaces opposite one another can consist both of metal and also of an elastic material. The clamping surfaces preferably have several ribs to which on the counter-clamping surfaces ribs corresponding to the opening in the bolt shaft are made. In this way the bolt head is secured especially reliably against moving or slipping in the direction of movement of the bolt even if a force is acting on the bevels of the bolt head.
The lock can be adapted to the respective bolt mechanism and in particular the freewheeling of the scissors of a scissors bolt mechanism can moreover also be compensated by the position of the lock relative to the bolts or scissors of the bolt mechanism being adjustable. For this purpose, according to one preferred configuration of the invention it is provided that the attachment openings which are made in the lock housing and through which the lock is fastened by means of corresponding screws to a base plate of the bolt mechanism are made as slots. Even if the holes in the base plate of the bolt mechanism which correspond to the attachment openings in the housing of the lock are stipulated, adaptation of the exact position of the lock and in particular of the lock bolt relative to the bolts or scissors of the bolt mechanism is thus possible. This type of adaptation of the lock to the respective bolt mechanism is used in particular when the bolt is made in one piece, therefore is not formed of a bolt head and a bolt shaft which are detachably joined to one another.
According to one preferred configuration of this adjustment possibility of the lock position, the edge region of the housing surrounding the attachment openings has several ribs, as a result of which the attachment of the lock is enhanced and the risk of slippage of the lock under a force acting on the bevels of the bolt head is reduced. In addition, plain washers or lock washers with ribs can be used which further increase the security of the attachment of the lock and at the same time are also used as screw protection.
In particular, at this point there is a host of possibilities for configuring and developing the lock in accordance with the invention as will be apparent from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In addition to the lock 1, in the three illustrations according to
The swingbolt lock 1″ which is shown in
The lock 1 in accordance with the invention which is shown in
As is apparent from
As is apparent in particular from
Since the length of the opening 16 is much greater than the diameter of the hole 15 or of the screw 12, it is possible to shift the bolt head 10 relative to the bolt shaft 11 in the longitudinal direction of the opening 16, and thus, also in the direction in which the bolt 3 moves, as a result of which the bolt stroke of the bolt 3 can be adjusted. To do this, in the region of the recess 13 in the bolt head 10 there is a fixing element 17 which is shown separately in
As is apparent from
As is apparent from the enlarged representation according to
In the illustration of the lock 1 according to