Patent Application
20230258031
This invention relates to a privacy lock for barn doors. More particularly, this invention relates to a privacy lock device for barn doors installed within a building interior to separate enclosures, e.g., rooms, closets, within the building.
Sliding barn doors are popular fixtures inside homes or offices. Previously relegated to actual barns, sliding barn doors possess many advantages over more traditional doors that swing on hinges. Some advantages of sliding barn doors include ease of operation and minimal space requirements in comparison to hinged doors. As they do not swing open, sliding barn doors can be more easily utilized in small home spaces, such as bathrooms, or as room separators in small houses. In comparison to other types of sliding doors such as pocket doors, barn doors include decreased construction and installation costs, as well as immense flexibility in size, dimensions, design, and functionality. Because they are typically mounted on one or more tracks outside doorways, door frames or openings, sliding barn doors do not necessarily have to match the parameters of a door frame and can be adapted to almost any space and function as space separators, foundations for hangings such as artwork or mirrors, or even serve purely decorative purposes on their own.
More specifically, a barn door is mounted on a sliding track or other support, typically above the opening, but optionally on the bottom also, with the door suspended from this track or other sliding support. This support track extends over the door opening and to a lateral side of the door opening. The barn door slides on the track between an open position (where it is suspended from the track portions which are laterally spaced to the side of the door opening) to a closed position (where the door is suspended from the track where it is located directly above the door opening).
One problem with such barn doors is that they typically do not include locks associated there with. Many doorways benefit from having a door which is lockable, at least for privacy purposes, if not for full security purposes. Privacy locks are known for pivoting doors and pocket doors which include, for example, a handle which rotates and causes a mechanism to engage/lock and disengage/unlock the door. However such known locks have the handle/knob mounted to the door with the bolt engaging and disengaging with the doorway jam. Such known prior art locks are not effective with barn doors because the doors are not aligned and are offset from the door jam. Thus some other solution is needed for a barn door lock to provide the necessary privacy and security.
There is therefore a need for an easy and convenient privacy lock device to prevent the interior sliding barn doors from opening, locking the barn doors and to prevent the doors from inadvertently sliding off the support tracks.
The following references may be relevant to this invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 10,081,966 to Cheng
U.S. Pat. No. 11,047,151 to Cheng
U.S. Pat. No. 2,613,098 to Kleeberg
US Publication No. 2018/002336 to Groff
US Publication No. 2019/0301204 to Odom
Korean Publication KR940005315Y1
PRC Publication CN204266716U to Huang Yixue
PRC Publication CN211081298U to Li Fan
The following non-patent references may or may not be effective prior art.
Amazon.com: barn door latch (NP1)
https.//youtube.com/watch?v=EKzHDZ_8ceU, (NP2)
National Hardware N700-150 (NP3)
Renin Barn Door Easy Latch: https.//youtube.com/watch?v=LrKmwTu3log (NP4)
Further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as an example and is not to be limited by the figures of the drawings. The drawings are not presented to scale but are used to illustrate the principles of the invention. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate like elements.
This invention is directed to combination barn door and locking device for the barn door. The barn door covers a doorway surrounded by a wall, the wall having an inner surface and an outer surface. The barn door has a top edge and an opposed bottom edge and a first side edge and an opposed second side edge and is slidably supported, typically at the top edge of the barn door, by a track. The barn door is usually spaced apart a distance from the inner surface of the wall, and is slidable between a closed position blocking the doorway and an open position providing access through the doorway.
The locking device of this invention is mounted in the wall adjacent the first side edge of the barn door when the barn door is in the closed position. The lock comprises an outer cylinder having a first end and a second end and a length sufficient that passes through the wall. The first end of the outer cylinder is mounted to the inner surface of the wall and the second end of the outer cylinder is mounted to the outer surface of the wall. An inner cylinder is provided that is axially and slidably disposed within the outer cylinder. The inner cylinder has a length greater than the length of the outer cylinder so that when so positioned one end of the inner cylinder can extend from the inner surface of the wall and the other end of the inner cylinder can extend from the outer surface of the wall. A handle is mounted to each end of the inner cylinder.
When the barn door is in the closed position and one of the handles is used to axially slide the inner cylinder in the outer cylinder to extend the inner cylinder a distance from the inner wall, the barn door is prevented from sliding to the open position by the extended inner cylinder contacting the first side edge of the barn door.
Alternatively, when the barn door is in the closed position and is prevented from opening by the inner cylinder contacting the first side edge of the barn door, one of the handles may be used to axially slide the inner cylinder in the outer cylinder to extend the inner cylinder a distance from the outer surface of the wall to disengage the inner cylinder from contacting the first side edge to enable the barn door to slide to the open position. The barn door, which is spaced apart from the inner wall surface, when opened passes over the handle mounted on the end of the inner cylinder on the inside surface of the wall.
Optionally, a locking mechanism is provided to lock the barn door in the closed position.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The invention has been described with reference to various specific and illustrative aspects of the present invention and techniques. However, it should be understood that many variations and modifications may be made while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. Many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, this invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the description.
Referring to
The barn door BD has a top edge TE and an opposed bottom edge BE and a first side edge FSE and an opposed second side edge SSE. The barn door BD is slidably supported at the top edge TE of the barn door BD by a track T. Typically, as shown in
The barn door BD is spaced apart a distance from and the inner surface IS of the wall W to permit the barn door BD to slide on the track T without scraping the inner surface IS of the wall W. The barn door BD, as shown in
Still referring to
Referring to
Installation of the locking device 100 is initially accomplished by cutting a hole through the wall W with a hole-saw of about the outer diameter of the outer cylinder 104. Broadly, the first end 104 of the outer cylinder 102 is mounted to the inner surface IS of the wall W and the second end 106 of the outer cylinder 102 is securely mounted to the outer surface OS of the wall W so that it is axially and circumferentially secured in the wall.
Any means may be used, however in the preferred embodiment depicted in the FIGS. the first end 104 and second end 106 of the outer cylinder 102 includes a first flange 108 mounted to the first end 104 of the outer cylinder 102 which is in turn mounted to the inner surface IS of the wall W. Likewise, the second end 106 of the outer cylinder 102 includes a second flange 110 mounted to the second end 104 of the outer cylinder 102 which is in turn mounted to the outer surface OS of the wall W. After the outer cylinder 102 is inserted in the wall W, the first and second flanges, 108 and 110 may be removably and threadably secured or mounted to the respective ends 104, 106, of the outer cylinder 102. The outer cylinder 102 and flanges 108, 110 may be made of a metal, e.g., steel, iron, or molded from plastic.
As depicted in
The locking device 100 further includes an inner cylinder 114 that is axially and slidably disposed within the outer cylinder 102. The inner cylinder 114 has a length greater than the length of the outer cylinder 102, see
A handle 120A and 120B is mounted to each end of the inner cylinder 114. These handles 120A and 120B may be secured to the ends of the inner cylinder 114 after placement of the inner cylinder 114 in the outer cylinder 102, see
Referring to
This is best seen in
Referring to
When the elongated lock member 122 is pivoted to engage the first latch member 128 with the second latch member 130, the elongated lock member 122 overlays the second end 118 of the inner cylinder 114 to prevent the first end 116 of the inner cylinder 114 from extending from the second flange 110 mounted to the outer surface OS to thereby lock the barn door BD.
Likewise, to unlock the barn door BD when the barn door BD is in the closed position and is prevented from opening by the first end 116 of the inner cylinder 114 contacting the first side edge FSE of the barn door BD, the elongated lock member 122 may be pivoted to disengage the first latch member 128 from the second latch member 130. Subsequently, one of the handles 120A, 120B is used to axially slide the inner cylinder 114 in the outer cylinder 102 to extend the inner cylinder 114 from the outer surface OS to enable the barn door BD to slide to the open position, the barn door spaced apart from the inner surface passing over the handle 120A mounted on the end of the inner cylinder 114 on the inside surface of the wall to thereby unlock the barn door.
As indicated previously, installation of the of this locking device 100 invention is relatively easy by cutting a hole through the wall W with a hole-saw of about the outer diameter of the outer cylinder 104. The first and second flanges, 108 and 110 may be threadably secured or mounted to the respective ends 104, 106, of the outer cylinder 102 after the outer cylinder 102 is inserted in the wall W and the flanges 108, 110 screwed to the surfaces of wall IS, OS. The inner cylinder 114 is then inserted in the outer cylinder 102. The handles 120A and 120B are each mounted to each end of the inner cylinder 114.
The locking device 100 of this invention may be made of a metal, e.g., steel, iron, or molded from plastic.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
