Locking device for portable safe

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6581422
  • Patent Number
    6,581,422
  • Date Filed
    Monday, February 4, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, June 24, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
The present invention consists of a molded locking device and opening device together with a cover provided on the top of box, a hook to facilitate locking, and a locking apparatus inside the box opposite to the opening device, and locking device. The present invention is known for two distinctive features: (1) a window provided on the shell of the opening device and a track on the edge of window to facilitate the movement of convex plates, and (2) holes in the lifting plate and locking plate and a folding plate between the lifting plate and opening device. The folding plate connects to one end of the locking plate to trigger the movement of the latch provided on the top of locking plate. Therefore, the design of present invention simplifies the assembly procedure of opening plate, lifting plate and locking plate; thereby reduces the manufacturing costs.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to an improved locking device for portable safe, and especially to such improved locking device that requires fewer processing procedures and is easy to assemble, thereby simplifies the manufacturing procedure and allows users to lock their portable safes easily.




2. Description of the Prior Art




As shown by FIG.


1


and

FIG. 2

, the conventional portable safe comprises a molded locking device


71


provided in the front of the box and an opening device


72


. One end of the cover connects to the box; and a hook is provided in the other end of the cover to facilitate locking. A locking apparatus


8


is provided inside the box corresponding to the opening device


72


and locking device


71


. The locking apparatus


8


consists of a lifting plate


81


, a locking plate


82


, and an elastic component


83


. There is a latch


89


provided in the locking plate


82


that faces the hook oppositely and locks the safe when user closes the cover. User can move the opening device


72


to pull the latch


89


in order to close the safe temporarily; or move the latch


89


by the key to open the cover. However, the conventional safes are not ideal, because:




1. To assemble the opening device


72


, the manufacturers have to fix a cover


79


by screw behind the opening device


72


in order to move the opening device


72


to its position.




2. The opening device


72


is activated through the square hole


721


. The bronze bar


811


provided in the lifting plate


81


triggers the movement of the latch


89


and, consequently, manufacturers have to install a bronze bar


812


in the lifting plate


81


besides the bronze bar


811


, which means extra work for manufacturers.




3. Manufacturers have to make a hole


821


on the locking plate


82


and install a folding plate


851


in the base plate


85


. Consequently, both costs and workload increase.




The inventor has studied the foregoing drawbacks thoroughly and conducted numerous tests before the present invention came to being.




The purpose of present invention is to simplify the processing procedure of spare parts and assembly procedure of portable safes and allows users to lock their portable safes easily.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




For the purposes stated in the preceding paragraphs, the present invention consists of a molded locking device and opening device. There is a cover provided on the top of box. A hook is provided in one end for the purpose of locking and a locking apparatus is provided inside the box opposite to the opening device and locking device. The design of present invention is known for two distinctive features: (1) there is a window provided on the shell of the opening device and a track on the edge of the window to facilitate the movement of parts. This design simplifies the assembly procedure of opening device and reduces the number of required spare parts, and (2) the locking apparatus consists of a lifting plate provided in the base plate, a locking plate, and an elastic component. There are holes in the lifting plate and locking plate; and a folding plate between the lifting plate and the opening device. The folding plate connects to one end of the locking plate to trigger the movement of the latch on the top of locking plate. Therefore, the design of present invention simplifies the assembly procedure of locking plate and reduces the manufacturing costs.











The present invention will be apparent in its contents of technique after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention in reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:




BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a sectional view showing the structure of conventional opening device;





FIG. 2

is a schematic view showing the assembly of the conventional locking apparatus;





FIG. 3

is a sectional view showing the opening device of present invention;





FIG. 4

is a schematic view showing the locking apparatus of present invention;





FIG. 5

is a schematic sectional view showing the assembly of the locking device of present invention;





FIG. 6

is a schematic view showing the application of present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




As shown by FIGS.


3


˜


6


, the present invention comprises a molded locking device


2


and an opening device


3


provided in the front of box


1


. There is a cover


11


provided on the top of box


1


with one end connecting to a hook


12


. The locking apparatus


4


is provided inside the box corresponding to the opening device


3


and locking device


2


. The present invention is known for two distinctive features as follows:




The opening device


3


is the first distinctive feature of present invention. There is a window


32


provided on the shell


31


and a track


33


provided on the edge of window to facilitate the movement of convex plate


34


, thereby simplifies the assembly procedure of opening device


3


and reduce the number of required spare parts.




The locking apparatus


4


is the second distinctive feature of present invention. Lifting plate


42


, locking plate


43


, and elastic component


44


are provided in the base plate. There are holes


421


,


431


on the lifting plate


42


and locking plate


43


, respectively, and a folding plate


422


between the lifting plate


42


and opening device


3


. The lifting plate


42


connects to one end


432


of the locking plate


43


to trigger the movement of latch


433


. With the lifting plate


42


and locking plate


43


, the assembly procedure is simplified and the number of required spare parts is reduced.




As shown by

FIG. 3

, both vertical sides


321


of the window


32


are taller than the horizontal sides


322


. Four projecting objects


323


are provided in the vertical sides


321


to form a track


33


. There are four openings


343


provided on both edge of convex plate


34


; and a projecting bar inside the convex plate


34


and opposite to the locking apparatus


4


. The projecting bar is the round bar


341


on the center of convex plate


34


that connects to a metal bar


342


.




FIG.


4


and

FIG. 5

show the motion of the locking apparatus


4


of present invention as follows:




There is a hole


421


on the center of the scale-shaped lifting plate


42


. Two folding plates


422


and


423


are on both ends; and together with the inner plate


21


of the opening device


3


and locking device


2


.




There is a hole


431


in the lower area of L-shaped locking plate


43


. The lower arm


432


stretches horizontally below the folding plate


422


of the lifting plate


42


. There is a latch


433


on the top.




A bronze bar


45


passes through the holes


431


and


421


of the locking plate


43


and lifting plate


42


, and is fixed on the base plate


41


.




On the base plate


41


there is a folding plate


411


pushing the locking plate


43


and an elastic component


44


passing through another folding plate


412


. The folding plates


411


and


412


are located on the upper left corner and lower right corner of the base plate


41


.




One end of the elastic component


44


passes through the folding plate


412


and the other end is fixed in the folding plate


49


.




As shown by

FIG. 6

, manufacturers can use minimum number of spare parts to produce the opening device


3


and locking apparatus


4


, thereby simplifies the assembly procedure and reduces production costs. Users close the cover


11


by the locking device


2


. To open the safe, users can insert the key to force the inner plate


21


away from the folding plate


423


of the lifting plate


42


. When the cover


11


is closed temporarily, users can use the convex plate


34


to press the folding plate


422


and trigger the movement of locking plate


43


in order to open the safe.




By the above stated structural combinations, the present invention solves the problems related to the locking device of conventional safes and is valuable industrially. The inventor hereby submits application for patent.




The present invention has been described in conjunction with the preferred embodiment. To those skilled in the art, modification may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject invention as set forth in the claims below.



Claims
  • 1. An improved lock for a portable safe, comprising:a molded locking device; an opening device, and a box, wherein said molded locking device and said opening device are disposed in front of said box; a hook disposed on a cover to said box; a locking apparatus disposed inside said box; wherein said locking apparatus comprises a lifting plate, a locking plate, a base plate, and an elastic component, wherein said locking plate and said lifting plate are pivotally connected to said base plate by a bar along an axis, and said elastic component is connected to said locking plate and provides for a biased forced during pivotal movement of said locking plate and said lifting plate; said locking plate further comprises a latch which engages said hook, and an arm extending sideways from said locking plate; and said lifting plate further comprises a folding plate, wherein said folding plate engages said arm of said locking plate to move said locking plate thereby moving said latch to disengage said hook.
  • 2. An improved lock according to claim 1, wherein said opening device further comprises a convex plate movable within a window in said opening device, the convex plate having a metal bar which engages said folding plate of said lifting plate to facilitate pivotal movement of said lifting plate.
  • 3. An improved lock according to claim 2, wherein said lifting plate is scale shaped, said lifting plate further comprises a second folding plate opposite said folding plate, wherein said locking plate is L-shaped, wherein said base plate comprises a folding plate for receiving one end of said elastic component, and wherein said window of said opening device further comprises four projecting objects on longer sides thereof.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Number Name Date Kind
2344705 Krause Mar 1944 A
2863688 Endter Dec 1958 A
2962889 McConnell Dec 1960 A
2993358 Craig Jul 1961 A
4365490 Manzoni Dec 1982 A
4372591 Cook et al. Feb 1983 A
4486041 Takasaki Dec 1984 A
4875721 Okamoto et al. Oct 1989 A