Patent Application
20090199607
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tubular lock, more particularly one, which has at least two passage gaps instead of only one to allow corresponding bar portions of a key to pass through; thus, the user can certainly hold the key in the correct orientation in relation to the tubular lock when pressing the key into the lock; consequently, the key can be smoothly operated to move the lock between a locking configuration and an open one, without the risk of the key causing damage to the lock.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of locks are available for helping to prevent thievery, e.g. door locks, combination locks, and cable locks And, the industry have recently developed electromagnetic locks, chip locks, and voice-controlled locks, which are more advanced than conventional locks, and can't be easily open by unauthorized persons. Nevertheless, key locks are still the most popular because they can prevent thievery effectively, and are relatively inexpensive.
A currently available tubular lock consists of a shell, a central locking shaft in the shell, and a bead holder, which is positioned around one end of the central shaft, and fixedly held in the shell. The central shaft has an annular holding member joined thereon, which has several holding holes around the central shaft. And, long beads are received in the holding holes of the annular holding member respectively. The annular holding member further has an annular recess around an outer end portion of each of the holding holes thereof. The bead holder has several holding holes around its middle hole receiving the central shaft, and a long bead and spring combination is received in each of the holding holes of the bead holder so that the long beads are normally biased into the holding holes of the annular holding member by the springs, thus preventing the central shaft and the annular holding member from turning. The outer end portions of the holding holes of the annular holding member annular have a greater diameter than the inner end portions because of the existence of the annular recesses around them; therefore, the long beads of the bead holder can stop the annular holding member and the central shaft from turning to the unlocking position even if their axes aren't co-linear with the axes of the corresponding holding holes of the annular holding member.
Another currently available tubular lock consists of a shell, an annular holding member in the shell, a central shaft sticking from two ends of the annular holding member, and a fixed bead holder.
The shell has a partially blocked end, which defines a central lock hole; the partially blocked end has an inner annular protrusion having a passage gap adjoining the central lock hole. The annular holding member has a receiving gap, and several pin holding holes around the central shaft; a first end of the central shaft is held in the central lock hole of the shell. Furthermore, pins are held in the pin holding holes of the annular holding member respectively.
The fixed bead holder is positioned around a second end of the central shaft in the shell, and has several bead holding cavities around a middle hole thereof to face the pin holding holes of the annular holding member. Each of the bead holding cavities holds a long bead and spring combination so that the long beads are normally biased into the pin holding holes of the annular holding member by the elastic elements, thus stopping the annular holding member and the central shaft from turning.
The central shaft and the annular holding member of the lock can be turned between a locking position and an unlocking one with a key, which has an outer bar portion; after the key has been pressed into the tubular lock with its bar portion being passed through the passage gap of the shell and into the receiving gap of the annular holding member, the key will make the pins to force the long beads to move out of the pin holding holes of the annular holding member; thus, the long beads no longer fix the annular holding member, and the central shaft and the annular holding member can be turned by means of the key.
Furthermore, the central shaft has a groove on an outer side, and each of the shell and the bead holder has a fixing hole. And, a fixing pin is passed through the fixing holes of the shell and the bead holder and pressed against the groove of the central shaft. Therefore, the tubular lock has a low manufacturing cost, and is easy to assemble.
However, such a tubular lock is found to have the following drawbacks:
1. Because the annular holding member has only one receiving gap, force can't be uniformly applied to the annular holding member when the key is used to turn the annular holding member and the central shaft. Consequently, the annular holding member can't be turned smoothly to change the lock between the locking configuration and the opened one.
2. Because the annular holding member has only one receiving gap, the various pin, long bead and spring combinations can't be subjected to the same amount of force or move the same distance after the key is pressed into the lock. Consequently, it is possible for some of the long beads to fail to completely move out of the pin holding holes, and cause the annular holding member to get damaged.
3. Because there is single passage gap on the shell, and single receiving gap on the annular holding member as well as single bar portion on the key, the key can be easily inserted in the tubular lock to engage the annular holding member at the bar portion even if it isn't held in such a position that its axis is on the axis of the lock hole. Therefore, it is possible for the key and the tubular lock to cause damage to each other when the key is being operated.
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide an improvement on a tubular lock structure to overcome the above problems.
A tubular lock according to an embodiment of the present invention consists of a shell, an annular holding member, and a bead holder. The shell has a first open end, and a second partially blocked end with a central lock hole. The shell has three passage gaps around the central lock hole.
The annular holding member is held in the shell, and has a central shaft sticking from it, and three receiving gaps. The annular holding member has several pin holding holes around the central shaft. One end of the central shaft is held in the lock hole of the shell while pins are held in the pin holding holes respectively.
The bead holder is positioned around the other end of the central shaft in the shell. The bead holder has several bead holding cavities around a middle hole to face the pin holding holes of the annular holding member. Long beads are held in the bead holding cavities of the bead holder respectively, and biased towards the pin holding holes by means of springs so as to engage the annular holding member.
The central shaft on the annular holding member can be turned between a locking position and an unlocking one with a key, which has three bar portions on an outer side; when the key is inserted in the key hole, and pressed inwards, the key will force the pins to push the long beads, and the bar portions of the key will be received in the receiving gaps of the annular holding member; thus, the long beads are moved out of the pin holding holes, and the annular holding member is free to turn.
Because the number of the receiving gaps is three, all of the pin, long bead and springs combinations will be subjected to the same amount of force to move the same distance when the key is being operated. Therefore, there won't be the risk of some of the long beads being not completely disengaged from the annular holding member after the key has been pressed into the tubular lock. Consequently, the annular holding member won't wear or get damaged. Furthermore, when the key is being pressed into the tubular lock, it has to be held in such a position that its axis is on the axis of the lock hole, otherwise its bar portions can't be received in the receiving gaps. Therefore, there can't be the risk of the key and the tubular lock causing each other to wear and get damaged when the key is being used.
The present invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The shell 1 has an inner holding room, a first open end, and a second blocked end; the second blocked end is partially blocked with an inner annular protrusion (not numbered), and has a central lock hole 11. The shell 1 has three passage gaps 12 around the central lock hole 11 thereof; the number of the passage gaps 12 should be at least two, and is preferably three.
The annular holding member 2 has a central shaft 21 joined thereon, which has first and second ends sticking out from two ends of the annular holding member 2 respectively. The annular holding member 2 has three receiving gaps 22 to face the passage gaps 12 of the shell 1 respectively. The annular holding member 2 has several pin holding holes 23 around the central shaft 21. The first end of the central shaft 21 is held in the central lock hole 11 of the second end of the shell 1. Furthermore, the pins 4 are held in the pin holding holes 23 of the annular holding member 2 respectively.
The bead holder 3 has a receiving hole 31 in a middle portion to hold the second end of the central shaft 21 of the annular holding member 2. The bead holder 3 has several bead holding cavities 32 around the middle receiving hole 31 to face the pin holding holes 23 of the annular holding member 2. Elastic elements (springs) 6 are held in the bead holding cavities 32 respectively, and the long beads 5 are partially held in the bead holding cavities 32 to contact outward ends of the elastic elements 6 respectively.
The key (b) has several insertion bar portions (b1) on an outer side to be passed through respective ones of the passage gaps 12 of the shell 1 of the tubular lock (a).
In assembly, referring to
Shown in
Because there are at least two receiving gaps 22 on the annular holding member 2, force can be uniformly applied to the annular holding member 2 when the key (b) is being operated. Consequently, the annular holding member 2 will turn relatively smoothly. In other words, the tubular lock (a) is convenient to use.
Because the annular holding member 2 has at least two receiving gaps 22, all of the pin, long bead and elastic element combinations 4, 5, and 6 will be subjected to the same amount of force to move the same distance after the key (b) is pressed into the lock (a). Therefore, there won't be the risk of some of the long beads 5 being not completely disengaged from the annular holding member 2 when the key (b) is operated. Consequently, the long beads 5 are prevented from causing the annular holding member 2 to wear and get damaged.
Furthermore, because there are at least two passage gaps 12 on the shell 1, and the same number of receiving gaps 22 on the annular holding member 2 as well as the same number of insertion bar portions (b1) on the key (b), when the key (b) is being passed into the tubular lock (a), it has to be held in such a position that its axis is co-linear with the axis of the lock hole 11, otherwise it can't be pressed into the lock hole 11 with its insertion bar portions (b1) being received in the receiving gaps 22 of the annular holding member 2. Therefore, there can't be the risk of the key (b) and the tubular lock (a) causing damage to each other in operating the key (b).
From the above description, it can be seen that the present invention has the following advantages:
1. When the key is pressed into the lock and turned, force will be uniformly applied to the annular holding member. Consequently, the annular holding member will turn relatively smoothly.
2. All of the several pin, long bead and elastic element combinations will be subjected to the same amount of force to move the same distance after the key is pressed into the lock. Therefore, there won't be the risk of some of the long beads being not completely moved out of the pin holding holes of the annular holding member to cause damage to the annular holding member when the key is turned.
3. When the key is being passed into the tubular lock, it has to be held in such a position that its axis is co-linear with the axis of the lock hole, otherwise it can't be pressed into the lock hole for its insertion bar portions to be received in the receiving gaps of the annular holding member. Therefore, there can't be the risk of the key and the tubular lock causing damage to each other.
