GB2268969A - Anti-panic lock - Google Patents

Abstract

An anti-panic lack, has a central body equipped with a bolt 1 and a latch 2 capable of being operated by a grip comprising a knob, handle or push-bar on the pivot of follower 4 and by a cylinder 7, the tail 10 of the bolt 1 is related to the pivot 4a of follower 4 via rigid swivelling means 3, the effective length of which may be varied operationally in relation to the tail 10 whilst it maintains a pure articulation 31 with respect to means of rotation 45 coaxial with the pivot 4a of follower 4. This means of rotation is capable of free-rotation without imparting drag to follower 4, the rigid means 3 acting operationally in an initial stage on a leg 50 of a rocker 5, which controls the release of a bell crank 6, there being provided means of abutment 34 which intercept the operational swivel of the rigid means 3 to initiate the rotational phase, acting as a leverage fulcrum which determines the opening retraction of bolt 1. <IMAGE>

Description

2268969 IMPROVED ANTI-PANIC LOCK This invention relates to an anti-panic

lock.

With locks there is a paradox in that the actual security of the closure established thereby may become a death trap in an emergency situation where the action of turning a key two or more times may prove excessively laborious and slow when speed is of the essence. Before opening is achieved, a veritable avalanche of hysterical people may have arrived at the closure all who, unable to find an escape route, bring about their own suffocation or are inevitable victims of the hazard (fire, flood, etc. ) from which they were trying to escape.

To deal with this problem there have been developed locks known by the name of "antipanic" locks, being those locks which can "always" be opened from the inside by the simple and rapid action of turning through a small angle a grip consisting of a knob, handle or pusher. "Always" means regardless of whether the closed door condition is determined solely by the latch, or with the lock mechanism in the "closed lock" position, or even in the "restrained lock" position. By "restrained locC is meant the situation in which the emergent bolt (catch) is also provided with a restraint which prevents any external action applied directly to the front of the bolt from bringing about the retraction of the latter without using a key. Thus such restraint may only be released by turning the key on commencing the operation and before retraction or opening of the bolt begins to take place. Where the lock has an anti-panic mechanism, such release will be effected likewise with a simple and rapid action on the grip. Doors with anti-panic locks are compulsory in public places and are acknowledged as being extremely useful for private use.

The new anti-panic lock now advocated is advantageously designed to provide greater assurance that the mechanism will open even in the presence of external transverse pressures capable of blocking the retraction of the bolt; at the same time it will ensure greater simplicity. The preferred form of the invention is achieved in connection with a lock equipped with a bolt and latch and operated by means of a grip consisting of a knob, handle or push-bar, as well as by a key cylinder; of course, in regard to the central and principal mechanism of the lock since there may exist a multiplicity of secondary transfer closures controlled remotely and simultaneously via transmission rods which receive a vertical action obtained from the horizontal movement of the bolt by one of the various known methods; this lock is furthermore provided with an automatic device for restraining the emergent position of the latch, and also with an automatic positioner for the cylinder cam Whilst several anti-panic lock mechanisms are known at the present time, they are all based in the main on the same philosophy of operation, which ultimately involves making it possible to produce, during closure of the bolt, an accumulation or charge of elastic energy in a spring, to be used later for the opening operation. Following closure of the bolt, the loaded spring condition is maintained by some form of clamping or by the actual closure restraint, until, on commencement of the opening operation performed with the grip, there takes place the release of such clamping, and the discharge of the elastic energy accumulated by the spring is responsible for causing the opening retraction of the bolt.

In other words, according to this system, the opening operation occurs passively, since the only task left to the user is to bring about unclamping by operating the grip, but if the retraction of the bolt then proves to be impeded for any reason, it will be useless to act on a grip which only serves to trip a self-acting mechanism located within the lock and which cannot provide any energy other than that stored in the spring.

Tlese devices are not effective if, at the time of opening, there exists any action applied transversally to the bolt, pressing it against one side of its recess with sufficient force to prevent it from moving under the action of the resilient spring in which is stored a specific quantity of energy, limited to normal operating requirements but not sufficient for this additional transverse action.

Such transverse action on the bolt may be that produced by the actual thrust exerted by the user during the opening operation. When an emergency situation arises, a large influx of people arrives and if, due to haste, opening cannot be achieved instantly by the first person to arrive, the push exerted by the people against the back of the door becomes so strong as to prevent the retraction of the bolt, which then remains blocked.

It is useful to point out that, the solution does not lie in increasing the force of the spring, as this would hamper the closing operation which loads the spring and would affect the design of the actual mechanism of the lock.

Whenever it has been attempted to design an anti-panic lock mechanism with mechanical action by transmission of the force of the user, use has been made of complex transmissions equipped with a large number of components and always moved by the follower, even where the lock was not in the "bolts ouC position and it was only intended to operate the latch, resulting in severe fatigue of its spring components which, through not being able to have the dimensions possessed by the usual return springs of the follower and the latch (designed for a high rate of stressing), failed in use, a fact which, while problematic in any lock, is serious in a lock of this type intended for use in emergencies.

The present invention seeks to provide a lock mechanism with an antipanic function based on a design which departs from the conventional concept of passive operation to adopt a philosophy of active operation which confers the opening initiative on the force applied by the user. Moreover, it is desired to make it possible to inhibit that part of the mechanism associated solely with the action of the bolt in the very usual situation where it is retracted or open and where opening and closing of the door is carried out solely using the latch.

According to the invention, this is provided an improved anti-panic lock of the kind which is provided with a bolt and a latch and is capable of being operated both by a grip comprising of a knob, handle or push-bar mounted on a pivot of a follower and by a key cylinder, in which the tail of the bolt has respective sets of notches for the actuation thereof by a cam of the key cylinderand notches for restraining the bolt in its closed and open positions by engagement by a lip of a bell crank, the tail of the bolt being at the same time associated with the pivot of follower via a rigid swivelling means of operationally variable' effective length and slidingly articulated in relation to the tail of the bolt whilst maintaining a pure rotary articulation with respect to means of rotation coaxial with the pivot of the follower, which means of rotation on the tail of the latch for retraction thereof, the coaxial means of rotation being capable of free-rotation without imparting drag to follower, while being in turn entrained during the operational rotation of the follower, releasing means associated with the swivelling action of the rigid swivelling means for releasing the closure restraint of bolt, which with bolt in the closed position are applied operationally, in a manner not permanent but rather circumstantial, to an operable leg of a rocker, an operating leg of which has applied thereto a pin located under a lip of the bell crank to establish the restraint of the bolt in its extended position, there being provided abutment means an intermediate one of which, located between the sliding and rotary articulations of the rigid swivelling, intercepts the operational swivelling action of the rigid swivelling means and causes it to commence a rotary phase once the release means have operated on rocker, the rigid swivelling means having at its end an interception means for the extra travel of the cam of the cylinder for the retraction of latch beyond the end of its operational rotation necessitated solely in order to cause full retraction of bolt.

The rigid swivelling means may comprise a lever arm provided, at one end, with a longitudinal slot in which a pin integral with the bolt tail slides and, at the other end, with an apeture for rotary articulation with respect to the coaxial rotation means, comprising an addition applied to one of the sides of the follower and capable of free-rotation in an opening direction with respect thereto, the follower addition having a transverse fold which, in a rotation in an opening direction, is applied directly in front of a peripheral projection of the follower and, like the follower, the addition has an appropriate extension for retracting the latch and a peripheral projection to release the anti- opening restraint of the latch, if such restraint exists.

The means for release of the bolt may comprise the said lever arm having a transverse pusher appendage which, with the bolt closed and restrained, backs onto the operable leg of the rocker, the operating leg of which is applied to a pin positioned under the restraining lip of the bell crank when this lip is located in the rearmost of the restraining notches existing in the bolt tail, the arrangement being such that backing of the pusher only occurs between the position of restraint of total closure of the bolt and the nearest position of restraint of total opening, where it is discontinued to enable the rocker to return to its rest position.

The means of abutment of the operational swivel of the lever arm, may comprise a transverse pin integral with one side of the lock case and, between the sliding and rotary articulations of the lever arm, this pin intercepts such swivellingwhen, following actuation of the rocker, release of closure of the bolt has been enabled, the ariangement being such that from this interception, the pin acts as a leverage fulcrum of first degree with respect to the lever arm on which the continuation of such swivelling determines the commencement of full opening retraction of the bolt.

The anti-panic function of the feature so described consists in that, after initiating the turning action with the grip, then, during the run until the stop fulcrum is reached, the lever arm does not yet exert any action on the bolt but rather, with its transverse appendage, causes the rocker to swivel, bringing about raising of the bell crank to release the closure. There then commences the rotary phase, when the lever arm rotates on the stop fulcrum and acts as a true lever of first degree to cause the retraction of the closure bolt until there is reached the position of new restraint - of opening, this time - effected by the bell crank, by which time the restraining lip has descended sufficiently beforehand because during such leverage the said transverse appendage moves away, allowing the rocker to recover its setting.

As can be appreciated, retraction of the bolt is now effected in an active manner by the action of the user on the grip, and the force of such action is not fixed and invariable but rather depends on the effort applied by the said user. This makes it possible for a transverse pressure between the bolt and its recess to be easily overcome by applying a greater effort during the operation, thus successfully solving the serious problem which would be posed by any blockage of the anti- panic function.

Mention should also be made of the considerable simplicity and economy of the mechanism, which uses a minimum number of parts r equiring less space and being of very simple design and functional relationship, which is even more appreciated given that the closure mechanisms are in themselves extremely complicated and need to be resolved w ithin a confined space.

Another advantageous feature of the new mechanism is that the physical disengagement (there only exists an engagement of pushing action of the lever arm on the rocker, and not vice versa, when it is operated via the grip) between said lever arm and link ensures that, with the bolt retracted, opening and closure of the latch only affect the functional environment of such latch, without resulting in any action on the bolt or its restraining mechanism.

On the other hand, the final position of the lever arm at the time of opening is utilized to retract the latch by the extra travel of the cylinder cam. For this purpose, the interception means of the extra travel of the cam may comprise a transverse front incorporated in the lever arm which, upon full retraction of the bolt, remains directly intercepting the commencement of possible extra travel of the cam, the arrangement being such that the operation of the extra travel causes longitudinal movement of the lever arm which, through the said articulation with the addition of the follower, brings about the retraction of the latch without the rotation of the follower or, consequently, of the grip, and the release, where it exists, of the anti- opening restraint of the latch.

Ile invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of wxample, with refernce to the drawings which show a preferred form of industrial implementation and in which:- Figure 1 shows in side elevation the internal mechanism of lock (1) in a functionally inoperative position with the lock closed and separated from frame (9), looking from the inner side of the door; Figures 2 and 3 are respective views of lever arm (3) in side elevation, as illustrated in the assembly in figure 1, and in end view; Figures 4 and 5 are views of rocker (5) drawn according to the same philosophy as for previous figures 2 and 3; Figures 6 and 7 are views similar to the previous ones but related to follower addition (45); Figures 8 and 9 are views similar to the previous ones but related to the inner halffollower (40); Figures 10 and 11 are views similar to the previous ones but related to the outer halffollower (41); Figures 12 and 13 are views similar to the previous ones but related to the bell crank (6); Figure 14 is a view similar to figure 1, showing the lock (1) closed in the frame (9); Figure 15 shows a section taken in the direction of the arrow (80) as illustrated in figure 14; Figure 16 is a view similar to that of figure 14, but now showing the position of release of closure of bolt (1) attained in the first stage of operation of the grip mounted on pivot (4a) of follower (4); Figure 16A is a detail in the form of an explanatory diagram of the changeover from Figure 15 to Figure 16 and the rotation which rear appendage (32) (shown in dotted outline) of lever arm (3) (not illustrated) has exerted on rocker (5) so as, acting via pin (63), to raise bell crank (6) (of which only restraining lip (60) is illustrated); Figure 17 is a view similar to that of figure 16, but now showing the final position of opening achieved in an anti-panic manner with the grip of the follower (4), and illustrating at the same time the retraction of latch (2) performed with cam (70) via lever arm (3), the initial lower position of which is shown in dotted outline, and Figure 18 is an enlarged detail of Figure 17 in which lever arm (3) is shown in a cutaway view to illustrate its transverse pusher appendage (32) suitably facing operable leg (50) of rocker (5).

In these figures the following references are indicated:

1. Bolt 2. Latch 3. Lever arm 4. Follower 4a. Pivot of follower (4) or of the grip 5. Rocker 5a. Shaft of rocker (5) 6. Bell crank 7. Cylinder 8. Lock case or housing 9. Frame 9a. Recess for bolt (1) 9b. Recess for latch (2) 10. Tail of bolt (1) 11. Operating notches 12. Restraining notches 13. Pin on tail (10) 20. Tail of latch (2) 21. Return spring of latch (2) 22. Swivelling lever 22a. Shaft of lever (22) 23. Restraining leg 24. Releasing leg 25. Return spring 26. Retractable sensor 27. Transverse retaining tab 28. Return spring 30. Longitudinal slot in lever arm (3) 31. Rotary pivot hole for addition (45) 32. Transverse pusher appendage 33. Front of lever arm (3) 34. Stop pin or leverage fulcrum 40. Inner half-follower 41. Outer half-follower 42. Peripheral projection of halffollowers (40 and 41) 43. Retracting extension of half-followers (40, 41) 44. Further peripheral projection of half-followers (40, 41) 45. Addition of follower (4) 46. Transverse fold of addition (45) 47. Retracting extension of addition (45) 48. Peripheral projection of addition (45) 49. Return spring 50. Operable leg of rocker (5) 51. Operating leg of rocker (5) 60. Restraining lip of bell crank (6) 61. Releasing edge of bell crank (6) 62. Return spring 63. Operating pin of bell crank (6) 70. Cam of cylinder (7) 71. Positioner 72. Return spring 80. Section arrow 81. Supporting studs attached to lock case (8) Referring to the drawings, there is described a preferred form of an anti- panic lock, which is provided with a bolt (1), a latch (2) and (although not shown) any secondary closure linkages linked functionally to the operational movement of the bolt (1). It is operated by a grip comprising a knob, handle or push-bar mounted on a shaft (4a) of a follower (4), and also by a cam (70) of a cylinder (7) operated by a key. There also exists a device for the anti-opening restraint of the latch, the restraint and release positions of which are actuated by a return spring (25) and by a peripheral projection (44) of the follower (4), in combination with the retracted and extended positions of a retractable sensor (26) in the form of a latch loaded by a spring (28), which does not have a corresponding recess in the frame (9).

The opening retraction of the bolt (1) is achieved by means of a key, conventionally with two turns of the key, so that, with each turn, the rotation of a cam (70) acts first on an edge (61) of a bell crank (6), causing it to rise, so as to permit retraction, against its spring (62), which causes a lip (60) to move away from a rear restralming notch (12) on the upper edge of tail (10), and then acts on a rear operating notch (11) on the lower edge of such tail (10). After completing the first turn, the lip (60) of the bell crank (6) drops and establishes a new restraining position in an intermediate restraining notch (12), there being repeated, on turning the key a second time, the same procedure as the first until the open bolt (1) is restrained in the open position by the use of the foremost of the restraining notches (12). Associated with the stroke of the cam (70), there is a positioner (71), loaded by spring (72), which ensures that the position of cam (70) will be correct at the beginning of each turn of the key. The retraction of latch (2) by means of the cam (70) will be explained after referring to the constitution and function of the anti-panic mechanism, as referred to hereunder.

To bring about the anti-panic opening function of the bolt (1) and the latch (2) by using only the grip, the follower (4), which is acted on by a spring (49) and comprises identical half-followers (40, 41), connected together, has associated therewith a follower addition (45), which is not physically integral with pivot (4a) of follower (4) but has a transverse fold (46) on which, when the shaft (4a) turns in the direction of active rotation, a trailing thrust is exerted by a peripheral projection (42) of the follower (41), whilst at the same time the addition (45) receives directly a self-swivelling rotary action and, by means of its extension (47), brings about the retraction of the latch (2) against its return spring (28), whilst at the same time, by means of its peripheral projection (48), it actuates the restraining swivel of lever (22). The active rotation of follower (4) has three functionally differentiated stages: in the first stage, via its pivotal connection (31), the addition (45) causes swivelling of lever arm (3) without causing the retraction of the bolt (1) due to the sliding play of a pin ( - 13) in a slot (30), but pushes with its extension (32) on a leg (50) of a rocker (5), which swivels and, with its leg (51), vertically moves the bell crank (6) and removes its lip (60) from the rear notch (12), thus making possible the retraction of bolt (1); in the second stage, lever arm (3) exerts first-degree leverage about a fulcrum (34) and causes the retraction of the bolt (1), while maintaining the thrust on the rocker (5) until the intermediate restraining notch (12) passes the location of lip (60), when the continuation of such leverage brings about disconnection of pusher extension (32), the rocker (5) returning to its state of rest and the lip (60) dropping only until it abuts the upper edge of the tail (10), which moves until it finally reaches the front restrainingnotch (12), there having taken place in this second stage a large part of the retraction of latch (2) after being released by the thrust of peripheral projections (44, 48) on the leg (24), which causes leg (23) to descend against its spring (25) until the retraction stroke of latch (2) is completed, this position being maintained by a tab (27) when, on moving away from the frame, the sensor (26) moves outwards actuated by its spring (28); in the third stage the remaining retraction of latch (2) takes place without this resulting in any action on bolt (1) as a result of the new no-load sliding between pin (13) and slot (30).

As can be seen, in this anti-panic function, the retraction of the bolt is active and depends at all times on the active exertion of user action on the grip with more or less force as required at each moment. Furthermore, from the description of the third stage of this anti-panic function it is clear that, when the bolt (1) is retracted, all the closures and openings affect only the functional environment of latch (2), including its restraining device (22-26), whilst the physical disengagement between the lever arm (3) and the rocker (5) and the said sliding play of pin/slot (13-30) cause the entire functional environment of lock (1) and its restraining device to be inhibited, thus avoiding unnecessary wear of the components and ensuring lighter and smoother operation.

The retraction of the latch (2) can also be brought about with the key since, on completion of retraction of bolt (1), the cam is capable (figure 17) of exerting an additional movement by pushing on the front (33) of the lever arm (3) and causing lever arm (3) to rise and, via pivot (31), turn the addition (45) which, via its extension (47), -12ends up by producing the required retraction.

Since the follower (4) is comprised of two half-followers, outer (41) and inner (40), provision may be made for an outside grip with a split stud which only acts on the outer half-follower (41) and does not affect either the inner half-follower (40) or the addition (45), so that it is thus only capable of acting on the latch (2) but not on the bolt (1), there being generated in this manner an "office door" application where the door may be opened from the outside while it is not restrained by the closure of bolt (1).

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the above described embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

- 13 CILAIMS 1. An improved anti-panic lock of the kind which is provided with a bolt and a latch and is capable of being operated both by a grip comprising of knob, handle or push-bar mounted on a pivot of a follower and by a key cylinder, in which the tail of the bolt, has respective sets of notches for the actuation thereof by a cam of the key cylinder and notches for restraining the bolt in its closed and open positions by engagement by a lip of a bell crank, the tail of the bolt being at the same time associated with the pivot of follower via rigid swivelling means of operationally variable effective length and slidingly articulated in relation to the tail of the bolt whilst maintaining a pure rotary articulation with respect to means of rotation coaxial with the pivot of the follower, which means of rotation act on the tail of the latch for retraction thereof, said coaxial means of rotation being capable of freerotation without imparting drag to follower, while being in turn entrained during the operational rotation of the follower, releasing means associated with the swivelling action of the rigid swivelling means for releasing the closure restraint of the bolt, which, with the bolt in the closed position, are applied operationally, in a manner not permanent but rather depending on circumstances, to an operable leg of a rocker, an operating leg of which has applied thereto a pin located under a lip of the bell crank to establish the restraint of the bolt in its extended position, there being provided abutment means, an intermediate one of which, located between the sliding and rotary articulations of the rigid swivelling means, intercepts the operational swivelling action of the rigid swivelling means and causes it to commence a rotary phase once the release means have operated on rocker, the rigid swivelling means having at its end an interception means for the extra travel of the cam of the cylinder for the retraction of latch beyond the end of its operational rotation necessitated solely in order to cause full retraction of bolt.

2. An improved anti-panic lock according to claim 1, wherein the rigid swivelling means comprises a lever arm provided, at one end, with a longitudinal slot in which a pin integral with the tail of the bolt slides and, at the other end, with an apeture for rotary articulation with respect to the coaxial rotation means comprising an addition applied to one of the sides of follower and capable of free-rotation in an opening direction with respect thereto, the addition of the follower having a transverse fold which, in a rotation in an opening direction, is applied directly in front of a peripheral projection of follower and, like the follower, the addition has an appropriate extension for retracting the latch and a peripheral projection to release the anti-opening restraint of latch, if such restraint exists.

3. An improved anti-panic lock according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for release of the restraint of the bolt comprise the said lever arm having a transverse pusher appendage which, with bolt closed and restrained, backs onto the operable leg of the rocker, the operating leg of which is applied to a pin positioned under the restraining lip of the bell crank when the lip is located in its rearmost restraining notch of those existing in tail of bolt, the arrangement being such that backing of the pusher only occurs between the position of restraint of total closure of bolt and the nearest position of restraint of total opening, where it is discontinued to enable rocker to return to its rest position.

4. An improved anti-panic lock according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the means of abutment of the operational swivel of lever arm comprises a transverse pin integral with one side of lock case and, between the sliding and rotary articulations of lever arm, the pin intercepts the swivelling when, following actuation of rocker, release of closure of the bolt has been enabled, the arrangement being such that the interceptionof the pin acts as a leverage fulcrum of first degree with respect to the lever arm on which the continuation of such swivelling determines the commencement of full opening retraction of bolt.

5. An improved anti-panic lock according to claim 4, wherein, during swivelling of the lever arm on the fulcrun-4 the pushing action of the transverse appendage on the operable leg of rocker is maintained until, on retraction of bolt, front opening restraint notch is the next to reach the transverse position of the restraining lip of the bell crank.

6. An improved anti-panic lock according to any on of claims 1 to 5, wherein the said interception means of said extra travel of the cam comprise a transverse front incorporated in the lever arm which, upon full retraction of bolt, remains directly intercepting the commencement of possible extra travel of the cam, the arrangement being such that the operation of the extra travel causes longitudinal movement of lever armwhich, through the articulation with addition of follower, brings about the retraction of the latch without the rotation of the follower or, consequently, of the grip, and the release, where it exists of the anti-opening restraint of the latch.

7. An improved anti-panic lock according to claim 3 or any claim dependent directly or indirectly therefrom, wherein, with the bolt in the fully retracted position, the appendage is no longer in contact with the rocker and the opening and closure of the latch only affect the functional environment exclusive to the latter without resultIng in any action on bolt or its restraining mechanism.

8. An improved anti-panic lock according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, since the follower is comprised of two half-followers, outer and inner, provision is made for an outside grip with a split stud which only acts on the outer half-follower and does not affect either the inner halffollower or the follower addition, so that it is thus only capable of acting on latch but not on bolt.

9. An improved anti-panic lock substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.