HK1141569A - Cable wrap security device - Google Patents

Description

Cable winding safety device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a safety device and more particularly to an adjustable safety device which is wound around a box-like structure and secures the box-like structure in a safe locked position. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cable wrap security device that includes a plurality of cables wrapped around an item to be protected and has a unique mechanism for locking the cables to the device after they are placed around the item and for unlocking the cables from the device with a key and a mechanism that automatically retracts the cables onto a spool within the device.

Background

Retail stores have experienced periods of difficulty in terms of: to protect the packaging of boxes and other similar structures that hold a variety of expensive goods, books, or to protect the containers from opening and to prevent the contents of the containers from being removed or destroyed while on display without permission from store personnel. Consumers often want to visually inspect packaged expensive items before deciding to purchase them. The problem faced by stores is how to protect these expensive items from theft while displaying them for sale.

One method for protecting the packages and the items contained therein is to enclose the items in a transparent glass display case that is accessible only to authorized store personnel. The consumer can see the item through the glass but cannot pick up the item or read any information about the item that may be printed on the box unless the store clerk removes the item from the display case. However, in a large retail store, a problem arises in that the same merchandise is taken after the consumer wishes to purchase the selected merchandise, without the merchandise being stolen. One way is to maintain a box containing expensive items or goods in front of the eye for delivery to or pickup by the consumer for subsequent bringing to a checkout clerk. However, this makes the box susceptible to theft and requires additional sales personnel.

Another method used by retail stores is to list items in a catalog and ask the consumer to order from the catalog. Items are supplied from a rear storage area and the consumer must simultaneously take the item and pay at the same location to prevent unauthorized removal of the item from the store. The consumer cannot inspect the item before purchasing the item, and if the consumer is not satisfied with the item, the consumer must suffer the inconvenience of refunding the item for a refund.

The boxes and box-like structures are also subject to unauthorized opening when transported by delivery personnel. These articles, when packaged and taped closed in a conventional manner, can be easily opened and resealed without recipients or senders being aware of these illegal activities. Shipping packages can be secured within a secure container having a locking mechanism, but these containers are expensive to purchase and increase the size and weight of the package, making shipping more expensive. Also, persons who wish to be thieves may gain access to the contents of these containers by "prying" the locking mechanism or possibly by guessing the combination of a combination lock.

Certain prior art locking devices have adequately addressed the problem of protecting packages or objects in a closed condition when they are displayed in a retail store or shipped from one location to another. Some of these prior art mounting devices include a cable that is wrapped around the article and secured by some type of locking mechanism. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,611,760, 4,418,551, 4,756,171, 4,896,517, 4,930,324, 5,156,028, 5,722,266, 5,794,464, 6,092,401, and 7,162,899.

While many of these prior art cable wrap security devices have proven satisfactory, these cable wrap security devices can require special tools to operate the latch mechanism both for tensioning the cable around the object to be protected and for retracting the security cable into the device after the security device has been removed from the package. Moreover, certain prior art cable wrap security devices also require a mechanism to allow the inner spool on which the cable is wrapped to rotate freely in order to pull the cable outwardly to a larger size for placement around another package.

Moreover, these prior art devices typically require that the cable be manually rewound onto a spool for storage after the security device has been removed from the package. This requires additional work by the retail personnel and if the cable is not rewound correctly, the cable will become tangled with other cables creating storage problems and additional work is required to re-use the cable and place the cable on the packaging.

Accordingly, there is a need for a cable wrap security device that includes a ratchet mechanism and a locking mechanism that does not require any special tools to tighten the cable around the package, and in which the locking mechanism locks the cable in place around the object when a collet attached to one end of the cable is inserted into the housing, which nearly simultaneously locks the cable spool in a fixed position, preventing further movement of the spool until the spool is manually wound to tighten the cable further around the object.

Disclosure of Invention

The security device of the present invention comprises a plurality of wires or cables for enclosing and locking six sides of a box, package, book or other similar structure. The cable extends between a ratchet member including a gear having a plurality of teeth, a one-way pawl engaging the teeth, a spool storing the cable and controlled by the ratchet member, a collet attached to a free end of the cable to lock the cable to the device, a locking mechanism locking the cable collet to the device and securing the cable spool in a fixed position, the locking mechanism including a special key and requiring the special key to unlock the cable after the cable is secured about an object.

It is another feature of the present invention to provide such a security device that requires a special magnetic key to unlock the internal protected locking member to enable the cable to be removed from the protected item.

It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a security device having an acoustic alarm that is activated if the integrity of the inductive loop in the securing cable is compromised or compromised, and wherein the security device may contain an EAS tag that activates the alarm at a security gate if a potential thief attempts to exit the premises before removing the security device from the protected item.

It is a further feature of this invention to provide such a security device which includes a one-way ratchet which is automatically released after the cable attachment clip is unlocked from the locking mechanism by use of a special key.

It is a further feature of the present invention to provide such a security device in which the locking mechanism is opened by a magnetic release mechanism.

It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a security device in which the ratchet mechanism is manually operated to tighten the cable around the item by means of the handle of the ratchet mechanism, avoiding the need for a special key to rotate the ratchet mechanism and tighten the cable around the protected item.

Yet another feature is the biasing of the cable storage spool in the winding direction by the internal spring such that when the spool and cable attachment clip are released from the unlocking mechanism, the spool automatically rewinds the cable onto the spool, avoiding exposed hanging cable. This places the security device in a compact state, ready for subsequent use, and eliminates exposed cable that may become tangled with other objects, and which avoids the need to manually reel the cable back onto the spool after the cable has been removed from the object.

Another feature of the present invention is the ability to move the locking mechanism from the locked position to the unlocked position by unlocking the key after the key is disposed in a pair of apertures formed in the security device housing or in the locking cartridge.

Yet another feature is the security device having only two cables or cable lengths attached to the spool and extending from the housing that provide a more convenient operating mechanism and enable increased wind-up tension to be applied to the cables.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a spring-biased spool that automatically winds up slack in a cable after the cable is placed around an item, after which the cable is manually pulled to a first desired tension.

Yet another feature is an audible alarm mounted adjacent a bottom wall of the housing, the bottom wall of the housing being disposed adjacent the item being protected, thereby preventing access to the item being protected by a thief; and wherein a slight space is provided between the bottom wall and the article to enhance sound transmission of the audible alarm.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a reel release button that, when depressed, automatically winds a cable onto a reel, thereby enabling store personnel to easily control the movement of the cable.

It is a further feature of the present invention to provide two flanges of the spool with peripheral teeth that engage the release lever to enable the spool to withstand the large tension being applied to the cable without failure.

Another feature is to provide a cable attachment clip with means to control a switch on the electronic circuit of the internal alarm system to deactivate the acoustic alarm when the clip is removed from the main housing of the security device.

These features are achieved by the security device of the present invention, which may be stated in its general nature to include: a housing; a cable for being disposed about an object; a spool rotatably mounted in the housing and operatively attached to the first end of the cable; a collet attached to the second end of the cable for insertion into the housing to secure the cable about the object; a locking mechanism for locking the collet to the housing; a ratchet mechanism operatively engaged with the spool to maintain the cable taut about the object; a key for unlocking the cartridge from the housing; and a retracting mechanism for automatically rotating the reel in a winding direction of the cable to wind the cable onto the reel.

Drawings

A preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrative of the best mode in which the applicant contemplates applying the principles, is set forth in the following description and is shown in the drawings and is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the security device of the present invention secured to a package;

FIG. 2 is a side view as seen in the direction of arrows 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view as seen in the direction of arrows 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a combination of FIGS. 4A and 4B, with FIGS. 4A and 4B being exploded perspective views of the security device;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the inside surface of the top cover plate of the housing;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the underside surface of the locking disk component of the ratchet mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the security device in a locked position taken from below the top closure panel;

FIG. 7A is a partial view of a pivot arm member of the locking mechanism, wherein the pivot arm member is shown engaged with a locking disk shown in dashed lines;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the safety device showing the tensioning of the internal spool tensioning spring;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 7, showing the locking mechanism in a locked position;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing the unlocking key engaged with the security device;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 7, showing the locking mechanism in a locked position wherein the key engages the locking mechanism just prior to movement of the key to an unlocked position;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a top plan view similar to FIG. 11 showing movement of the unlocking key to the forward unlocked position;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 12, showing the locking mechanism in a locked position and the ratchet mechanism and cable clamp in a disengaged position;

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 16-16 showing the locking mechanism in an unlocked position;

FIG. 17 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing the security device disposed on the package and the cable clip unwound from the spool for disposition about the package;

FIG. 18 is a view similar to FIG. 17 showing the cable clip inserted into the housing of the security device after the cable has been placed around the package;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the unlock key;

FIG. 20 is a partial top plan view, partially broken away, showing a modified embodiment of the cable attachment clip connection;

figure 21 is a diagrammatic top perspective view of a second embodiment of the safety device of the present invention;

fig. 22 is a combination of fig. 22A and 22B, and fig. 22A and 22B are plan views of major components of the security device of fig. 21;

FIG. 23 is a plan view of the interior of the top housing member;

FIG. 24 is a plan view of the exterior of the bottom housing member;

FIG. 25 is a side view of the spool of the modified safety device of FIG. 21;

FIG. 26 is a bottom plan view of the spool of FIG. 25;

FIG. 27 is an end view of the cartridge housing of the modified safety device;

FIG. 28 is a top plan view of a locking bar of the locking mechanism of the modified security device;

FIG. 29 is an exploded perspective view from the coiled tension spring after removal from the retainer;

FIG. 30 is a top plan view of the security device of FIG. 21, with the locking clip disengaged from the housing;

FIG. 31 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along line 31-31 of FIG. 30;

FIG. 32 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the collet moved from the position of FIG. 31 into engagement within the end of the housing of the safety device;

FIG. 33 is a fragmentary top plan view similar to FIG. 30 with cutaway portions showing the collet moved to a first locked position with the housing;

FIG. 34 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 34-34 of FIG. 33;

FIG. 35 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 35-35 of FIG. 33;

FIG. 36 is a partial top plan view similar to FIG. 33 with cutaway portions showing the cartridge in a fully locked position within the housing of the security device;

FIG. 37 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 37-37 of FIG. 36;

FIG. 38 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 38-38 of FIG. 36, showing the collet in a fully locked position within the housing and the cable in a wound position about the spool;

FIG. 39 is a top plan view with sections showing the actuator button in a depressed state and the spool winding the cable into the housing;

FIG. 40 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 35 showing the magnetic key unlocking the cartridge from the housing;

like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Detailed Description

The security device of the present invention is generally indicated at 1 and is shown in figures 1 to 3 as being secured around a package 3. The security device 1 comprises a main casing, indicated as a whole by 5 (figure 4), and a plurality of cables 7, said plurality of cables 7 being stored on an internal reel 8, and preferably two. The housing 5 (fig. 4B) comprises a main housing body 9, preferably formed by an oval shaped side wall 10, said main housing body 9 having an internal spool compartment 11 and a locking compartment 13. The housing 5 further includes a top cover plate 15 (fig. 4A and 5), the top cover plate 15 being secured to the top peripheral edge of the housing body 9 by a plurality of fasteners 17. One end of the twin cable 7 is connected to the inner reel 8 and the other end is connected to the attachment clip 19.

The cable 7 is stored on a reel 8, said reel 8 being captured within a reel compartment 11 and rotatably housed within the reel compartment 11, and being retained within this reel compartment 11 by a top panel 15, said reel compartment 11 being formed by an oval shaped side wall 10 and a curved wall 57. A winding post 21 (fig. 9) extends through a circular hole 22 formed in the spool 8 and serves to pre-tension a clock spring 23, preferably at the time of manufacture, said clock spring 23 providing a bias on the spool 8 to rotate the spool 8 in a winding direction to retract the cable onto the spool in a storage position shown in fig. 9 and described further below. The reel 8 has spaced flanges 25, 26 and an intermediate wall 31 between the spaced flanges 25, 26 forming a cable storage area. An annular ring 27 of unidirectional gear teeth 28 is mounted on the upper spool 26 and forms part of a ratchet mechanism for controlling the rotational movement of the spool within the housing 5. The clock spring 23 is arranged in an annular interior of a tensioning member 29 (fig. 4A), said tensioning member 29 comprising a cross bar 30 for manually rotating the member 29 to tension the cable after it has been arranged around the package 3. One end 93 of the clock spring 23 is connected to the winding post 21 and the other end is connected to the reel 8. One connection type may be by: a projection 33 (fig. 4B) attached to spring 23 extends through a slot 34 formed in the cylindrical side wall of member 29 and into a slotted opening 96 formed in spool wall 31. The tensioning member 29 is connected to the spool 8 by a plurality of snap-fit projections 24, which snap-fit projections 24 extend into slots 32 formed in the spool 8. As shown in fig. 2, the cable 7 exits through a pair of holes 36 formed in the side wall 10 of the housing body 9, and a pair of ball-shaped positioning stops 38 are attached to the cable 7.

The ratchet mechanism includes a locking disk, generally indicated at 35 (fig. 4A), having a generally circular configuration at one end and formed with a central circular opening 37 into which a plurality of flexible locking pawls 39 extend in an arcuate cantilevered manner. Each pawl has a cam projection or post 41 formed on the distal end thereof adjacent a series of gear teeth 43. The locking disk 35 has a generally rectangular shaped segment 45 at opposite ends of the locking disk 35, the segment 45 being formed with a pair of tapered recesses 47 for receiving a pair of locking tines (tine)49 to secure the locking disk 35 in the locked position as will be further explained below. The tines 49 are preferably integrally formed from a metal locking bar 51, said tines 49 being biased outwardly from the metal locking bar 51 and securing the locking disk 35 in the locked non-rotatable position, as particularly shown in fig. 7, 9 and 10.

A pair of rectangular key receiving grooves 53 are formed in the rectangular end 45 of the locking disk 35, the purpose of the key receiving grooves 53 being further explained below. The lock disk 35 is attached to the inner surface 46 of the housing cover plate 15 by three curved projections 48 formed on the cover plate 15, the three curved projections 48 snap-fittingly engaging the inner periphery of the circular opening 37 of the lock disk (fig. 9). The annular ring 27 of the spool 8 extends upwardly through the circular opening 37 of the locking disk 35 and the gear teeth 43 of the locking pawl 39 can engage the gear teeth 28 of the ring 27 due to the flexible cantilevered configuration of the locking pawl 39, as shown in FIG. 7. The locking disk 35 also rests against three curved lugs 52, said three curved lugs 52 being formed on the surface 46 of the plate 15 and projecting from this surface 46, the posts 41 of the locking pawls 39 extending into said three curved lugs 52.

The housing top cover plate 15 (fig. 5) is formed with a circular opening 59 for rotatably receiving the tension member 29 therein so as to be able to contact the cross member 30. The cover plate 15 also includes a pair of key receiving slots 61, the pair of key receiving slots 61 having an elongated configuration and being aligned with the key grooves 53 of the locking disk 35. A key positioning ledge 63 is formed on the outer surface of the cover plate 15 to assist in aligning and positioning a pair of key protrusions 65 of a magnetic key 66 (fig. 19) when the pair of key protrusions 65 are placed on the outer surface of the cover plate 15 (as shown in fig. 11 and 13) for unlocking the locking tines 49 lockingly engaged within the grooves 47 of the locking disk 35, as will be further described below.

The unique locking mechanism of the present invention includes a pivotally mounted locking arm, generally indicated at 69 (fig. 4B), which includes a curved end 71, an end 72 opposite the curved end 71, and an intermediate pivot axis 73. End 72 is formed with an arcuate ratchet tooth segment 74, while end 71 is formed with a pair of lugs 75 extending downwardly from end 71. Locking arm 69 is pivotally mounted on the top end of a post 77, the post 77 being located in locking compartment 13, the post 77 extending into an opening forming a pivot shaft 73, the pivot shaft 73, when assembled, will place ratchet teeth 74 in mating engagement with an arcuate ratchet tooth segment 78 formed on the bottom surface of end 45 of locking disk 35, as shown in fig. 6. The locking arm 69 rests on and is supported by an annular shoulder 70 formed on the pivot post 77, and is held in place by the arcuate projection 67 and an annular lug 68, the annular lug 68 extending from the inner surface of the plate 15 (fig. 5 and 9). The projecting end of pivot post 77 is received within lug 68. The arm 69 is also supported by a pair of ribs 62 (fig. 4B) formed along the wall 57. The lugs 75 extend through a pair of curved openings 79 for releasable engagement with a pair of angled slots 80 (fig. 4B), the pair of curved openings 79 being formed in a ledge 76, the ledge 76 being formed adjacent the end of the side wall 10, the pair of angled slots 80 being formed in the end of the attachment clip 19 (fig. 4B). When the attachment clip 19 is in the locked position for securing the engagement of the cable around the package 3, the attachment clip 19 is adapted to be inserted into an arcuate shaped opening 83, said arcuate shaped opening 83 being formed in the end of the wall 10 of the housing.

As shown in fig. 7, a piezoelectric alarm 85 is mounted in the locking compartment 13, said piezoelectric alarm 85 being operatively engaged with a printed circuit board 87 also mounted in the locking compartment 13, said printed circuit board 87 being supplied with electric power by a battery (not shown) which can be attached and detached by a battery cover 88 formed in the bottom of the housing body 9, as shown in fig. 8. An EAS tag 90 is preferably disposed in the locking compartment 13, the EAS tag 90 being operatively connected to the printed circuit board 87 and controlled by the printed circuit board 87.

The alarm system provided by the printed circuit board 87 and the alarm 85 may implement different types of EAS tags 90, such as acoustic-magnetic (AM), Electromagnetic (EM), and Radio Frequency (RF) tags 90 within the concepts of the present invention. Furthermore, an electrical induction loop will be provided by cable 7 so that if one of the cables is severed or separated from the safety device, the alarm system will activate an audible piezoelectric alarm 85. Also, the EAS tag 90 is used to actuate an audible alarm or other signaling device at the security gate if a thief moves a secured item with a security device attached through the exit security gate in an unauthorized manner. Alarm systems and their components are well known in the art of security technology and will therefore not be described further.

When spool 8 is in the assembled position, spool 8 is rotatably mounted within housing 5 on winding post 21 and cable 7 is stored on spool 8 with two cables extending outwardly through holes 36 (fig. 2) and terminating at clip 19. The spool 8 is rotatably mounted on a winding post 21, said post 21 extending through a complementary shaped aperture 91 and through an aperture 22 in the spool, wherein said aperture 91 is formed in the bottom wall of the housing 5. A pair of arcuate projections 92 (fig. 4B) surround the aperture 91 and form a pair of slots 99. The clock spring 23 is pre-tensioned by the winding post 21, preferably after the manufacturing of the stretching device 1 and before the shipment of the stretching device 1 to the customer. One end 93 of the clock spring 23 is inserted into a slot 95 formed in the winding post 21, while the other end of the clock spring is secured to the spool 8 by a projection 33, the projection 33 extending through the slot 34 of the tensioning member 29 and into a slotted opening 96 formed in the wall 31 of the spool 8, as described above. Winding post 21 will be partially inserted into hole 91 and reel hole 22 and then rotated a predetermined number of revolutions to pre-tension clock spring 23 to a desired tension. Then, the post 21 is fully inserted into the hole 91 with a pair of wings 98 formed on the bottom of the post 21 inserted into the notches 99 to lock the post 21 in its final installed position in which the desired tension is applied to the spring 23, said spring 23 applying a predetermined rotational force to the spool 8. Once the post 21 has been used to tension the spring 23 and inserted into the housing body 9, the post 21 will be permanently retained in the housing body 9 by the plurality of one-way snap-fit projections 101. Moreover, when the device 1 is fully assembled, the cam projections 41 (fig. 4A) mounted on the ends of the locking pawls 39 will extend into curved recesses 52A, the curved recesses 52A being formed inside curved lugs 52, the curved lugs 52 being formed on the inner surface of the cover plate 15. Further, the ratchet teeth 74 at the end of the locking arm 69 will engage the arcuate ratchet tooth segment 78 of the lock disk 35, as shown in FIG. 7A. When the device 1 is in the locked position as shown in fig. 7, the one-way gear teeth 43 of the locking pawl 39 will be in locking engagement with the gear teeth 28 of the spool ring 27, and when the device 1 is in the unlocked position as shown in fig. 15, said gear teeth 43 will be disengaged from said gear teeth 28, as will be explained further below.

The manner of operation of the improved cable wrap security device of the present invention is best illustrated in fig. 7 through 18. When the reel 8 is in the unlocked and independent position as shown in fig. 17, the reel 8 will rotate freely in the unwinding direction. The clerk will pull the gripping head 19 outwards as indicated by arrow a, which will unwind the cable 7 from the reel 8. The cable is placed near the corner of the package until the clip 19 reaches the position shown in fig. 18 where it is at the entrance of the end slot opening 83. The clerk would insert cartridge 19 into opening 83 as indicated by arrow B which would cause lug 75 of locking arm 69 aligned with the entrance of angled slot 80 of cartridge 19 to move along angled slot 80 in an angled manner. This movement will cause locking arm 69 to pivot about pivot shaft 73, causing ratchet teeth 74, which engage arcuate ratchet teeth 78 (FIG. 7A), to rotate locking disk 35 sufficiently to move gear teeth 43 into engagement with spool teeth 28 due to movement of post 41 within curved ledge 52. This causes the jaws 19, lugs 75 and ratchet teeth 43 to assume the locked position shown in FIG. 7. The locking tines 49 will automatically move from the unlocked position of fig. 16 to the locked position of fig. 10, wherein the distal ends 50 of the locking tines 49 will enter the groove 47 and abuttingly engage the shoulder 54 at the end of the groove 47. When clip 19 is in the locked position of fig. 7, clip 19 is prevented from disengaging housing 5 due to the angled position of locking arm lugs 75 and angled slots 80. Further movement of the arm 75 is prevented by the engagement of the ratchet teeth 74 with the ratchet teeth 78 of the locking plate 35 because the gear teeth of the locking pawl engage the unidirectional gear teeth 28 of the spool 26 and the engagement of the locking tines 49 in the recesses 47 prevents further movement of the plate 35. Since the locking arm 69 is fixed at one end by the collet 19 and at the other end by the ratchet teeth 74, the locking arm 69 is prevented from further movement, which in turn causes the pawl teeth 43 of the locking disk 35 to securely engage the spool teeth 28. The engagement of the pawl teeth 43 with the spool teeth 28 prevents any further rotation of the spool in the direction of cable payout or unwinding.

The clerk would then manually rotate tensioning member 29 by grasping cross member 30 and rotating cross member 30, thereby rotating reel 8 in the direction of tension. Typically, only a small amount of rotation of member 30 will be sufficient to tighten the cable around the package by retracting the cable into the security device around spool 8. When in this secured position, the internal alarm and inductive loop provided by cable 7 will prevent unauthorized cutting of the cable and unauthorized movement of the protected package through the security gate due to the presence of EAS tag 90.

To remove security device 1 from package 3, a clerk would place key 66 against key positioning rail 63 and protrusion 65 through elongated slot 61 into groove 53 of locking disk 35, which would align a pair of internal magnets 103 with each locking tine 49. See fig. 11 and 13. The locking tines will be attracted to the magnet 103 and the locking tines move out of engagement within the recesses 47 from the locked position of fig. 10 to the unlocked position of fig. 13. The operator then moves the key only a very small amount along the cover plate 15, as indicated by arrow D in fig. 14, wherein the key protrusions 65 move slightly along the slotted openings 61. Since the cam projections 41 will move through the curved lugs 52 to fully disengage the pawl teeth from the spool teeth 28 as the lock plate 35 is rotated slightly in the counterclockwise direction from the position of FIG. 12 to the position of FIG. 15, engagement of the key projections 65 in the grooves 53 will rotate the lock plate 35 and disengage the pawl teeth 43 from the spool ratchet teeth 28. This movement will pivot locking arm 69 in a clockwise direction as ratchet teeth 74 engage ratchet teeth 78, which in turn will cause lugs 75 to move from their locked position within collet slots 80 to the unlocked position of fig. 15. This movement also moves the locking bar 51 and locking tines 49 from the unlocked position of fig. 13 to the position of fig. 16, where the locking tines are prevented from being biased back into the grooves 47 because the locking tines have been positioned out of alignment with the grooves. Upon reaching the unlocked position shown in fig. 12 and 14, the bias applied by clock spring 23 will cause spool 8 to rotate in the cable retraction or cable winding direction, causing the cable to move inwardly in the direction of arrow D as shown in fig. 14, which will automatically rotate spool 8 from the position of fig. 12 to the position of fig. 15. Thus, when tines 49 are lifted from grooves 47 and locking disk 35 is moved slightly by key protrusion 65 to disengage the collet from the housing, the retraction tension applied to cable 7 by spring 23 will automatically pull collet 19 from within housing 5 in the direction of arrow E (fig. 14). The retraction tension applied by the spring will continuously rotate the spool 8 in the retraction direction, thereby automatically retracting the previously extended cable to its stored position on the spool 8, as shown for example in fig. 17.

When collet 19 is reinserted into housing body 9 through arcuate opening 83 as shown by arrow B in fig. 18, these steps are reversed and reinsertion of collet 19 into housing body 9 pivots locking arm 69 by action of lug 75 within collet slot 80 as described above. Again, since the gear teeth 74 are engaged with the gear teeth 78 on the lock disk (as shown in FIG. 7A), this movement will cause the lock disk 35 to rotate slightly, which in turn causes the pawl teeth 43 to engage the spool teeth 28 by the movement of the pawl lugs 41 in the arcuate recesses of the lugs 52 formed on the housing top cover plate 15. This movement of the locking disk 35 will then move the locking bar 51, and in particular the locking tines 49, from the position of fig. 16 to the position of fig. 13, in which position the locking tines will automatically move into the grooves 47 due to the natural spring bias of the locking tines, in which grooves 47 the distal ends 50 engage the groove shoulders 54, thereby placing the various components in a safe locked position until moved from the position of fig. 10 to the position of fig. 16 again by using the key 66 to move the locking tines out of the grooves.

The locking device of the present invention thus provides a cable wrap security device that can be easily placed into a secure locked position about a package by pulling the cable out of its retracted position within the device against the biasing force exerted by clock spring 23. The locking device is automatically locked by inserting the collet 19 into the housing 5 and automatically actuating the ratchet mechanism to prevent rotation of the spool and thus the attached cable in the payout or unwind direction. In addition, slightly manually rotating the exposed end of tensioning member 29 will further retract the cable by winding spool 8 in a direction to wind more cable until the desired tension is achieved on the cable around the package, so as to prevent the cable from being removed from around the package until the device is unlocked by a special key, such as magnetic key 66. Moreover, because of the alarm system and sense loop provided by the cable and the EAS tag secured and concealed within the security device, tampering with the security device 1 is prevented by the use of the audible alarm 85 and the EAS tag is used to prevent the entire package and attached device from being moved through the protected exit.

Fig. 20 shows an alternative embodiment of the connection of the cable 7 to the collet 19, wherein the first embodiment is shown in particular in fig. 15. As shown in fig. 15, the cable 7 merely forms a continuous loop through the collet 19, which, while providing a strong mechanical connection between the cable and the collet, does not provide the additional security provided by the alternative connection of the cable 7 to the collet 19 shown in fig. 20 and described below. As shown in fig. 20, cable 7 is two separate cables each terminating in a slightly enlarged connector 105, which connector 105 may be press fit over the end of the cable that is received and retained within slots 107 formed in both sides of collet 19. Each cable connector 105 is engageable with a spring clip 109, the spring clip 109 providing an electrical terminal by connecting to an appropriate circuit formed on the printed circuit board 87. Thus, when the collet 19 is inserted through or into the end opening 83 of the housing 9, the cable terminal connector 105 will mechanically engage the spring collet 19, completing the circuit through the printed circuit board 87. Thus, if the clip 19 is forcibly pulled out of the housing 9, this will interrupt the electrical continuity established through the printed circuit board 87, causing the alarm 85 to sound, thereby notifying store personnel that an unauthorized occurrence has occurred.

It will be readily appreciated that some type of pressure switch, magnetic switch or the like (not shown) may be incorporated into the alarm circuitry of security device 1 and the printed circuit board to facilitate disarming of the alarm when the locking mechanism is legitimately opened and collet 19 is removed from body 9 to prevent the alarm from sounding.

It will be readily appreciated that other types of security keys may be used in place of magnetically attracted locking tines if desired without affecting the concept of the present invention. Moreover, various types of manually actuated winding devices and spring mechanisms may be used in addition to the specific clock spring 23 and tensioning member 29 shown and described above.

A modified security device of the present invention is indicated generally at 110 and is particularly shown in fig. 21 to 40. The modified security device 110 comprises a main housing, indicated generally at 113, comprising an upper housing member 114 and a bottom housing member 115, the upper housing member 114 and the bottom housing member 115 may be joined together by adhesive, sonic welding, or the like to form an interior chamber having a spool compartment 116 and a lock compartment 118, with a cable spool 117 rotatably mounted in the spool compartment 116. Specifically, the top housing member 114 is shown in fig. 22A, and the top housing member 114 is an elongated structure having a main circular opening 119, with a winding mechanism 121 rotatably mounted in the main circular opening 119. The winding mechanism 121 is operatively connected to the cable spool 117 by a plurality of projections 122 formed on the spool 117 and extending into notches 123, the notches 123 being formed in the outer periphery of the annular flange 125. The winding mechanism 121 includes a generally annular outer flange 125, the flange 125 underlying a downwardly extending annular projection 127, the annular projection 127 surrounding the housing opening 119 (fig. 38) to retain the winding mechanism 121 in the spool compartment 116 of the housing 113. The winding mechanism 121 includes an upturned handle 129, the handle 129 being pivotally mounted on a main disc shaped body portion 131 of the winding mechanism by a pair of pivot pins 130. The winding mechanism 121 is fixed to the cable reel 117 by a protrusion 122 so as to be rotatable together with the cable reel 117.

A cable 133, which may be a single loop or a pair of cables, is connected to the spool 117, with the other cable ends connected to an attachment clip, indicated generally at 135. The cable 133 is stored on a spool 117, the spool 117 being rotatably mounted within the spool compartment 116 on a post 139, the post 139 extending upwardly from a circular plate 137 (fig. 22B, 24 and 38), the circular plate 137 being mounted in a circular aperture 138, the circular aperture 138 being formed in the bottom housing member 115. The post 139 is formed with a slot 141 in which an end 142 of a coil spring 143 is secured, the coil spring 143 exerting a biasing force on the spool 117 to rotate the spool in a winding direction to retract the cable onto the spool and into a storage position, as shown in fig. 38 and 39 and described further below. Spool 117 has spaced apart flanges 145 and 146 (fig. 22B and 25) and an intervening wall 147, the intervening wall 147 forming a cable storage area between flanges 145 and 146. The use of only two cables or cable loops attached to spool 117 and exiting from housing 113 is advantageous over prior art cable security devices such as shown in U.S. patent No.5,722,266, which has four cable loops or cable segments exiting from the housing. This reduces tangling of the cable when the spool is manually rotated after the cable is laid around the object, and enables a greater winding tension to be placed on two cable loops than on four cable loops.

A plurality of notches 144 may be formed in the wall 147 for securing the cable 133 to the spool. A plurality of gear teeth 149 are preferably formed on the outer periphery of the two spool flanges 145 and 146, the plurality of gear teeth 149 forming part of a ratchet mechanism for controlling the rotational movement of the spool 117 in the spool compartment 116. The coil spring 143 is seated in a cylindrical spring holder 115 (fig. 29), the cylindrical spring holder 115 having a central bore 152, the central bore 152 being formed in a bottom wall 153, the spool post 139 extending through the central bore 152, as shown in fig. 38. Holder 151 is clamped to housing base member 115 by spool flange 145. The second end 155 of the spring 143 is inserted into a slot 156 to secure the spring 143 to the spring holder 151, wherein the slot 156 is formed in a side wall 157 (fig. 22B) of the spring holder. The winding mechanism 121 described above is secured to the spool 117 and is manually rotated as discussed further below by using the upturned handle 129 for rotating the spool 117 in a clockwise direction as shown by arrow a in fig. 33 to tighten the cable 133 about the product after the cable is retracted into the housing 113 by the biasing force of the spring 143. The cable 133 exits the housing 113 through a pair of holes 159, the pair of holes 159 being formed in one end of the elongated side wall 160 of the top housing member 114.

The ratchet mechanism that engages spool teeth 149 to prevent spool movement in the unwinding direction includes a spring-biased spool lock lever 162 (fig. 22B and 28), which spring-biased spool lock lever 162 is biased into engagement with spool gear teeth formed on spool flanges 145 and 146 by a U-spring 163. The locking lever 162 is pivotally mounted in the spool compartment 116 by a pivot pin 165 (as shown in fig. 39) and is biased toward engagement with the spool teeth. As shown in fig. 28, a pair of spaced apart projections 166 are formed on one end of the locking lever 162, as shown in fig. 30, which projections 166 engage a pair of spaced apart gear teeth on the flanges 145 and 146. The use of a pair of gear teeth and a pair of projections 166 can provide increased resistance to theft and an increased security projection (security project) to security device 110, since a pair of gear teeth and a pair of projections 166 can withstand greater tension on the attached cable.

According to one of the features of the present invention, a release button 169 (fig. 22B and 30) is pivotally mounted in the spool compartment 116 by a pivot pin 165. The release button 169 includes an outwardly projecting pawl 171 on an end opposite the pivot axis, the function of the outwardly projecting pawl 171 being further explained below. In accordance with another feature of the present invention, attachment clip 135 (fig. 22A) includes a locking clip, generally indicated at 173, and a clip housing 174. Cable 133 is shown as two cable segments secured in locking clip 173 by a pair of ferrules 175. A ferrule 175 is attached to the end of the cable 133 and seated in a compartment 167 formed in the collet 173 to secure the cable in one end of the locking collet 173. The cable 133 extends outwardly through an elongated slot 177 (fig. 27), the elongated slot 177 being formed in an end wall 178 of the cartridge housing 174. The locking clip 173 has a generally planar, rectangular configuration and is divided into a pair of legs 168 by a slot 170. Each leg is formed with a first pair of spaced apart notches 179 (fig. 22A and 31) and has a second pair of notches 181 spaced rearwardly from the notches 179, wherein each of the notches 179 terminates in an upwardly extending tapered rear wall 180, the upwardly extending tapered rear wall 180 being opposite an angled right shoulder 184. The front edges of the legs 168 of the locking clip have tapered surfaces 183 adjacent the first pair of grooves 179. The function of these grooves and inclined surfaces will be further explained below with reference to the placement and locking of the attachment clip 135 within the locking compartment 118.

A locking mechanism, generally indicated at 185, is mounted at the attachment collet inlet end 186 of the housing 113. The inlet end 186 is formed with a slotted opening 187, the slotted opening 187 being formed by an outwardly extending rectangular frame 188 (fig. 31) for slidably receiving the locking clip 173 in the slotted opening 187, as will be further described below. The locking mechanism 185 includes a locking shuttle 189 having a pair of spaced apart locking plungers 190, the locking plungers 190 preferably formed of a magnetically attractable material such as metal, the locking plungers 190 having end locking projections 191, the end locking projections 191 engageable in recesses 179 and 181 of the locking collet 173 to park the attachment collet 135 in the housing 113. The locking shuttle 189 has a recessed groove 188 that provides clearance with the battery 199 when in the locked position. A pair of coil springs 193 are mounted around a pair of posts 195 integrally formed on the inner surface of the top housing member 114 (fig. 23 and 35) and extending into aligned apertures 197 formed in the locking shuttle 189 (fig. 22A and 35). Spring 193 biases locking shuttle 189, and in particular, locking plunger end 191, into locking engagement with recesses 179 and 181 of locking collet 173.

The modified security device 110 includes a piezoelectric alarm 85, the piezoelectric alarm 85 being disposed in the lockout compartment 118 and operatively engaged with a printed circuit board 87, the printed circuit board 87 being supplied with power by a battery 199 (fig. 38). A light pipe 200 (fig. 38) may be mounted in a hole 202 formed in the top housing member 114 adjacent to an LED 201 mounted on the printed circuit board 87, the LED 201 illuminating when an alarm circuit formed on the printed circuit board 87 is activated due to the attachment clip 135 (specifically, the locking clip 173) being in its final locked position as shown in fig. 21, 35, 36, 37 and 38. In this final locked position, ferrule 175 mounted on the end of cable 133 engages electrical contact 203, which electrical contact 203 extends downwardly from printed circuit board 87 and is electrically connected to printed circuit board 87, so as to complete the alarm circuit of printed circuit board 87 through cable 133 with the electrical connection between contact 203 and ferrule 175. This provides an inductive loop that extends through cable 133. The EAS tag may be mounted within the locking compartment 118 or at other locations within the device 110 if desired to add additional security to the device.

A cable cross pad 205 (fig. 21) may be mounted on cable 133, with the cable cross pad 205 being disposed generally on the side of the package opposite the side of the security device 110. The cable cross-mat 205 helps to maintain the cable around the protected package or other items, making it more difficult for the cable to slip off the edges of the package. The cable cross-pad 205 may also include some sort of alarm circuitry, indicated at 206, and contained within the housing 113. By arranging some of the electronics of the alarm circuit in the cable cross pad 205, the size and complexity of the security device 110 can be reduced. EAS tags may also be readily disposed in the cross-pad 205 or on the cross-pad 205 if desired.

The manner of operation of the modified security device 110 is best illustrated in fig. 30 to 40. When the security device 110 is in the unlocked position as shown in fig. 30, the clerk will depress the button 169 as shown in fig. 33, and since the surface 216 of the button 169 is in abutting engagement with the surface 217 (fig. 22B) of the locking lever 162, depressing the button 169 will pivot the locking lever 163 in the counterclockwise direction. This pivotal movement of the locking lever 162 will disengage the projection 166 from the gear teeth 149, thereby placing the spool 117 in a state free to rotate in the unwinding direction. The clerk would then pull attachment clip 135 outwardly, which would overcome any bias exerted by spring 143 on spool 117, and unwind cable 133 from spool 117 a sufficient amount to enable the cable to be disposed around the corner of the package until clip 135 reaches the position shown in FIG. 30, where attachment clip 135 is located at entrance slot opening 187. Unwinding of cable 133 from spool 117 will further tension spool spring 143, tending to wind cable 133 on the spool. However, when the clerk releases pressure on button 169, cable 133 is prevented from being wound on the spool because U-spring 163 will again bias locking lever 162 and projection 166 of locking lever 162 into engagement with gear teeth 149. The clerk would then insert the clip 135 into the slot opening 187 from the unlatched, unlocked position of fig. 30, 31 to the partially locked position of fig. 32 and 33. Upon insertion of the locking clip 173 through the slot opening 187 (fig. 32), the tapered or beveled end 183 of the locking clip 173 will move the locking plunger 190 from the downwardly biased position of fig. 31 to the raised position of fig. 32, as indicated by arrow B. As locking collet 173 is inserted further into opening 187 of housing 113 from the position of fig. 32 to the first locked position of fig. 33 and 34, locking plungers 190 are biased downward into first pair of recesses 179 by spring 193. When the locking clip 173 is in this first locked position of fig. 37, the locking clip 173 is prevented from being removed from the housing 113.

Even if spool 117 is biased in the take-up direction by spring 143, retraction of the cable is prevented by locking lever projection 166 engaging spool teeth 149. The clerk then wraps the location cable and then depresses the button 169 as shown by arrow F in fig. 33. Spring 143 will rotate spool 117 in the wind-up direction and as the slack in the cable is automatically taken up by the biased rotation of spool 117, spring 143 rotating spool 117 in the wind-up direction will automatically tighten the cable around the package. The clerk will then move attachment clip 135 from the first locked position of FIG. 33 in the direction of arrow D to the fully locked position of FIG. 36. During this movement, the locking clip 173 moves from the first locking position of fig. 34 to the fully locked position of fig. 37, wherein as the locking projection 190 moves along the upwardly sloped surface 180, the locking projection 190 initially rises upwardly, after which the locking projection 190 automatically drops into the locking recess 181, where rearward movement of the locking projection 190 is prevented by the vertical wall or shoulder 184 in the recess 181. Upon reaching this fully locked position, ferrule 175 engages electrical contact 203 of printed circuit board 87, thereby providing an electrical path through the conductor of cable 133, and the alarm loop provides an inductive loop through the cable such that if cable 133 is severed by a thief, piezoelectric alarm 85 will sound. Prior to moving to this fully locked position of FIGS. 36 and 37, button 169 is no longer depressed, and therefore U-spring 163 biases locking bar 162 inwardly so that locking projections 166 enter adjacent gear teeth 149 as shown in FIG. 30. When in this locked position, the pawls 171 of the button 169 are disposed adjacent the side edges 207 (fig. 36) of the locking clip 173, which prevents inward depression of the button 169, and thus removal of the locking projections 166 from the gear teeth 49. Thus, when the locking clip 173 reaches the fully locked position of fig. 35, 36 and 37, the cable is pulled tight around the package by the force exerted on the cable 133 by the coil spring 143. However, the clerk merely lifts the upturned handle 129 of the winding mechanism 121 and manually rotates the winding mechanism attached to the spool 117 in a clockwise direction as shown by arrow a in fig. 39 to further tension the cable about the package to the desired tension. When locking lever 162 is engaged with spool teeth 149, locking lever 162 may pivot in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 39 rather than a clockwise direction as locking lever surface 217 abuts button surface 216, whereby the cable will move in a taut or coiled direction. The inward movement of the buttons 169 is prevented by the engagement of the pawls 171 with the side edges 207 of the locking clip 173. Contact between ferrule 175 and printed circuit board contact 203 will activate the alarm circuit and LED lamp 201, which LED lamp 201 is visible to store personnel and thieves through light pipe 200.

To unlock the locking mechanism, a magnetic key 66 (fig. 19) is properly placed on the top surface of the cartridge housing 174 by inserting the locating protrusions 65 into the aligned holes 211 formed in the cartridge housing 174. This alignment ensures that magnet 103 is properly aligned with locking plunger 190, as shown in fig. 40. Magnet 103 will move locking plunger 190 from its locked position shown in fig. 35 to the unlocked position in fig. 40 as indicated by arrow E. Upon reaching the unlocked position of fig. 40, the collet 173 is easily removed from the housing 113 by sliding the locking collet out through the slot opening 187.

According to another feature of the invention, as the locking plunger 190 and shuttle 189 move upward by attracting to the magnet 103, the shuttle 189 will engage and depress a switch 210 (fig. 32 and 37) mounted on the printed circuit board 87, which will trip the alarm circuit, thereby preventing the alarm from sounding when the collet 135 is removed from the housing 113.

After the attachment clip 135 has been removed from the housing 113 back to the position of fig. 30, the pawl 171 disengages from the side edge 207 of the locking clip 173 whereby the button 169 can be depressed which will disengage the locking projection 166 from within the spool teeth 149 and the cable will automatically retract into the housing and wind around the spool 117 due to the biasing force exerted by the spring 143 on the spool 117. Thus, after placing the key 66 in the housing 113, the clerk simply removes the attachment clip 135 from within the housing 113 and controls the cable to be wound back into the housing about the spool by depressing the release button 169 until the clip 135 reaches a position closely adjacent the opposite end of the housing 113 from the position of the entrance end 186, or if the pad 205 is used with the security device 110, until the cross-pad 205 engages the end of the housing 113. The automatic retraction of the cable into the housing prevents excess cable from remaining suspended from the housing 113 before the cable could become tangled with adjacent products or other safety devices and cables.

As with the security device 1 described above, the alarm system provides the desired security against cable 133 being cut without the interior alarm sounding, and the cable can be pulled around the product to the desired tension by easily manually rotating the upturned handle 129. It will be readily appreciated that the cross-pad 205 may or may not be used with the modified security device 110, and that portions of the alarm circuitry may or may not be included in the cross-pad 205, or that EAS tags as described above may or may not be included.

When in the fully locked position as shown in fig. 37 and 39, a slight gap 213 may be formed between the inner edges 214 of the cartridge housing 174, which gap 213 enables inward movement of the attachment cartridge 135 in the direction of arrow F as shown in fig. 37 by a slight manual action when a clerk begins to unlock the security device 110 and remove the attachment cartridge 135 from the housing. This slight inward movement assists the locking plunger 190 in moving upward by eliminating the friction created between the edge of locking plunger end 191 and recess shoulder 184, which previously was held tightly together by the tension of the coil spring, in an attempt to pull attachment collet 135 out of engagement from housing 113. Thus, when magnetic key 66 is placed in position as shown in fig. 40, the clerk pushes attachment collet 135 slightly inward to reduce the pressure between the locking plunger and the locking collet until the locking plunger has been retracted, thereby facilitating unlocking and removal of the attachment collet from within the housing. Furthermore, using only two cables or one continuous loop of cable around spool 117 allows for tighter winding of the cable on the spool and less force on the locking lever, and significantly reduces tangling of the cable compared to what occurs when using four separate cables in a previous cable winding security device.

In addition, the elongated, somewhat oval shape of the housing 113 shown in FIG. 21 provides a device that is more easily gripped by a clerk, as compared to a circular mounting device, since the housing 113 is held in the clerk's hand in a constant gripping position to further assist in winding or unwinding the cable onto or from the spool when the button 169 is depressed.

Another advantage of the security apparatus 110 is that the piezoelectric siren 85 is disposed in close proximity to the bottom housing member 115 and the plurality of speaker holes 215 (fig. 22B) as shown in fig. 38 to protect the security apparatus 110 from a potential thief who is able to access the speaker and electronics through the speaker holes if the speaker holes are exposed on top of the security apparatus. This allows the speaker hole and alarm to face downward when the security device 110 is secured to an object, which prevents a thief from disabling the alarm by passing a sharp object through the speaker hole, which may occur if the speaker hole is exposed. An analog speaker hole 220 may be formed in the disc 131 to indicate to a thief that an alarm may be contained in the housing. In addition, small spaced feet or protrusions 222 preferably extend from the bottom surface of the bottom housing member 115 to provide better sound transmission from the alarm 85 when the alarm 85 is activated by providing clearance or spacing between speaker holes or protected objects.

According to the present invention, it is also possible to form the attachment clip 135 as two separate clips, each attached to one of the pair of cables, and individually inserted through an end opening in the housing and locked by a locking mechanism similar to that described above. This enables at least one of the pair of cables to be inserted through a small opening in the product to be protected, thereby providing protection to the product without requiring the product to be of a box or similar parallelepiped construction. Likewise, it should be understood that attachment clip 135 may be inserted through an opening in the product prior to latching to housing 113, thereby providing a security device with an alarm that can secure the product to a support structure or the like.

Another advantage of security device 110 is that when a large force is applied to cable 133, the cable can be pulled away from ferrule 125 (fig. 30), or the ferrule will break electrical contact with contact 203 (fig. 37), causing alarm 85 to be activated.

Furthermore, only two cable loops or cable segments are attached to the attachment clip that separates from the housing when in the unlocked position, allowing the cable to be retracted into the housing until needed, thereby eliminating the drawback of exposed cable being prone to tangling (as occurs in prior art cable wrap security devices). Likewise, after placing the cable around an object and before manually tensioning the cable, and after the cable has been removed from the protected object, the retraction spring mechanism enables the slack portion of the cable to be easily tensioned.

The term "locked" or "locked" as used in this specification means that some type of key is required to change from a locked state to an unlocked state, which is distinguished from the term "latched" in that the term "latched" is used to describe a connection between two elements that can be unlocked without the need for a key.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. These terms do not imply unnecessary limitations beyond those required by the prior art, because they are used for descriptive purposes only and are intended to be broadly construed.

Furthermore, the description and drawings of the present invention are by way of example only, and the invention is not limited to the precise details shown or described.

Claims (27)

1. A security device for placement about an object, the security device comprising:

a housing;

a cable for being disposed about the object;

a spool rotatably mounted in the housing and operatively attached to a first end of the cable;

a collet attached to a second end of the cable and for insertion into the housing to secure the cable about the object;

a locking mechanism for locking the collet to the housing;

a ratchet mechanism operably engaged with the spool to maintain the cable taut about the object;

a key for unlocking the cartridge from the housing; and

a retraction mechanism for automatically rotating the spool in a winding direction of the cable to wind the cable onto the spool.

2. The security device of claim 1, wherein the cable comprises only two cable segments extending from the housing and connected to the clip.

3. The security device of claim 1, wherein the ratchet mechanism comprises a locking disk movably mounted within the housing and having a plurality of locking pawls engageable with the spool.

4. The security device of claim 3, wherein the plurality of locking pawls have ratchet teeth engageable with ratchet teeth formed on the spool to prevent rotation of the spool in a cable unwinding direction when the chuck is locked to the housing.

5. A security device according to claim 3, wherein the locking mechanism comprises at least one magnetically attractable member releasably engageable with at least one protrusion formed on the locking disc.

6. The safety device of claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism includes a pivot arm pivotally mounted on the housing, the pivot arm having ratchet teeth at one end, the ratchet teeth at the one end of the pivot arm being engageable with gear teeth formed on the spool, the pivot arm further having a second end, the second end of the pivot arm being engageable with the cable collet when the collet is inserted into the housing.

7. The security device of claim 1, wherein the ratchet mechanism includes a locking lever pivotally mounted within the housing and movable into and out of engagement with locking teeth formed on the spool.

8. The security device of claim 7, wherein the spool has a pair of spaced apart flanges, thereby forming a cable storage space between the pair of spaced apart flanges; wherein the locking teeth are formed on a periphery of the flange of the spool; and wherein the locking lever engages the locking teeth of the flange of the spool.

9. The security device of claim 1, further comprising a spring biasing the spool in a cable winding direction.

10. The security device of claim 1, further comprising an alarm system mounted within the housing; and wherein an inductive loop is formed in the cable which activates an audible alarm of the alarm system when the inductive loop is damaged.

11. The security device of claim 10, wherein the audible alarm is disposed adjacent a bottom wall of the housing; and wherein a protrusion extends from the bottom wall of the housing to provide a space between the bottom wall and the object when the housing is placed against the object to enhance the audible sound emitted by the alarm upon activation.

12. The security device of claim 10, wherein said cable comprises a pair of cable loops, each of said cable loops terminating in an electrical connector; and wherein the electrical connector engages electrical contacts of the alarm system when the clip is locked to the housing.

13. The security device of claim 10, wherein the alarm system comprises a visual indicator that indicates that an alarm system is activated.

14. The safety device of claim 1, wherein the ratchet mechanism comprises a winding mechanism rotatably mounted on the housing for manually rotating the spool to tighten the cable about the object.

15. A safety arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the winding mechanism includes a pivotally mounted upturned handle for rotating the spool in the direction of winding of the cable to tighten the cable about the object.

16. The security device of claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism comprises at least one magnetically attractable locking member movable between a locked position locked with the collet and an unlocked position unlocked with the collet; and wherein the locking member is biased towards the locking position.

17. The safety device of claim 16, wherein the cartridge is formed with a first longitudinal alignment groove and a second longitudinal alignment groove; and wherein the locking member progressively engages the locking recess to place the collet in a first locked position with the housing and then in a second locked position with the housing.

18. The safety device of claim 17, wherein the spool is free to rotate when the cartridge is in the first locked position; when the collet is in the second locked position, the spool is prevented from freely rotating.

19. A security device adapted to be disposed about an object, the security device comprising:

a housing;

a cable having only two cable segments extending from the housing for placement around the object;

a ratchet mechanism having a spool connected to a first end of the cable segment for tensioning the cable segment about the object;

a locking collet connected to the second end of the cable segment and removably engaged with the housing; and

a locking mechanism for locking the collet in a locked position with the housing to secure the cable about the object.

20. A safety arrangement according to claim 19, including a retraction mechanism mounted in the housing for biasing the spool in the direction of take-up of the cable.

21. A safety arrangement according to claim 20, wherein the safety arrangement includes a release mechanism engageable with the spool to enable movement of the spool in the direction of rolling of the cable.

22. The security device of claim 20, comprising an alarm system mounted within the housing; and wherein an inductive loop is formed in the cable and activates an audible alarm of the alarm system when the inductive loop is damaged.

23. The safety device of claim 19, wherein the ratchet mechanism comprises a winding mechanism rotatably mounted on the housing for manually rotating the spool to tighten the cable about the object.

24. The security device of claim 19, wherein the locking mechanism comprises at least one magnetically attractable locking member movable between a locked position locked with the cartridge and an unlocked position unlocked with the cartridge; wherein the locking member is biased towards the locking position; wherein the collet is formed with a first longitudinally aligned recess and a second longitudinally aligned recess; and wherein the locking member progressively engages the locking recess to place the collet in a first locked position with the housing and then in a second locked position with the housing.

25. A security device adapted to be disposed about an object, the security device comprising:

a housing having an internal spool;

a cable operatively connected to the spool and extending from the housing for disposition about the object;

a collet attached to the spool and removably engaged with the housing;

a magnetically actuated locking mechanism for locking the collet to the housing; and

a key having a pair of magnets positionable on the collet to actuate the locking mechanism to unlock the collet from the housing.

26. The safety device of claim 25, comprising a retraction mechanism that biases the cable toward a rolled position on the spool; wherein the locking mechanism locks the collet to a first locked position of the housing in which the retraction mechanism is capable of removing slack from the cable, and the locking mechanism locks the collet to a second locked position of the housing in which the cable is capable of being pulled tight around the object by manually rotating the spool in a direction in which the cable is wound.

27. A safety arrangement according to claim 26, wherein the safety arrangement includes a manually operated release mechanism engageable with the spool to move the spool in the direction of rolling of the cable.