US1518751A - Telephone-locking device - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 9, 1924- F. C. OWEN TELEPHONE LOCKING DEVICE Filed Feb. 29, 1924 lid/1 1M07 17677262/1610 6. Oman Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TELEPHONE-LOCKING DEVICE.

Application filed February 29, 1924. Serial No. 695,890.

To all whom it may concern Be 115 known that I, FERNANDO C. OWEN,

I a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Telephone-Locking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to looks for locking telephone instruments to prevent use there of.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive form of lock which can be attached to an ordinary desk telephone to prevent unauthorized persons from using the telephone.

More specifically considered the object of the invention is to provide a locking means which can be applied to the telephone, of any suitable character, to lock the receiver hook in normal position, so that the hook cannot be raised to permit use of the telephone.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and the desirability of a telephone lock of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an ordinary desk telephone provided with a lock embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the means for locking the receiver hook in normal or depressed position.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the said locking device.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the hasp of the locking device, which latter has the general form of a padlock.

As thus illustrated, the invention is shown in connection with an ordinary desk telephone having a standard 1 mounted on a base 2 and having the transmitter 3 mounted at the upper end of said standard in the usual manner. The receiver hook 4 is pivoted within the standard, in the usual manner, and works up and down in the slot 5 formed in the side of the upper portion of the standard, just below the lateral overhang 6 formed on the upper end of the standard just below the transmitter mounting. The receiver 7 is of the ordinary form and normally rests on the receiver hook 4 in the usual manner.

The telephone being of the character shown and described, or of this general class, the locking means which is shown and described as illustrative of the invention has the form of a padlock having a body 8 in which the locking mechanism is enclosed and which is provided with a staple shaped hasp 9 having notches 10 to engage the locking mechanism within the body, thereby to hold the hasp locked to the body. The padlock has a key 11 which can be inserted in the end of the body to operate the locking mechanisrn to lock and unlock the hasp. The

other end of the body is curved at 12 to engage the side of the standard 1, and has an offset 13 to engage the overhang 6 previously mentioned, so that the padlock device will tightly fit the telephone standard when the hasp is in locked position. The curved outer end portion of the hasp is .pro vided with a wedge 14 for insertion in the slot 5 immediately above the hook 4, against the upper edge of said slot, so that the hook is locked and held in its normal or depressed position. To release the hook, the key 11 is inserted and operated to unlock the hasp, so that the latter may be with drawn from the body of the padlock, and so that the wedge 14 may then be withdrawn from its operative position, thus allowing the hook 4 to rise when the receiver 7 is removed therefrom. It will be understood that the locking mechanism within the body 8 may be of any suitable or known character, for there are various kinds of common orordinary padlock devices which will serve the purpose. is not required to have the curve 12, and for the particular purpose shown and described the body of the padlock must be made long enough to not only accommodate the locking mechanism therein, but also to provide a body long enough to have this curve 12 formed therein in a manner that will not interfere with the mechanism within the body.

Of course, the desk telephone shown and described is of. a common form, and desk telephones are sometimes designed in diiferent ways, and are of different shapes and Of course, an ordinary padlock .with the telephone hook.

sizes, to some extent, and it is obvious that the padlock device can have any suitable form or shape necessary to enable it to snugly lit the telephone instrument to lock the hook in normal position.

In the form of the invention shown and described, the overhang 6 extends over the hasp s to prevent upward displa ement of the padlock or locking device. Also, as shown and described, the means for engaging the receiver hook to prevent upward moven'ient thereof is in the form of a projection on the has 9 of the padlock, but any suitable means can be employed for this purpose.

Furthermore, the invention contemplates the use of a simple locking device for locking a telephone receiver hook in depressed condition, on a telephone instrument of any suitable or desired character, thereby to prevent unauthorized persons from using the telephone. The invention, therefm'e, is not limited to the particular construction shown and described.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and a, which are on the same scale, it will be seen that the distance between the two side portions of the hasp 9 is substantially the same as the diameter of the standard or upright 1 of the telephone instrument. Consequently the curve 12 fits one side of the standard 1, and the curvature of the hasp 9 fits the other side, so that the hasp iits snugly below the shoulder 43 of the telephone instrument. However, inasmuch as the hasp is entirely removable from the body or casing 8 of the padlock, the said hasp is detachable from the telephone instrument by horizontal move ment directly from under the shoulder 6, for this will withdraw the tapered tongue or irojection 14: from the siot 5 of the telephone instrument, and from engagement In other words, the hasp or locking device 9 and its body portion 8 are detachable from the telephone instrument by horizontal movement only, and no upward movement of the locking dc vice is necessary in order to disengage it from the hook t of the telephone instrument. The locking device fits so snugly below the shoulder 6, around the standard 1, that no movement of the locking device is possible, and when it is locked by forcing the hasp 9 into the body 8 the tapered portion 15 is wedged .more firmly and tightly into position to hold the hook at absolutely against any movement whatsoever. The portion lei is the particular portion which engages the telephone hook 4 and horizontal movement of the hasp is suflicient to disengage the locking device from under the shoulder 6 and from the telephone hook, so that the telephone may then be used. The body of the padlock is offset at 13 to snugly engage under the shoulder 6, and the top surface of the hasp is flush and the bottom surface thereof is also flush, for there is nothing that extends downwardly from the hasp and nothing that extends upwardly therefrom, all parts of the hasp being in the horizontal plane of the side portions thereof. Consequently, as stated, the hasp must slide horizontally from under the shoulder 6, and the body 8 must slide horizontally from under this shoulder, in unlocking the padlock to permit use of the telephone. l/Vith the padlock fitting the standard 1 snugly, just below the shoulder '6, it is obvious that the portion it might be omitted, for the hasp t) could not be crowded upwardly by any attempt to raise the hook 4, inasmuch as the hasp is held rigidly against upward movement by the shoulder 6 of the telephone instrument.

The inside curve of the hasp 9 preferably fits the outer cylindrical surface of the standard 1, and thus the two separable members (the body 8 and the hasp 9) of the device are rigidly united with each other, and with the telephone instrument. The device is removable, however, by separation of the two members in a horizontal plane above the telephone receiver, from opposite sides of the instrument, and this all tends to facilitate the locking and unlocking of the telephone hook d, by means of a locking device which is rigid and which cannot rattle around when the telephone is locked. Thus, with the hasp entirely separable from the casing or body of the padlock, it will be seen that the said casing or body can be of any desired thickness or size, for no matter how large it may be it cannot interfere with the removal of the device from the instrument, or with the application of the device to the instrument. The casing or body is simply pulled ofi from the hasp, when it is desired to unlock the telephone, and the hasp alone is then easily removed horizontally from the other side of the instrument.

"What I claim as my invention is l. A telephone locking device comprising two separable members adapted to be rigidly united to assume a fixed position on the telephone instrument, so that both members will be rigid with the instrument, one memher having means to engage and hold the telephone receiver hook in normal position, and said device being fitted to the instrument and thereby necessarily removable by horizontal movement of saidmembers in op posite directions from engagement with said hook and from opposite sides of the telephone instrument.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said lock being in the form of a padlock having a hasp between which and the body of the padlock space is formed to accommodate the standard of a desk telephone instrument, the hasp being of a Width to snugly fit the standard, and said means for engaging the receiver hook being a projection on the hasp for insertion in said standard.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said locking device being in the form of a padlock having a separable hasp, and the means for engaging the receiver hook being a Wedge shaped portion of said hasp.

4:. A structure as specified in claim 1, said locking device comprising a padlock having a body portion curved to engage one side of the standard of a desk telephone and having a hasp disposed 1n :1 plane above the telephone receiver and curved to engage the other side of said standard. said standard 15 having means overhanging said hasp and body to prevent upward displacement of the padlock said body portion being recessed to receive said overhanging means,

and said means or engaging the telephone 20 hook being a portion of said hasp.

FERNANDO C. OWEN.

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