US1629270A - Lock-attaching means - Google Patents

Description

y 17 s. HAMMER LOCK ATTACHING MEANS 2 sheets-sheen 1l Filed July 13, 1926 xNvENToR Zmmfr ATTORNEY y 17 s. HAMMER LOCK ATTACHING MEANS Filed July 13. 192e 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented May 17,- 1927.,V

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, SAMUEL HAMMER, OE BROOKLYN; NEW YORK, AssIGNOR To UNITED METAL nox co ING., OE LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OE NEW YORK.

Locx-ATTACMINel MEANS.

'Application mea July 13,

.This invention 'relates tol lock attaching' means, and has for itsv primary object to provide simple and inexpensive means forV quickly; and Securely attaching a lock to the door or closure of a mail box or otherv receptacle but which, in the eventthat the fv lock should become broken or for other reasons fail to operate, will permit of the detachment or removal of the lock Without mutilation of the door structure andthe substitution of a new lock in its place.

Locks ofthe character generally used upon doors of mail boxes or receptacles, are of simple construction and relatively inexpensive. .Heretofore, if the door wasflocked and the locking mechanism was out of order so' that the door could not) be opened, in order to remove the look from the inner side of the door, it has been necessary to'cut' i away the door plate, since in the modern v type of such mail receptacles, the hinge connection between the door and the body structure of the receptacle is inaccessible.' Consequently, it was necessary not only to provide anew lock, but an entire newl door. These box doors are constructed of heavy sheet brass, andare more or less expensive so that such replacement of an entirely. new door for the mail box compartment resulted in a material addition to the initial' cost thereof. The'locking device however, be-

ing comparatively cheap, in case said device is totally destroyed in its removal from the door, it can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of a new door. v

In onev practical embodiment of my .-present vinvention whe eby the above purpose is attained, a reinforcingplate of sheet steel is securely fixed to the inner face of f the door. I provide this plate adjacent one `of its endswith yieldable tonguesstruck from the plane thereof and suitably spaced lugs. The lock case is positioned between these lugs and hasitsside walls disconnected from the end Vwalls of the case and providedl with apertured. ears to receive .said tongues. After the .lock has thus been' applied, the tongues are forced under pressure from their normal positions and caused to bear against theedges of the apertures in saidears so that the side Walls ofthe lock case are sprung outwardl from their normal ypositions and into tight abutting contact -ture. Should it become necessary to remove the lock and substitute a new one therefor said loendable or yieldable tongues, anew 1926. serial No. 122,089.

between thel spaced lugs. In this manner, the lock case will be rigidly held or fixed 1n position on the inner side of the door and with the lock barrel receiving projec- Atiori on the front of the -case disposed in -a suitably formed opening in the door strucwhile the door is in locked position, by means of a suitable tool sufficient pressure 1s exerted against the cylindrical lock barrel casing to force the lock bodily away from the inner face of the door, said ears riding against the :yieldable tongues and forcing said tongues back to their former positions. Of course, .in removing the lock in this manner, the lock bolt which projects into-the keeper 'opening in the body wall of the box will probably vbe broken or badly distorted and it would not be profitable to attempt to repair the lock. However, by -means of.-

lock may be easily and quickly substituted and attached to the door. e

In another embodiment of my invention, I may provide a rclatively'thin lplate of sheet metal having its marginal portion welded orotherwise secured tov the inner faceof the door its intermediate portion. spaced therefrom and provided wi-'"2 slot to receive suitable attaching bolts for the lockcasc. The headed ends of -the bolts are positioned between said .plate and the iuner face of the door, and by applying the necessary pressure against the outer side of the lock, said metal plate will yield to such pressure, the bolt heads being forced through the slot, the edges of which will be bent or broken.` In this case, if' it -is not possible to straighten said plate for the sol ' attachment of a new lock,'the plate may be thedrawings, wherein VI have illustrated several simple and satisfactory embodiments of the invention. and 1n which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several.views,

Figure 1 is a fragn'ientary front elevation of a mail box door having a lock applied thereto;

Fig. *2 is a rear elevation showing the attaching means for the lock;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a slightly modified forni of the device;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 6 6 of Fig; 5, and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5, the lock being detached.

Referring in detail to the drawings. and for the present more particularly to Figs. l to 4 thereof, the door 5 as herein shown is of a more or less conventional type now commonly used in connection with multicompartment mail boxes or receptacles designed for installation in office or apartment buildings. hotels and similar structures accommodating a large number of tenants. It is the-usual practice to securely attach to the inner face of each comparti nient door of. the mail box adjacent its free end a suitable lock, the bolt of which engages in an opening or mortise provided in the bottom wall of the box structure adjacent its front edge. Such a locking devlce, I have herein generally indicated at 6. I do not, however, directly attach this lock to the inner face of the door, but there is secured upon the inner face of said door and practically entirely covering the same a reinforcing plate 7 of sheet steel. This plate at the end edge thereof adjacent the free end edge vof the door is recessed or cutaway as at 8 and at the opposite endsof said recess the lugs 9 are provided and extend at right angles to the plane of the door.- Spaced from each of these lugs longitudinally ofthe plate 7, said plate is provided writh a second lug 1() struck from the plane of the plate. Preferably, these latter lugs are separated from the plate only at their inner opposed ends. the other end-and side edges thereof remaining integrally connected with said plate, and said lugs being substantially of semi-circular cross sectional form as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

Between'each pair of spaced lugs 9 and -l0, tongues 11 are struck from the reinforcing plate 7 so that they normally project from the inner face of said. plate at right angles to the plane thereof as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

The door 5 is provided with a circular opening 12 therein for the purpose of receiving the cylindrical projection on thev front wall of the lock case in whichthe lock barrel is mounted, and as herein shown, the

and any other desired means may be utilized' for this purpose.'

The mechanism of the lock 6 is of course, enclosed within a suitable case, and as herein shown the opposite side walls 14 of this lock case are free or disconnected at their opposite ends from the end walls of the case as clearly indicated in Fig. 4 of the drawings and the front longitudinal edges of said side walls are also free or unattached from the front plate 15 of the latch case. -()n these front longitudinal edges of said side walls 14 at the center thereof, the laterally` projecting ears 16 are formed. Each of these ears has an elongated opening or slot 17 therein for the purpose of. receiving one of the tongues 11 on the reinforcing plate 7.'

In the use of the above described form of my inventionyit .being understood that normally the side walls 14 of the lock case are in parallel relationwith each other and that the tongues 11 in the reinforcing plate 7 project inwardly therefrom at right angles to the plane of the door, the lock is positioned upon the inner side of the plate 7 between the spaced pairs of lugs 9and 10 and the tongues 11 are engaged through the openings 17pf the respective ears 16. These tongues thus serve as guides, directingthe cylindrical lock barrel receiving projection 18 on the front wall 15 of the lock case into the door opening l2.- The tongues 1l are now spread apart or forced laterally under pressure to the oblique position seen in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and thereby are caused to coact with the outer edges of the Slots 17 and exert an out-ward lateral pressure against the ears 16, thus expanding the side wallsv 14 of the latch case outwardly and simultaneously drawingthe case bodily into tight contacting engagement with the inner face of the plate 7 and causing said side walls 14 of said case at their opposite ends to tightly abut against the lugs 9 and 10. vIt will therefore, be apparent that the lock case will be very rigidly fixed and held in its applied position against all ordinary forces which might tend to displace the lock. in the use of the structure to which it is applied.

Assuming that the lock bolt is in its projected locking position thus holding the door lclosed and preventing access to the receptacle compartment, and that for some reason thev lock mechanism-fails to operate when.

lthe proper key is inserted so that the bolt cannot be retracted, it then becomes necessary to entirely remove the lock from the door. This may be readily done by applying ya' suitable tool against the outerend of the cylindrical extension or housing 18 of the lock barrel and/bythe application of several hammer blows, causing suflicient inward pressure whereby the ears 16 will vride against the yieldable tongues 11 and return said tongues to their former normal positions thus enabling the ears to be readily disengaged therefrom. In this manner, it will be seen that the lock in its entirety may be very readily detached from the door Withto be welded or otherwise securely-fixed to Cn i the inner face of the door. Thus, it :will be understood that the body portion 21 of .this plate is spaced from the inner face of the door. This body portion of the plate is provided witli a circular opening 22 therein to 'coincide with the openingl in the door plate which receivesy the cylindrical barrel housing of the lock case and is also formed with slots 23 extending horizontally from the opposite sides of saidopening.

The lockcase is adapted tobe` applied with itsv front wall engaged against the body 21 of theplate 19, the front wall of said case having anges 24 apertured to receive attaching bolts 25. These bolts at one of their ends are provided with enlarged circular heads 26, the peripheries of which are preferably rounded or convex as shown in headv 26, a rectangular portion 27 is formedupon the shank of the bolt for engagement Vin one of the slots 23 whereby the attaching bolts will be held against turning or rotative movement. Nuts27 are threaded upon the ends of said bolts and are adapted to -be adjusted for tight'clamping engagement against the, flanges 24 wherebythe lock case is rigidly held in `fixed relation to the plate 19. It will of course, be .understood that the l attaching bolts may be lfirst readily appliedv by positioning the heads 26 thereof through the opening 22 of the` plate 19 then moving'- said bolts into the respective slots 23 with the bltheads positioned between v"the plate l 19 and the door plate. In this construction,

whenever it becomes necessary to remove the lock, the necessary pressure is'PPhed S0 ments of 1n that the relatively thin metal plate 19 will yield, and the'bolt heads 26 will be forced through the slots 23. These bolt heads are of course, of greater diameter than the width l of said slotsv so that in thus forcing said bolt heads through the slots the edges/of said slots will bedistorted and possibly broken. However, if necessary the plate 19- can be readily replaced at smallexpense in comparison with the cost of an entirely new door.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, manner of use and several advantages of the illustr'ated embodiinvention will be clearly understood.; t will be seen that I have de- Avised very simple and expensive means for attaching the lock to the door which is. en-

tirely inaccessible when the door is closed and locked but. which, nevertheless, admits of the complete detachment of the lock without mutilating or defacing the door structure. For reasons which will bey apparent, the disclosure contained in Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings is preferred, since 'it is most economical both as yto the initial cost and maintenance thereof. cases where the projecting tongues 11 might be found objectionable, the construction last However, in somel described may be employed. Also, in addition to these two constructions to which I haves eciically referred, it Will 4be apparent that t e essential' features of this invention are susceptible of embodiment in otherv alternative structures. Accordingly, it is to be understood that I .reserve vthe privilege of resorting to all such legitimate changes in the form, constructiony andrelative arrangement of the several parts as may be fairly incorporated within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

' 1.- In' combination with a closure member having an opening therein, a lock attaching element secured to the inner side of said clo- Fig. 6 of the drawings and adjacent to the sur@ member Said Opening `iid-Pwd t0 eCeVe ber, and said attaching element and the, lock case having, coacting relatively yieldable lmeans to yieldably retain the lock. in its applied position, and said yieldable means ilo yielding upon the application of inward pressure against said outwardly projecting. part of the lock whereby the lock may be forcibly detached from the closure member.

2. In combination with a closure mem- 'ber having an openingtherein, a lockadapt-- i ed to be mounted upon` the innerfside of said closuremember provided with a part to project through 'said` opening,- a plate secured upon the inner side ofthe closure'fi lee member yand having parts yieldable underir pressure, and meansconnected with the lock 'l forcibly `detached from the closure member.

2E. In combination with a door havingg` an openingr therein, a lock adapted to be mounted on the inner side of the ydoor and provided wlth a part to project through said opening, spaced lugs on the inner side ot the door between which the lock is adapted to be positioned,'/the lock' case having outwardly yieldable side walls opposed to said lugs, members projecting from the inner face o'tf the door and yieldable under pressure, each ot' said side walls of the flock case having means with which said members are adapted to be forced-into ycoacting engagement to lexpand the side walls of the latch case outwardly into` abutting contact with said lugs, and .said members yielding under an inward `pressure applied against said projecting part of the lock to thereby forcibly detach the lock from the door.

4;. In combination with a door having an opening therein, a lock adapted. to be mounted on the inner side of the door provided with a part to project through said openinur a plate fixed to the inner side of the doi' and having spaced yieldable projections between which the lock is adapted v to be positioned, and the side walls of the with which said projections coaet to tiXedly retain the lock in its applied position, and said projections yielding under an inward pressure applied against said outwardly projecting part of the lock whereby the lock may be forcibly detached from the door.

5. In combination with a door havingl an opening therein, a lock adapted to be mount ed upon the inner side of the door provided with a part to project through said opening, t-he lock case having outwardly vieldable side walls and said reinforcing plate pro vided with spaced pairs ot' lugs between which the lock case is adapted to be arranged, said plate also having spaced yieldable tonguesI struck therefrom and said side walls of the latch caseprovided with apertured ears to receive said tongues whereby when said tongues are bent under-'pressure in one direction, the side walls of the latch ase are expanded "into abutting engagement against said lugs, and said tongues adapted to yield to an inward pressure applied against said projecting Lpartof the lock to forcibly detach the lock `from the door.A

bln testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

SAMUEL HAMMER.

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