Lock and interlock mechanism

Abstract

A multiple shelf cabinet has a plurality of slidable shelves and a plurality of pivoted doors closing off said shelves. A combined shelf and door locking mechanism acts to either by means of a key lock prevent all of the doors from being opened and shelves from being slid outwardly or by an interlock device, prevent a second shelf from being slid outwardly when a first shelf is slid out. The locking mechanism includes a vertical locking bar having a plurality of hooking members for holding the doors closed and a plurality of cam members carried by the shelves that engage means on the locking bar to move the same to a locking position as a shelf is slid out.

Description

This invention relates to cabinets and more particularly to locking and interlocking mechanism for doors and drawers in such cabinets.

The use of interlocking devices in cabinets that have sliding drawers to prevent more than one drawer to be open at one time is well known. These devices generally include some sort of device that is engaged by means carried on a drawer being opened, and which device is moved to a position wherein other blocking means thereon are positioned to prevent opening of any other drawer. These devices often have a key operated device that acts to hold the device in position to prevent any drawer from being opened.

Where the drawers are of the "shelf type" with open fronts to permit access to the contents of the drawer or shelf, such a locking arrangement will not prevent access to the contents of the cabinet. In such a case closure doors can be provided that are pivotable about their upper ends and are slidable into the cabinet out of the way in a horizontal position above the shelf. Lock means can be provided to either individually lock the doors or mechanism installed that will simultaneously lock all of the doors.

It is an object of this invention to provide a cabinet having sliding drawers and pivoted doors with a locking mechanism that simultaneously locks both the doors and drawers.

It is a further object to provide an interlock mechanism which can be key operated to lock all drawers and doors.

A still further object is to provide an interlock mechanism which will prevent more than one drawer to be opened at one time but will permit any number of doors to be open.

These and other objects and advantages will be readily apparent from the following disclosure and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a file cabinet incorporating the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cabinet with one of the drawers in open position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the locking bar mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a similar view showing one form of cam and abutment device carried on the side of the sliding shelf;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the cabinet of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a key lock mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 7--7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 8--8 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing another form of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 10--10 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view taken on the line 11--11 of FIG. 10.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, the invention is shown in a multiple drawer cabinet generally indicated 1, and which has a plurality of pivoted normally vertical doors 3. The doors 3 each close off access to an open faced drawer or shelf 5 which can be slid outward from within the cabinet on conventional telescoping supports 7. The doors 3 are pivoted on rollers not shown which ride in tracks 9 so that after a door is swung up to a horizontal position it can be slid back into the cabinet as seen in FIG. 2 with the door supported on the track 9.

The locking device includes an elongated bar 11 vertically arranged inside of the cabinet near the front thereof as seen in FIG. 2. The bar 11 is biased by spring 13 upward to an unlocking position. At the upper end of the bar 11 is a bracket member 23 having a portion 14 that passes through an aperture in a bracket 16 (FIGS. 6 and 7) attached to the front of the cabinet. This serves as a guide for movement of the bar up and down. The lower end of the bar 11 passes through a similar aperture in the cabinet as seen in FIG. 2.

As seen in FIG. 3 the locking bar carries a plurality of forwardly extending bracket members 15 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 3). The brackets each have a hook portion 17 and a roller 19 extending outward. The hooks 17 are adapted, when in a raised position, to enter into apertures 21 formed in the doors 3 as seen in FIG. 5. When the lock bar 11 is in its lower or locking position the hook 17 prevents the door from being opened.

The bracket 23 on the top part of the bar 11 has a slot 25 through which an eccentric pin 27 protrudes. The pin 27 is carried on a rotatable portion 29 of a key lock device 31. It will be obvious that as the lock is rotated by a key in the position illustrated in FIG. 3, the pin 27 will act on the bracket to force the bracket and bar 11 downward against the spring 13 into locking position. On the other hand, the slot 25 permits free up and down movement of the bracket and bar when the pin 27 is in its upper position.

Mounted on the side of each shelf drawer are elongated guide members 2 having an inclined cam portion 33. A second combined blocking and cam portion 35 is located below the cam portion 33. The rollers 19 carried on the lock bar 11 are positioned to engage the underside of the cam 33 when the bar 11 is in its upper or unlocking position. When the bar 11 is in its lower or locking position the rollers 19 engage the vertical face on the blocking or abutment portion 35.

The operation of the device of FIGS. 1 to 8 will now be described. When all of the doors 3 are closed and the key lock 31 is in its locking condition, the pin 27 holds the bracket 23 and bar 11 in its lower position against spring 13. In this position the hooks 17 prevent any of the doors that are closed from being opened. At the same time the rollers 19 prevent the shelf drawers from being opened because the abutment 35 contacts the rollers. When the key lock is opened the spring 13 raises the bar 11 and the hooks 17 are raised to permit opening of any of the doors 3 to be opened. The rollers 19 are now raised above the level of the abutment 35. As any drawer is opened, the cam portion 33 thereon engages the respective roller 19 and forces the roller and lock bar down into the locking position. The roller rides on the underside of the guide 32. No other drawer or door can then be opened. As the opened drawer is returned the roller again rides on the underside of the guide 32. The inclined portion 36 on the member 35 aids in moving the roller and bar upward into unlocking position.

A modified arrangement is shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. In that form the locking bar 41 is similar to that in FIGS. 1 to 8 except that operating pins or studs 43 are threaded in apertures in the lock bar. The clearance between the hexagonal portion 49 and shoulder 47 which engages the bar 11 permits free up and down movement of the stud in a slot 50 formed in the inner sidewall 52 of the cabinet. A spring clip device 51 is attached to the sidewall 52 that engages the pin 43. A detent portion 54 is urged outward by the pin 43 as it moves between the lower solid line position of FIG. 11 and the upper broken line position. This serves to hold the lock bar and pins in their upper unlocked positions.

The pins 43 function as both the door lock and drawer lock. The doors 55 contain a hook portion 57 that the pin 43 engages when in its lower position. The same pin engages the front vertical face 67 of a molded assembly 61 which includes an upper inclined cam portion 63 and a low cam portion 65. Unlike the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 8, that of FIGS. 9 to 11 does not have a horizontal track or guide 32 to hold the lock mechanism in its lower locking position since the spring clip 51 serves to hold the bar in either position. The lower cam 65 serves to positively move the pin and lock bar up when the drawer is closed.

The operation of the device of FIGS. 9 to 11 is basically the same as that of FIGS. 1 to 8. The lock bar 41 is positively moved up and down by the key lock but when in unlocked position the bar can be independently moved up and down by the cams 63 and 65 as a drawer is opened and closed. The spring clip 51 serves to hold the bar up or down.

It will be obvious that changes and modifications can be made without departing from the invention. For example, the operation of the lock bar could be reversed with the upper position being the locking position and the lower the unlocked position. This and other changes will be apparent to those skilled in the art and such changes are deemed to be within the scope of the invention which is limited only by the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A cabinet having top, bottom, rear and side walls and an open front, a plurality of slidable shelves arranged to slide from an inner position out the open front to an exposed position and a plurality of pivoted doors swingable between vertical closed positions closing access to the shelves and horizontal open positions permitting access to the shelves, each door associated with one shelf, a combined lock means for simultaneously preventing the doors from being moved from their closed positions and preventing sliding of said shelves from their inner positions, said lock means including a vertically movable lock bar movable between a locking and an unlocking position, lock device means on said lock bar and engaging said doors when said lock bar is in locking position and said doors are in closed position said lock device means engaging said shelves to prevent the same from sliding out when the lock bar is in its locking position.

2. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein key lock means are provided on said cabinet arranged to hold said lock bar in its locking position to prevent opening of said doors or sliding of said shelves.

3. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein said shelves carry operator means thereon arranged to move the lock bar to its locking position when any of the shelves are moved from their inner position toward their outer position.

4. The cabinet of claim 3 wherein said operator means comprises cam means arranged to engage said lock device means as the shelves are opened.

5. The cabinet of claim 4 wherein said lock bar is arranged to normally move to its unlocking position and said cam means acts to overcome said normal movement.

6. The cabinet of claim 5 wherein said lock bar is spring biased to its unlocking position.

7. The cabinet of claim 5 wherein said lock bar is moved by gravity to its unlocking position.

8. The cabinet of claim 5 wherein said lock device means includes a plurality of hook members carried by and protruding forwardly from the lock bar and arranged to enter into apertures in said doors and engage said doors to hold them closed when the lock bar is in its locking position.

9. The cabinet of claim 8 wherein said lock device means further includes roller members arranged to be engaged by and moved by said cams as any shelf is slid out, said movement causing movement of said lock bar to its locking position.

10. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein said shelves carry abutment members arranged to engage said rollers when the lock bar is in its locking position to thereby prevent movement of the shelves towards their outer positions.

11. The cabinet of claim 10 wherein key lock means are provided to hold said lock bar in its locking position to prevent any door from being opened.

12. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein said lock device means comprises a plurality of elements extending from the lock bars, hook means on said doors arranged to be engaged by said elements when the doors are in their closed position and said lock bar is moved from its unlocking position to its locking position.

13. The cabinet of claim 12 wherein said shelves each carry a combination lock bar operating member including a cam portion and an abutment portion, said abutment portion located to engage one of said elements when the lock bar is in its locking position and said cam portion engaging said one element when the lock bar is in its unlocking position, said cam portion acting to move said element and the lock bar to its locking position as the shelf carrying the lock bar operating member is moved outward.

14. A multiple shelf cabinet having at least one of the shelves slidable outward, a plurality of doors on said cabinet and independent of said shelves closing said cabinet and each arranged to prevent access to one of said shelves, a combined shelf and door interlock device arranged in one condition to simultaneously lock the doors from being opened and prevent the shelves from being slid outward, and means for holding the interlock device in its one condition.

15. The cabinet of claim 14 wherein the interlock device includes means for holding the same in either a locking condition or an unlocking condition and said shelves carry cam members that act to move the interlock device between its conditions as the shelf is opened and closed whereby when one shelf is opened the other shelves are prevented from being opened until the one shelf is closed.

16. The cabinet of claim 14 wherein the means for holding the interlock device in its one condition comprises a key lock device.