GB2083541A - A Child Safety Lock - Google Patents

Abstract

A child safety lock for doors or drawers comprises a support base (13) adapted to be attached to a fixed part of a piece of domestic furniture such as a chest of drawers or a door frame and carries a movable element (14,32) which may be rectilinearly movable on the base (13) or pivotally turnable about the base (31). The movable element is associated with suitable retaining means which may be either mounted on the base or on a separate stop member (36), and may include screw clamping means (37,35) or snap engagement detents. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A Child Safety Lock for Doors or Drawers The present invention relates to a child safety lock for doors or drawers, that is to a security lock attachable to furniture or domestic doors to secure them against opening by children, particularly very young children who cannot always be relied on to obey instructions.

During the first few years of a child's life, particularly after the first, when it is becoming more mobile, it generally passes through a phase, from, say one to four years old, during which it is becoming ever more mobile and inquisitive whilst not yet being sufficiently controllable to be simply told not to open doors or drawers of domestic furniture to investigate the contents.

This problem is particularly acute in kitchens where the child's mother will spend a large proportion of her time, and at the same time be relatively preoccupied and not best able to supervise the child's activities. It is also a situation where a child's natural curiosity is aroused by the relatively large variety of doors and drawers, and the variety of their contents. It is, unfortunately, also the case that many of the contents are inherently dangerous or readily damaged and for this reason it is of particular importance that a child, especially a very young child, should not be able to open the door or drawer to gain access to the contents.

It is frequently the case, however, that kitchen furniture is provided with doors or drawers which can be readily opened, being retained in the closed position simply by a ball catch or a magnetic catch sufficiently strong only to hold the door lightly in position in order to make the furniture easily usable. There is no device built into the furniture by which the doors or drawers can be held shut against inquisitive young fingers.

This problem is, of course, only a temporary one in that after a few years the child grows old enough and sufficiently responsible to be controlled simply by being told not to open the cupboards, and at the same time the contents become relatively less dangerous since the child has gained a degree of manual dexterity sufficient not automatically to break fragile articles or to come to any harm from inherently dangerous articles such as cutlery or glassware.

The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a cheap and readily attachable childproof closure device which can be mounted on domestic furniture to retain doors or drawers in a closed position in such a way that a child cannot open them whilst at the same time adults can effect opening without undue difficulty, which device will be sufficiently economically produced to permit it to be discarded when its period of usefulness is over. It is also required that such a device should be readily removable, therefore, and also that it should not damage the furniture by being fitted, and in addition should not be unsightly whilst in position.

One known device for fulfilling this function is available commercially, this comprises a plastics latch which can be attached to the inside face of a drawer and cooperate with an abutment member attachable to the carcass or frame of the item of furniture to permit the drawer to be opened only one or two inches. Full opening of the drawer can only be effected by depressing the latch lever to free it from the cooperating abutment, and holding it in this position whilst the drawer is opened to move the latch member past the abutment. Such a device has a number of disadvantages, not least of which being that it can only be fitted to drawers and not doors, such as cupboard doors, and that since it permits the drawer to be opened one or two inches before engaging allows the very young sufficient room to gain access to the contents with their rather small hands.It also has the disadvantage that small fingers can become trapped in the drawer if this is first partly opened and then shut again, either deliberately or accidentally, trapping the fingers of a young child in the gap left upon opening.

The present invention seeks to provide a childproof lock which overcomes the disadvantages of the known device described above, which can be attached at will to cupboards having doors or drawers without requiring substantial modification, and which completely closes the door or drawer without permitting even a small degree of opening.

According to the present invention a child safety lock for doors or drawers, particularly for domestic furniture, comprises a support base adapted to be attached to a fixed part of the furniture, such as the door or drawer frame, and a movable element carried by the base and displaceable between a first position where it does not obstruct the opening of the door or drawer, and a second position where it substantially obstructs the opening of the door or drawer, there being provided means for retaining the movable element in its second position which cannot be released by a child by virtue of the force and/or manual dexterity required to effect such release.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the movable element is a sliding plate which overlaps the edge of the door or drawer when in its second position, and can be withdrawn beyond the door or drawer to its first positiOn.

The retaining means may include manually tightenable clamping means, which may be a toggle linkage or any other suitable mechanism; the tightenable clamping means may include a screw which may require a key for operation although preferably should be simply operated by hand, for example by means of the provision of a wing nut.

The base may be shaped for attachment either to the face or to the side of a door or drawer frame, and a particularly convenient arrangement is obtained by forming the base of L-shape cross section so that one arm can be fitted into the narrow space between the door frame and the door (or drawer as the case may be) with the other arm lying flush on the face of the frame. The base may then be attached by screws which, because they do not have to enter the face of the frame, do not spoil the appearance of the furniture even after the device is removed. Alternatively the base may be attached by adhesive.

Where a chest of drawers is concerned, the device may be so shaped that it can be positioned between two vertically adjacent drawers and arranged to lock both drawers against opening.

The base may also be provided with inserts of different colours, including wooden veneers, to enabie the device to be matched to the furniture on which it is fitted to minimise any variation in appearance. Suitable materials for the device include plastics, metal or wood, although the preferred embodiment is made of plastics material since this enables the required degree of strength to be obtained cheaply and the required shape to be obtained readily.

In an alternative embodiment which is particularly suitable for doors such as the doors of refrigerators or other domestic appliances, the movable element is pivotally attached to the base and cooperates with a stop member separately attachable to the door itself. The stop member may be in the form of a latching pin projecting froma base attachable to the door, and the movable element has, in this case, a hooked end for engaging over the stop pin.

The retaining means for holding the movable element in its second position may be located on the base or on the stop member. In the latter case the retaining means may simply be in the form of a clamping nut screwed on the stop pin which, for this purpose, is suitably threaded. Again, the clamping nut may be in the form of a wing nut although any other suitable clamping or retaining mechanism may be used. For example, instead of a simple stop pin, the stop member may have snap engagement means into which the movable element may be pressed, requiring for this a force greater than that which could usually be applied by the child, but which can be readily applied by an adult by hand. In this way the required retention of a door can be obtained.Both the base and the stop member in such an embodiment may be attachable by adhesive, this being a particularly suitable attachment means for the enamelled metal surfaces of a refrigerator since may known adhesives, particularly contact adhesives, form an adequate bond with the enamel but can be cleaned off by use of suitable solvents, or merely by rubbing, when the device has been detached after its period of use.

Three embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chest of drawers fitted with a childproof locking device according to the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of the childproof locking device illustrated in Figure 1 as an embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a refrigerator fitted with a childproof locking device formed as a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of the childproof locking device illustrated in Figure 4; and Figure 5 is a plan view from above of a third embodiment of the invention particularly adapted for doors or drawers which overlap the associated frame.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the childproof locking device illustrated is shown in position on a chest of drawers 11, although it will be appreciated that it is equally suitable to be fitted to a cupboard having hinged doors, or indeed to a room doorway for a domestic internal door.

The embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 is particularly adapted to be fitted to a chest of drawers so as to span two vertically adjacent drawers and provide locking for both. As can be seen in Figure 1 the device is both neat and inconspicuous, fitting as it does merely to a small portion of the edge of the chest of drawers. As will be explained in relation to Figure 2 the embodiment can be secured in position using screws without requiring to be attached to the front face of the item of furniture so that no disfiguring marks remain after the device has been removed when it is no longer required.

As can be seen better in Figure 2, the device comprises a base 13 of L-shape cross section having a first arm 1 3a and, extending perpendicularly with respect to the first arm 1 3a, from one edge thereof, two parallel second arms 1 3b, 1 3c each of which extends from an associated end of the arm 1 3a towards the central region for a distance less than half the length of the arm 1 3a so as to leave a space 14 between the adjacent inner edges of the arms 1 3b, 1 3c. Each of the arms 1 3b, 1 3c is provided with two counter sunk holes 1 5 to receive screws by means of which the base 13 can be attached to an item of furniture.

Projecting from the face of the arm 1 3a of the base 13 which faces away from the arms 1 3b, 1 3c there is a guide plate 1 6 joined at each end thereof to the arm 13 by perpendicular walls 17 so that the guide 16, together with the arm 1 3a of the base 13 defines a rectangular slot guide within which slides a movable element 18 which has a flange portion 19 extending perpendicular to the general plane thereof and serving as a grip handle by means of which the movable element 18 can be manipulated. On the edge of the movable element 18 opposite the flange 19 there is formed a recess 20 separating the edge portion of the movable element 18 into two tongues 21, 22 which project from the guide slot formed-by the guide member 1 6 when the flange 19 is displaced into engagement therewith, but which can be withdrawn into the guide slot by displacing the flange 19 away from the guide member 16.

The childproof locking device is fitted to a piece of furniture such as a chest of drawers by inserting the arms 1 3b, 1 3c of the base 13 into the narrow interspace between the drawers and the drawer frame (the drawers being initially removed for this purpose) and secured in position by means of short screws inserted through the holes 1 5. The flange 19 is then pulled to withdraw the tongues 21, 22 into the guide slot to allow the drawers to be replaced, and subsequent locking of the device is effected by moving the flange 1 9 into engagement with the guide member 16 so that the tongues 21,22 project over the edges of the drawers.The amount of projection need not be large, a quarter of one half of an inch is quite sufficient bearing in mind that it is only security against tampering by children which is required and not absolute security. The movable element 1 8 may be retained in position by one of a number of different means. The base 13 and/or the cover 1 6 may be provided with snap engaging detent means which rely on the resilience of the material from which they are made in order to latch the movable element 1 8 into its two end positions.

Alternatively the movable element 18 may be provided with a slot extending transversely with respect to the length of the flange 19, that is parallel to the direction in which the movable element is moved between its two end positions, and the base 1 3 provided with a projecting stud extending through the guide 16 and being threaded to receive a screw clamp which, when tightened down on the stud will clamp the guide 1 6 onto the movable element 1 8 and the movable element 1 8 onto the base 1 3 in order to prevent movement of the movable element. Such an arrangement, although positive acting, is not really so satisfactory as a latching detent mechanism such as that initially described, because of the relative unsightliness.

The guide 1 6 provides the external face of the device, and this may be provided with suitable interchangeable cover plates to match the device as closely as possible to the colour of the furniture to which the device is attached. Such replaceable plates may have painted surfaces and/or surfaces of wood veneer of different shades.

The second embodiment illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 is particularly adapted for domestic refrigerators. It comprises two component parts one of which is attachable to the body of the refrigerator and the other of which is attachable to the door. In this embodiment the base is generally indicated 31 and the movable element 32. The latter is pivoted at 33 to the base 31 and includes a hook shaped outer end 34 which can engage over a stop pin 35 carried on a subsidiary base 36. A stop pin 35 is threaded and can receive a screw clamp 37.

The shape of the base 31 is such that the movable element 32 can be pivoted between an upwardly inclined position shown in broken outline in Figure 4, corresponding to the "first" position referred to above, and a generally horizontal position shown in solid outline in Figure 4 and corresponding to the "second" position referred to above. In the horizontal position the movable member 32 automatically engages over the stop pin 35 as the refrigerator door is closed so that, as is frequently the case, should the refrigerator be built in so that the side to which the base 31 is attached is relatively inaccessible, the movable element 32 neverthelees still projects forwardly and is engaged automatically upon closure of the door, the screw clamp 37 thus being tightened to effect the required securing.

The thickness of the base 31 is sufficient to leave the movable element 32 freely rotatable without fouling against the door or the side of the refrigerator, and the subsidiary base 36 is formed of corresponding thickness to align with the base 31. Both the base 31 and the subsidiary base 36 may be secured to the refrigerator and the refrigerator door respectively, by means of adhesive such as contact adhesive, which forms an adequately secure bond against the forces which might be applied by a child, but which can be broken by suitable force exerted by an adult to remove the device when it is no longer required.

Residual adhesive on the enamelled surface of the refrigerator can be removed by solvent or simply by rubbing vigorously. The subsidiary base 36 has a forward lip on flange 36a to reduce the force which the adhesive has to withstand.

As shown in Figure 4 the pivot 33 is centrally located on the base 31 but occupies a position near the top edge of the movable element 32. The pivot 33 is readily removable so that the relative orientations of the base 31 and the movable element can be reversed for fitting on doors having hinges on the left hand side as opposed to those on the right hand side of the door as shown in Figure 3.

Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown an embodiment particularly adapted for use with drawers or doors which overlap the frame. In this embodiment the base and movable element each comprise an L-section member 50, 51. These two members are hinged together by a ligament hinge 52 extending along one long edge. In the base 50 there are formed two holes for receiving fixing screws (not shown) and in the movable member 51 there is formed a hole 54, indicated by the position of the arrow, in the flange remote from that attached to the hinge 52. The hole 54 allows a pin (not shown) of a screw clamping device to pass through, this pin being mounted on a subsidiary base attachable, for example, by adhesive, to the drawer or door in the same manner as the subsidiary base 36 in the embodiment of Figures 3 and 4.

Alternatively, the hinged flange of the movable member 51 may have a hole as indicated by the arrow 53, for receiving a suitable clamping screw which engages in the edge of the door or drawer.

As in the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2 the fixed base 50 is fitted with its free flange in the gap between the frame and the door or drawer, and secured in position by screws which are concealed by the drawer or door. The Lsection movable member 51 together with the fixed flange of the base 50 defines a Ushape housing for receiving the edge of the door or drawer to retain it in position, the clamping screw (not shown) providing adequate security against children. To open the door or drawer the clamping screw is released and the movable member 51 pivoted outwardly about the hinge to free the door or drawer.

Claims (20)

Claims

1. A child safety lock for drawers or doors, particularly for domestic furniture, comprising a support base adapted to be attached to a fixed part of the furniture, such as a door or drawer frame, and a movable element carried by the base and displaceable between a first position where it does not obstruct the opening of the door or drawer, and a second position where it substantially obstructs the opening of the door or drawer, there being provided means for retaining the movable element in its second position which requires force and/or a manual dexterity to effect release thereof.

2. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 1, in which the movable element is a sliding plate which overlaps the edge of the door or drawer when it is in its second position.

3. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the said retaining means include manually tightenable clamp means.

4. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 3, in which the said manually tightenable clamp means are tightened by screw means.

5. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 4, in which the said screw means are operated by a wing nut.

6. A child safety lock as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the base is attachable to a front or side of a door or drawer frame.

7. A child safety lock as claimed in any of the preceding Claims, in which thebase is attachable by screws or adhesive.

8. A child safety lock as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the base is provided with interchangeable surface facing elements to blend with the colour of the furniture to which it is attached.

9. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 7, in which the base is attachable to a door or drawer frame, the movable element is pivotally mounted to the base and cooperates with a stop member attachable to the door or drawer.

10. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 9, in which the said stop member is in the form of a latching pin and the movable element has a hooked end for engaging over the latching pin.

11. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 9 or Claim 10, in which the retaining means for the movable element are carred by the stop member.

12. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 9 or Claim 10, in which the retaining means for the movable element are carried by the base.

13. A child safety lock as claimed in Claim 11, in which the retaining means are in the form of a clamping nut threadedly engaged on a cooperating screw threaded on the stop pin.

14. A child safety lock as claimed in any of Claim 9 to 13, in which the said movable element is removable from the base and can be fitted thereto in one of two opposite orientations to accommodate fitting to the left hand side or the right hand side of a door or drawer.

1 5. A child safety lock as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the base and/or the stop pin are attachable to the door or drawer and/or the door or drawer frame as appropriate by means of an adhesive.

16. A child safety lock as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the base has a generally L-shape cross section and the movable element is mounted on one limb of the L, the other limb extending into the space between the frame and the door or drawer.

1 7. A child safety lock as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8 in which the movable element is rectilinearly movable on the base and retained in position by resiliently engaged detents.

1 8. A child safety lock as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8 or 16, in which the movable element is rectilinearly movable on the base and retained in position by screw clamping means.

1 9. A child safety lock as claimed in any of Claim 1 to 8, 16, 17 or 18 in which the movable element has two tongues for separately engaging the front face of two separate drawers to prevent opening thereof.

20. A child safety lock substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or to Figures 3 and 4 to Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings.