US1578537A - Locking device for trunks - Google Patents

Description

March 30 1926;

.M. H. LUCIE LOCKING mmca FOR mums Filed Jan. 17, 1.923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M IN ENER. 016125; 4

ATTORNEYZ MAY 3% March 30,1926. 1,578,537

M. H. LUCE LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS File 17. 1923- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

' ATTORNEYJ:

Patented Mar. so, 1926.

UNITED' STATES PATENTfoF-Fl MILTON I-I. L'U'CE, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, Assren'on'ro WHEARYQBURGE mm];

Y, OF RACINE, vvrsconsnv; I

LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS. 7

Application filed January 17,1923. Serial No. 613,136.. h

To all whom it may concern. a

Be it known that I, MILTON H. Loon, a citizen of the United States, residingat Kansas City, coiuity of Jackson, and State of lviissournliave invented'new and useful Improvements in Locking Devices for Trunks, of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to improvements in lockingdevices for trunks and is particu larly applicable to wardrobe, trunks of the general type disclosed in Letters Patentof the United States to George H; Whearv,

V 7 No. 1,134,175. dated April 6, 1915, although it is also applicable to ordinary trunks, such for example, as those disclosed in Letters Patentof the United States to said George H. Wheary, No. 1,158,412, dated October 26, 1915, and to numerous other trunks in common use.

The primary object of this invention is to provide improved means whereby the motion of a movable member associated with 1 a key operated lock may be transmitted to one or more distant locking members to automatically operate the latter, whereby theclosing and locking together of the parts of a trunk at one point, will without any attention on the part of the userresult in a doweling, binding and locking together of trunk parts at one or more other points.

Further objects of this invention are to provide means whereby motion transmitting mechanism located within one section of a trunkmay be utilized to operate locking devices located wholly or partially exterior to the trunk walls ;to provide mean's'whereby auxiliary locking devices, -dependent for locking operations upon a movable member associated with a manually operable lock, may be automatically retracted when such movable member is unlocked or retracted to provide means whereby the auxiliary looking devices will effectively draw the associ ated sections of the trunk into binding relation with each other ;to provide'auxiliary is to be packed.

locking devices [which may be I protected by 1, suitable'housings located in'part upon the interior face and in'part uponthe exterior face of the associated wall of atrunk section which the housing also reenforces;*

to provide means whereby an auxiliary looking device, when released, will initially open or separate the parts controlled thereby; and in general to provide auxiliary locking devices of the above described type which. .will not only be efiicient and: durableunder conditions of severe use, but which will'also a be capable of 'use without reducing the capacity of the trunk, injuring its contents, or in any manner interfering with the useof the trunk for any ordinarypurpose orjthe proper packing or unpacking thereof.

As applied to wardrobe trunks, it is an 6 5:

object of my invention to provide means whereby all movable parts of the auxiliary locking mechanism may be mounted upon or in the wardrobe section of the trunk, leaving the interior of the body section wholly free and unobstructed for the reception of packed fabricsor the operation of drawers or other receptacles within which clothing ordinary wardrobe trunkhas a body section which is usually subdivided by shelves,

It is well knownthatthe drawers or partitions into compartments within which clothing may be packed-"or within some: of which articles may be placed which would be injured by; compression or packing. One other section, commonly termed the. wardrobe section, is utilized to receive articles of wearing apparel whichmay be suspended from hangers mounted mechanisms for locking the trunk sections together, inasmuchas such parts elth'er occupy space exterior to 1 the drawers or other compartments and thereby reduce'the capacity of the trunk body or allow the upon suitable supports at one end of the articles packed in the trunk body to contact with and be injured by such'inovable parts.

This invention, therefore, contemplates alocation of the movable connections for the auxiliary locking devices in the wardrobe section where suspended clothing will bear only lightly against the locking devices even 7 if the latter are exposed.

Inthe drawingsiz- V V Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view or" a wardrobetru'nk equipped with my improved locking niecl anisn i the section being draw-n wardrobe section showing my improved loci ln'g mechan sm applied to one side wall.

to a plane transverse to that-which includes the meeting edges of the body and wardrobe sections. 7

Fig. '2 is a view of a fragment of the thereof.

Fig. 3 is a detail View of the locking lever .andfassoci-ated catch plate.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the locking lever showing the catch in section on line l i of Fig. 3..

Fig. 5 1s a ti agmentary view 01 the uppei end. of a wardrobe trunk, partly in elevationta'nd partly section, showinga slight modification. i

Fig. .6 is :an elevation of an ordinary trunk illustrating my invention as applied thereto.

Fig/7 isasimilar view showing a slight modification of the structure disclosed in Fig. 6.

Fig.

8 is main" view ofthe manually controlledfp-o-rtion of the lock operating means employed in the structure disclosed in Fig.

6,'the"tragnient of the side wall of the body portion of the trunk being shown in horizontal section.

Fig. 59 is a similar view of the corresponding mechanism employed in the structure disclosed in Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 isa view of the same as seen "from the inner side of the'trunk wall.

Like parts areidentified by the same reference characters throughout the several 7 views.

- 1 shows a wardrobe'tr-iuilr having a body section 1, a wardrobe 560M011 '2, and a lid or cover section 3-, all organized andarranged substantially as disclosed in said former patent to George'I-l. "i Vliez'iry, No.

"inner face of the side wall 13 of the wardrobe section and 'the flange '8 has a semi cylindrical offset portion 10 which forms a guideway for the vertically disposed operating bar 11 and a partial enclosure for a coiled, compression spring 12, the

lower end o'f which is anchored to the bottom of the 'guideway 10 and the upper end of which is seated against a bracket 13 carried by the bar 11.

The lower end of the bar 11 is provided with a slot 14 in which a pin 15 carried by the power end of the lever 4 is loosely engaged. The other end of the lever is offset and positioned. within a notch 17 formed in the supporting side wall 13. oi the wardrobe section 2 and this offset portion of thelever is provided at its free endwith a projecting stud 18, preferably exterior to said section wall, but protected by a housing plate or member 19 which may constitute an extension of the reenforcing corner piece 20; y i I A housing 19 also forms a dowelingpocket to receive a dowel-ing catch plate 22 carried by the opposing wall of the body section 1. This doweling catch plate is'prov-ided with a curved slot 28 adapted to receive the stud 18 carried. by the lever 4 when said lever is swung to locking POSltlOll. The outer margin of the slot 28 is so formed that the stud 18 may move with a wedging action thereon when the lever islswu-ng to locking position, thereby drawing theopposing side walls of the wardrobe section and-body section into binding pressure contact. The inner wall of the slot 28 is also 'formed to receive the pressure of the stud 18 while the lever is being swung from looking to unlocking osition, whereby said opposing walls may be initially separatedidurin'g this movement of the locking lever. I

The spring 12 tends to hold the bar 11 in a raised position with the inner end of the lever a correspondingly raised and the outer or looking end, with the locking stud 18, depressed to releasing position, i. e., to

a position with the stud 18 withdrawn from the doweling catch plate 22. The lever 41 is swung to locking position by applying downwardpressureto tlie bar 1.1 and this downward pressure may be applied by the lid or cover section 3, preferably through a bracket 25 secured to the-inner face of said section '111' a position to bear uponth e upper end of the bar llfland' push said bar downwardly when the lid or cover section 8 is swung to closed position. Said lid or cover section may. be locked in closed position as disclosed in said former Patent No.

1,184,175, but as no specific locking ineclia- .n-ism 1S,6SS8I1l112Ll it"is not deemed necessary It is obvious 22, in which position the edges of the ward robesection of the trunk will be in binding pressure engagement with the meeting edges or margins of the body section.

Guide clips 27 and 28are preferably ap plied to the side wall .13 of the wardrobe section to 'hold the rod 11 in "operating position. i In Fig. the parts illustrated are identical with those illustrated in Fig. 1, except that the locking bar 11 is made a little longer and the lidsection 3 is" not provided with the bracket 25., The top of the lid section 8, therefore, bears directly upon the operating piece or barll.

In Fig. 6 a trunk is illustrated with a body section 1 and a cover section 2 which may betaken as representative of any ordinary trunk in common" use The cover section is locked to the body section by an ordinary key operated lock having a'hasp 3 which corresponds functionally with the lid3 shown in Fig. 1 so far as the invention herein dlsclosed is concerned. The hasp 3 constitutes a swinging member, the motion of which is utilized to actuate the operating piece or bar 11 through means similar to that disclosed in said formerpatent'to lVheary No. 1,290,445, i. e., through the curved lever arm 35 disclosed in Fig. 8 of the drawings of this application. The hasp In the structure disclosed in Fig. 6 the locking lever 4 directly co-operates with the 7 key operated lock to hold the respective ends of the lid section 2 111 contact with the opposing margins of the body section. One key is, therefore, utilized to lock the lid section to the body section at two widely separated points.

T If greater security in the fastening of. the

lid section is desired, the structure illustrated in Figs. 7, 9, and 10 may be utilized. In these views a trunk is illustrated in which the hasp 3 is centrally located and the locking barrel 39 is utilized to actuate two oppositely disposed, curved levers and 40, respectively. The lever 35 fact-uates an operating bar 11 in exactly the same manner as above described with reference to Fig. 6, whereby the locking lever 4" near one end of the trunk is actuated to locking pos1 tion.

direction transmits motion through a slidmg bar 11 to a lockmglever 4 located near the other end of the trunk dlsclosed 111 Fig. 7*. The lid-of this trunk is, of course,

provided with two doweling catches 22 and 22 which are,'respectively,' engaged by thelocking levers 4t and 4;". i

From the foregoing description of; the modified forms disclosed in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, it will be obvious that. myinventi0n is not limited to the ,use of any particular manually operable swinging member for actuating an operating piece or b'ar, such as the bar 11, to transmit motion to the looking lever. Any member of the trunk, such as the cover 3, which requires to benianually operated or moved when closing the trunk maybe utilized to apply the necessary power to the operating piece 11 and trans- -mit motion to the point where a locking engagement is to be automaticallyeliected. However actuatedto lockingxposition, it is 'obvious that my improved locking"mecl1 anism isefiective to accurately .dowel ;the parts to be locked, draw them together witlr 'bindingpressure and not only release them when the manually operable member I is moved to releasing position, but automatically separate theminitially to a suflicient eXtent'to allow the user to grasp the separated margins and to open the body and wardrobe sections of the trunk without dif- As applied to a wardrobe trunk,- my in vention has the further advantage above noted, viz, that all ofthe parts are located. I

outside ofthe bodysection andallof the movable parts are located within or upon the wardrobe section. Also the locking mechanismper se is located at the lower end of the WfLlCll'ObG -section below'the point reachedby any but the longest garments to be suspended within said section, these locking parts furthermore being housed in such ai'ina'nner as to prevent them from catching in the fabric 01" any-clothing contained in said section. 'The dowelingmembers and the locking'st'ud 18 are located wholly outside of the section so that there is nodanger, of clothing being caught. by the doweling catch-22' and'forced intoth'e housing 19 or entangled with the stud 18.

1. Trunk locking mechanism" comprising the combination withthe meeting margins of two trunk sections,-ot a locking lever fulcrumed 'to the wall of one section, the adjacent margin of the section being recessed and said lever having an oliset portion adapted for swinging movement insaid' portion of the lever, and a co-operating catch carried by; the registering wall member of. i V the opposing trunk section. The lever 40 similarly. but in the opposite n I the combination with trunk sections hav ng matingsmargins, of a fixed catch on the side wall of onesection adapted to'serve as a 2. Trunk locking mechanism comprising dowehng member, a;.hous1ng on the oppos-' ing side wall of the other section adapted to serve as a dowe-lm-g socket, a locking lever wlthin said last mentioned housing,

. fulcrumed thereto, and having an offset portion in said doweling socket adapted to engage the doweling catch to #lock the latter in said socket. V I

. 3. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunk sections hav- 111g mating margins, of a tired catch on the side Wall of one section adapted to serve as a doweling member, a housing on the opposing side wall of the other section adapted to serve as a doweling socket, a locking lever within said last mentioned section, vtulcrumed thereto and having an offset portion in said doweling socket adapted to engage .the d'oweli-ng catchto lock the-latter insaid socket, a distant manually operable, member, and motion transmiltting connections for utilizing its movement in :one direction to vactuate said lever to locking position. 7 r p st.- Tru-nk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunk sections having mating margins, of a fixed catch onvthe side wall of one section exterior to the inner surface ot the wall, a lever tulcru'med to the opposing wall of the other section and having a projection adapted to engage said catch, an operating piece. pivoted to the lever, a' manually operable actuating member adapted to move the operating piece in one direct on, and means for automatically moving the operating piece .in the other direction when relieved ot the pressure of the actuating member.

, 5. Ina trunl locking mechanism, the combination with a trunk section wallprovided with a recess, of a lockinglever tulcrumed adjacent to said recess and having a working end portionottset into said recess. and provided with a locking projection, a sliding bar mounted upon the inner taceof said section and having slotted pivotal connection with onendo't the lever, resilient means for normally holding the bar and lever in un means for normallyholding the bar and "lever in unlocking position, .manually operable means for actuating said bar to swing the lever into locking position, said manually :operable means hav ng a key-controlled lock 4 moved to unlocking position adapted to hold the manually. operable means and thereby the bar and lover in locking position. Y

7. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunk sections having meeting .margins, of a fixed catch on the side wall, of onesection providing a curved slot, a lever fulcrumed to theopposing wall of thejother section and having a projection adapted to engage in said slot, motion transmitting connections for actuating said lever to locking position from a distant point, and a spring for retracting said lever when the actuating pressure is relieved, said slot havin curved mar ins ada ated :to be on n ed by the projection on the lever and so formed as to draw the sections together when the lever moves to locking position and to force them apart to some extent when the lever is 8. In a trunk locking mechan with a recess, of a 'doweling housing on one side of said recess, a lever housing on the other side of said recess, a lever fulcrumed ,within the .lever housing and having apo-rtion extending into the dowelinghousing, and another trunk section provided with a catch "adapted to enter; the dowelinghousing when the sections are closed together, said catch being adapted to be engaged by 'said lever. H

9. Ina trunk locking mechanisn'i, the combination with a trunk section wall provided with a recess, of a doweling housing on one side of said .recess, a-.lever housing .on the other side of said recess, a lever tnlcrumed withln the lever hous ng and having a portion extending into the doweling housing,

another trunk section provided with a catch adapted to enter the doweling housing when the sections are closed together, said catch being adapted to be engage'd by said lever, together with a manually foperable device for securing said sectionstogether at point distant from said lever, and means tor automatically transmitting motion from the manually operable securing device tofmove said .lever to locking position when the securingdevice is insecuring position. i

p ism, the .com- 7 'bination'wrth a :trunk section wall provided 10. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with .a trunk having a body section, a Wardrobe section, and a lid section adaptedwto close one end of the wardrobe section, of means exterior to the body section and wardrobe section for doweling and locking said sections together near their lower ends, and lock actuating means within the wardrobe s ction adapted to be actuated by the lid section into locking position, to gether with means for automatically releasing the wardrobe section from lock engagement with the body section when the lid section is raised.

1'1. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with a trunk having a body section, a wardrobe section, and a lid section adapted to closeone end of the wardrobe section, of a doweling catch projecting from the lower end of the body section, a locking to engage the doweling catch, means for transmitting motion from the lid'section to said locking lever to move the same into such 10 engagement, and means for automatically retracting the lever when the lid section is swung to open position.

MILTON H. 'LUGE.

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