US2235526A - Key holder - Google Patents

Description

H. T. LUCAS KEY HOLDER Filed March lO, 1959 INVENTOR Har/jy T La ca s.

Patented Mal. 18, 1941 UNITED .STATES ArrlzNT Ormel;

KEY HOLDER -Harry T. Lucas, Roanoke, Va., assigner to The Union Switch` & Signal Company, Swissvale, v Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 1o, 1939., serial No. 261,035 7 claims. (c1. 'io-447) f arises, however, in which it becomes necessary to permit some other person to gain access to the operating mechanism Yof the devices, and t0 enable the necessary access to be obtained, an emergency key is provided which cannot be obtained without leaving some evidence of the tact that .the key has been obtained. Heretofore. in order to provide the necessary evidence of the tact that .the key has been obtained, the key has usually been housed in a container some part of which had to be broken to secure the key, thereby giving rise to some trouble and expense each time the key was removed fromthe container.

In Iaccordance with my present invention, I eliminate the trouble and expense which results each .time the emergency key is used by providing for the emergency key `a new and improved key holder from which the key can be removed at any time without damage orinjury to the holder, but which requires as :a prerequisite to removal of the key the operation of Va" telltale indicator to a telltale position in which it is subsequently retained until released by a'second key furnished only to the speci-ally authorized person or persons.

It should be clearly understood at the outset that while a key `holder embodying my invention is particularly suit-able for use under the conditions outlined above, it is not limited to this .particular use, but on the contrary will be found useful wherever it is desirable to provide a key which cannot be obtained Without leaving an indication .of the fact that the key has been obtained.

Other objects and characteristic features of my invention will appear as the-description proceects.

I shall describe one form of key holders embodying my invention, and shall then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing, YEig. 1 is a front elevational view'o'f a key holder embodyingmy invention with the parts in the positions which they normally occupy. Fig. l2.is a View' to Rig. 1 but showing the par-ts ofthe Keyholder inthe positions which they occupy when it is the `plates at their opposite sides.

with .a recess I'I which receives a key I2. vplate I0 is .adapted to be moved vertically bef desired to remove the key from the key holder.

Fig. 3 ls a back view of the key holder shown in the preceding views with the backplate removed to better illustrate :the details of constructionrof the key holder. Fig. 4 is a detail viewsho-wing the inner side of the blackplate. Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, of the key holder shown 'in `the preceding views.

'Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the several views.

plate 2 'secured together by means of screws 3,@-

and maintained in parallel spaced relation by means of a spacing member 4 disposed between the .plates at their upper ends, and four other spacing members 5, .6, i and 8 disposed between vmembers 4, 5, 6, 'I and 8 may, if desired, be formed integrally'wi-th either one of the plates, `but .as here' illustrated, the top member is formed integrally the frontplate, while vthe remaining members are riveted thereto. The screws 3 pass through clearance holes in the backplate yand are screwed into `aligned. tapped holes tonned in the spacing members yand the front plate, respectively, the holes in the .backplate preferably being countersunk suiciently to fully receive the heads or the screws. The casing may be mounted on any suitable support, and to facilitate fasteningthe casing to the support, holes 9 are provided flor the reception of fastening devices.

A plate ID is slidably mounted in the lower part of the casing A 4betweenithe spacing members 6 and 8, and is provided in its front face .The

side of thecasing where the key can be readily removed therefrom. 'llhe upper and lower extreme 1positions of the plate are :determined by vmeans of a stop pin I3 which is secured to the plate, and which projects into a vertical recess I I 4 formed in the backplate 2.

As .shown in the drawing, the recess I I is made Vjust larg-e Venouglrr to snugly receive the key I2, l

The spacing v and to facilitate removing the key from the recess, a hole I5 is formed in the key retaining plate I0 through which a finger may be inserted to dislodge the key from the recess. The recess may, however, if desired be made larger than the key and any suitable means may be employed to secure the key in place in the recess.

llt will be noted that when the pllalte I0 occupies its upper extreme position in which it is shown in Fig. 1, the lower end of the plate projects outside of the casing for a short distance, and formed in the forward face of this projecting portion is a notch .I6 into which a, fingernail may be inserted to facilitate moving the plate to its lowermost position in case it fails to drop by gravity to this position under certain conditions which will be made clear hereinafter.

yExtending transversely of the casing A above the plate I 0 is a' combined latching plate and indicator I8. 'Iihe latching plate I8 is slidably mounted in laterally aligned guideways and 2| formed respectively by the confronting ends of the spacing members 5 and 6 and the confronting ends of the spacing members 1 an-d 8, and is constantly bia-sed to .the right, as viewed in Fig. 3, by means of a compressed coil spning 22, .to a position in which a pin 23 secured to the rear face of the frontplate engages one end of a longitudinally extending slot 24 formed in the latching plate. The biasing spring 22 is disposed partly in the slot 24 and partly in a hole 215 which communicates with the right-hand end of the slot, as viewed in Fig. 2, and is gui-ded Within the slot by a guide pin 26 the head of which is interposed between the spring and .the pin 23. The pants are so proportioned that the spring 22 will not become fully compressed after it is forced entirely into the hole 2-5, whereby the slot 24 serves to limit the movement of the latching plate in the direction to compress the spring, as well as in the opposite direction.r

Provided in the lower side of the latching plate is an L-shaped slot 21 which forms a latch arm 28. The slot 21 and latch arm 28 cooperate with an L-shaped latch catch 30 formed on the upper end of the key retaining plate I0 in such manner that the latch catch can fully enter the slot when and only when the key retaining plate occupies its upper extreme position and the latching plate occupies its extreme left-hand position, as viewed in Fig. 2, and that when the latch catch is in the slot, and the latching plate occupies any po-` sition but its extreme left-hand position, as viewed in Fig. 3, the latch arm will underlie the latch catch in a manner to prevent the key retaining plate from being moved away from its upper extreme position. y

It follows, therefore, that when the key retaining plate I6 is once moved to its upper extreme position, it cannot be moved away from this position until after the latching plate I8 has been moved to its extreme left-hand position, as ,viewed in Fig. 3, which position I shall hereinafter refer to for convenience as its unlatching position.

To facilitate the entry of the latch catch 38 into the slot 21, the free end of the latch catch is tapered in the manner shown and the free end of the latch arm is similarly tapered and is also rounded at the lower end of the tapered portion.

As will be seen from an inspection of the drawing, the latching plate I8 is somewhat longer than the case A is wide, and provided on the forward face of the latching plate adjacent its right-hand end, as viewed in Fig. 2, is a suitable indication means I8a which, as here shown, com`- y means of the spring 22.

The key holder also comprises means whereby when the latching plate is moved to its unlatching position, it will subsequently be prevented from returning toward its latching position past an intermediate position in which the disc I8a is visible, until released by means of a second 'key not shown. As here illustrated, these means comprise a cylinder lock 3I which is secured within a suitable hole formed in the frontplate I above the latching plate, and the inner end of the barrel of which projects into the casing and carries a cam 33. The cam 33 cooperates with a cam surface 34 formed on a latching dog 35 which is pivotally mountedintermediate its ends on a pin 36 secured to the frontplate- I. The dog 35 is disposed between the cam and the latching plate. and is biased by means of a spring 31 to such position that the nose of the dog will enter a notch 38 formed in the upper edge of the latching plate whenever the notch aligns with the nose of the dog. The notch 38 is so disposed that4 it will align With the nose of the dog whenever the latching plate is moved to its intermediate posiy.

tion in which it is shown in Fig. 2, and the parts are so proportioned that if the key retaining plate is moved from its lower position to its upper position when the latching plate occupies its intermediate position, the tapered surface of the latch v arm will cooperate with the tapered surface of the latch catch in a manner to cause the latch arm to automatically enter the slot 21 and become latched in its upper position. For convenience, this intermediate position may be referred to as an indicating position.

The parts are further so proportioned that if the lock is operated when the dog is in the notch 38, the cam 33 will rotate the dog to a position in which it is withdrawn from the notch and the lock 3I is so constructed that it can only be operated Iby the special key referred to hereinbefore. In order to provide adequate clearance for the cam 33, a recess 40 is formed in the backplate .opposite the cam.

The operation of the key holder as a whole is as follows: Normally the parts occupy the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 1. That is to say, the key I2 is disposed in the recess II in the key retaining plate I8, and the plate I0 is latched in its upper position where the key is inaccessible by means of the latching plate I8, which latter plate under these conditions occupies its extreme left-hand or latching position in which the red disc I8a is invisible.

When it is desired to obtain the key I2, the latching plate is pushed to the right as view ed in Fig. 1 to its extreme right-hand or unlatching position, and as soon as the latching plate reaches this position, the key retaining plate will normally drop by gravity to its lower position. If the key retaining plate should fail to drop by gravity toits lower position, it may be pulled downwardly to this position by inserting the fingernail in the notch I6. As soonr as the key retaining plate I0 drops, the latching plate I8 maybe released, and the latch dog 35 will then cooperate with the notch 38 to prevent the latching plate from returning, under the bias of the spring 22, past its intermediate or indicating position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 and in which the red disc [8a is exposed. When the key retaining plate occupies its lower position, the key I2 can readily be obtained. After the key has been used, it can be replaced in the recess Il, and the key retaining plate can be restored to its upper position. If this is done, the key retaining plate will automatically become latched in its upper position, and if it becomes necessary tov again obtain the key, all that needs to be done is to push the latching plate to the right to its unlatching position to again release the key retaining plate.

When the latching plate occupies its indicating position, a telltale is given that the key has been removed from the lkey holder, and in order to restore the latching plate to its normal position, it is necessary to operate the lock 3i by means of the auxiliary key provided for this purpose. The operation of the lock causes the cam 33 to engage the latching dog 35 and move it out of engagement with the notch 38 in the latching plate I8, whereupon the latching plate will automatically return, under the bias of the spring 22, to its normal position in which it is shown in Fig. 1.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of key holders embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modiiications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim is:

1. A key holder comprising a member movable between a key retaining and a key releasing position, indication means, means for operating said indication means to an indicating position before said member can be moved to its key releasing position, a lock requiring a key for its operation, and means effective when said indication means has been moved to its indicating position for retaining it in such position until said lock is operated.

2. A key holder comprising a member movable between a key retaining and a key releasing position, indication means, -means for preventing said member from being moved from its key retaining to its key releasing position until after said indication means has been operated to an indicating position, and means eiective when said indication means has been moved to said indicating position for latching it in this position until released by a key provided for that purpose.

3. A key holder comprising a member movable between a key retaining and a key releasing position, indication means, means for preventing said member from being moved from its key retaining to its key releasing position until after said indication means has been operated to an indicating position, a lock requiring a key for its operation, and means effective when said indication means has been moved to said indicating position for latching it in this position until said lock is operated to release it.

4. A key holder comprising a casing, a key retaining plate provided with a recess for receiving a key and slidably mounted in said casing for movement between a first position in which said recess is disposed inside of said casing and a second position in which said recess is disposed outside of said casing, a latching plate movable between a iirst position in which it prevents movement of said key retaining plate away from its rst position and a second position in which said key retaining plate is free to moveto its second position, means effective when said latching plate is moved to its second position for returning it to and latching it in an intermediate position, lock controlled means for releasing said latching means, and means for providing a visible indication when said latching plate occupies its intermediate position.

5. A key holder comprising a casing, a key retaining plate provided with a recess for receiving a key and slidably mounted in said casing for movement between a first position in which said recess is disposed inside of said casing and a second position in which said recess is disposed outside of said casing, a combined latching and indication plate slidably mounted in said casing and biased to a latching position and movable from its latching position through an indicating position to an unlatching position, means on said latching plate cooperating with means on said key retaining plate for latching said key retaining plate in its rst position when said latching plate occupies any position but its unlatching position, and means effective after said latching plate has been moved to its unlatching position for preventing it from moving toward its latching position past its indication position until lreleased by a key provided for that purpose.

6. A key holder comprising a casing, a key retaining plate provided with a recess for receiving a key and slidably mounted in said casing for movement between a first position in which said recess is disposed inside of said casing and a second position in which said recess is disposed outside of said casing, a combined latching and indication plate slidably mounted in said casing and biased to a latching position and movable from its latching position through an indicating position to an unlatching position and provided with indication means which is visible when said latching plate occupies its indicating or unlatching position but not when it occupies its latching position, means on said latching plate cooperating with means on said key retaining plate for latching said key retaining plate in its iirst position when said latching plate occupies any position but its unlatching position, and means effective after said latching plate has been moved to its unlatching position for preventing it from moving toward its latching position past its indicating position until released by a key provided for that purpose.

7. A key holder comprising a casing, a key retaining plate provided with a recess for receiving a key and slidably mounted in said casing for movement between a first position in which said recess is disposed inside of said casing and a second position in which said recess is disposed. outside .of said casing, a combined latching and indication plate slidably mounted in said casing and biased to a latching position and movable from its latching position through an indicating position to an unlatching position, means on said latching plate cooperating with means on said key retaining plate for latching said key retaining plate in its first position when said latching plate occupies any position but its unlatching position, a notch in said latching plate, a dog biased to such position that it will enter said notch when said latching plate occupies its indicating position and will prevent it from moving due to its bias to its latching position, and lock controlled means for at times operating said dog to release said latching plate.

HARRY T. LUCAS,

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