FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns security doors for safes and strongrooms and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In our co-pending application for Patent No. PCT/AU2003/001321 (Australian 2003252867), we describe security doors for safes, strongrooms and the like.

The security door constructions in that specification comprised a door and a door frame wherein the door was mounted on an offset hinge assembly and the upright of the frame opposite the hinge and a door slot capable of receiving the closing edge of the door which upon closing slid into the door slot and upon opening slid out of the door slot.

Once clear of the slot, the door was free to swing open in known manner. This movement is referred to later in this specification as "swing and slide motion as herein defined". For safes, doors of this type allowed the hinge assembly to be behind the door. In such constructions, the swing motion of the door must be preceded by slide motion in which the whole door slides sideways on hinges. This is made possible by the offset mount of the hinges.

A convenient way to slide the door was provision of a rotatable knob in the face of the door which was connected to a horizontal strut inside the door. The strut reacted against a static surface and slide the door left or right depending on the direction of knob rotation.

In our co-pending application for Patent Application No. 2004901484, we describe modification of the above doors for emergency exit use where the door is openable from inside the building in the event of emergency vehicle denying unauthorised access from outside. In co-pending application no. 2005201187, we describe a slam shut feature which is hereby made a related document.

In this specification we address the problem of resistance to attack upon the door itself. As the door slides L or R before it swings open and closed, it may be possible to force the door to slide on the offset hinges sufficiently out of the door pocket to create a narrow gap between the door and the style into which a second prying bar can be inserted to exert still further opening force on the door.

We already rely on upstanding rails behind the door provided with slots into which hooks on the inside face of the door project when the door closes. These resist forces applied to the top and bottom parts of the door because the hooks hold the door close to the frame when the frame is part of a steel safe.

It would be desirable if the free edge of the door could be similarly anchored to the frame style against which the door closes but the slide motion of the door means that the door touches the landing surface before the slide motion begins and this renders difficult the use of a projecting rail and hooks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus aspect of the invention provides a security door of the type defined, wherein locking means mounted on the inside face of the door reversibly engages the closing style of the frame when the door closes and control means outside the door operates the locking means.

The locking means may comprise a member with one or more hooks which are capable of entering and locking corresponding apertures in the closing style of the frame during the slide motion of the door and mounting means to allow rise and fall of the hooked member in order to achieve locking and unlocking.

The control means may be the handle which imparts slide motion to the door. Rotation of the handle produces the motion necessary to move the locking means between engagement and disengagement.

The control means may include a keypad or other conventional safe lock which frees the handle but it is intended that manual operation will cause the rise and fall of the hooked member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a general assembly from inside the safe.

Figure 2 is a plan of the closing style of the safe body with the door about the slide and

close.

Figure 3 is the same view as Figure 2 except that the door is shown closed and locked.

Figure 4 is a perspective of a fragment of the safe showing the door and closing style separated for clarity.

Figures 5-10 are the same views as shown in Australian Patent Application No. 2003252867.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS

We refer to Figures 5-10 of co-pending Patent Application No. 2003252867 which illustrates the opening and closing of a safe door. The components in Figures 1-4 of this improvement application show the same numerals on the components in the former main application. The opening of the door is defined by box styles 4 and 6 of which style 4 is the closing style. Door 16 has door hinge 22 which is fixed to frame hinge 26 and this offset hinge assembly allows the door 16 to slide L and R into slot 14.

Upstanding top rail 18 and bottom rail 20 are welded to the roof and floor of the safe. Both rails have slots 46 which takes hooks 48 which project from the inside face of door 16. When the safe is locked as shown in Figure 5, the door 16 cannot swing open because hooks 48 engage the rails and safe lock 34 operated by keypad 36 which additionally prevents unauthorised opening.

Persons wanting to achieve unauthorised entry will try to force the door to the position shown in Figure 6 where the door is free to swing outwards. Handle 50 suffices to pull the door L and R into and out of the slot 14.

Door movement L and R is achieved instead by rotating handle 52 causing arm 54 to react against reaction bar 58.

Referring now to Figures 1-4, the inside face of the door has a pair of mounts 104 close

to the closing edge of the door. Rectangular section bar 106 rests on stop 108 and is free to slide up and down. Hooks 110 extend from the bar and project into slots 112 in the face of closer 12. Lifter 114 pivots on the inside face of the door and operates bar 106. Handle 52 operates arm 54 to cooperate with reaction bar 58 to give L and R slide movement and in addition handle 52 turns link 116 to raise and lower lifter 114.

When the door is to be closed, the door is swung to cause the leading edge of the door to strike ¹ the landing surface of closer 12 whereupon the arc of swing ends and slide motion ensues. The hooks lie inboard of the door edge as seen in Figure 2 but as the door is pushed toward the closer 12, the hooks pass through the slots. The handle turns further to drop the lifter. The hooks then engage the slots and the lock 34 prevents the handle turning in both directions.

Unlocking allows the handle to raise the lifter. Once the hooks clear the slots, the hooks are free to disengage and the door is slidable in the opposite direction to the OPEN position where it can be swung to give access.

It is to be understood that the word "comprising" as used throughout the specification is to be interpreted in its inclusive form, ie. use of the word "comprising" does not exclude the addition of other elements.

It is to be understood that various modifications of and/or additions to the invention can be made without departing from the basic nature of the invention. These modifications and/or additions are therefore considered to fall within the scope of the invention.