Technical Field

The present invention relates to an entrance unit for rooms to be protected against the intrusion of people carrying weapons, for example banks or jewelleries, etc. , and more particularly it refers to a unit of this type having a rotatable cylindrical hollow part and a device for the automatic control of its operation.

Background Art

A door used to prevent robberies, is already known; it is made substantially by a fixed structure having an entrance and exit opening and delimiting a passageway to the room to be protected, and it comprises also a rotatable cylindrical hollow part rotatably mounted inside said fixed structure, said cylindrical hollow part having an entrance opening. The door comprises driving means and stopping means, capable of rotating the cylindrical hollow part, and stopping it in a first or in a second position, in which its opening is aligned with the entrance opening or exit opening, respectively; the cylindrical hollow part may also be stopped in an intermediate position, in which its opening is closed by a side wall of the fixed

structure. The driving and stopping means are only partly automatically controlled, and the inspection of people entering the room to be protected is done by a watchman. There are also known entrance units having interlocked doors, comprising a detector of moving metal objects mounted near the opening of the entrance unit, and signalling or alarm system which is actuated by the detector when somebody carrying a metallic object, for example a weapon, passes through the opening.

In this case also, a watchman is necessary, who asks the person entering the room to lay down the metallic object and to try again to enter the room; the watchman may also actuate an acoustic signalling or display system with a similar message, and he will also check, after each alarm, if the person who has caused the alarm has left objects, in particular a weapon, beyond the opening checked by the detector of moving metal objects. If this control is not done, some ill-intentioned person would pass through the entrance unit, this time without causing any alarm, pick up the weapon and enter inside the room. To avoid the uninterrupted presence of a watchman, different methods have been proposed to detect the presence of an object of any kind inside the entrance unit, after the moment in which the detector has caused the alarm.

One of these methods is carried out by using an electronic weighing system, which is capable of detecting the difference between the weight of the cabin inside the entrance unit, when it has an object inside it, and when it is empty. Another method uses a "mechanical sweep system" which makes use of shutters pivotally connected at the center of the cabin. When the detector of moving metal objects sends an alarm signal, the two shutters, which are controlled by an electronic logic unit, are made to approach each other until their respective internal faces are in close contact. If this cannot be achieved, because of the presence of an object inside the cabin, an alarm signal will be produced. The first method has shown to be critical, and not sufficiently reliable, because of the necessity of measuring very small weight differences (due to the presence of a pistol, a knife, or the like) compared to the weight of the whole structure. The second method, even if it is valid from the point of view of its operation, doesn't provide a sufficiently comfortable space inside the cabin, because of the particular arrangement of the shutters.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide an entrance unit, having a rotatable cylindrical hollow

part (sleeve) and a device for the automatic control of its operation, which overcomes the above cited disadvantages.

This object is attained by providing an entrance unit as defined and characterized in the claims at the end of the description.

Brief Description of Drawings

The present invention will be better understood by means of the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, which is not intended to limit the application of the present inventive concept, reference being made to the annexed drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a fixed structure having a rotatable cylindrical hollow part, constituting the entrance unit of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross section along line II-II of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3a-3e and Figs. 4a-4c show simplified (i.e. schematic) cross sections, analogous to Fig. 2, which illustrate different operational steps of the entrance unit according to the invention;

Fig. 5 shows another schematic cross section illustrating the operation of the entrance unit, in an emergency situation; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the entrance unit according to the present invention.

Best Mode of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the drawing, reference numeral 1 generally indicates the fixed structure, comprising a frame of vertical rods in the form of steel tubes la, and lateral walls 15 and 16 made of glass protecting from shots. Two opposite lateral walls have equally dimensioned openings, the first (2) of which enabling to enter into the space limited by the fixed structure 1, and the other (3), which is in internal communication with the room to be protected, allows to leave the latter. Inside the fixed structure 1, a rotatable cylindrical hollow part 4 is mounted, which is substantially formed of three curved glass plates 17, 18 protecting from shots, which are supported from below by a disk shaped lower plate 5 rotatably mounted on a vertical pin 6 fixed to the base lc of the fixed structure. On their upper ends, the glass plates forming the cylindrical hollow part 4, are fixed to an upper plate 7, analogous to the lower plate 5, which is freely

rotatable around a pin 8, which is fixed to an upper frame 9 of the fixed structure 1. The cylindrical hollow part 4 is provided with a lateral opening 4a of the equal dimension as compared to the openings 2 and 3 of the fixed structure 1, and is upwardly limited by a disk shaped roof 10 which is integral with frame 9 and therefore also with the fixed structure 1; downwardly, the hollow cylindrical part 4 is limited by a base 10 ' spaced from it and connected through suitable means (not shown) to the fixed structure. The base 10' supports a "sensitive rug" 11 capable of • detecting the presence of a person, staying on it, through the closing of an electric contact, usually open, located on its inside. On the upper frame 9 are mounted an electric motor 12, and suitable means 12' for transmitting the motion, only schematically shown in Fig. 1, which are able to rotate the hollow cylindrical part 4 in order to bring it in a first or second position in which its opening 4a is aligned with the entrance opening 2 or the exit opening 3, respectively, of the fixed structure 1; the hollow structure 4a may also be brought to an intermediate position in which its opening 4a is closed by the lateral wall 16 of the fixed structure.

Obviously, in place of the electric motor any other driving means may be provided. Between the roof 10

and the bottom of the fixed structure, four antennas 13 of a detector, of moving metallic objects are fixed; the four antennas 13 are fixed to the fixed structure 1, and the detector is not shown in detail because it is known by those skilled in the art. The antennas 13 are arranged in such a way that the operating range of the detector comprises the entrance opening 2 of the structure 1 and the interior of the rotatable cylindrical hollow part 4. On the cylindrical hollow part 4, it is mounted a system of photoelectric sensors, for example infrared photoelectric sensors, constituted by two emitters and two receivers 14, 14' disposed on diametrically opposite positions near the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical hollow part 4, said sensors being actuated by the presence of an object laid on the base 10' or fixed on the roof 10 of the rotatable cylindrical hollow part 4, during rotation of the cylindrical hollow part 4. The electrical terminals (not shown) of the motor, of the switch, of the detector of moving metallic objects and of the photoelectric sensors, are all connected through suitable electric wires, to an electric energy generator and to a control unit. To the latter there are also connected a signalling device capable of sending a recorded vocal message and an acoustic alarm system. All aforementioned components are known to

experts of electrical or electronic control circuits, and also their mutual connection in easily accomplished by those experts, so that it is not necessary to describe the details of their construction and assembling. In order to provide a device for the driving and control of the entrance unit according to the present invention, the following explanation of its operation will be sufficient.

Entry of the user without any alarm

In its rest position, the cylindrical hollow part is in such a position that its opening is directed towards the right-side wall of the fixed structure, as shown in Fig. 3a. The entry procedure inside the room to be protected is started by a user 15, for example by pushing a button of an electric switch. The rotatable cylindrical hollow part 4 will position itself with its opening 4a aligned with the entrance opening 2 of the fixed structure 1 (Fig. 3b). The user 15, who will not by supposition carry metallic objects, enters into the space delimited by the cylindrical hollow part (Fig. 3c) and actuates by means of its weight the switch of the "sensitive rug" 11 which is located over the base 10', by closing the electric contact. This causes the actuation of the motor 12 by means of the control unit until the cylindrical hollow part will have rotated by 180°

(Fig. 3d), bringing its opening 4a in alignment with the exit opening 3 of the fixed structure 1. The user can now enter into the protected room and the cylindrical hollow part will be brought again to the initial position shown in Fig. 3a.

Exit of the user

The exit procedure is similar to the entry procedure! the user who is inside the room to be protected will actuate a switch, allowing the rotation of the cylindrical hollow part, until the opening 4a will be aligned with the opening 3 (Fig. 3e); the cylindrical hollow part will be rotated by 180° so as to align the opening 4a with the opening 2 of the fixed structure; then, when the user has got out, the cylindrical hollow part will be brought again to its initial position (Fig. 3a).

Passage of the user producing an alarm signal As may seen in Fig. 4a, a user 15 carrying a metallic object has entered inside the cylindrical hollow part 4. The motion of the metallic object carried by the user has caused the activation of the detector of moving metallic object, by means of the antennas 13. This activations inhibits the actuating signal of the motor 12 produced by the closing of the switch of the rug 11 on the base 10' and actuates the signalling

device. The latter sends a vocal message, recorded or synthesized, to the person inside the hollow cylindrical part, the message inviting the person to exit from the entrance unit and to deposit the metallic object in an appropriate container located outside the entrance unit itself. Immediately after the user 15 has got out, which will be detected by the opening of the switch 11 on the base 10', the control unit operates a rotation of 90° of the cylindrical hollow part, stopping it in an intermediate, position between the positions corresponding to the entry and exit of the user, so that there is no internal communication between the entrance (2) or exit (3) opening of the fixed structure. During this motion, the probable presence of metallic objects fixed to the walls of the cylindrical hollow part 4, is detected by the detector of moving metallic objects, and the probable presence of objects laid on the base 10' or fixed on the roof 10 of the cylindrical hollow part in detected by the photoelectric sensors 14,14', which, through their rays explore during the 90" - rotation the whole surface of the base 10' and the whole surface of the roof 10. If no object in detected, the control unit causes a rotation of the cylindrical hollow part 4 until it is brought again to its initial position, in order to allow a new passage procedure. Otherwise, the cylindrical hollow

part is kept in the intermediate position and the alarm system is actuated, in order to draw the attention of the surveying people.

Emergency passage

To allow a direct transit between the room to be protected and the outside, for example in case of a quick evacuation of the room due to an emergency situation, an additional opening of the cylindrical hollow part is provided.

Consider the cylindrical hollow part in its initial position (Fig. 3a).

The curved glass plates (slabs) 18,19 are integral with the base 10', whereas the plate (slab) 17 can slide with respect to the other two plates and with respect to the base. When the emergency disengagement is operated, the plate 17 is blocked by an appropriate mechanism actuated by an electromagetically actuated piston, whereas the other two plates rotate by 90°, so that there will be a direct communication between the room to be protected and the outside (Fig. 5). It follows from the above description that the present entrance unit is extremely simple from the point of view of its construction, it requires only one motor for its actuation, its size is minimal, since it is only slightly larger than a common door, and it provides a very quick control procedure for detecting

objects that may be present inside it. These advantages are attained according to the invention by using a common detector of moving metallic objects, not only when they are carried by a person, as in the conventional entrance units, but also when the objects are left inside the space of transit (passage). This is accomplished by providing means capable of moving the metallic objects that may be present inside 'the passage with respect to the detector and by providing simple additional photoelectric detectors.

Even if only one embodiment of the present invention has been described, it is obvious that many variants and modifications are possible without departing from the same inventive concept. For example, the two openings may be adjacent instead of being opposed to each other in order to allow the entry turning on the left or on the right; in this case, the cilindrical hollow part would rotate by 270°, in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction respectively, in order that the opening of the cylindrical hollow part will never be located between the two adjacent openings of the fixed structure; furthermore, the photoelectric sensor mounted near the roof of the cylindrical hollow part might not be used; or detectors different from photoelectric sensors could be used, for example proximity detectors or the like; at last, in place of the switch actuated by a weight resting on the base,

another detector of the presence of a user may be used, for example a microwave detector.