MULTI-FUNCTION DETACHING DEVICE FOR MAGNETIC ANTI-THEFT MECHANISMS

The present invention refers to a multi-function detaching device for magnetic anti-theft mechanisms.

The main magnetic anti-theft mechanisms currently marketed are composed, in particular, but not in a limiting way, of anti-theft cases adapted to contain inside them and to protect objects such as, but not limited to, compact discs, DVDs, musicassettes, videocassettes and the like, or of elongated anti-theft elements for eye-glasses, or of elements to be attached to clothes and the like.

These types of anti-theft mechanisms have been known in the art for years; in order to remove the objects contained therein, those operating with the magnetic attraction principle must be equipped with so-called "detaching" devices, containing magnetic elements with various shapes and dimensions: when the magnetic anti-theft mechanism approaches such detaching devices, they magnetically attract the closing elements with which such anti-theft mechanisms are equipped and allow their opening and the removal of the object contained and protected therein.

The most common types of anti-theft devices that can be found nowadays are :

- devices for protecting clothes, usually of a circular shape and small sizes;

- cases for protecting CDs, DVDs and the like, but also commonly used objects such as razor blades or dehodorants, with opening and closing elements with an elongated or pushbutton shape;

- devices for protecting bottles, with a cylindrical shape to be placed around the bottle cork and neck;

- other devices with various shapes and configurations. These opening operations are usually performed in payment counters of commercial shops, that are equipped with such anti-theft arrangements and, in the currently marketed versions, these detaching devices has two major types of problems :

- due to the presence of magnetic anti-theft mechanisms with various shapes, sizes and closing and opening methodologies, it is not rare that, above all in big department stores, it is necessary to provide different detaching devices, each one adapted to open a particular type of anti-theft mechanism. This has obvious operating and space problems for the above operators;

- since the detaching devices are usually secured to the surface where they must operate, they remain, in certain

times of the day (for example during the night or on holidays when the commercial shops are closed) , not surveyed by anyone and therefore subjected to be used incorrectly by anyone that has access thereto, obviously in order to open the magnetic anti-theft mechanisms and to fraudulently take their contents.

Document US-A-5.956 T981 is related to a universal detaching device, which, however, as can be seen from its drawings, allows opening only cases of the type adapted to contain CDs, DVDs, videocassettes and the like, through a common bench-type detaching device accessible to everyone.

Document WO-A-2005/100722 of the same Applicant of the present invention discloses a multi-function detaching device, that however is not adapted to open some types of anti-theft devices, for example the one for protecting bottles, nor it is adapted to be transported by a user.

Detaching devices are also known that allow opening a plurality (practically all types of anti-theft devices that can be found nowadays on the market) of different types of magnetic anti-theft mechanisms with a single practical arrangement, with small sizes and composed of very few parts, which allows highly reducing their cost and making their application easy even in small spaces. Such multifunction detaching devices are further equipped with means that prevent the undesired access to detaching elements

contained therein. Moreover, these detaching devices are preferably of the portable type, namely they can be removed from their supporting base, commonly placed on a shop counter, and can be transported by a user to their place of use .

This latter characteristic, desirable in order to widen the operating flexibility of the detaching device, in some cases however is a problem, since the detaching device, once freed from its operating base, could be stolen and illegally used for opening, given its base characteristic, all types of above-mentioned anti-theft devices.

Object of the present invention, therefore, is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a multi-function detaching device that can be detached from its resting and protecting base, generally placed on a shop counter, but cannot be definitively separated therefrom, stolen or used very far away from the ba-se itself, and therefore from the payment ^■ counter of the shop.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained by a multi-function detaching device according to claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting

example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the multi-function detaching device of the present invention in its closing position;

- Figure 2 is a perspective view of the supporting base of the detaching device of Fig. 1;

- Figure 3 is a perspective view of the detaching device of Fig. 1 in an arrangement thereof ready for use on its supporting base;

- Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are perspective views that show the detaching steps of the detaching device body from the supporting base for another operating arrangement thereof, and moreover the steps for taking such body from its operating position to its closing position on the supporting base, in order to go back to the arrangement of Fig. 1;

- Figure 5 is a sectional view of the detaching device of Fig. 4;

- Figure 6 is a detailed view of a sealing part of the device of Fig. 5;

- Figure 8 is a top perspective view of the detaching device in an operating configuration thereof;

- Figure 9 is a perspective sectional view of Fig. 3; and

- Figures 10 and 11 are side sectional views similar to Fig. 9 that show two operating, detaching/re-connecting

positions between body and supporting base.

With reference to the Figures, a preferred, but not limiting, embodiment of the multi-function detaching device 1 of the present invention, is shown. It will immediately be obvious to the skilled people in the art that numerous modifications and variations can be made to the described device 1, without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the enclosed claims.

With reference to the preferred embodiment shown in Figure, the multi-function detaching device 1 for magnetic anti-theft mechanisms of the invention substantially comprises : a supporting body 2; at least one first magnetic detaching element 3 with an elongated shape, adapted to be moved between two different operating positions placed at 90° one with respect to the other (as will be better described below) ; at least one second magnetic detaching element 5 with a circular shape; a supporting base 2A adapted to contain the supporting body 2 in two positions, a rest position in which the detaching device 1 is not accessible from outside for its operation, and an operating position in which the detaching device 1 is accessible from outside for its operation; and

- means (not shown) adapted to allow moving the first magnetic detaching element 3 between its two operating positions .

The improved detaching device 1 of the present invention further comprises connecting means 72, 74, 76, 78, 80 for performing an operating connection between the supporting body 2 and the supporting base 2A; such connecting means 72, 74, 76, 78, 80 are adapted _{,. λ} to allow the body 2 to operate within a certain operating distance range from its supporting base 2A and are adapted to provide an anti-theft alarm warning if they are tampered with in order to allow detaching the supporting body 2 from the supporting base 2A.

In this way, it is possible, as will be described below in more detail, to open the detaching device 1, remove the body 2 and perform all necessary detachments within a certain range of action from the supporting base 2A which usually remains fixed onto the payment counter, but it will not be allowed to move too far away from such base 2A, to prevent a fraudulent use of the detaching device 1 itself.

In particular, such connecting means 72, 74, 76, 78, 80 are composed of at least one wire 72 secured at one end to the supporting base 2A, into which it penetrates through a hole 78, through a securing element 80 and on the other end to an elastic member 74 oper-atively housed and secured to a recess 76 of the supporting body 2. With this arrangement,

once having ended to operatively use the detaching device 1, the elastic member 74 (usually composed of a plane spring wound around and pre-loaded inside the recess 76 of the supporting body 2), after having been pulled following the unwinding of the wire 72 from the body 2, in order to perform the detachment through the body 2, once the pulling force from a user is lacking, allows re-winding the wire 72 inside the recess 16 when the elastic member 74 is taken back to its rest position inside the body 2.

It is obviously possible to provide for a symmetrical arrangement (not shown) , in which the elastic member 74 is contained in the supporting base 2A inside a recess and the wire 72 is unwound from the same recess and is connected to the body 2 through suitable connecting means.

In order to allow issuing warnings in case of breakage of said means 72, 74, 76, 78, 80 (in particular in case of cutting the wire 72) , the detaching device 1 is also equipped with an alarm circuit (not shown) connected to the wire 72: such alarm circuit is adapted to trigger the issue of a sound and/or visual alarm in case of cutting the wire 72, thorugh a known arrangement for the skilled people in this particular field.

In particular, even if not shown, the means for moving are composed of a chute-shaped support on which a pushing member, actuated by a spring and having a side with a

complementary shape to the support one, is adapted to slide and push the first magnetic detaching element 3 upwards in order to realise a final operating position that is at 90° with respect to the detaching device 1 plane.

The first magnetic detaching element 3 is of the moving type and is adapted to assume a first, unmovable operating position parallel to the detaching device 1 plane (in the Figures the horizontal position) and a second movable operating position parallel to the detaching device 1 plane: the first magnetic detaching element 3, when it is in the second movable operating position, is adapted to be pushed upwards with respect to the detaching device 1 plane (in the Figures the vertical posit-±on) .

In order to allow the safe use of the detaching device 1, the supporting base 2A is further equipped with locking means 46 adapted to secure the supporting body 2 to the supporting base 2A in its two, resting and operating positions. In fact, before going from the position in Fig. 1 to the position in Fig. 3, an authorised operator must, by unlocking the locking means 46, free the supporting body 2 from the supporting base 2Sr;* then remove the supporting body 2 (Fig. 8), rotate it by 180° (Fig. 4 - 7), place it again in the supporting base 2A, this time in its operating position, and then lock it again through the locking means 46.

In particular, such locking means 46 are composed of a key (not shown) and a lock 46.

As shown, in the first operating position, the first and the second magnetic detaching elements 3, 5 are placed in a respectively coaxial position, in order to detach a magnetic anti-theft mechanism equipped with locking members both of the lamellar spring type, and of the cylindrical pin-spring type, and of the round type, like those used for protecting clothes. For this purpose, preferably the second magnetic detaching element 5 is used, of the super-magnet type, namely with an attraction force on the order of 9000 Gauss .

Still in particular, as shown, the first magnetic detaching element 3 is preferably composed of two parallelepiped elongated bars 18, 20 placed mutually side by side .

For a better operation, the detaching device 1 of the invention further comprises aligning menas 22, 23 that cooperate with the first magnetic detaching element 3 in order to align the area of the magnetic anti-theft mechanism to be subjected to detachment with the first magnetic detaching element 3.

As shown, the aligning, means 22, 23 are composed of at least two elongated projections adapted to engage corresponding holes obtained in an anti-theft device for

bottles. Obviously, other aligning means (not shown) could probably be employed, of -the elongated or extended type for the whole length of the first magnetic detaching element 3. In order to allow housing such aligning means 22, 23 and their supporting base, a suitable housing 70 is provided, obtained in the supporting base 2A.

In its most commonly used position, the supporting base 2A is equipped with at least one through-hole 30 adapted to allow securing the supporting base 2A itself to a surface that must be unmovably ""equipped with the multi-function detaching device 1, such as for example a shop counter. When instead it is desired to use the device 1 in a "portable" way, after having removed it from its supporting base 2A, it can be manually used in other places or in other applications, thereby increasing the application flexibility of the device 1 itself.

As can be seen, the detaching device 1 of the invention is of a universal type, since, through its component parts and the way in which they can be mutually moved and rearranged, the device 1 is able to assume all detaching positions that are necessary to unlock all currently existing anti-theft mechanisms. Non-limiting examples of such anti-theft mechanisms are: anti-theft cases containing compact discs, DVDs, musicassettes, videocassettes and the like; anti-theft elements for eye-glasses; anti-theft

elements for clothes; anti-theft elements for bottles.

As regards the materials of which they are composed, the first and the second magnetic detaching element 3, 5 are made of magnetic material, while all other components of the multi-function detaching device 1 are made of light metal (such as for examples screws, small cylinders, spring) or plastic material, to guarantee lightness, compactness and handliness to the device 1.

The Figures show the embodiment in which the first magnetic detaching element 3 reaches its operating positions through manual movements: it will obviously be possible to apply automatic means for moving and locking/unlocking, without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the enclosed claims.