TITLE: SAFE CONSTRUCTION WITH ANTI-PRY PROTECTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns safes and security door construction of the swing and slide type.

This field includes factory doors, jail doors, gun safes, tool boxes and lockers such as school lockers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In our co-pending application for Patent No. 2003252867, we describe security door constructions of the swing and slide type. The door frame has an upright for supporting the door on an offset hinge and the upright of the frame opposite the hinge has a slot capable of receiving the closing edge of the door, which upon closing slides into the slot and upon opening, slides out of the slot.

The slide motion of the door precedes the opening swing and it is this retraction of the door from the slot which intruders try to achieve. The door is free to slide on the hinges and must be retained in the locked position by door bolts. We describe hook and slot formations in the above application which resist prying forces applied to the door, hi co- pending Australian application no. 2004231234, we describe a horizontal bar which slides across the width of the door when the safe is locked and abuts the safe wall adjacent the door hinge. Prying forces tending to slide the door open are transmitted to the safe wall and resisted.

In co-pending Australian application no.2005901184, we describe door mounted rise and fall hooks which drop into vertical slots in the closing stile of the door frame when the door is locked. These are both effective measures for resisting forces exerted by prying bars applied to the door frame, that is between the door and the closing style.

In safes such as gun safes which are made from plate 2-3mm thick, the above devices exert locking force at various sites and the metal between these sites could be bent. It would be desirable to resist prying by increasing the difficulty of inserting the prying bar into the gap between the door and the closing style so that effective leverage cannot be applied.

This specification describes embodiments of swing and slide safes which combine features shown by testing to resist attack most effectively in relation to the cost of machinery operations required to provide resistance to attack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus aspect of this invention provides a safe construction of the swing and slide type having a door swing style and a door closing style which defines both the door slot and a landing surface against which the door edge closes, a door with a hooked closing edge, wherein between the landing surface and the end of the slot there is a gap bridged by a displaceable member over which the hooked closing edge slides freely during opening and closing but when the door edge is forced inwardly toward the interior of the safe by prying, the hooked closing edge displaces the displaceable member inwardly to a resistant position in which the hooked closing edge and the closing style mutually obstruct thereby preventing the door from sliding out of the slot.

The hook of the closing edge may be a flange lying substantially at 90° to the plane of the door.

Preferably the hook of the closing edge of the door defines a channel. Thus the channel portion of the door is the part of the door edge which slides over the landing surface and the displaceable member.

The displaceable member may be a flap which is spring biassed to lie coplanar with the landing surface so as to furnish an extension thereof. Preferably the member is a flange projecting from the closing style which is strong enough to act as part of the slot during opening and closing of the door but not strong enough to withstand prying and to collapse.

When the pry bar is removed the spring biassed version will recover its position, whereas the deformable flange will stay deformed and a repair becomes necessary.

The displaceable member may extend over the entire length of the door slot. Preferably the displaceable member is divided between two or more sites along the door height. This in no way reduces its effectiveness in operation.

This feature improves the resistance of the safe to prying because the prying force causes the hooked edge of the door to engage the hooked edge of the door style. The hooked edge of the door style also forms the landing surface for the door. Once these parts engage over the entire height of the door, the resistance of the safe to an attack by prying increases significantly.

Initially the intruder feels the pry bar move the door inwardly but this first movement is merely the displaceable member yielding to the prying force and in so doing allowing the door to move inwardly behind the door style. Even if the bar is two metres long, one person cannot exert sufficient force to lever the door open. Intruders do not carry bars of such length because they attract attention.

Preferably the safe door has a handle with a link which reacts against the rod or tube of the hinge assembly and a keeper pivoted to the rear face of the door which is operable by handle movement to move the keeper from a position colinear with the link, wherein the keeper engages a hook connected to the body of the safe, and an inclined position wherein the keeper disengages from the hook and allows the door to slide sideways before opening.

There may be two, three or four keepers and a corresponding number of hooks, the keepers being ganged for operation by the same handle.

The latch operation during opening and closing may be refined by arranging sequential motion, namely by having a handle, the motion of which both

(a) imparts sideways slide motion to the door, and

(b) actuates at least one door mounted locking assembly which engage and disengage the body of the safe, wherein

initial handle motion imparts sideways slide motion to the door toward the CLOSED position, whereafter further handle motion causes the locking assembly to lock and

initial handle motion in the opposite direction causes the locking assembly to unlock whereafter further handle motion imparts sideways motion to the door toward the OPEN position.

Preferably the handle has link to a reaction surface on the hinge assembly of the door rotation of which causes the door to slide sideways.

The locking members may be one or more latches which rotate in and out of engagement with a corresponding number of catches on the adjacent body or frame.

Instead of being directly connected to the handle like or latch, the locking assembly may include a connecting link which joins a latch adjacent the edge of the door to the handle which may be more centrally placed. The link may in turn be connected to one or more further links which transfer handle motion to a gang of latches disposed adjacent the door edge. Thus the handle acts like a crank and the link acts like a connecting rod.

The siting of latches along the door edge considerably strengthens resistance to prying.

Such multiplication of movement makes it easy to include locking assemblies with pins which enter and leave the body or frame around the door.

The handle crank may be a disc or plate with an arcuate slot intended for engagement with a pin extending from the latch link. The disc or plate may also have projections intended to be obstructed by one or more locks requiring a key or keypad to operate. These locks control the rotation of the handle and are the point of entry for the operator.

The disc or plate is connected to a reaction link which extends across the width of the door to the hinge assembly where the upright rod or tube acts as a reaction surface. The reaction link enables the operator to impact slide motion to the door, whereas the latch link transfers motion to the latches and pins.

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 view from inside the safe showing the rear face of the door.

Figure 2 is a fragment of Figure 1 showing the door handle and the door latch in the closed, LOCK position.

Figure 3 is the same fragment as Figure 2 with the handle and door latch in the transition position.

Figure 4 is the same fragment as Figure 2 with the handle and door latch in the UNLOCK position showing the door free of the door slot.

Figure 5 is a sectional plan of the safe showing the anti-pry modification to the door with the door edge on the landing surface.

Figure 6 is the same plan as Figure 3 but the door is in the LOCK position.

Figure 7 is the same plan as Figure 2 but with the door in the resistant position after the insertion of a pry bar.

Figure 8 is a sectional plan of a variant showing the latch of Figures 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS

The safe body and door are constructed substantially according to the embodiment described in PCT/AU03/01321. The body has a channel section door style and a closing style which defines a slot into which the door slides once the door has swung into the

CLOSED position. When the door is opened it first slides sideways in order to retract

the closing edge of the door from the slot, whereafter it is free to swing on an offset hinge assembly. In this specification the components which are common to our earlier applications show the same earlier numerals. The components which are extra and comprise the features of this invention are given their own numerals.

Referring now to Figure 1 of the drawings, the door 16 is mounted on door hinges 22 which are carried on vertical steel tube 30. Tube 30 is free to rotate in frame hinges 26. Reaction bar 58 is connected at one end to tube 30 and at the opposite end to link 210. Handle 52 turns disc 212 on an axle which passes through the thickness of door 16. Disc 212 has a profiled slot 214 engaged by the pin 216 of lifter bar 218. When disc 212 is turned by the handle it acts as a crank. Profiled slot 214 is of shallow M shape. The ends of the slot curve downwards and are joined by a central inverted bow. When handle 52 is in LOCK, pin 216 lies in the centre of the central inverted bow.

As reaction bar 58 remains static, the only part which is free to slide is the door 16. Door 16 slides left or right as the operator turns handle 52. The parts shown in the drawing except tube 30 and frame hinges 26 are supported on the rear face of the door.

Lifter bar 218 has a pin 220 which projects into the slot 222 of a vertical extension rod 224. Rod 224 terminates in a pin 226 which shoots into a bore 228 in the safe wall. Rod 224 rides in brackets 228 (see Figure 1). Lifter bar 218 operates upper latch 230 and extension rod 224 operates lower latch 232.

Rotation of the disc 212 lifts the latches through about 80°. The latches each have a cut out which engages a sheet metal bracket 234 of L-section which acts as a catch. The latch has a latch eye 236 for accommodating the arcuate path of the lifter bar 218. The disc has a complimentary bar (not shown) which sends a pin (not shown) into the roof of the safe.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 show only the progress of the upper latch 230 but the motion of the lower latch 232 mimics the motion of the upper latch.

In these figures the door slides from right to left as the door is slid open but an important sequence occurs. When handle 52 rotates anticlockwise out of LOCK, the bow of the slot pushes pin 216 upwards and the lifter bar immediately raises the latch. As handle 52 rotates further, the downwardly curved portion reaches pin 216 and the lifting effect stops but the pin 216 remains where it is while the link 210 drops and the door slides to the left. In Figure 2 the initial rotation of the disc 212 pushes the lifter bar 218 upwards causing immediate raising of the latch. The first few degrees take up the play in the linkage whereupon the latches quickly tilt upwards and disengage from the catches.

Next, further rotation of the disc pulls the door to the right and the door begins to leave the slot but is not yet free to open (see Figure 3).

Still further, rotation of the disc lifts the latches to the position shown in Figure 4 where the latch is clear of the door edge and the door edge is clear of the frame edge leaving the door free to swing open.

The locking sequence is the reverse. The entry of the door edge into the slot is concluded by the latches engaging the catches.

Referring again to Figures 2-4, the disc 212 has a sector with a circumferential proj ection 240 which carries an arcuate stop 242. Projection 240 rotates between the position shown in Figure 2 to reach adjustable stop 244 in Figure 4. Key operated lock 246 obstructs stop 242. So does keyboard operated solenoid 248. This pair of locks permit manual opening by the operator in the event of battery failure between keyboard and solenoid.

When the door is closed the initial handle motion slides the door to the right and when the inclined portion arrives at the pin, the lifter bar drops 216 quickly and the latch 230 engages the catch 234.

The reaction bar 58 is welded to a sleeve which is a slide fit on the upright tube 30 which extends between the frame pivots 26. The frame pivots permit the tube to slide axially

in the pivot which allows spring opposed release of the tube together with the door which it supports through door hinges. This feature is described in PCT/AU06/000982. Accordingly, the door and all the parts connected to the door, namely the handle 52, the handle bracket, the keeper, the lock and the reaction bar, all swing about the vertical axis of tube 30 when the door swings.

The components for the tilting latches, links and levers are economical to manufacture, being made of laser cut plate and reliable, depending only on rotation of a handle. The arrangement is strongly resistant to force applied to the door to make it slide sideways out of the door slot. The latch notch does not leave the hook if the handle is forced because rotation is opposed by lock 102. A wrench cannot apply sufficient force to the circular outside handle to overcome the lock. Hammer blows applied to the handle in a attempt to drive the door toward the hinges are resisted by the keeper.

Attacks with a pry bar at the opening edge of the door are resisted by the feature shown in Figures 3-5 and the variant in Figure 6 described below.

Handle rotation slides the door in and out of the slot 14 because the door is free to utilise the 20mm throw of the hinge assembly.

The door 16 has an outwardly directed hook 250 at the swing end and an inwardly disposed channel at the opposite slot engaging end which forms hook 252.

Vertical wall 254 projects at 90° from the body of the safe to which it is welded and is bent to lie parallel with the plane of the door to form landing surface 154. Vertical wall

254 is tied to the closing style by tie wall 258 and two welds 260, 262. Tie wall 258 prevents the landing surface and the closing style from diverging during a pry bar attack.

The closing style 4 and the landing surface 154 form the sides of the door slot. Tie wall

258 forms the end of the door slot.

Anti-pry feature

Angle bracket 264 made of 1.Omm steel sheet is welded to vertical wall 254 close to the junction with tie wall 258. The bracket is dimensioned to lie in the gap between the landing surface 154 and the wall 258 level with the landing surface 154 but has a step 266 which underlie the landing surface for a few millimetres, hi Figure 1 the door has reached the landing surface and in Figure 2 by rotation of the handle 52 the door has entered the slot 14 and occupies the locked position. Here the hook 252 of the door contacts both the bracket and the landing surface.

It is in this position that the door must withstand a pry bar attack in which the tapered blade of the bar 268 will be thrust between the door face and the closing style 4. The effect of this is shown in Figure 3. The hook lies clear of the landing surface but in register with the gap and the force of the bar causes the channel to deform the angle bracket. Collapse of the bracket into the gap allows the hook 252 to pass behind the landing surface 154. This brings the entire door edge into the pocket 270 formed by the closing style. If the door handle is pulled outwardly, the channel strikes the underside of the landing surface.

When the bar is initially inserted the intruder notices the yielding movement of the door as the brackets collapse but the motion lasts only a few millimetres whereupon the resistance increases steeply. The force of the prying has moved the door to the resistant position that is with the door hooked around the end of the landing surface.

The key holder is able to free the handle by unlocking the door and pulling the door outwardly enabling the door channel to move out of the pocket through the gap and back into the slot. The door is then free to slide toward the swing style.

In Figure 5 the angle bracket is fabricated with a hinge 272. Spring locator 274 locates coil spring 276 which urges step 266 against the underside of landing surface 154.

Crank 278 actuates a tilting latch 280, the notch of which raises and falls to engage L-

shaped bracket 282.

We have found the advantages of the above embodiment to be:

1. The hook and displaceable bracket considerably strengthen the safe against pry bar attack.

2. The extra strength is economical and technically simple to add.

3. The improvement can be used in combination with other features in our co- pending applications such as automatic closing, hook latching and dismountable doors.

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.