US 2008/0074016 A1Published application

Filing cabinet with a locking system

AssigneeInscape Corporation

InventorsKevin Ashby, David Parshad, Ivan Liu

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Abstract

An external locking mechanism for a filing cabinet incorporating two hinged blocking plates at each side of the cabinet and a locking bar which is movable without removal from attachment to the cabinet to positions such that the blocking plates can be selectively prevented from being moved to unblocked positions or permitted to be moved to unblocked positions.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A filing cabinet comprising:

a framework having two opposite side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall defining a compartment therein having a forward opening;
at least one drawer slidably mounted in said compartment for sliding between a withdrawn position inside the compartment and an extended position in which the drawer extends out of the opening;
a right blocking plate and a left blocking plate each hinged to the framework on the opposite side of said opening, wherein each of said blocking plates is pivotable on a vertical axis between:
(i) a blocked position in the path of the drawer to prevent the drawer from withdrawal from the retracted position;
(ii) an unblocked position out of the path of the drawer to permit withdrawal of a drawer to the extended position;
the framework including a horizontal crossbeam which has ends that are secured to said two opposite side walls proximate the forward opening;
a locking bar comprising a rigid unitary element having a right hand end and a left hand end,
the locking bar mounted to said crossbeam of the framework against removal from the crossbeam and for horizontal sliding movement between, (i) a left most position in which the right side end of the locking bar is laterally inwardly of the right blocking plate such that the right blocking plate is free to be pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the left side end of the locking bar is in a position which is front of the left blocking plate if the left blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the left blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions;
(ii) a right most position in which the left side end of the locking bar is laterally inwardly of the left blocking plate such that the left blocking plate is free to be pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the right side of the locking bar is in a position which is in front of the right blocking plate if the right blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the right blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions;
(iii) a centre position in which the right side of the locking bar is in a position which is in front of the right blocking plate if the right blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the right blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the left side end of the locking bar is in a position which is front of the left blocking plate if the left blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the left blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions,
a locking mechanism to releasably lock the locking bar in the centre position,
wherein with the drawer in the retracted position and the locking bar in the centre position with the left blocking plate in the blocked position and the right blocking plate in the blocked position, the drawer prevented from withdrawal from the retracted position, and
wherein with the locking bar in the centre position with the left blocking plate in the unblocked position and the right blocking plate in the unblocked position, the drawer is movable between the retracted position and the extended position.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/889,847Filed 16 Aug 2007
Priority: CA 2,475,83528 Jul 2004
Published: 27 Mar 2008
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification2 codes

E05B 65/467
For two or more drawers: locking bars secured in front of the drawers
E05B
Locks

Family

Application10/969,671Continuation in part · filed 21 Oct 2004
Application11/889,847Continuation in part · filed 16 Aug 2007
US 2006/0022560 A1Published application
US 7,784,886 B2Related patent
US 2008/0074016 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

A filing cabinet comprising:

a framework having two opposite side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall defining a compartment therein having a forward opening;
at least one drawer slidably mounted in said compartment for sliding between a withdrawn position inside the compartment and an extended position in which the drawer extends out of the opening;
a right blocking plate and a left blocking plate each hinged to the framework on the opposite side of said opening, wherein each of said blocking plates is pivotable on a vertical axis between:
(i) a blocked position in the path of the drawer to prevent the drawer from withdrawal from the retracted position;
(ii) an unblocked position out of the path of the drawer to permit withdrawal of a drawer to the extended position;
the framework including a horizontal crossbeam which has ends that are secured to said two opposite side walls proximate the forward opening;
a locking bar comprising a rigid unitary element having a right hand end and a left hand end,
the locking bar mounted to said crossbeam of the framework against removal from the crossbeam and for horizontal sliding movement between, (i) a left most position in which the right side end of the locking bar is laterally inwardly of the right blocking plate such that the right blocking plate is free to be pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the left side end of the locking bar is in a position which is front of the left blocking plate if the left blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the left blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions;
(ii) a right most position in which the left side end of the locking bar is laterally inwardly of the left blocking plate such that the left blocking plate is free to be pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the right side of the locking bar is in a position which is in front of the right blocking plate if the right blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the right blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions;
(iii) a centre position in which the right side of the locking bar is in a position which is in front of the right blocking plate if the right blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the right blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions and the left side end of the locking bar is in a position which is front of the left blocking plate if the left blocking plate were in the blocked position preventing the left blocking plate from being pivoted between the blocked and the unblocked positions,
a locking mechanism to releasably lock the locking bar in the centre position,
wherein with the drawer in the retracted position and the locking bar in the centre position with the left blocking plate in the blocked position and the right blocking plate in the blocked position, the drawer prevented from withdrawal from the retracted position, and
wherein with the locking bar in the centre position with the left blocking plate in the unblocked position and the right blocking plate in the unblocked position, the drawer is movable between the retracted position and the extended position.

10 more elements