Spin-and-click combination dial lock assembly

A resettable, combination dial lock assembly, comprising:

• a housing;
• a shackle moveable relative to the housing between a locked, closed position and an unlocked, open position;
• a dial connected to the housing, the dial or the housing having indicia thereon, a subset of the indicia defining a combination to unlock the lock assembly, the dial being rotatable to positions corresponding to each of the subset of the indicia;
• a selector coupled to the dial;
• a plurality of combination members that rotate upon rotation of the dial, each combination member being associated with a respective one of the subset of indicia comprising the combination;
• and
• a plurality of rotary members coupled to the combination members wherein rotation of the combination members causes rotation of the rotary members, the rotary members and combination members being configured to allow the dial to be rotated in any direction and independent of a number of rotations made by the dial for activation of the selector to select each indicia comprising the combination to unlock the lock assembly.

A method of unlocking a combination dial lock assembly, comprising:

• engaging a dial of the combination dial lock assembly, the combination dial lock assembly having a housing, a shackle in a locked, closed position, indicia on the dial or the housing, and a selector, wherein shackle can be moved to an unlocked, open position upon selecting a subset of the indicia the defines a combination to unlock the assembly;
• rotating the dial in a first direction relative to the housing to a first position corresponding to a first entry of the subset of the indicia;
• selecting with the selector the first entry when the dial is in the first position;
• rotating the dial relative to the housing to a second position corresponding to a second entry of the subset of the indicia;
• selecting with the selector the second entry when the dial is in the second position, the dial being rotatable in either direction to define a second direction to the second entry independent of the first direction and being rotatable directly to the second entry or after one or more full revolutions of the dial relative to the housing to select the second entry;
• rotating the dial relative to the housing to a third position corresponding to a third entry of the subset of the indicia;
• selecting with the selector the third entry when the dial is in the third position, the dial being rotatable in either direction to the third entry independent of the first and second directions and being rotatable directly to the third entry or after one or more full revolutions of the dial relative to the housing to select the third entry;
• and
• moving the shackle from the locked, closed position to the unlocked, open position after sequentially selecting the first, second and third entries.

A resettable, combination dial lock assembly, comprising:

• a housing;
• a resettable locking mechanism in the housing;
• a shackle connected to the locking mechanism and being moveable relative to the housing between closed and open positions;
• a dial rotatably coupled to locking mechanism, the dial having indicia thereon, a subset of the indicia defining a combination to unlock the locking mechanism, the dial being rotatable to positions corresponding to each of the indicia comprising the combination;
• the locking mechanism being moveable from a locked configuration to an unlocked configuration upon rotation of the dial in either direction to the positions corresponding to the combination, in the locked configuration the locking mechanism retains the shackle in the closed position, in the unlocked configuration the locking mechanism is disengagable from the shackle and allows the shackle to move to the open position, the locking mechanism comprising:
• a combination-disc assembly having a drive shaft connected to the dial and being rotatable with the dial, a plurality of combination discs coupled to the drive shaft and being engagable and rotatable with drive shaft upon rotation of the dial, each combination disc being associated with a respective one of the indicia comprising the combination, a first combination disc being movable relative to the drive shaft between engaged and disengaged positions, the first combination disc in the engaged position being rotatable with the dial and drive shaft, the first combination disc in the disengaged position being disengaged from a second combination disc or from the drive shaft and being restricted from rotation relative to the housing while the dial and the drive shaft are rotated;
• a release lever in the housing and coupled to the shackle, the release lever having engaged and released positions, the release lever being in the engaged position when the shackle is in the closed position, the shackle being restricted from moving to the open position when the release lever is in the engaged position, the release lever being moveable to the release position upon entry of the combination by a user, wherein the release lever in the released position allows the shackle to move to the open position;
• a combination change assembly comprising a plurality of rotary members in the housing, the rotary members being in engagement with the combination discs, wherein rotation of the combination discs causes rotation of the rotary members relative to the release lever, each rotary members being associated with a digit of the combination and each rotary members having a receiver alignable with a portion of the release lever when the associated digit of the combination is entered, the rotary members block the release lever from moving from the engaged position to the released position when one or more of the receivers are out of alignment with the portion of the release lever, and the rotary members allow the release lever to move from the engaged position to the released position when all of the receivers are in alignment with the portion of the release lever;
• and
• a selection assembly coupled to the dial and to the combination disc assembly, the selection assembly being activatable to move at least one combination discs to the disengaged position when the dial has been moved to the digit of the combination associated with the at least one combination disc independent of a rotation direction of the dial or a number of rotations made by the dial to move to the digit.