Mechanism usable with locks and two applications wherein said mechanism is used

A locking mechanism which comprises two prismatic members with parallel longitudinal axes and front and rear bases perpendicular thereto, one of which members, named plug, being slidably received into a longitudinal cavity of the other member named body, which plug has a transverse recess extending from one of the plug side faces to nearly reach an opposite face thereof and a longitudinal channel extending from the front face of the plug to communicate with said recess at a position adjacent to the bottom thereof, said cavity having a hole at one end thereof with a cross section smaller then the plug, an extension of the plug being slidably fitted through said hole and a spring being wound around said extension between the rear end of the plug and a shoulder of said body around said hole;

• a receptacle extending transversely from the inner surface of said cavity into said body, said recess and said receptacle having apertures of identical size and shape on reciprocally engaging surfaces of said plug and of said body, two sets of plates in identical number in side-by-side relation parallel to the plug longitudinal axis being received one set into said recess and the other into said receptacle, the plates of the two sets being individually slidable in a direction transverse to said plug and having all the same cross section in a plane perpendicular to said direction, the plates in said recess having different dimensions in said direction, each of them having the corner adjacent to said channel bevelled along a plane perpendicular to the plate plane, the plates in said receptacle having all the same dimensions and being each provided with a lug adapted for engaging a shoulder of said body within said receptacle and being each urged by a spring to move towards said plug;
• a key made up of as many bars as are the plates of one of said sets which bars have all the same height and thickness, this being the same as said plates, but different lengths, one end of each bar being bevelled along the same plane as said corners of the plates in said recess;
• said bars being removably assembled together in side-by-side relation to form a bundle adapted to fit into said channel of said plug;
• the lengths of said bars being such that when the key is fully inserted into said channel the upper edges of the plates in said recess are brought to the level of the interface between said body and said plug.