Combination lock
OwnerJerry L. Mattsoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A combination lock having a plurality of rotatable tumblers, a knob for positioning the tumblers, a bolt, a bolt cam for operating the bolt to unlock the lock upon proper positioning of the rotatable tumblers by proper clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation of the knob, and locking means for preventing said bolt cam from operating the bolt prior to proper positioning of the rotatable tumblers. According to a preferred embodiment the locking means includes a floating pin unconnected to any structure but moveable within the lock structure between positions preventing and permitting movement of the bolt cam and the knob is longitudinally moveable to engage the bolt cam for operation of the bolt.
Claims11
A combination lock comprising, in combination:
- (A) a bolt moveable between a locked and an unlocked position;
- (B) a bolt cam for moving said bolt between said locked and unlocked positions;
- (C) a plurality of tumblers each having a gate and which gates are collectively alignable to form an unlocking cage and when so aligned correspond to an open position of the lock;
- (D) knob means for dialing the lock combination to align said gates and for operating said bolt cam to open said lock, said knob being longitudinally positionable along its axis of rotation between one position for a bolt cam operating mode of movement and another position for a tumbler driving mode of movement;
- and
- (E) free floating locking means for preventing said bolt cam from moving said bolt prior to alignment of said gates having formed an unlocking cage but cooperating with said unlocking cage formed by alignment of said gates to release said bolt cam for movement of said bolt to unlock the lock upon said knob having been initially rotated through the proper sequence of clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations and thereafter moved to operate said bolt cam which in turn moves said bolt to said unlocked position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.