Locking system including a customized padlock guard

A burglar-resistant locking system for closure means of protected premises which locking system utilizes apertured staple means associated with the closure means and a padlock of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,821 for cooperating with said staple means, and which padlock includes a substantially cylindrical housing with flat front and back faces and a circular peripheral face, an axial channel extending inwardly from the back face of the housing toward the front face thereof but terminating short of the latter and being dimensioned to accommodate said staple means, a diametrical passageway extending inwardly from one part of the peripheral face of the housing toward but terminating short of the diametrically opposite part of the peripheral face and intersecting the axial channel substantially medially of the housing, a key cylinder axially and rotatably slidably arranged in the diametrical passageway and having opposite ends directed outwardly and inwardly of the housing, and a bolt carried by the key cylinder at its inwardly directed end and adapted to be reciprocally moved by the latter upon manipulation thereof with the aid of a key so as to be selectively protracted across and retracted away from the axial channel and thereby into and out of the apertured staple means when the same are received in the axial channel;

• wherein the improvement comprises a guard for the padlock, and means for supporting the guard in a predetermined relationship to said staple means;
• (a) said guard having the form of a high strength and distortion-resistant substantially cylindrical hollow shell of metal or metal alloy, said shell having (i) circumferential front and back edges, (ii) an inner diameter slightly greater than the diameter of said peripheral face of the housing of the padlock so as to enable the latter to be axially inserted into and removed from the shell with a nearly sliding fit, (iii) an axial width between its front and back edges somewhat greater than the thickness of the padlock between said front and back faces of the latter, and (iv) a gap in its circumference defined between two axially extending circumferentially spaced edges, the width of said gap being slightly greater than the diameter of the key cylinder of the padlock;
• and
• (b) said supporting means having (i) a member of metal or metal alloy with a flat front surface, (ii) an opening in said member for accommodating said staple means, and (iii) said guard welded along said circumferential back edge thereof to said member at said front surface of the latter in substantially symmetrically surrounding relation to said opening in said member and with said gap located so as to accommodate the key cylinder of the padlock only when the axial passageway in the housing of the padlock is properly aligned with and able to receive said staple means upon insertion of the padlock into said guard;
• (c) whereby, when the padlock is inserted into said guard and has said staple means received in said axial channel of the padlock and the key cylinder is operated to protract the bolt of the padlock through the apertured staple means and to lock the protracted bolt in position, the locking system is rendered resistant to rapid and noise-free destruction of the staple means and the bolt of the padlock.