Security seal and lock
AssigneeE. J. Brooks Company
InventorsGeorge Georgopoulos, Richard C. Dreisbach
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seal and lock includes a flexible metal cable held permanently at one end in a housing, the other end being insertable through the housing and is locked therein by a spring-biased ball which wedges against the cable upon an attempt to pull the cable from the housing. A second ball is located between the spring and the first-mentioned ball, and wedges against the cable to further prevent removal thereof and to prevent twisting of the cable as a way of removing the cable from the housing. The second ball is of sufficiently soft material so that the cable when pulled digs into the second ball to increase the jamming force against the cable.
Claims12
A security seal and lock for a lockable assembly, which comprises:
- a robust housing having a path with a first end and a second end formed therethrough, the housing also having a generally cylindrical cavity which extends generally along and intersects the path, the zone of intersection of the path and the cavity constituting a chamber, the transverse dimension of the chamber decreasing in the direction of the first path end;
- a flexible metal cable, a first end of which is held in the housing and a second end of which is selectively insertable through the lockable assembly and then through the first path end and out of the second path end so that the lockable assembly is sealed and locked by the resulting cable loop;
- a ball in the chamber;
- means in the chamber for biasing the ball toward the first path end, insertion of the second cable end into the first path end causing the cable to engage the ball and to move the ball against the action of the biasing means and away from the first path end to permit the second cable end to move along the path and out of the second path end, an attempt to reversely move the cable causing the action of the biasing means and the force of the cable on the ball to move the ball toward the first path end thereby jamming the ball against the wall of the chamber and the cable to prevent withdrawal of the cable;
- and
- means located between the biasing means and the ball and responsive to twisting of the cable incident to an attempt to withdraw the cable from the passage for increasing the jamming force on the cable.
An improved security seal and lock of the type which includes (a) a flexible metal cable, a first end of which is held in a metal housing and a second end of which is selectively insertable through a lockable assembly and then through a first end and out of a second end of a path through the housing so that the assembly is sealed and locked by the resulting cable loop and (b) a one-way facility within the housing, the facility including a generally cylindrical cavity which extends generally along and is intersected by the path so that the path and the cavity constitute a chamber, the transverse dimension of which chamber decreases in the direction of the first path end, and a ball in the chamber which is biased by a spring member toward the first path end;
- insertion of the second cable end into the first path end causing the cable to engage the ball and move the ball against the bias and away from the first path end to permit the second cable end to move along the path and out of its second end, an attempt to reversely move the cable causing the bias and the drag force of the cable on the ball to move the ball toward the first path end thereby jamming the ball against the chamber and the cable to prevent withdrawal of the cable;
- wherein the improvement comprises:
- means located between the spring member and the ball and responsive to twisting of the cable incident to an attempt to withdraw the cable from the passage for increasing the jamming force on the cable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.