US 5,960,653 AGranted

Adjustable closure lock

OwnerNorman Binz DeWalch, Jeffrey Mark Davisinventors

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Abstract

A door closure for an electric meter box comprises a barrel lock, a lock receiver, a tie rod, a locking nut, and a base plate. The lock includes a shank portion, a head portion, and a flange. The head portion resides in a hole in the meter box door, and the flange captures the outside surface of the door. The lock shank is received by a hole in one end of the lock receiver. The hole has an internal groove for receiving the locking balls in the lock shank. The other end of the lock receiver receives the threaded end of a tie rod. The other end of the tie rod is welded to a base plate, which is screwed into the back of the meter box. The position of the lock receiver can be adjusted to match the depth of the meter box by screwing the receiver up or down on the tie rod. The position of the receiver is then fixed by a lock nut immediately behind the lock receiver. The lock receiver can also be aligned with the door hole by flexing the tie rod.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A door closure for retaining a door in a prescribed position relative to a base structure, said door defining a plane and having an aperture therethrough, said door closure comprising:

(a) a barrel lock for residing partially in said aperture in said door and oriented generally perpendicularly to the plane of said door, said barrel lock comprising:
(i) a generally cylindrical external case having a head portion and a smaller diameter shank portion;
(ii) locking means retractably extending outwardly from said shank portion;
and
(iii) a flange on said head portion of said external case, said flange being shaped so as to prevent passage of said barrel lock through said aperture in said door;
(b) a lock receiving member having engaging means for engaging said locking means of said barrel lock;
and
(c) attaching means for attaching said lock receiving member to said base structure, said attaching means being mountable to said base structure, said attaching means comprising:
(i) a first adjusting means for adjusting the position of said lock receiving member along a line generally perpendicular to the plane of said door without remounting said attaching means, and
(ii) a second adjusting means comprising an elongate flexible member having first and second ends, said first end being attached to said lock receiving member and said second end being adapted for mounting on said base structure, said flexible member being configured such that flexure of said flexible member results in movement of said lock receiving member generally in the plane of said door.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.