Locking device for a retractable pull-handle system
AssigneeChaw Khong Co., Ltd.
InventorChung Hsien Kuo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A locking means for locking an inner tube to an outer tube by using a vertical sliding block and a horizontal sliding block which are intimately matched together so that a vertical motion of the vertical sliding block can be transformed into a horizontal motion of a locking pin for locking or unlocking the tubes is disclosed. The invention further discloses a retractable pull-handle system that contains such a locking mechanism for use on wheeled luggage cases. Inclined surfaces are provided on the vertical and the horizontal sliding blocks such that when they are intimately mated together in a lock housing, vertical movement of a pull cable can be converted to horizontal movement of a locking pin.
Claims14
A retractable pull-handle system comprising:
- a pair of inner tubes,
- a pair of parallely positioned and spaced-apart support tubes, each of said support tubes comprises an open upper end and an interior cavity adapted for accepting an inner tube to slide freely therein when said inner tube is not locked to said support tube,
- a pull handle connected to upper ends of said pair of inner tubes, and
- a locking means comprises:
- an aperture provided in said support tube for receiving a locking pin, and
- a locking mechanism fixedly positioned in each of said inner tubes comprising a housing member having an open front and a vertical slot, said vertical slot being equipped with an open top and a horizontal slot near its center;
- a vertical sliding member for sliding in said vertical slot, a center portion of said vertical sliding member being equipped with a slanted rib section adapted for engaging a horizontal sliding member;
- and the horizontal sliding member for sliding in said horizontal slot equipped with a locking pin on a surface facing said open front of the housing member and a slanted slot having inclined surfaces for intimately engaging said slanted rib section on said vertical sliding member such that a vertical motion of said vertical sliding block is transformed into a horizontal motion of said horizontal sliding block for penetrating or retracting said locking pin into or from said aperture situated in said support tube and thus locking or unlocking said pull-handle system.
A locking means for locking an inner tube to an outer tube comprising:
- an inner tube and an outer tube,
- an aperture in said outer tube adapted for receiving a locking pin, and
- a locking device fixedly positioned in said inner tube comprising:
- a lock housing equipped with an open front, an open top, a vertical slot and a horizontal slot intersecting said vertical slot,
- a vertical sliding member for sliding in said vertical slot and for engaging a horizontal sliding member by a slanted slot opening defined by a trapezoid having two parallel inclined surfaces provided on said vertical sliding member,
- a horizontal sliding member for sliding in said horizontal slot and having inclined surfaces corresponding to and intimately engaging the inclined surfaces of the slanted slot opening, and
- a locking pin provided on a surface of said horizontal sliding member facing said open front of the lock housing for engaging said aperture in the outer tube,
- whereby a vertical motion of said vertical sliding block is transformed into a horizontal motion of said horizontal sliding block such that said locking pin is pushed forward or retracted backward from said aperture in said outer tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.