Two-piece key assembly
AssigneeThe Hillman Group, Inc.
InventorsPhillip Gerlings, Michael James Schmidt, Gary Edward Will, Bryan K. Solace
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A key assembly is disclosed. The key assembly may have a blade with a head portion, a shank, and a transition region connecting the head portion to the shank. The key assembly may also have a head configured to receive the blade. The head may have a shoulder located at the transition region to limit engagement of the head with the blade, and at least one tang located at an end of the head opposite the shoulder. The at least one tang may be configured to engage a recess located within a side of the head portion and inhibit removal of the head from the blade.
Claims13
A key blank inventory system, comprising:
- a plurality of different key blades;
- and
- a plurality of different key heads, each of the plurality of different key heads being configured to receive each of the plurality of different key blades,
- wherein:
- a first subset of the plurality of different key heads is inhibited from being removed from the plurality of different key blades after assembly without physical alteration of the first subset of the plurality of different key heads;
- and
- a second subset of the plurality of different key heads is removable from the plurality of different key blades after assembly without physical alteration of the second subset of the plurality of different key heads that renders the second subset of the plurality of different key heads non-reusable.
A key blank inventory system, comprising:
- a plurality of key blades;
- and
- a first plurality of key heads configured to permanently connect with the plurality of key blades;
- and
- a second plurality of key heads configured to removably connect with the plurality of key blades,
- wherein each of the second plurality of key heads includes a transponder chip.
A key blank inventory system, comprising:
- a key blade;
- a key head configured to receive the key blade in a single direction and lock onto the key blade in multiple orientations, wherein the key head is configured to deform when receiving the key blade;
- and
- a second key head configured to receive the key blade without deforming.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.