Magneto-mechanical locking device

• US 7,267,378 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2005
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Drumm GmbH
• Original Assignee: Drumm GmbH
• Inventors: Drumm, Klaus Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Lugo; Carlos
• Application Number:
  US11/229,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20060049645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: 292/251.5, 292/DIG.60, 702/76, 243/03
• US Class Current: 292/251.5
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 63/20 released automatically when the wing is closed for panic door locks of the vertical rod type E05B65/1013
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 19/163 a movable bolt being held in the striker by a permanent magnet
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 19/168 a movable bolt being electromagnetically held in the striker by electromagnetic attraction
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 9/08 with a rotary bar for actuating the fastening means E05B83/10 and E05B65/468 take precedence; for a plurality of drawers E05B65/465
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 292/60 Adjustment provisions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/11 Magnetic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/7057 Permanent magnet

Abstract

A magneto-mechanical locking device for locking a door can be displaced in relation to a stationary frame. The locking device contains a locking element produced from a magnetizable material and disposed on the frame. The locking device further has a permanent magnet that is mounted on the door and can be twisted from a first release position, in which the locking element is subject to substantially no action of magnetic force, to a second locking position, in which the locking element is attracted by the action of magnetic force of the permanent magnet and locks the door.

Claims

1. A magneto-mechanical locking device on a movable door disposed opposite a stationary frame comprising:

a locking element disposed on the stationary frame and made from a magnetizable material;

a permanent magnet accommodated on the door, said permanent magnet being rotatable from a first release position where substantially no magnetic force effect is exerted on said locking element, to a second latching position where said locking element is attracted by a magnetic force effect of said permanent magnet for locking the door; and

said locking element having projections for engaging, in the second latching position, in associated receptacles of the door for producing an interlocking connection.

2. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein said projections are formed as pins or tabs, which engage in the associated receptacles of the door being either holes or grooves in the door.

3. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein said locking element is formed as a striking plate being movable relative to the stationary frame and forms, in the second latching position, a connection being either a force-fitting connection or an interlocking connection with said permanent magnet, said connection locking the door.

4. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein said locking element is a locking bolt and the stationary frame has a guide formed therein in which said locking bolt is received and linearly moves in said guide.

5. The locking device according to claim 1, further comprising further permanent magnets, which produce less magnetic effect than said permanent magnet in the second latching position and, in the first release position, move said locking element away from the door while canceling a latching effect, said further permanent magnets disposed on the stationary frame on that side of said locking element which is remote from the door.

6. The locking device according to claim 1, further comprising a spring-elastic device for forcing said locking element away from the door.

7. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein said permanent magnet is a substantially rod-shaped magnet polarized in a direction extending substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said permanent magnet.

8. The locking device according to claim 7, further comprising a housing substantially closed in a circumferential direction and made from a further magnetizable material, said rod-shaped magnet disposed in said housing.

9. The locking device according to claim 8, wherein said housing has a cutout formed therein, and in the second latching position, said locking element engages in said cutout.

10. The locking device according to claim 8, wherein said housing has a cylindrical hole formed therein, and said permanent magnet is accommodated in said cylindrical hole such that it can be rotated.

11. The locking device according to claim 8, wherein said longitudinal axis of said permanent magnet extends substantially perpendicular to a plane of the door.

12. The locking device according to claim 7, further comprising an actuating element driving said permanent magnet, said actuating element can rotate and grips said permanent magnet in a region of its center of rotation.

13. The looking device according to claim 12, wherein said actuating element is formed by at least one device selected from the group-consisting of a knob disposed on an outside of the door, a protective fitting, an electromechanically lockable coupling and a locking cylinder accommodated on the door.

14. The locking device according to claim 7, wherein said longitudinal axis of said rod-shaped magnet extends substantially parallel to a door edge in a vertical or horizontal direction.

15. The locking device according to claim 14, further comprising a gear mechanism for driving said permanent magnet.

16. The locking device according to claim 1, wherein said permanent magnet is one of at least two permanent magnets having shafts for coupling to one another, such that said permanent magnets are fixed against rotation.

17. The locking device according to claim 1, further comprising a self-latching mechanism for automatically rotating said permanent magnet from the first release position to the second latching position when the door is closed.

18. The locking device according to claim 17, wherein:

said self-latching mechanism has a toothed wheel coupled to said permanent magnet; and

said self-latching mechanism contains a toothed rack accommodated in a region of a door edge, can move relative to the door, is in toothed engagement with said toothed wheel and is moved in a direction of the stationary frame once the door has been closed, owing to an influence of the magnetic force effect and, in the process, rotates said permanent magnet to the second latching position.

19. The locking device according claim 18, further comprising a third permanent magnet for producing the magnetic force effect, said third permanent magnet is fixed to said toothed rack and Interacts with said locking element and/or a magnetizable part of the stationary frame.

20. The locking device according to claim 8, further comprising an electrical coil disposed around said permanent magnet and, owing to said electrical coil, said permanent magnet can be rotated between the second latching position and the first release position depending on a direction of an electrical current flowing through said electric coil.

21. The locking device according to claim 1, further comprising a transverse bolt accommodated on the door, said transverse bolt being displaceable in a transverse direction with respect to the door and interacting with said permanent magnet such that said transverse bolt is likewise moved to a latching position when said permanent magnet is rotated from the first release position to the second latching position, as a result of a magnetic force effect.

22. The locking device according to claim 15, wherein said gear mechanism is a bevel gear mechanism.