Magnetically enhanced key and lock system

Abstract

The magnetic anti-tampering system of the magnetically enhanced key and lock system provides a mechanical and magnetic security system. It utilizes a modified paracentric key and a locking assembly affixed to a component inside of a paracentric lock. The magnetically enhanced key and lock system increases the security of a pair centric lock by defeating the unauthorized operation of pair centric locks by unauthorized users, such as inmates, who have fabricated copies of the authentic, paracentric keys. Paracentric locks and keys are the most common type of locks used in jails, state prisons, and detention facilities. The locking system requires that both the teeth of the key and the magnetic pairs of the key and locking dog combine to open the lock.

Claims

1. A magnetic, anti-tampering locking device comprising: a lock comprising a case with a generally hollow interior and a tumbler set inside of side hollow case; said case attached to a wall or a door; said case having a bolt aperture; a lock bolt sized to slide through said bolt aperture; a tumbler set having a multiplicity of levers, wherein said tumbler set is rotatably attached in the interior of said case and wherein if a lever is not positioned correctly said lock bolt is held from sliding through said bolt aperture; a key cylinder mechanically engaged with said tumbler set; a key having teeth, wherein said key is insertable into said key cylinder and wherein if the key is turned the key's teeth act to position the levers; a locking assembly inside of said case, said locking assembly further comprising a carriage and a locking dog; said locking dog rotatably attached to said carriage, and wherein said locking dog has a multiplicity of locking dog magnets attached; a compression spring positioned such that said compression spring maintains constant positive pressure on said locking dog such that said locking dog holds said key cylinder in a locked position; said key further comprised of a multiplicity of key magnets said key magnets being paired with said locking dog magnets, and wherein said poles of said pairs are of the same polarity; wherein the repellent power of said magnet pairs sufficient to rotate said locking dog against said compression spring allowing said key cylinder to move to an unlocked position; and wherein in order to unlock said locking device said key teeth must position said levers in a given position and said magnet pairs must rotate said locking dog.

2. The magnetic, anti-tampering locking device comprising of claim 1, wherein said locking dog magnets and said key magnets are neodymium type magnets.

3. The magnetic, anti-tampering locking device comprising of claim 1, wherein said locking dog magnets are embedded in said locking dog and said key magnets are embedded in said key.

4. The magnetic, anti-tampering locking device comprising of claim 1, wherein there are a greater number of said key magnets than said locking dog magnets, and wherein only those key magnets that pair with said locking dog magnets act to rotate said locking dog.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective, exploded view of lever tumbler lock.

(2) FIG. 2 is a perspective, exploded view of the locking assembly.

(3) FIG. 3a is a perspective view of the locking assembly attached to the lock bolt.

(4) FIG. 3b is a perspective, cutaway view of the carriage assembly illustrating the locked position.

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective, cutaway view of the carriage assembly illustrating the unlocked position.

(6) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a paracentric key with embedded magnets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(7) Referring to the figures, FIG. 1 illustrates the parts of a lever tumbler, magnetic paracentric lock 10. The magnetic paracentric lock 10 has a lock case 20 that has a generally hollow interior. The lock case 20 has a back 22 and sides 24 that enclose most of the sides of the lever tumbler lock 10. The lock case 20 has attachment apertures 34 in the back 22 that allow the lever tumbler lock 10 to be attached to a wall or door using fasteners 36, such as screws, bolts, welds, or other attachment means as are well-known in the industry.

(8) The lock case 20 has a bolt aperture 26 that is sized to allow a lock bolt 28 to slide through. The lock bolt 28 has an engagement end 30 and a locking end 32. The engagement end 30 is generally thicker than the locking end 32. The engagement end 30 is sized to slide through the bolt aperture 26. Ideally, the tolerance between the engagement end 30 and the bolt aperture 26 is kept to a minimum. The locking end 32 has a horizontal rail 38 attached that extends generally perpendicularly to the lock bolt 28.

(9) A tumbler set 40 is also rotatably attached in the interior of the lock case 20. The tumbler set 40 is comprised of a multiplicity of levers 42. Each lever 42 is generally rectangularly shaped with a first end 42a that is rotatably attached to the interior of the lock case 20. The first end 42 a is also attached to a spring mechanism 44 that when engaged with the interior of a lock case 20 side 24, tends to urge the second end 42b of the lever 42 toward a locked position. The second end 42b has and activation cutout 46 that has a channel 50 through the front of the second end 42b that is sized to allow the horizontal rail 38 to move horizontally through the activation cutout 46 and channel 50, consequently allowing the lock bolt 28 to slide through the bolt aperture 26 so as to lock or unlock the subject door. Interior to the activation cutout 46 is a stop cutout 48 that is sized to allow the horizontal rail 38 to move vertically to a position away from the channel 50.

(10) Thus, if a lever 42 is raised too high, or lowered too low, then the channel 50 will not line up with the horizontal rail 38 and the stop cutout 48 holds the lock bolt 28 from sliding through the bolt aperture 26. If all of these levers 42 are set to the correct position (presumably by the teeth of a key 100) then the horizontal rail 38 will line up with the channel 50 allowing the lock bolt 28 to slide through the bolt aperture 26.

(11) Mechanically engaged with the tumbler set 40 is a key cylinder 60. The key cylinder 60 works similarly to the pin tumbler lock with the Bible and plug as described above except that instead of moving the pins, a key 100 turns and its teeth act to position the levers 42.

(12) The lock bolt 28, tumbler set 40, and key cylinder 60 are enclosed in the interior of the lock case 20 by a lock cover 70 which is attached by fasteners 36 to the lock case 20. The lock cover 70 has a key aperture 72 that allows access with a key 100 to the key cylinder 60. The key aperture 72 may be shaped and sized in order to admit a paracentric key 100.

(13) FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the magnetic locking assembly 80. The magnetic locking assembly 80 also fits in the interior of the lock case 20. The magnetic locking assembly 80 is comprised of magnets 82. These magnets 82 are anticipated to be neodymium type magnets, but are not required to be. Neodymium refers to magnets that are a type of rare-earth magnet. They are considered a permanent magnet made for the alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron. Permanent magnets are those made from materials that are magnetized and create their own persistent magnetic fields. The neodymium magnets 82 are embedded in a locking dog 84. The locking dog 84 is attached to a locking carriage 86 by means of a pin or second fastener 90. A connecting bracket 88 is connected to the locking carriage 86 opposite from the locking dog 84. A third fastener 92 connects the connecting bracket 88 and locking carriage 86 to the lock bolt 28 in the interior of the lock case 20. The locking assembly 80 holds the neodymium magnets 82 in magnetic communication with a magnetic key 100 inserted into the key cylinder 60. The pin or second fastener 90 may be a hardened steel pin. The pin or second fastener 90 allows the locking dog 84 to rotate or rock while connected to the locking carriage 86. A compression spring 94 is secured to the locking carriage 86 by the third fastener 92.

(14) FIG. 3a shows the positioning of the locking assembly 80 attached to the lock bolt 28.

(15) FIG. 3b illustrates how the connecting bracket 88 allows the locking assembly 80 to move in a linear motion with the lock bolt 28 as the key cylinder 60 rotates. The compression spring 94 is positioned such that it maintains constant positive pressure on the locking dog 84 and keeping the key cylinder 60 in the locked position until unlocked with the correct magnified key 100.

(16) FIG. 4 illustrates how when the locking dog 84 is moved to the unlocked position by use of a magnetized paracentric key 100, the key cylinder 60 is allowed to rotate and unlock the lock.

(17) FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of a magnetic paracentric key 100. The basic parts of a key include a head or bow which provide a portion of the key for the user to hold, a shank or blade across which are the millings, grooves, bits, teeth and the like that are specific for a lock, a at the junction of the bow and blade controls how much of the blade will enter a lock, and the tip at the opposite end of the shank from the bow. In FIG. 5, a portion of the shank 102 is illustrated with bits 104 and groove 108 that can be made specific for an individual paracentric key cylinder 60. In order to make the magnetic paracentric key 100 specific to a magnetic paracentric lock 10, key magnets 110 are embedded in the shank 102 of the magnetic paracentric key 100. As with the magnets 82 embedded in the locking dog 84, the key magnets 110 are anticipated, but not required, to be neodymium type, permanent magnets. The key magnets 110 are embedded in predetermined locations along the shank 102 in the area between the key stop (not shown) to the tip 106. The key magnets 110 are inserted in order that one of their two (2) magnetic poles is exposed at the surface of the shank 102. The number of magnets 82 and key magnets 110 may vary, but generally is anticipated that there will be at least three (3) magnet 82/key magnet 110 pairs. The magnet 82/key magnet 110 pairs are generally paired and positioned such that the adjoining poles of the pairs are the same polarityrepelling each other. While fewer pairs could be used if the magnets were of sufficient strength, it is desirable to use a multiplicity of pairs to increase the interaction between the magnet pairs as well as making a legitimate copy of the magnetic paracentric key 100 more difficult. It is anticipated that there may be more key magnets 110 embedded in the magnetic paracentric key 100 and there are magnets 82 embedded in the locking dog 84. The paired magnetsthose that are involved in repelling the locking dog 84 to the unlocked positionare referred to as active magnets and those that are not are referred to as passive magnets. Once the active magnets of a magnetic paracentric key 100 are fully inserted into a paired magnetic paracentric lock 10, the active key magnets 110 align with the magnets 82 embedded in the locking dog 84, thus paired the locking dog 84 will be repelled against the urging of the spring 94 and moved to the unlocked position. When the locking dog 84 is in the unlocked position the key 100 and key cylinder 60 are allowed to rotate and unlock the lock 10. When the correct, active key magnets 110 are not inserted with the key 100 in the key cylinder 60, the spring 94 urges the locking dog 84 against the key cylinder 60 keeping it from rotating and unlocking the lock 10. Thus, even if a key with its teeth, bits and grooves is otherwise shaped correctly, it will not turn the key cylinder 60 if the magnets 82 and active key magnets 110 are not positioned and paired correctly. The order of the magnetic poles expose along the shank 102 of the key 100 is referred to as the magnetic sequence combination. This design feature allows for multiple magnetic sequence combinations for keys with the same keyway (lateral grooves) and combination (key cuts). In a prison setting where the present invention is anticipated to be employed the magnetic pairs and sequence can frustrate an inmate who otherwise might be able to illegally duplicate the physical shape of the key 100.

(18) Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.