LOCK

Abstract

The invention relates to a lock comprising a locking mechanism that has a latch that can be moved between a locking position, which is provided for securing a counter-piece movable relative to the locking mechanism, and an unlocking position provided for releasing the counter-piece, and an actuation element for manually moving the latch into the unlocking position.

Claims

1. A lock comprising: a locking mechanism that has a latch that can be moved between a locking position, which is provided for securing a counter-piece movable relative to the locking mechanism, and an unlocking position provided for releasing the counter-piece; an actuation element for manually moving the latch into the unlocking position; and a coupling pin which is movably supported at the latch and with which the actuation element can be selectively brought into engagement.

2. The lock according to claim 1, wherein the direction of movement of the actuation element is oriented at least substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the latch.

3. The lock according to claim 1, wherein the direction of movement of the coupling pin is oriented at least substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the latch and/or at least substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the actuation element.

4. The lock according to claim 1, wherein the latch has at least one recess for receiving the coupling pin.

5. The lock according to claim 1, wherein the actuation element, in particular a slanted control surface of the actuation element, and the coupling pin form a ramp mechanism for converting a movement of the actuation element into a movement of the latch.

6. The lock according to claim 1, further comprising a control element for moving the coupling pin.

7. The lock according to claim 6, wherein the control element for moving the coupling pin is for selectively activating or deactivating a ramp mechanism comprising the actuation element and the coupling pin.

8. The lock according to claim 6, further comprising at least one actuator for actuating the control element.

9. The lock according to claim 1, wherein the latch can be brought from the locking position into the unlocking position against a return force of a spring.

10. The lock according to claim 1, further comprising a blocking element that is adjustable between a blocking position, in which the latch is blocked in its locking position, and a release position in which the latch is movable into its unlocking position.

11. The lock according to claim 10, wherein the blocking element is formed at the control element or is formed by the coupling pin.

12. The lock according to claim 10, wherein the blocking element, in its blocking position, is in engagement with a component of the lock.

13. The lock according to claim 12, wherein the component of the lock is a non-movable component.

14. The lock according to claim 12, wherein the component of the lock is a housing of the lock.

15. The lock according to claim 1, further comprising a detection device for detecting the adoption of the locking position by the latch.

16. The lock according to claim 15, wherein the detection device comprises an actuator for adjusting a blocking element that is adjustable between a blocking position, in which the latch is blocked in its locking position, and a release position in which the latch is movable into its unlocking position.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0027] The invention will be described in the following purely by way of example with reference to possible embodiments and to the enclosed drawing. There are shown:

[0028] FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a lock according to the invention with a deactivated ramp mechanism;

[0029] FIG. 1B illustrates the lock of FIG. 1A with a partly broken-open latch;

[0030] FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the lock of FIG. 1A with an activated ramp mechanism;

[0031] FIG. 2B shows the view of FIG. 2A with a partly broken-open latch;

[0032] FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the lock of FIG. 1A with an activated ramp mechanism and an actuated actuation element;

[0033] FIG. 3B shows the view of FIG. 3A with a partly broken-open latch;

[0034] FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a lock according to the invention with a deactivated ramp mechanism;

[0035] FIG. 4B illustrates the lock of FIG. 4A with a partly broken-open latch;

[0036] FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the lock of FIG. 4A with an activated ramp mechanism;

[0037] FIG. 5B shows the view of FIG. 5A with a partly broken-open latch;

[0038] FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the lock of FIG. 4A with an activated ramp mechanism and an actuated actuation element; and

[0039] FIG. 6B shows the view of FIG. 6A with a partly broken-open latch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0040] A first embodiment of a lock 10, in particular for an electric bicycle and, for example, for securing an energy store at the electric bicycle, is shown in FIGS. 1A to 3B. However, the lock 10 can generally also be used to lock doors, windows, drawers, transport boxes, containers or generally as a replacement for a mechanical lock. The lock 10 comprises a locking mechanism comprising a latch 12 that has a locking section 12.1. The latch 12 can be moved between a locking position shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B and an unlocking position shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In the locking position, the locking section 12.1 of the latch 12 can be brought into engagement with a counter-piece movable relative to the locking mechanism, for example the energy store (not shown), in order to secure said counter-piece, wherein the unlocking position is provided to release the counter-piece.

[0041] The latch 12 is supported by means of a spring 26 so that it can be brought from its locking position into the unlocking position against the return force of the spring 26. A latch function of the lock 10 can be realized by supporting the latch 12 by means of the spring 26. The insertion of a counter-piece, for example the energy store, into the lock 10 can take place with the latch 12 in the locked state since, during the insertion of the counter-piece, the latch 12 is pressed against the return force of the spring 26 into its unlocking position in the meantime. A control slope 12.2 is provided at the latch for this purpose. Once the counter-piece is fully inserted into the lock 10, the latch 12 is automatically urged into its locking position by the spring 26 so that the counter-piece is immediately protected against loss.

[0042] To move the latch from the locking position into the unlocking position, the lock 10 comprises a manually actuable actuation element 14 that, in the embodiment shown, comprises a handle 16 in the form of a push-button. When the push-button is actuated, the actuation element 14 is moved along an actuation axis and against the return force of a return spring, not shown, in the direction of the latch 12.

[0043] The actuation element 14 is guided in a guide section 20 of the latch 12. In the present embodiment example, the guide section 20 forms a guide chute 22 that is disposed centrally within the latch 12 and that is bounded by the guide section 20 in particular at three sides, namely at the side and at the top in the Figures. Alternatively, a guide for the actuation element 14 that is arranged in a decentralized manner in or at the latch 12, e.g. at an outer side of the latch 12, is also conceivable, however. For example, the guide section 20 can define a laterally open guide for the actuation element 14, said guide in particular being bounded by the guide section 20 only at one side as well as at the top and possibly at the bottom.

[0044] The longitudinal axis of the latch 12, and thus its direction of movement, is oriented perpendicular to the direction of movement of the actuation element 14 along the actuation axis.

[0045] To convert the actuation movement of the actuation element 14 into the latch movement perpendicular thereto, a ramp mechanism is provided that is formed, on the one hand, by a slanted control surface 24 of the actuation element 14 and, on the other hand, by a coupling pin 38 of a control element 28. The ramp mechanism can be selectively activated or deactivated by the control element 28. If the ramp mechanism is activated, the slanted control surface 24 can run onto the coupling pin 38 on an actuation of the actuation element 14 and can thus push the latch 12 into the unlocking position. If, on the other hand, the ramp mechanism is deactivated, the coupling pin 38 is displaced such that the slanted control surface 24 passes through an interruption 40 of the coupling pin 38 on an actuation of the actuation element 14 and the movement of the actuation element 14 so-to-say runs into nothing without moving the latch 12.

[0046] According to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the coupling pin 38 is in a decoupling state in which its interruption 40 is aligned with the actuation element 14 so that a movement of the actuation element 14 has no effect on the latch 12. To be able to move the latch 12 into its unlocking position by means of the actuation element 14, the coupling pin 38 can be displaced into a coupling state by the control element 28 (FIGS. 2A and 2B) so that the slanted control surface 24 runs onto the coupling pin 38 on an actuation of the actuation element 14 and thus presses the latch 12 into the unlocking position (FIGS. 3A and 3B).

[0047] In the embodiment example shown, the control element 28 is configured as a control fork 30 that, in addition to a suspension strut 32, comprises a first prong 34.1 and a second prong 34.2 and thus engages around the latch 12 at three sides.

[0048] The coupling pin 38 extends between the first and second prongs 34.1, 34.2 so that its longitudinal axis is oriented perpendicular to the prongs 34.1, 34.2 and to the direction of movement of the latch 12. The coupling pin 38 is arranged at an end of the control fork 30 disposed opposite the suspension strut 32 and substantially centrally impacts the latch 12 with respect to the actuation axis of the actuation element 14.

[0049] To be able to receive the coupling pin 38, the latch 12 has two passage openings 42 that are arranged at oppositely disposed sides of the latch 12 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the coupling pin 38.

[0050] The coupling pin 38 is formed in two parts and comprises a first coupling pin section 38.1 and a second coupling pin section 38.2 that are separated by the interruption 40. The width of the interruption 40 is adapted to the width of the actuation element 14 such that the actuation element 14 can dip into the interruption 40 without coming into engagement with the coupling pin 38. This characterizes precisely the decoupling state according to FIGS. 1A and 1B.

[0051] To transfer the coupling pin 38, starting from the decoupling state shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, into the coupling stateand possibly vice versa, the lock 10 has an electric motor 44 that is connected to the control element 28 via the suspension strut 32. The suspension strut 32 has a pivot groove 46 that, in the embodiment example shown, is connected in a hinged manner to a pivot arm 48 seated on a chute of the electric motor 44, wherein the pivot arm 48 can be pivoted into well-defined positions. A first position of the pivot arm 48 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B corresponds to the decoupling state and a second position of the pivot arm 48 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B corresponds to the coupling state of the coupling pin 38.

[0052] A pivoting of the pivot arm 48 from the first position according to FIGS. 1A and 1B into the second position according to FIGS. 2A and 2B leads to a linear displacement of the control element 28 along the longitudinal axis of the coupling pin 38. The interruption 40 of the coupling pin 38 is displaced relative to the actuation element 14 by the linear displacement so that the slanted control surface 24 of the actuation element 14 can run onto the coupling pin 38. The coupling pin 38 is thus brought into its coupling state (FIG. 15).

[0053] The latch 12 is movably connected to the control element 28 via the coupling pin 38. In particular, a relative rotation of the control element 28 about the longitudinal axis of the coupling pin 38 and a relative translation in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the coupling pin 38 are possible.

[0054] A second embodiment of a lock 10 is shown in FIGS. 4A to 6B that differs from the above-described first embodiment only in that the coupling pin 38 here is a continuous pin that, in order to deactivate the ramp mechanism, can be moved out of the latch 12 or, more precisely, out of the guide of the latch 12 for the actuation element 14, here from the guide chute 22, to such an extent that the actuation element 14 can, in the case of its actuation, move past the coupling pin 38 without the slanted control surface of the actuation element 14 running onto the coupling pin 38 and thereby moving the latch 12 into its unlocking position (FIGS. 4A and 4B).

[0055] The displacement of the coupling pin 38 out of the guide chute 22 in this respect takes place by the return force of a spring, not shown, that presses the coupling pin 38 against a control element 28 that is cam-like in this embodiment. The cam-like control element 28 can be rotated by an electric motor 44 so that the coupling pin 38 is pushed back into the guide chute 22 of the latch 12 (FIGS. 5A and 5B) against the return force of the spring, not shown, so that the slanted control surface 24 of the actuation element 14 can now run onto the coupling pin 38 on an actuation of the actuation element 14 and can thereby move the latch 12 into its unlocking position (FIGS. 6A and 6B).

[0056] In the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 4A to 6B, the coupling pin 38 has a round cross-section, in particular a circular cross-section. It is understood that the coupling pin 38 can, however, generally also have a non-round cross-section. A coupling pin 38 having a planar control surface is in particular conceivable, wherein the position or inclination of this planar control surface is in particular adapted to the slanted control surface 24 of the actuation element 14 so that the actuation element 14 comes into contact with the coupling pin 38 on a maximum surface. For example, the cross-section of the coupling pin 38 could be semi-circular or quadrangular, in particular square, for this purpose.