Bar-shaped closure with operating travel moving away from the door leaf

[0002] The invention concerns a bar-shaped closure, especially for sheet metal locker doors, comprising an actuating device on the external surface of the door leaf and rotatable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the rotational movement of the actuating device via a mechanism can be converted to longitudinal displacement of at least one locking rod on the internal side of the door leaf parallel to the door edge.

[0003] EP 0 261 267 B1 describes a bar-shaped closure with the aforesaid features. In the known bar-shaped closure the actuating device constituting, e.g., a handle, can be moved in a plane parallel to the plane of the door leaf so that the actuating device passes through the door leaf with an actuating shaft. The mechanism for converting the movement of the actuating device to a longitudinal displacement of at least one locking rod comprises a pinion that is borne rotatable in a corresponding lock case and that is driven by the rotatable actuating shaft, and the exterior teeth of the pinion engage in a corresponding recess of the locking rod. If a pivoted lever is provided for the actuating device in the known bar-shaped closure, the pivoted lever is arranged such that in its rest position it drops into a base plate and can be locked therein.

[0004] The known bar-shaped closure, especially in regard to the embodiment of the actuating device as a pivoted lever, suffers from the disadvantage that two different motions are required to release or lock the rod. Once unlocked, first the pivoted lever must be opened out of the base plate, for which purpose a spring support is generally attached, and then the pivoted lever must be moved parallel to the plane of the door leaf as a rod drive. In addition, the lock case required for the mechanism for receiving the pinion and the rod driven thereby must necessarily comprise a plurality of components and therefore must be pre-assembled, which is a complex and expensive undertaking. Finally, a special step is required for holding and attaching the lock case when the rod-shaped closure is installed on a door leaf.

[0005] The object of the invention is therefore to fabricate a bar-shaped closure with the generic features that comprises fewer individual parts, and in particular furthermore to simplify its assembly and use.

[0006] This object is achieved using the contents of the claims, including advantageous embodiments and further developments, subsequent to this specification.

[0007] The main idea for the invention is that the actuating device has a hand lever capable of pivoting by being pulled outward relative to the door leaf about a hinge line axis that is parallel to the door edge, and that a first bearing designed for one end of a Z-shaped drive lever is located fixed on the hand lever inner surface oriented towards the door leaf and the other end of the Z-drive lever is located in a second bearing capable of sliding relative to the door leaf, wherein the second bearing is coupled with the locking rod by means of an articulation passing through the door leaf. The idea for the invention thus is based on the principle of simplifying the mechanism so that the pivoting motion of the hand lever away from the plane of the door leaf, which in the prior art consists merely of opening out the lever from the base plate, is immediately converted to the longitudinal displacement of the locking rod. The mechanism required for this comprises the Z-drive lever, which when the hand lever is in its resting position is inserted at the distance required between the hand lever and door leaf. Since the drive lever at its one end is mounted on the hand lever in the fixed first bearing formed there, moving the hand lever away from the door leaf plane and thus increasing the distance bridged by the drive lever necessarily leads to a linear relative motion of the second bearing arranged on the door leaf side for the other end of the Z-drive lever. This linear relative movement of the second bearing is immediately converted to the linear displacement of the locking bar.

[0008] Thus the construction of the rod-shaped closure is advantageously simplified since the arrangement of a complex lock case is no longer necessary and furthermore the recesses in the locking rod are also no longer necessary. The actuating device can be pre-assembled with the drive lever arranged thereon so that only one pre-assembled component has to be attached to the door leaf. Finally, handling of the rod-shaped closure is simplified because the hand lever merely has to be pulled away from the door leaf plane or pressed against the door leaf in order to effect the unlocking and locking motion of the associated locking bar.

[0009] In accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the invention it is provided that the second bearing of the drive lever is connected to a link that on the door leaf side is capable of pivoting around an axis and that at its one end has the axis and at its other end has the articulation for the locking rod, wherein the second bearing of the Z-drive lever is arranged with a lever arm effective to the axis at the link. Thus in this embodiment the linear displacement of the second bearing of the drive lever is converted to a pivoting motion of the link fixed on one side, the length of which is such that the articulation at its other end describes an essentially linear path. The displacement travel for the locking bar coupled to the link can be established by selecting the distance between the second bearing and the axis for the link, with the operating travel of the hand lever remaining the same.

[0010] Alternatively it can be provided that the second bearing of the Z-drive lever is arranged on a slide means that on the door leaf side linearly is slidable in the shift direction of the locking rod to be the carrier of the articulation for the locking bar.

[0011] Since the drive lever is displaced laterally when the hand lever is pivoted, and not just tilted in its longitudinal axis when the hand lever is pivoted, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention it is provided that the first bearing and the second bearing have a cap-shaped cup for receiving bearing spheres located at each of the ends of the Z-drive lever. This embodiment of the first and second bearings as sphere bearings ensures the necessary degree of freedom of movement for the drive lever.

[0012] In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the actuating device is embodied as a box-shaped component that is arranged on the external surface of the door leaf and the front surface of which faces away from the door leaf and can be pivoted away as the hand lever and the back wall of which is adjacent to the door leaf and is embodied as the carrier for the slidable second bearing for the Z-drive lever arranged between the hand lever and the back wall. The advantage of this embodiment is that the box-shaped component is pre-assembled as a unit so that this box-shaped component is attached to the door leaf as a unit. In this instance the door leaf merely needs to have the slot for passing through the pin acting as the articulation, wherein the locking rod can be attached directly to this pin.

[0013] Finally, in an arrangement of two opposing slidable locking rods it can be provided that two drive levers are arranged and each locking rod is coupled to one of the drive levers that are offset 180° relative to each other.

[0014] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing, which is described in the following.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bar-shaped closure to be mounted on a door leaf;

[0016] FIG. 2ais a top view of the hand lever with attached mechanism with locked bar-shaped closure in its closed position;

[0017] FIG. 2bis the subject of FIG. 2awith the hand lever in the open position;

[0018] FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the subject of FIGS. 2aand 2bwith the hand lever in the closed and open positions;

[0019] FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the link belonging to the mechanism with a bearing for the drive lever and rod articulation.

[0020] To be mounted on a door plate or leaf 10 as the main component of the bar-shaped closure is a box-shaped component 11, the back wall 12 of which is adjacent to the door leaf 10 and the front wall of which is embodied as a hand lever 13. The hand lever 13 is borne on the one side capable of pivoting away from the door leaf 10 on a hinge line axis 16 that is embodied parallel to the door leaf 10, wherein the narrow side of the component 11 opposing the hinge line axis 16 has a recessed grip 14 for gripping the hand lever 13. The hand lever 13 is lockable in a manner known per se by means of a lock 15 in the box-shaped component 11 so that the lock 15 must be unlocked prior to actuating the hand lever 13.

[0021] As can be seen in detail in FIGS. 2a, 2b, and 3, the back wall 12 and hand lever 13 of the box-shaped component 11 are provided mutually engaging pins 17 to limit the travel of the hand lever 13 when it is pulled out.

[0022] An essentially Z-shaped drive or transfer lever 18 is arranged in the space between the back wall 12 and the hand lever 13, wherein its first end 19 is fixed in a fixed first journal or bearing 22 on the interior side of the hand lever 13, while its second end 20 is held in a second journal or bearing 24 in a manner that will be described. Both ends 19, 20 of the drive lever 18 have bearing spheres 21 that are held in the associated cap-shaped cups 23 of the first bearing 22 and of the second bearing 24.

[0023] As can be seen in FIG. 4, the second bearing 24 is arranged on a link 25 borne on the back wall 12 of the box-shaped component 11 and capable of pivoting around a fixed axis 26, wherein the axis 26 is located at the one end of the link 25 while the other, opposing end of the link 25 has a pin 27 serving as articulation for a locking rod 30 guided on the interior side of the door leaf 10; the pin passes through the back wall 12 of the box-shaped component 11 in an associated slot 28 and furthermore passes through the door leaf 10 in a slot, not shown. The locking rod 30 is fixed at the end of the pin 27 projecting over the interior side of the door leaf 10.

[0024] As can be seen particularly in FIG. 3, in which are shown both the closed position of the hand lever 13 in accordance with FIG. 2aand the open position of the hand lever 13 in accordance with FIG. 2b, pulling the hand lever 13 away from the door leaf 10 and the back wall 12 of the box-shaped component leads to enlarging the distance bridged by the drive lever 18 so that, given a fixed first bearing 22 for the first end 19 of the drive lever 18, a movement of the second bearing 24 relative to the back wall 12 and door leaf 10 necessarily results. As can be seen when FIGS. 3 and 4 are studied together, this relative movement leads to the link 25 moving around its fixed axis 26, wherein the other end of the link 25 uses the pin 27 to displace the rod 30. The operating travel of the hand lever 13 when it is pulled away from the door leaf 10 and the rod travel of the locking rod 30 for the required locking and unlocking movement can be determined and/or changed by appropriate selection of the distance between the axis 26 of the link 25 and the second bearing 24 arranged on the link 25.

[0025] If the hand lever 13 is pressed back against the door leaf 10 or back wall 12 of the box-shaped component 11, the drive lever performs corresponding reverse travel so that the locking rod is returned to its locking position.

[0026] The features of the subject of this document that are disclosed in the foregoing description, in the claims, abstract, and drawings can be essential to the realization of the invention in its various embodiments, either singly or in any desired combination.

[0027] The specification incorporates by reference the disclosure of German priority documents DE 197 42 545.3 of Sep. 26, 1997 and German Patent Application priority document PCT/DE98/02881 of Sep. 23, 1998.

[0028] The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to the specific disclosure of the specification and drawings, but also encompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.