Padlock for securing a switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11214988-B2
Application number	US-201916391177-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2019
Priority date	Apr 23, 2018
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

A lockout padlock for securing a switch of an industrial plant comprises a lock housing composed of plastic, a hoop, a lock cylinder that has a cylinder housing and a rotatable cylinder core, and a key, with the cylinder core being rotatable between a locked position in which the hoop is locked or lockable to the lock housing and an unlocked position. The lock cylinder has a plurality of tumblers, with each tumbler being movable between a respective release position and a respective blocking position. The plurality of tumblers comprise a plurality of pin tumblers that are spring-loaded in the direction of their respective blocking positions. The plurality of tumblers furthermore comprise a plurality of supplementary tumblers that are not spring-loaded and that are freely movably supported between their respective release positions and their respective blocking positions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A lockout padlock configured for securing a switch of an industrial plant, the lockout padlock comprising:
a lock housing composed of plastic;
a hoop displaceably held at the lock housing;
a lock cylinder arranged in the lock housing and comprising a cylinder housing and a cylinder core rotatable about a cylinder axis in the cylinder housing; and
a key,
wherein the cylinder core is rotatable by means of the key between a locked position in which the hoop is locked or lockable to the lock housing and an unlocked position in which the hoop is released for an opening movement relative to the lock housing,
wherein the lock cylinder comprises a plurality of tumblers, with each tumbler being movable relative to the cylinder housing between a respective release position in which the tumbler releases the cylinder core for a rotation into its unlocked position and a respective blocking position in which the tumbler blocks the cylinder core in its locked position relative to the cylinder housing,
wherein the plurality of tumblers comprise a plurality of pin tumblers that are spring-loaded in the direction of their respective blocking positions,
wherein the plurality of tumblers furthermore comprise a plurality of supplementary tumblers that are not spring-loaded and are freely movably supported between their respective release position and their respective blocking position, and
wherein the plurality of pin tumblers and the plurality of supplementary tumblers are configured to have different kinematic behaviors so that unintentional movement of the plurality of pin tumblers and the plurality of supplementary tumblers to the respective release positions, caused by vibration of the lockout padlock by the industrial plant, is prevented.

2. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are cylindrical or substantially cylindrical.

3. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are formed in one part.

4. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are formed as shorter than the pin tumblers along their respective directions of movement.

5. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are supported in the cylinder core and engage in their respective blocking positions into a blocking recess at an inner periphery of the cylinder housing.

6. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 5 ,
wherein the blocking recess extends at the inner periphery of the cylinder housing along a peripheral angle in a direction of rotation of the cylinder core, said peripheral angle substantially corresponding to the width of the respective supplementary tumbler, with the blocking recess being bounded in the direction of rotation of the cylinder core by at least one guide chamfer.

7. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are movable within a respective plane that is perpendicular to the cylinder axis.

8. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the supplementary tumblers are arranged behind one another along the cylinder axis.

9. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the hoop extends within a plane of extent, with the direction in which the supplementary tumblers are movable extending at an angle different from zero to the plane of extent of the hoop.

10. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the direction of movement of the pin tumblers and the direction of movement of the supplementary tumblers extend in parallel with one another or at an angle different from zero.

11. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the pin tumblers have a respective housing pin and a respective core pin, with the housing pin being substantially supported in the cylinder housing and the core pin being substantially supported in the cylinder core.

12. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the key has a shaft whose cross-section has a longitudinal shape having two broad sides and two narrow sides, with a plurality of primary coding sections being provided at each broad side that are associated with the pin tumblers, and with a plurality of secondary coding sections being provided at each broad side and/or at each narrow side that are associated with the supplementary tumblers.

13. A lockout padlock in accordance with claim 1 ,
wherein the cylinder housing has a hollow cylinder section and a web section extending radially from the hollow cylinder section, with the cylinder core having a keyway that has an elongate cross-sectional shape having a long side and a short side, with the long side extending perpendicular to the radial direction of extent of the web section.

Assignees

• Bremicker Soehne Kg A

Inventors

• Fan Wai Kuen
• Garthe Bernhard
• Thomas Manuel

Classifications

• E05B2015/1664

  for lock housing (E05B17/002, E05B17/0041, E05B17/0045 take precedence) · CPC title

• E05B67/24 Primary

  with built- in cylinder locks · CPC title

• E05B67/02 Primary

  Cases · CPC title

• E05B27/0071

  by means preventing opening by using the bump-technique · CPC title

• E05B27/0042

  with additional key identifying function, e.g. with use of additional key operated rotor-blocking elements, not of split pin tumbler type (E05B27/0078 takes precedence) · CPC title