Electrified latch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12196001-B2
Application number	US-202016804720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2020
Priority date	Mar 1, 2019
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

A cabinet lock secures a door panel to a cabinet frame and includes a latching component and an electromechanical component. The latching component has a latch member reciprocally translatable between a locked orientation to secure the door panel to the cabinet frame and an unlocked orientation to free the door panel from the cabinet frame. The electromechanical component includes an actuator and drive member. Powering the actuator causes the drive member to translate the latch member to the unlocked orientation. A drive member position sensor may emit a signal indicative of the position of the latch member. The electromechanical component may be retrofit-able to a latching component of a pre-existing mechanical cabinet lock.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cabinet lock for securing a door panel to a cabinet housing, the cabinet lock comprising:
a) a latching component having a latch housing and a latch member reciprocally translatable between a locked orientation to secure said door panel to said cabinet housing and an unlocked orientation to free said door panel from said cabinet housing, wherein said latch member is a latch or a dead bolt; and
b) an electromechanical component including an actuator operably coupled to a drive member through a drive nut rotatably coupled to said actuator, wherein said drive member comprises a threaded rod, wherein said drive member is directly and fixedly coupled to said latch member using a fastener, wherein powering of said actuator rotates said drive nut to translate said threaded rod laterally to place said latch member to said unlocked orientation, and wherein at least a portion of said threaded rod is disposed within said actuator,
wherein said electromechanical component further includes a drive member position sensor configured to emit a first signal when said latch member reaches said unlocked orientation, wherein said drive member position sensor comprises an optical infrared emitter and detector pair, and wherein said drive member position sensor emits said first signal when detection of a beam of light between said optical infrared emitter and said detector is unobstructed.

2. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 1 wherein said drive member position sensor is configured to emit a second signal indicative of said latch member moving to an intermediate orientation between said locked orientation and said unlocked orientation.

3. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 2 wherein said drive member position sensor emits said second signal when detection of said beam of light between said optical infrared emitter and said detector is interrupted.

4. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 1 wherein said actuator is a motor.

5. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 1 wherein said latching component further includes a manual actuator coupled to said latch member.

6. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 5 wherein said manual actuator includes a cylinder having a cam located at a first end whereby manual actuation of said cylinder causes said cam to engage said latch member and drive said latch member to said unlocked orientation.

7. The cabinet lock of claim 1 , wherein said latch housing includes a housing wall, and wherein said latching component further includes a biasing member configured to bias said latch member to said locked orientation, wherein said biasing member is in contact with the housing wall of said latch housing and said drive member.

8. The cabinet lock in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a temperature sensor configured for sensing ambient temperatures associated with said cabinet lock and to cause a pulsed current signal to be directed to said actuator upon sensing a temperature above or below a predetermined temperature threshold.

9. A traffic signal control box comprising:
a) a cabinet having a cabinet housing defining an interior therein;
b) a door panel mounted to said cabinet housing and configured to cover said interior when in a closed condition; and
c) a cabinet lock comprising:
i) a door handle rotatably positioned on said door panel;
ii) at least one rod selectively engagable with said cabinet housing by rotation of said handle;
iii) a latching component having a latch housing and a latch member reciprocally translatable between a locked orientation to prevent rotation of said handle to secure said door panel to said cabinet housing, and an unlocked orientation to allow rotation of said handle to free said door panel from said cabinet housing, wherein said latch member is a latch or a dead bolt; and
iv) an electromechanical component including an actuator operably coupled to a drive member, wherein said drive member comprises a threaded rod, wherein the drive member includes a first end that is directly and fixedly coupled to said latch member using a fastener, wherein powering of said actuator in a first direction translates said threaded rod laterally to place said latch member to said unlocked orientation, wherein at least a portion of said drive member is disposed within said actuator, wherein said electromechanical component further includes a drive member position sensor configured to emit a first signal when said latch member reaches said unlocked orientation, wherein said drive member position sensor comprises an optical infrared emitter and detector pair, and wherein said drive member position sensor emits said first signal when detection of a beam of light between said optical infrared emitter and said detector is unobstructed.

10. An electromechanical component for converting a mechanical cabinet lock to a powered cabinet lock wherein said mechanical cabinet lock includes a latching component having a latch member reciprocally translatable between a locked orientation to secure a door panel to a cabinet housing and an unlocked orientation to free said door panel from said cabinet housing, said electromechanical component comprising an actuator operably coupled to a drive member, wherein said drive member comprises a threaded rod, wherein said drive member is directly and fixedly coupled to said latch member using a fastener whereby said mechanical cabinet lock is converted to said powered cabinet lock, wherein said latch member is a latch or a dead bolt, wherein said electromechanical component further includes a drive member position sensor configured to emit a first signal when said latch member reaches said unlocked orientation, wherein said drive member position sensor comprises an optical infrared emitter and detector pair, and wherein said drive member position sensor emits said first signal when detection of a beam of light between said optical infrared emitter and said detector is unobstructed.

11. A method of retrofitting an electromechanical component to an existing cabinet lock having only a latching component, wherein the existing cabinet lock is used to selectively secure a door to a cabinet housing, the method comprising the steps of:
a) providing a cabinet lock having a latching component, wherein the latching component includes a latch member, and wherein said latch member is a latch or a dead bolt;
b) providing the electromechanical component including an actuator connectable to a power source, wherein the electromechanical component further includes a drive member and a drive member position sensor, wherein the drive member comprises a threaded rod, wherein the drive member position sensor comprises an optical infrared emitter and detector pair, and wherein the drive member position sensor is configured to emit a first signal when the latch member reaches the unlocked orientation;
c) directly and fixedly connecting the drive member to the latch member using a fastener so that powering of the actuator translates the threaded rod laterally to place the latch member in an unlocked orientation; and
d) emitting the first signal by the drive member position sensor when detection of a beam of light between the optical infrared emitter and said detector is unobstructed.

12. An electromechanical component for a locking mechanism used to secure a door to a cabinet housing, wherein said locking mechanism includes a latching component having a latch member reciprocally movable between a locked orientation and an unlocked orientation, said electromechanical component comprising:
a) a drive member configured to be directly coupled to said latch member using a fastener, wherein said drive memb

Assignees

• Hanchett Entry Systems Inc

Inventors

• Sims Ryan M
• Spence Baruch
• Peabody Joshua T
• Williams Ben

Classifications

• E05B47/026

  the bolt moving rectilinearly · CPC title

• E05B2047/0091

  Retrofittable electric locks, e.g. an electric module can be attached to an existing manual lock · CPC title

• E05B2047/0069

  bolt position · CPC title

• E05B47/0012

  with rotary electromotors (actuators with rotary electromotors per se H02K7/06, H02K23/68) · CPC title

• E05B2047/0023

  Nuts or nut-like elements moving along a driven threaded axle · CPC title