E.j. Brooks Company

Stevens Institute of Technology

Jeremy Phelps Leon

Richard C Dreisbach

George Albert Lundberg, Jr

Jan Nazalewicz

Thomas Glenn McKee, Jr

Lynn Frederick Amis

Louis J Mattos

Donald Arthur Ruth

Richard Gnoinski

Peter Farbaniec

Robert J Finamore

Alexander Kelso

Locks for the transportation industry are programmable with a keypad and with handheld activators, the activators being programmable by a central system and activators via IR transmitters and receivers. Operator PIN numbers and access codes manifesting the supervisory level of authority are encoded in each lock which are programmed to open a given number of times in a given time period with or without entry of a code and include a lockout feature for disabling the lock in case of invalid code entry. Each lock has a log history containing the number of complete and incomplete opening transactions, when they occurred and the operator codes associated therewith. The locks are opened by IR transmission of the appropriate codes or by keypad entries. One or more individuals at different levels of authority may open one or more locks in a given time frame a given number of times. Each lock records its transaction history which is displayed and downloaded for system evaluation.

Programmable lock and security system therefor

A thermoplastic housing has a chamber open at one end and a thermoplastic rotor is locked axially in the chamber by snap fit ridges and grooves. Two pairs of bores on opposite sides; of the chamber are aligned, with one pair connected by a transverse slot. The rotor has two bores aligned with the housing bores and includes flexible pawl teeth which engage ratchet teeth in the chamber. The teeth rotationally lock the rotor relative to the housing in one direction while a seal filament inserted in the bores is wrapped about the rotor as the rotor is rotated in the other direction. The slot permits the filament to be fixed to the rotor when the rotor is rotated 180.degree. causing the filament to traverse the slot and permit the remaining adjacent bores in the same plane as the fixed filament to be aligned and free to receive the filament free end. The rotor is rotated relative to the housing manually by finger gripped flanges attached to the rotor and to the housing with the filament inserted to wrap and lock the filament to the rotor. The rotor and housing define a channel for receiving multiple turns of filament to enhance the locking action.

Rotatable seal

A rigid base interconnects a pair of spaced legs, one of the legs being resiliently hinged to the base. A locking socket with a cavity is secured to an end of one of the legs distal the base and a locking stud is secured to the end of the other leg distal the base, the stud for manual resilient insertion into the socket cavity. The stud is rectangular having a wide transverse dimension and includes a locking tip with at least one barb which extends along the width. A U-shaped spring steel female locking member is secured in the socket cavity and has at least one locking tang to engage the at least one barb. The U-shaped member comprises any one of a plurality of different tang arrangements each for engagement with the same given barb configuration and are randomly assembled to the sockets of different seals. The studs of a plurality of seals include different barb configurations each engagable with any of the tang arrangements and are randomly assembled to the seals, the various combinations of barb configurations and tang arrangements providing enhanced tamper resistance.

Security seal

A preferably cast zinc housing has a chamber for receiving a metal stranded cable 1/16 inch in diameter which is swaged at one end to the housing in the chamber. The housing has a conical bore in communication with the ambient about the housing via apertures at opposing ends of the housing. A channel having a depth of about one half the cable diameter is in the bore surface aligned with the apertures to form a continuous cable insertion path with the apertures. A relatively weak coil spring and a pair of different diameter steel balls are in the conical bore. The cable free end is inserted into the path through the housing with minimal insertion resistance from the balls and spring. Withdrawal of the cable wedges the balls uniformly against the cable deforming it and locking the cable to the housing. The balls each uniformly stress the cable to spread the stress of the wedging action. This reduces stress concentration on the cable at each ball so that the cable fails only at its maximum tensile load.

Security seal and lock

Integral one piece molded thermoplastic male and female housing segments are interconnected by a bridge member via living hinges, The female segment has a sheet metal insert with a locking aperture. A wire or other member is inserted in passages in the two segments in an unfolded position forming a loop whose ends are passed through the passages. An edge of the insert is adjacent to the passages in the female segment. The male housing segment has a locking stud extending therefrom and engaged with the insert locking aperture locking the male segment in a recess in the female housing segment. The bridge member encloses a housing end and the passages at that end. The folded over segments cause the wire to bend sharply in a 180.degree. bend about the insert edge. The edge digs into the wire upon withdrawal of the wire from the passages, severing the wire. Different embodiments are disclosed.

Tamper deterring seal

A serpentine shaped wire clip is disposed in a tapered bore of a housing for axial displacement in the bore and has in a preferred embodiment three U-shaped loops interconnected by end portions. The clip has a bore dimensioned for receiving a cable or rod in radial resilient compressive engagement along the clip entire length which engagement causes the clip to axial displace with the displacement of the cable or rod. The axial displacement of the clip in the tapered bore wedges the clip to the housing and cable or rod locking the elements. The clip may have any number of loops and wire diameter. Also, the housing may have a cylindrical bore and the tapered region may be formed on a rod or bar. The clip may be locked to smooth and grooved surfaces including threads. The housing and rod each have a different one of a cylindrical surface and tapered surface. The clip radially grips the cylindrical surface while wedging in response to relative displacement of the tapered surface to the cylindrical surface. Preferably the tapered surface is the hardest and the cylindrical surface is the softest when the cylindrical surface is smooth.

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Morris Township, NJ, United States of America

Jeremy Phelps Leon