Easy methods to exchange, Lateral File Cabinet Locking Mechanism.  Locking lateral file cabinets on hayneedle locking. The basyx four hundred collection 4 drawer lateral filing cabinet is an inexpensive, light-duty office garage solution. This lateral file has four locking drawers with ball bearing slide suspension and facet-to-facet rails to hold letter or prison measurement recordsdata. Mechanical interlock. Three Drawer Vertical Filing Cabinet Statewide Office Furniture. Solving locked steelcase lateral file cabinet quick. Help, i will be able to't get my file cabinet drawers open!Do not be disturbed, i will be able to communicate you through this so. File Cabinet Locking Mechanism. Cabinets - Fumo Com Server cabinets are an exceptionally rugged and strong cabinet enabling it to be used for server system applications.  file cabinet Anti Tip And lock Device Combined - YouTube Repair file cabinet anti tip & lock device how it works View Video.  Riverside Page 1 Of 4 Lateral File Assembly Instructions Made in China Page 1 of 4 # Lateral File Cabinet This file cabinet has safety hardware installed to prevent both drawers from being opened at corresponding arm of the mechanism forward, locking the other arm and preventing the other Read More. A filing cabinet (or sometimes file cabinet in American English) is a piece of office furniture usually used to store paper documents in file folders. In the most simple context, it is an enclosure for drawers in which items are stored. The two most common forms of filing cabinets are vertical files and lateral files. A vertical file cabinet has drawers that extend from the short side (typically 15 inches) of the cabinet. A lateral file cabinet has drawers that extend from the long side (various. They have an excellent and sturdy locking mechanism that gives exceptional protection for your files. Drawer stop for superimposed drawer cupboards - has ramps on drawers to cile frame and lock other drawers when one is removed. In this position, horizontal section passes horizontally through the aperture and lower vertical section abuts against a side of the wall in which aperture is defined that is opposite the ffile contacting upper section J-hook thus provides a convenient way for installing and removing cable 74 from lock The force F C will be applied to moment arm of lever at a position C. Cable 74 lateral file cabinet locking mechanism english therefore resist drawer-pulling forces that greatly exceed its maximum tensile strength.

The interlock and lock of the present invention allow relatively low-tensile strength cables or flexible members to be used in systems which provide high resistance to theft and breakdown. The system of the present invention further allows changes to cabinet configurations to be easily implemented with little or no additional work required to integrate the new cabinet configuration into the interlock or lock system.

The present invention provides a simple construction for locks and interlocks that can be easily manufactured without excessively restrictive tolerances, and which can be easily installed in cabinets. According to one aspect of the present invention, an interlock for a cabinet drawer is provided. The drawer is movable in the cabinet is a first direction toward an open position and in a second, opposite direction toward a closed position.

The interlock includes an elongated, flexible member, a rotatable lever, an engagement member, and a biasing member. The lever is adapted to alter the amount of slack in the elongated, flexible member. The lever is rotatable between a first position and a second position.

The first position creates a low amount of slack in the elongated, flexible member, and the second position allows a high amount of slack to be present in the elongated, flexible member. The engagement member is attached to the drawer and positioned to cause the rotatable lever to rotate toward the first position when the drawer is initially moved from the closed position in the first direction.

The biasing member is positioned adjacent the lever and adapted exert a biasing force that tends to prevent the lever from rotating from the first position to the second position until the drawer is moved in the second direction to the closed position. According to another aspect of the present invention, an interlock is provided. The interlock includes a cable, a rotatable lever, an engagement member, and a retainer. The lever is adapted to change the cable between high and low slack conditions.

The engagement member is attached to the drawer and positioned to cause the lever to rotate to a first position that changes the cable to a low slack condition when the drawer is initially moved in the first direction from the closed position. The engagement member is also positioned such that a first force exerted on the drawer in the first direction is translated by the lever to a second force on the cable, which is less than the first force.

The retainer is adapted to retain the rotatable lever in the first position while the drawer is moved to the open position. According to still another aspect of the present invention, a locking and interlocking system for a cabinet is provided.

The system includes a lock, a first cable, a second cable, a first interlock, and a second interlock. The first cable extends between at least a first and second drawer. The first cable is changeable from a high slack to a low slack condition. The second cable extends between the lock and the first drawer. The lock is adapted to change the second cable from a high slack to a low slack condition. The first interlock is in communication with the first and second cables and adapted to change both said first and said second cables from the high slack to the low slack condition whenever the first drawer is opened.

The first interlock is further adapted to prevent the first drawer from opening whenever the first or second cables are in the low slack condition. The second interlock is in communication with the first cable and adapted to change the first cable from the high slack to the low slack condition whenever the second drawer is opened.

The second interlock is further adapted to prevent the second drawer from opening whenever the first cable is in the low slack condition. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a cabinet is provided that includes at least one drawer movable within the cabinet in a first direction toward an open position and in a second, opposite direction toward a closed position.

The cabinet further includes a frame adapted to support the drawer, an elongated, flexible member, an interlock, and a slack take up mechanism. The elongated, flexible member is positioned within the cabinet and changeable between a lower slack condition and a higher slack condition.

The interlock is positioned within the frame and in operative engagement with the elongated, flexible member. The interlock is adapted to prevent the drawer from moving to the open position when the elongated, flexible member is in the lower slack condition and to allow the drawer to move to the open position when the elongated, flexible member is in the higher slack condition.

The slack take up mechanism is adapted to change the elongated, flexible member from the higher slack condition to the lower slack condition when the drawer is moved from the closed position to the open position. The slack take up mechanism is further adapted to translate a first force exerted on the drawer in the first direction to a second force exerted on the elongated, flexible member which is less than the first force. According to still other aspects of the present invention, the interlock may be in communication with a lock that is adapted to selectively alter the condition of the cable.

The interlocks may be secured to drawer slides that are removable from the cabinet. A cable guide may be included as part of the interlock to snap-fittingly receive the cable and retain it in engagement with the interlock. The various aspect of the present invention provides an interlock and lock system that is versatile, resistant to high forces, and easily installed.

These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art in light of the following written description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein the reference numerals in the following written description correspond to like numbered elements in the several drawings.

The present invention relates to locks and interlocks that may be used with file cabinets, such as the file cabinet 60 depicted in FIGS. File cabinet 60 includes three drawers 62 a—c that are essentially stacked on top of each other in file cabinet Each drawer can be pulled in a first direction 64 toward an open position. The lower most drawer 62 c in FIG. When it is time to close this drawer, it can be pushed in a second direction 66 back to its closed position.

The interlocking system of the present invention prevents more than one drawer from being opened at a single time. While only three drawers are illustrated in file cabinet 60 , the present invention is applicable to cabinets having any number of drawers. The present invention also includes a locking system that overrides the interlocking system.

That is, when the locking system is activated, no drawers can be opened at any time. When the locking system is deactivated, the interlocking system is activated and prevents more than one drawer from being opened at a single time.

The locking system may be activated by inserting a key into a keyhole 68 positioned at any suitable location on the file cabinet.

The locking and interlocking system are highly integrated so that many of the components of the interlocking system are also used in the locking system. The interlocks of the present invention may be advantageously combined or attached to the drawer slides in which drawers 62 slidingly move between their open and closed position.

An example of one of these drawer slides 70 is depicted in FIG. Each drawer 62 includes two drawer slides 70 , one positioned on one side of the drawer and another positioned on the opposite side of the drawer. While the interlocks of the present invention can be placed at other locations besides on drawer slide 70 , the attachment of the interlocks to the drawer slide 70 allows the interlocks to be simultaneously removed and repositioned when the drawer slides 70 are removed and repositioned.

This greatly facilitates the reconfiguration of a file cabinet 60 with differently sized drawers An interlock 72 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is depicted in FIG.

Interlock 72 is attached to a drawer slide Interlock 72 is operatively coupled to a cable 74 FIG. In general, interlock 72 operates according to the amount of slack in cable Specifically, cable 74 has two different basic levels of slack.

When no drawers are opened and the lock is not activated, cable 74 has a high amount of slack in it. When a single drawer is opened, interlock 72 takes up most or all of the slack in cable 74 and creates a second, lower level of slack in cable The lower level of slack in cable 74 is such that no other drawers in the cabinet 60 can be opened.

This lower level of slack may be zero, or may include a small amount of slack. When the open drawer is closed, more slack in the cable 74 returns and any other single drawer may thereafter be opened.

If a lock is included with the cabinet 60 , the lock is adapted to alter the slack in cable When in the locked position, the lock removes most or all of the slack in cable When in the unlocked condition, the lock allows cable 74 to have sufficient slack so that a single drawer may be opened. Interlocks 72 are thus designed to only allow their associated or attached drawer to be opened when cable 74 has sufficient slack.

Further, they are designed to remove substantially all of the slack in cable 74 , if their associated drawer is opened. The detailed construction of interlock 72 , as well as how they accomplish the aforementioned functions, will now be described. Interlock 72 is adapted to be attached directly to a drawer slide While interlock 72 is depicted attached to the back ends of drawer slides 70 , it will be appreciated that it can be attached to the drawer slides at any desirable location along the drawer slides' length, or they can be attached directly to the cabinet.

Interlock 72 operates in conjunction with cable 74 so that only a single drawer can be open at a given time. If a lock is included in the cabinet, the lock is in communication with cable 74 and can change the amount of slack in cable If the lock is activated, cable 74 has little or no slack, and none of the drawers may be opened.

Interlock 72 allows a small portion of the pulling force exerted on a drawer in first direction 64 to be transmitted to cable Nevertheless, the amount of force transmitted is so small that a cable 74 having a relatively low tensile strength can still be used in a cabinet which provides strong resistance to its locking system being overcome.

As can be easily seen in FIG. Stationary portion 90 is fixedly secured to the interior of cabinet Stationary portion 90 includes an upper aperture and a lower aperture Upper aperture receives a first rivet that pivotally secures a lever to stationary portion Lower aperture receives a second rivet that pivotally secures a cam to stationary portion Interlock 72 further includes a cable guide 84 that is mounted to a pair of flanges 98 on stationary portion 90 Interlock 72 further includes a spring 82 and an engagement member Engagement member 86 comprises a flange that extends off of a slidable portion of Steelcase File Cabinet Locking Mechanism Linux drawer slide Slidable portion is slidable with respect to stationary portion 90 by way of a plurality of ball bearing cages that house a plurality of ball bearings in contact with both slidable portion and stationary portion 90 of drawer slide 70 FIGS.

Slidable portion is adapted to be secured to a drawer. Slidable portion may include a plurality of attachment flanges used to releasably secure slidable portion to the drawer.

Similarly, stationary portion 90 may also include a plurality of attachment flanges used to releasably secure stationary portion 90 to the interior of the cabinet. Lever , which is illustrated in more detail in FIGS. Lever includes an aperture for receiving first rivet Lever includes a spring attachment nub over which one end of spring 82 is secured.

Lever further includes an engagement lug that engages cable When lever rotates about its pivot axis in a direction FIG. Spring 82 exerts a force on lever that tends to resist rotation in direction Lever includes an inner surface portion and a crest When a drawer is initially opened, cam abuts against crest and exerts a rotational force on lever If cable 74 is not in a low slack condition, cam pushes against crest until lever is rotated sufficiently to put cam in contact with inner surface portion This will be described in more detail below.

Cam , which is depicted in detail in FIGS. Cam includes a recess into which engagement member 86 fits when the associated drawer is in the closed position. Recess includes a contact surface which contacts engagement member 86 when the associated drawer is pulled in the first direction When a drawer is pulled in first direction 64 , engagement member 86 engages contact surface and imparts a rotational force on cam This rotational force is generally in the direction FIG.

Rotational direction is the opposite of rotational direction The rotation of cam in direction causes an edge of cam to press against crest of lever If sufficient rotational force is exerted on cam , edge will push against lever sufficiently to allow edge to pass by the crest on lever Crest may have an arced or radial surface that allows edge to overcome it without an excessive force spike. The rotation of cam in direction causes lever to rotate in direction FIG.

The rotation of lever takes up any slack in cable 74 by way of engagement member If cable 74 is already in a low slack condition, lever will be prevented from rotating sufficiently far enough to allow edge of cam to reach inner surface portion of lever The full rotation of cam will therefore be prevented.

Engagement member 86 of slidable portion of drawer slide 70 will therefore not be able to disengage from recess in cam Drawer slide 70 will therefore not be able to slide, and the attached drawer will not be able to open. When cable 74 is changed to the low slack condition by another interlock or lock, cam cannot rotate further than the position depicted in FIG.

If cable 74 is not already in a low slack condition, then cam will be able to rotate sufficiently far so that edge contacts inner surface portion When edge is in contact with inner surface , cam has rotated sufficiently far to allow engagement member 86 to disengage out of recess Slide 70 is therefore free to slide and the attached drawer can be fully opened.

When the drawer is fully open, spring 82 exerts a force on lever in a direction opposite to rotational direction This rotational force tends to maintain edge in frictional contact with inner surface portion This prevents edge from sliding back to contact with crest before the drawer is fully closed, and this maintains cam in the proper rotational attitude for recess to accept engagement member When the drawer is being closed, engagement member 86 eventually comes into contact with a contact surface defined on cam As the drawer is fully closed, engagement member 86 pushes against contact surface to thereby cause cam to rotate in a rotational direction that is opposite to direction This rotation causes edge to move out of contact with surface portion and into contact with crest This, in turn, allows lever to rotate in a direction opposite to direction This rotation causes engagement lug to decrease the force on cable The closing of the drawer therefore decreases any tension in cable 74 and increases its slack.

In addition to maintaining cam in its proper rotational orientation when a drawer is opened, spring 82 helps prevent the drawers from rebounding open, or partially open, after they are slammed shut.

Without spring 82 , it might be possible for a drawer to be slammed shut with sufficient force such that the rebound of the drawer in first direction 64 might rotate cam and allow the drawer to open up again. Spring 82 helps prevent such rebounding of the drawers into the open position by biasing lever in a direction that resists the rotation of cam The outer wall of rail 37 also has a vertically elongated slot 72 formed therethrough in alignment with the slot 71, whereby the free end or nose of wedge part 69 can hence project through the slot 72 when the locking mechanism is activated.

The cam part 69, when the lock bolt is moved into its locking position as indicated by dotted lines in FIG. This lock channel 26 is normally maintained in a lower most position, such as due to the urging of gravity, when the locking mechanism is unlocked so as to provide free access to the various drawer units 28 and doors When the lock bar 26 is in this lowermost position, the slot 73 therein is spaced downwardly from and only partially overlaps the slot This partial overlap permits the nose end of the cam part 69 to enter into the slot 73 when the lock bar 44 is activated and moved outwardly, whereupon the cam nose 69 then engages the top wall of slot 73 and cams the lock bar 26 upwardly into the locking position indicated by dotted lines in FIG.

As illustrated by FIG. Member 77 has a lower part 78 which protrudes through the upper part of slot 73, whereby the sloped bottom wall 79 of part 78 hence effectively defines the upper edge of slot 73 and is slidably engaged by nose part 69 as it moves outwardly. Wall 79 has an incline similar to that of nose 69 to facilitate the upward lifting of channel The protrusion of part 78 through the slot 73 minimizes the spacing from the rail 37, and hence decreases the stroke of nose 69 prior to its lifting engagement with channel Each locking bar 26 mounts thereon a substantially L-shaped locking finger 74 which projects forwardly and upwardly of the cabinet so as to be disposed directly in front of a rear wall of the drawer unit 28 or door 32 when the latter is in a closed position.

The front wall structure 81 FIG. Hence, when the locking bolt 44 is extended outwardly into the dotted position indicated by FIG.

This hence prevents the drawer unit or door from being moved away from its closed position. The lock bars 26 have a plurality of such locking elements 74 thereon, with two of the elements being associated with each of the drawer units or doors for engaging the lower corners of each drawer unit or door to securely lock the latter in its respective closed position.

The lock bar 26 as illustrated by FIGS. Further, each lock bar 26 has two sets of slots 73 formed therein, the two sets being disposed adjacent the opposite side walls of the respective lock bar inasmuch as identical lock bars 26 can hence be disposed adjacent the opposite side walls of the housing. In situations where use of a slidable posting shelf or panel 33 is not desired, then such shelf 33 can be replaced by a filler panel 85 FIGS.

In this situation, however, the filler panel 85 is fixedly joined between the opposite side walls 14 of the cabinet. As illustrated by FIGS. The filler panel has rearwardly projecting side rails 86 fixed thereto, which side rails 86 permit rigid mounting of the filler panel 85 to the housing by permitting detachable securement, as by screws 86', to the vertical channels 22 and The filler panel 85 is again of a channel-shaped configuration forming a front wall and rearwardly extending top and bottom walls so as to confine therein a lock mechanism 41 identical to that described above.

Hence, with the improved lateral file cabinet of the present invention, the same basic cabinet can be provided either with a posting or a filler panel, depending upon the desires of the user, and such posting or filler panel can be disposed at any one of several different elevations, depending upon the selection and arrangement of the drawer units. Further, this filler and posting panel mount directly thereon the lock mechanism for the cabinet, with the lock mechanism being centrally located on the cabinet and at an elevation which is disposed upwardly at a convenient work height from the floor, but downwardly a substantial distance from the upper edge of the cabinet.

Further, the lock mechanism employs a highly desirable rack-and-pinion motion transfer mechanism which optimizes the conversion of the motion from rotary-to-linear so that this hence maximizes the extension of the locking bolts and hence the camming of the locking bars so as to effect secure locking of the drawer units and doors.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail for illustrative purpose, it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention. All rights reserved. Login Sign up. Search Expert Search Quick Search. Lock mechanism for lateral file. United States Patent A file cabinet provided with a housing which has a front opening, and which supports thereon a vertically-spaced plurality of drawer units supported for horizontal displacement between open and closed positions relative to the housing.

A horizontally elongated but vertically narrow filler panel is positioned within the front opening of the housing between two vertically-spaced drawer units.

The filler panel is disposed at a convenient working height which is preferably in the range of 24 to 36 inches above the floor. The filler panel mounts thereon a key-operated lock mechanism which is preferably centrally positioned both vertically and horizontally of the cabinet, and which activates locking bolts which project sidewardly of the cabinet for activating vertically-movable lock bars which are mounted for limited vertical displacement on the insides of the housing side walls.

These lock bars having locking elements which engage the closed drawer units to hold them in a locked position. The filler panel can be formed as a posting shelf which itself is horizontally slidably movable between open and closed positions, which posting Hon File Cabinet Locking Mechanism Model shelf mounts thereon the locking mechanism.

Chatterson, Louis M. Click for automatic bibliography generation. Haworth, Inc. Holland, MI. Download PDF The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 1.

A cabinet according to claim 1, wherein said locking mechanism includes a rotary-to-linear motion transfer mechanism connected between said rotary lock plug and said locking bolts wherein said motion transfer mechanism comprises a rack-and-pinion mechanism including a pinion which is nonrotatably coupled to said rotary lock plug and is engaged on substantially diametrically opposite sides thereof with a pair of linearly-movable elongated gear racks, each of said gear racks being aligned with and coupled to an end of a respective one of said locking bolts for causing simultaneous linear displacement of said bolts in opposite directions in response to rotational displacement of said pinion by said lock plug.

A cabinet according to claim 2, wherein each said locking bolt adjacent the outer free end thereof is provided with a wedgelike nose portion which projects into one of said opening means formed in the adjacent locking bar for effecting a cammed vertical displacement of the locking bar into its locked position in response to an outward linear displacement of the respective locking bolt.

A cabinet according to claim 3, wherein said panel means comprises a posting shelf which is slidably supported on and within said housing for horizontal slidable displacement between open and closed positions; said locking mechanism being mounted on and wholly carried by said posting shelf; and said locking mechanism being activated when said posting shelf is in its closed position so as to also hold said posting shelf in a locked closed position.

A cabinet according to claim 1, wherein said panel means comprises a posting shelf which is slidably supported on and within said housing for horizontal slidable displacement between open and closed positions; said locking mechanism being mounted on and wholly carried by said posting shelf; and said locking mechanism being activated when said posting shelf is in its closed position so as to also hold said posting shelf in a locked closed position.

A flip up door may be employed to enclose the individual storage units facilitating access from the front of the unit rather than the top as in a drawer. In order to maintain stability of the cabinet, it is preferred that only one drawer be allowed to be extracted at a time.

Interlocking systems have long been employed which prevent multiple drawers from being opened in such cabinets. However, the prior known file systems employ interlocking systems which are separate from the overall locking assembly for the cabinet.

The increased part requirements for such a separate locking system increases the costs and complexity of manufacturing of the cabinet. The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior known file cabinets by providing a simple locking system which engages the individual file drawer or door while also blocking the interlocking mechanism of the cabinet to control opening of the drawers.

The file cabinet of the present invention incorporates a plurality of file drawers positioned vertically within the cabinet for individual extraction from the cabinet.

The drawers ride on a slider assembly for simple movement into and out of the cabinet. The locking system is incorporated into the side wall of the cabinet for engagement with the individual drawers for locking the entire cabinet preventing extraction of any of the drawers. The lock assembly is a single cam lock which hooks into a front panel of the uppermost drawer and engages the interlocking mechanism of the cabinet thereby preventing the other drawers from being opened.

The locking assembly includes a key-operated spindle rotatable within the cabinet wall. Mounted to the rotatable spindle is a lever hook which is movable between an unlocked position and a locked position. The lever hook includes a hook and an end-plate. In the locked position the hook is inserted into an aperture of the front panel of the cabinet while the end plate engages the interlocking mechanism preventing extraction of the drawers.

The interlocking mechanisms controls movement of the drawers when one of the drawers has been pulled out. As a result, a simple, single locking mechanism is used to control access to the contents of the file cabinet.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. The present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the views and in which:.

Referring first to FIGS. The filing cabinet 10 is a lateral file cabinet with a plurality of selectively extractable file drawers The file drawers 12 are positioned in a vertical orientation and are independently selectively movable between a stored position within the cabinet housing 14 and an extended position exteriorly of the housing 14 for access to the contents of the drawer In a well known manner, the individual drawers 12 are supported on a slider assembly 16 which facilitate lateral movement of the drawer 12 into and out of the cabinet housing The embodiment of FIG.

In place of the top drawer, the embodiment of FIG. Both embodiments of the file cabinet 10 incorporate locking systems to secure the drawers and flip door controlling access to the interior storage area 20 at the top of the cabinet Referring now to FIGS.

The locking system 22 is incorporated into the side wall of the cabinet 10 and operated by a key not shown.

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