FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to mortise locks and particularly to a mortise lock with a cylinder-lock-actuated deadbolt and a magnetic latch.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mortise locks are well known locks set in a recess at an edge of a door and which includes latches or bolts which can be actuated (i.e., thrown or retracted) into and out of locking engagement with recesses formed in a door post or frame, or in a strike mounted on the door post or frame. The bolts may be actuated by a door handle or cylinder lock.

Mortise locks with a magnetic latch are known. Upon closing the door, the magnetic latch is drawn into a receptacle located in the strike by magnetic attraction between the latch and the receptacle. The magnetic latch is opened as usual by turning the door handle.

Magnetic latch mortise locks are not provided with a deadbolt and have a different size than mortise locks that are provided with a deadbolt. This causes a problem of increased inventory. Two different doors must be provided: one with a mortise recess for the smaller magnetic latch mortise lock and another with a larger recess for the deadbolt mortise lock.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide a mortise lock with a cylinder-lock- actuated deadbolt and a magnetic latch, as described in detail further hereinbelow. The present invention solves the problem of increased inventory because only one recess is needed for all doors and door frames. The cylinder lock can also optionally operate the magnetic latch, too.

There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a mortise lock including a lock housing including a handle aperture for receiving therein a handle and a cylinder lock aperture for receiving therein a cylinder lock, a deadbolt arranged for movement in and out of the housing and operable by the cylinder lock, and a magnetic latch arranged for movement in and out of the housing and operable by the handle.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the handle aperture is formed in a latch thrower, and the magnetic latch is connected to one end of a latch link, which has a tongue at an opposite end thereof, and the latch thrower has a lever arm which, upon turning the latch thrower, pushes against the tongue to move the magnetic latch into the housing.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the magnetic latch is operable by the cylinder lock. For example, there is a latch bolt follower operable by the cylinder lock, wherein a portion of the latch bolt follower is arranged to push against a portion of a latch link connected to the magnetic latch to move the magnetic latch into the housing. A biasing device may urge the latch bolt follower away from the latch link so that the latch bolt follower does not impede travel of the magnetic latch out of the housing.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the strike is formed with identical apertures for mounting therein the latch receptacle and a deadbolt receptacle.

There is also provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for reducing inventory for doors, including replacing an inventory that includes a first kind of door with a first mortise recess for a magnetic latch mortise lock that is not provided with a deadbolt and a second kind of door with a second mortise recess, larger than the first mortise recess, for a cylinder-lock-actuated deadbolt mortise lock, with a different inventory that includes just the second kind of door with the second mortise recess for use with a mortise lock that has both a cylinder-lock-actuated deadbolt and a magnetic latch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Figs. 1A and IB are simplified elevational, cutaway illustrations of a mortise lock, constructed and operative in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in respective locked and unlocked orientations, and including a latch bolt follower for a cylinder lock to operate a magnetic latch of the mortise lock;

Figs. 2A and 2B are simplified pictorial, cutaway illustrations of the mortise lock corresponding to the locked orientation of Fig. 1 A;

Figs. 3A and 3B are simplified pictorial, cutaway illustrations of the mortise lock corresponding to the unlocked orientation of Fig. IB;

Fig. 4 is a simplified elevational, cutaway illustration of a mortise lock, constructed and operative in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, in a locked orientation and without the latch bolt follower; Figs. 5A and 5B are simplified pictorial, cutaway illustrations of the mortise lock corresponding to the locked orientation of Fig. 4; and

Figs. 6A and 6B are simplified pictorial illustrations of a strike with receptacles to receive therein the deadbolt and magnetic latch of the mortise lock of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference is now made to Figs. 1A, 2A and 2B, which illustrate a mortise lock 10, constructed and operative in accordance with a non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.

Mortise lock 10 includes a lock casing or housing 12 into which the locking mechanism of the lock is fitted, and a faceplate 14. Mortise lock 10 is suitable for use in a variety of doors, for example, but not exclusively, hinged doors and sliding doors. Mortise lock 10 is designed to be mortise fitted typically within a frame section of the door. When received within the door, the housing 12 is concealed except for the faceplate 14, which is typically flush with the edge surface of the door opposite the hinge edge of the door. Mortise lock 10 includes apertures for receiving other lock furniture, including a handle aperture 16 (typically non-round, e.g., square) and a cylinder lock aperture 18. The handle aperture 16 may receive a spindle of a handle (not shown) for throwing (opening) a latch (or latch bolt) 20. The lock cylinder aperture 18 may receive a cylinder lock (not shown) which may turn a bolt-throw mechanism 22 (partially shown in broken lines in Fig. 1A) for throwing a deadbolt 24 upon insertion and rotation of a proper key (not shown) in the cylinder lock.

The bolt-throw mechanism 22 may be a standard mechanism known in the art which includes a toothed or pinned element that meshes with grooves 26 formed in a gear rack 28 fixed to deadbolt 24. The rotation of the bolt- throw mechanism 22 by the key turning in the cylinder lock causes linear motion of gear rack 28, thereby moving deadbolt 24 in and out of housing 12. The deadbolt 24 moves in and out of a deadbolt receptacle 30, which may be made of plastic and snapped into an aperture formed in a strike 32. Alternatively, deadbolt 24 may simply move in and out of a recess formed in the door post. The deadbolt receptacle 30 is optional and serves to make the recess more attractive.

Latch 20 is a magnetic latch. Upon closing the door, latch 20 is drawn into a latch receptacle 34 located in the strike 32 by magnetic attraction between latch 20 and latch receptacle 34. Housing 12 is preferably made of a magnetic metal so that when the door is open, latch 20 retracts into housing 12 by the magnetic attraction of the housing (which is weaker than the magnetic attraction between latch 20 and latch receptacle 34). The magnetic latch is opened by turning the door handle (not shown), as is now described. (Latch 20 may retract into housing 12 by other means, such as by a spring force, for example.)

Reference is made particularly to Fig. 2B. The handle aperture 16 is formed in the hub of a latch thrower 36. Latch 20 is connected to one end of a latch link 38, which has a curved tongue 40 at an opposite end thereof. The latch thrower 36 has a lever arm 42 which can push against tongue 40 (to the right in the sense of the drawings, away from the latch receptacle 34). The lever arm 42 may be provided with a round bushing 44 (which may be non-metallic) for smooth operation against tongue 40. Latch link 38 is constrained to move linearly by means of a guide element 46 sliding in a groove 48 formed in latch link 38.

In the embodiment of Figs. 1 A and IB, the cylinder lock can operate the magnetic latch 20. Referring again to Fig. 2B, this may be accomplished, without limitation, by means of a latch bolt follower 50 which is connected to gear rack 28 by a pivot (e.g., pinned) connection 52. An end 54 of latch bolt follower 50 can push against a protrusion 56 that protrudes from latch link 38. An opposite end 58 (Fig. 1A) of latch bolt follower 50, near pivot connection 52, is curved and rests against an inner surface of the deadbolt 24 when in the locked position of Fig. 1 A.

As mentioned before, turning the key in the cylinder lock causes linear motion of gear rack 28, thereby moving deadbolt 24 in and out of housing 12. As gear rack 28 moves from the locked position of Fig. 1A to the open position of Fig. IB, latch bolt follower 50 moves along with gear rack 28. The end 54 of latch bolt follower 50 pushes against protrusion 56 of latch link 38 and thereby moves latch 20 into the housing 12 to the unlocked position. Afterwards, a biasing device 59, such as a coil spring, urges latch bolt follower 50 away from protrusion 56, so that the end 54 of latch bolt follower 50 now rests against the inner front face of housing 12, as seen in Fig. IB. In this way, the latch bolt follower 50 does not impede the travel of latch 20 and latch 20 is free to move into latch receptacle 34 when the door is closed.

Reference is now made to Fig. 4, which illustrates a mortise lock 60, constructed and operative in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. Mortise lock 60 is identical to mortise lock 10, with like elements being designated by like numerals, except that mortise lock 60 does not have the latch bolt follower 50 of mortise lock 10. In mortise lock 60, the cylinder lock operates the deadbolt 24 but not the latch 20. Reference is now made to Figs. 6 A and 6B, which illustrate strike 32. Strike 32 may be formed with identical apertures 62 for snapping in deadbolt receptacle 30 and latch receptacle 34. Strike 32 may be formed with one side 64 having curved corners and another (opposite) side 66 having square corners. (Of course, alternatively, all corners may be the same or other shapes.) Since the apertures 62 are identical and are symmetric about the center of strike 32, strike 32 can be inverted (turned around or turned over) so that the curved corner side 64 can be on the left or right side. This means that the single strike can be used in any door installation, thereby saving on inventory.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the features described hereinabove as well as modifications and variations thereof which would occur to a person of skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art.