High Security Lock - Patent 8091392

Document Sample
High Security Lock - Patent 8091392 Powered By Docstoc
Description: The present invention relates generally to locks, and more specifically, to high security locks adapted for use in safes and other security structures or areas.BACKGROUND Documents of an extremely sensitive nature and items having a high proprietary value often need to be stored within a safe or other structure. The structure typically includes a lock mechanism, and the structure is generally designed to beaccessible only by a select few individuals who are entrusted with a predetermined combination code that facilitates the unlocking of the mechanism. Unauthorized persons will use simple lock picking tools as well as sophisticated equipment that canapply high mechanical forces or an electric or magnetic field to the lock mechanism in order to manipulate the components within the lock mechanism. As the tools utilized in lock picking have become more sophisticated, lock mechanisms have been improved to resist these sophisticated lock picking methods. Mechanical and/or electrical elements have been used in locks to provide complicatedbarriers to a potential unauthorized person attempting to break into the structure. However, unauthorized persons continue to attack even these improved lock mechanisms, including drilling into the interior of the lock mechanism through lock casingopenings. Locations on the lock casing that are subject to frequent attack include the mounting bolts and the spindle mount where a spindle shaft from the combination dial enters the lock casing. Additionally, unauthorized persons attempting to break into the structure have been known to use devices that apply high acceleration to the combination dial in order to overcome security elements of the lock mechanism. The high accelerationsof the gear train can sometimes force the gears controlling a lock bolt to rotate and unlock the lock mechanism without a proper combination entry. These high acceleration devices can include so-called auto-dialers, which rapidly attempt every possiblecombin