Lockbox Aperture Offset for Secure Multi-User Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety lockout devices often require multiple keys for authorized access, leading to issues with stacking and storage efficiency due to the orientation and placement of padlock shackles, which increases footprint width and reduces storage space.
Innovation Solution
The design of lockboxes with strategically arranged lock apertures on the lid and body flanges allows for vertical offset and lateral positioning of padlocks, enabling efficient stacking and minimizing footprint width and height, while maintaining secure multiple-user access through multiple locking points.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If padlock shackles are positioned in conventional lockout devices, then secure locking is achieved, but footprint width increases and stacking efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions lock apertures from horizontal alignment to vertical alignment on the lockbox structure. This dimensional change allows padlock shackles to be oriented vertically rather than horizontally, reducing the footprint width while maintaining secure locking capability. The vertical offset positioning of multiple lock apertures enables efficient stacking of lockboxes without interference from padlock shackles.
Solution Approach 2:
The lock apertures are pre-positioned on the lockbox body and lid flanges during manufacturing, with strategic vertical offset positioning that anticipates the need for stacking. This preliminary arrangement of lock apertures ensures that when padlocks are attached, they do not interfere with stacking operations, thereby improving storage efficiency before the lockboxes are actually stacked.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple lock apertures are added for multiple-user access, then secure multiple-user access is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the locking system into multiple independent lock apertures distributed across different locations on the lockbox body and lid flanges. Each aperture can be independently secured with a separate padlock, allowing multiple users to simultaneously lock the same lockbox with their own keys. This segmentation enables multiple-user access without requiring a complex integrated locking mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The lockbox design incorporates multiple lock apertures that can accommodate various types of padlocks and locking mechanisms. The standardized aperture design allows different users to use their preferred locking methods while maintaining a unified lockbox structure. This multi-functionality approach enables adaptable multiple-user access without significantly increasing structural complexity.
3Productivity
If lock apertures are positioned on lid and body flanges with vertical offset, then stacking efficiency is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different aperture positioning strategies to different parts of the lockbox structure. Lock apertures on the body are positioned at specific vertical offsets from those on the lid flanges, creating a localized quality difference that enables stacking. This targeted positioning approach allows manufacturing precision to be focused on critical areas while maintaining overall production efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A lockable enclosure includes a housing and an access door. The access door includes a hinge portion connected with a first side wall of the housing and is pivotable about the hinge portion between closed and open positions. When the access door is in the closed position, the hinge portion of the access door is slideable for sliding movement of the access door between a latching position in which a first latch portion of the access door engages a corresponding second latch portion of the housing to secure the access door in the closed position, and a release position in which the first interlock portion disengages from the second interlock portion to permit pivoting movement of the access door from the closed position to the open position. The access door further comprises at least one locking feature configured to secure the closed access door in the latching position.