High-Security Locking Device With Multi-Face Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional locking devices are vulnerable to key duplication and have limited combinations, leading to increased complexity and potential unauthorized access due to the ease of creating blank keys and the lack of counter-pins in passive-type locks.
Innovation Solution
A high-security locking device featuring a reversible flat key with multiple encryption grooves and alveoli, combined with a cylindrical rotor and stator housing, utilizing multiple independent locking/unlocking mechanisms with feeler and enabling members, and mobile pins to ensure correct key alignment and encryption for proper operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional locks with pins and counter-pins are used, then the lock can be opened with a key, but the lock is vulnerable to key duplication and has limited combinations
Solution Approach 1:
The lock mechanism is segmented into multiple independent locking means (first locking/unlocking means and second locking/unlocking means), each with its own sliders and feeler members that interact with different encryptions on the key. This segmentation allows for increased security through multiple verification points without proportionally increasing overall system complexity, as each segment operates independently but contributes to the same locking function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a new dimension of encryption by adding multiple encryptions (first encryption, second encryption, third encryption, fourth encryption) on different faces of the key, rather than relying solely on traditional pin depth variations. This multi-dimensional approach to key encoding significantly increases the number of possible combinations and makes key duplication more difficult, as all encryptions must be precisely replicated.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of pins is increased to increase combinations, then the number of possible combinations increases, but the complexity of the lock and key significantly increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the number of pins vertically, the invention adds encryptions on multiple faces (first pair of opposite main flat faces and second pair of opposite secondary faces) and multiple encryptions per face (first encryption, second encryption, third encryption, fourth encryption). This dimensional expansion of the key structure provides vastly more combination possibilities without requiring a proportional increase in pin count or mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The sliders serve multiple functions: they translate in response to feeler member interactions with encryptions, they position enabling members to either block or permit rotor rotation, and they coordinate multiple locking means. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby increasing combinatorial security without proportionally increasing device complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If passive-type locks without counter-pins are used, then the structure is simpler, but the lock can be opened even with incorrect key encryption
Solution Approach 1:
The enabling members are preliminarily positioned by the sliders to block rotor rotation unless the correct key is inserted. The feeler members interact with the encryptions during key insertion to translate the sliders, which in turn position the enabling members to either permit or prevent rotor rotation. This preliminary positioning mechanism ensures that even in a passive lock structure without traditional counter-pins, incorrect keys cannot open the lock, while maintaining manufacturing simplicity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A high-security locking device comprising a lock and a flat key (1) and a flat key (1) in which the lock comprises a cylindrical rotor (2) presenting a slot (3) with rectangular section for the introduction of the flat key (1) and a stator (4) presenting a cylindrical housing (5) for the rotor (2), the lock comprising first and respectively at least second locking/unlocking means of the rotor (2) arranged on the opposite side of the slot (3), the first and respectively second locking/unlocking means comprising a first (14) and respectively a second (16) locking/unlocking member of rotor (2) and at least a first (15) and respectively at least a second (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d) slider housed in the rotor (2) that moves translatably in parallel to the long sides (3a) of the rectangular section of said slot (3), each slider (15, 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d) presenting a feeler member (18, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) of an encryption and a member (19, 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d) to enable the locking/unlocking of the rotor (2).