Non-tethered Latch With Wedge Shafts for Classroom Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional locks in schools are often impractical and can be easily manipulated by students, allowing them to lock teachers inside classrooms, and non-tethered latches can be easily removed, posing a risk during violent incidents.
Innovation Solution
A non-tethered latch system with elongate shafts and lock plates that require a deliberate action to unlock, providing enhanced security by preventing easy removal and allowing controlled access from within the classroom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional deadbolt locks are used, then door security is improved, but installation cost and complexity increase due to significant modifications required to doors, walls, and doorframes
Solution Approach 1:
The locking system is divided into separate components: a latch assembly that attaches to the door and a strike plate assembly that attaches to the door frame. This segmentation allows each component to be installed independently without requiring extensive modifications to the door or frame structure, thereby reducing installation cost and complexity while maintaining security functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the complex installation requirements of traditional deadbolts by using a simplified latch mechanism that can be mounted with minimal structural modifications. The latch assembly is designed to be attached to the door surface without requiring deep drilling or structural alterations to the door or door frame, thus removing the manufacturing complexity barrier.
2Ease of operation
If prior art locking systems with tethered latches are used, then students can easily lock and unlock classroom doors, but this allows students to lock teachers inside classrooms
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a controlled release mechanism as an intermediary between the latch and the door handle. The latch remains engaged with the strike plate, but a teacher-controlled release mechanism (such as a key-operated or code-activated device) is required to disengage it. This intermediary control prevents students from unauthorizedly locking or unlocking doors while maintaining ease of operation for authorized personnel.
3Reliability
If non-tethered latches are used, then teacher control over door locking is improved, but the latch can be easily removed by a simple lifting movement
Solution Approach 1:
The latch assembly is designed with asymmetric engagement features where the latch blade engages the strike plate in a direction that requires significant force to disengage, while still allowing controlled release through the teacher access mechanism. The geometric asymmetry of the engagement surfaces prevents simple lifting removal while maintaining ease of controlled operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The latch and strike plate incorporate curved or rounded engagement surfaces that create a mechanical interference pattern. The curved geometry of the latch blade and corresponding recess in the strike plate creates friction and mechanical advantage that resists simple lifting movements, while still allowing the controlled release mechanism to smoothly disengage the latch when activated by authorized personnel.
4Reliability
If the latch is designed to prevent easy removal, then security during violent incidents is improved, but the complexity of the unlocking mechanism increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex unlocking functionality is extracted from the basic latch mechanism and implemented as a separate, dedicated release mechanism. This allows the latch itself to remain relatively simple with strong engagement features, while the unlocking complexity is isolated to a separate teacher-access component that can be key-operated, code-activated, or otherwise controlled without adding complexity to the fundamental latching action.
Data Source
AI summary
A door locking device including a non-tethered latch having two or more elongate shafts extending in a downward direction from lateral portions of the latch, the shafts being oriented perpendicular to one another. The latch also includes a curved handle protruding from the top of the latch. The latch is configured to mate with locking plates configured to be mounted to a door and a door frame or wall adjacent to where the door opens. A lower end of at least one of the vertical elongate shafts of the latch is made of a flexible material and is wedge-shaped, having a shelf at the top of the wedge that is configured to engage the bottom edge of the respective locking plate to which it mates, at least temporarily locking the latch and making it more difficult to disengage for an unwanted intruder seeking to enter a classroom.