This invention relates generally to freezers and coolers and particularly to freezer door handles and locks.
Walk-in freezers have doorways with doors to provide for controlled ingress and egress. To provide security the doors must be provided with locks. A deadbolt type lock is preferred as it provides a high level of security and is tamper resistant. In its simplest form a deadbolt lock consists of a bolt slidably mounted within a housing and attached to a door with a knob or handle for manually extending and retracting the bolt into and out of a recess in a doorjamb. The bolt is extended to prevent the door from being opened and retracted to allow the door to be opened.
Though deadbolts offer substantial security, their adaptation for use on freezer doors is difficult. For example, recessed deadbolts and apertures within a freezer door or doorjamb are hard to install due to the hollow metal construction of freezer walls. They also present a greater susceptibility to freeze-up since they are close to the interior of the chamber and the metal casing chamber wall are highly heat conductive. While surface mounted deadbolt locks might help solve this problem, such locks are not normally designed to provide for emergency inside release nor have padlock capabilities. Thus deadbolts actually impose a substantial danger to persons becoming trapped in the freezer who may suffer from hypothermia or even death if not discovered for a long time. It thus is essential that a deadbolt type lock for a freezer door be inside escape capable.
Accordingly it is seen that a need has long existed for a freezer door lock that has the security of deadlock type action coupled with emergency escape capability, all with minimal risk of freeze-up. It is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.
In its preferred form, a freezer door handle and lock assembly comprises a pull handle having a mounting end formed with a slot that is adapted to be mounted to a freezer door. A deadbolt is mounted in the pull handle mounting end for reciprocal movement along a path of travel between deadbolt locking and unlocking positions. A manual push bar extends from the deadbolt to the exterior of the handle mounting end through the mounting end slot. Means are provided for locking the deadbolt in its locking position. A strike is also provided which is adapted to be removably mounted to a door jamb in position to receive the deadbolt.