Drawer locking mechanism

Claim 1

A drawer locking mechanism comprising, in combination with an article of furniture having a top and one or more columns of drawers therebeneath, a lock transfer rod disposed within said top, said rod including a plurality of spaced apart congruent crank portions, all disposed in a common plane, said rod having longitudinally aligned axial means connected adjacent each side of each said crank portion, said axial means comprising an axial portion intermediate each pair of adjacent crank portions and an axial arm connected to the distal portion of each end-most crank portion, each said crank portion including an eccentric arm parallel to said axial means and a pair of radial arms joined to adjacent elements of said axial means, means mounting said rod within said top for simultaneous and equal arcuate displacement of all said crank portions about said axial means, each said drawer column provided with a separate vertical lock bar engageable with a selected one of said rod crank portions, cooperating catch means on each said lock bar and drawers engageable when said lock bar is at a first elevation and disposed in different horizontal planes when said lock bar is in a second elevation, a lock assembly in said top including a reciprocating cam engageable with any selected one of said crank portions of said rod whereby, operation of said lock assembly reciprocates said cam to concurrently arcuately displace all said congruent crank portions and vertically displace each said lock bar.