Importance

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Abstract

A key safe having an outer housing for housing a key, a releasable mounting assembly, a releasable opening assembly, an electronic code entry pad, and activation circuitry is disclosed. Alternatively, the outer housing is for housing not a key, but a lever for opening a lock directly. The releasable mounting assembly releasably mounts the outer housing to a mounting surface so that the outer housing may be completely removed from the mounting surface when the releasable mounting assembly is released. The releasable opening assembly permits access to the interior region of the outer housing when the releasable mounting assembly is not released by permitting the outer housing to be moved from a closed position to an open position when the releasable opening assembly is released. The electronic code entry pad is positioned in one or more of the outer housing walls and is exposed to the exterior of the outer housing so that the code entry pad is accessible to a user for entry of a key code. The activation circuitry is positioned in the interior region of the outer housing and is responsive to the electronic code entry pad for selectively releasing the releasable mounting assembly and the releasable opening assembly. Alternatively, external power source circuitry is used to provide power from a power source positioned outside the outer housing to the electronic code entry assembly and the latch activation circuitry. Alternatively, the activation circuitry includes circuitry for digitally storing time data when a valid key code is entered.

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First Claim