Abstract: A portable communication device includes a mechanism for opening the device. The communication device has two parts that pivot about a hinge between closed and open positions. The mechanism includes a spring that urges the two parts to the open position, and a lock that releasably locks the two parts in the closed position, where the lock includes a pin that is movable in a passageway that extends into the first and second parts, a resilient member that urges the pin into a locking position with the pin in both the first and second parts, and a depressible button at one longitudinal end of the hinge, where the button has an extension that extends into the passageway and pushes the pin into an unlocking position entirely within the second part when the button is depressed.

Abstract: A lock joins two bodies together. The first body has a first hole and the second body has a second hole, and the lock includes a rail on the first body adjacent to the first hole, two spaced-apart cradles movable on the rail, a spring between and attached to the two cradles that urges the two cradles toward each other, a plunger that moves perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the spring through the first hole, where the plunger has a locking end that moves into the second hole to join the bodies together. The lock has two levels that are each hinged to a different one of the cradles and to the plunger and that cause the locking end of the plunger to retreat from the second hole to unlock the bodies when the cradles move toward each other.