US1798149A - Latch - Google Patents

Description

March 31, 1931. A. EKMAN 1,798,149

LATCH I Filed June 18. 1929 2 sheets-sheet 1 Ti .1. a"? $5 a 1 5 Qnreu EKmom March 31, 1931. EKMAN 1,798,143

LATCH Filed June 18. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lLQQIQI.

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mTome s 5 structure Patented Mar. 31, 1931 FATE r Fr -e1:

,ANDREWEEKMAN, or GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNPR T0 'WIIITERS & GRAMP'TON MFG. 00., 0F GRANDVILLE, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION or MICHIGAN LATCH Application filed June 18,

This invention relates to latches which in practice are particularly adapted for use on refrigerators, the present invention being directed to an improvement of the latch shown v in the prior Patent #1,648,289, issued Nov. 8, 1927, to Alexander l3. lVinters and Basil R. Crampton. The latch structure to which the present inven tion pertains, is ofthe spring actuated type, including a pivotally mounted lever which is normally actuated by a spring to -occupy a keeper engaging position. The lever may be moved away from normal position against the force of the spring and, heretofore, the more the lever was moved away from the keeper engaging position, the greater the force of the springresisting the movement, while at the beginning of the movement, the resisting force of the spring was relatively light. The latches are of what is known as the trip type, that is, when the latch lever is moved from its normal keeper engaging position to-a position where it dise'ngages from the keeper, the latch is automatically held in its disengaged position, being adapted'fo'r I a trip release therefrom when the door c'arrying the latch is closed through engagement of the latch lever with a projecting trip, finger or post located adjacent the keeper.

Because of the relatively easy turning of the latch lever at the beginning of its keeper disengaging movement, and the increasing force of the spring as, inox' ement of the lever isconti'nuech'it is apparent that when one grasps the lever handle to move it to disengage from the keeper, the movement may not be carried through far enough to move the latch to the position where it, is' to be en gaged and heldagainst return movement Also'when the lever engages with the keeper it should engage with a considerablesprin'g pressure behind it, and in the latches as heretofore made, the spring pressure has been of least amount and efiect when the lever was engaged with the keeper, and of greatest amount when disengaged from the keeper, directly contrary to what it should be. i

Thelpres'ent'inv'ention is concerned with a sin'i-ple an d novel construction oflatch whereit is ivota'lly mounted:

1929. Serial NO. 371,778,

in'tne effect of the spring on the lever will be greatest whenthe lever is engaged with the keeper and will serve to better press the door on which the latch is mounted intotight closing engagement with the door frame or casing of the refrigerator on which the door is mounted. Moreover, when the lever is manually operated to disengage from the keeper, the force required to start the lever in motion is greater than the force thereafter required to keep it in motion until it has reached the position where it is held and restrained from return. As a result the one operating the lever applies the maximum force thereto at the beginning and this causes the lever to be swung to its extreme limit of movement and insures that it will reach the position in which it will be engaged and restrained from return. v

It is a primary object and purpose of the present invention to provide a latch which is of economical construction whereby the ends stated may be attained and to farther provide a latch structure having these desired qualities which isof universal application to doors swinging either to the right or to the left. Many other objectsand purposes will be apparent after an understanding of the invention is had from the; following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation illustratii'ig a fragmentary portion of a door and a door frame with the keeper mounted onth'e door frame jamh' and the latch mounted on the door, the outer side ort'o'p of the latch housing being cut away to sho he interior striicture.

Fig, 2 is a fragnientariff" 'r'tical section centrally through the latch and-door and door frame. V

Fig; 3} is a vertical section taken transversely to the plane of the section shown in Fig. 2, the section being taken imnrediately .vithinthe side of the housing iiezit adjacent to thefreevertical edge the deer;

Fig. 4: is a fragmentar; perspective View of the latch lever" and handle, illustratingthe eoa'strueti'oaofthe leverat the point with the base plate removed, and with parts of the latch lever broken away for better disclosure of construction, the lever occupying its normal central position.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the toggle lever construction which is present in effect in the construction shown in Fig. 5, serving to normally hold the lever in central neutral position. V

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. with the lever turned to one side.

Fig. 8 is a diagram similar to Fig. 6, illustrating the straightening of the toggle lever construction when the parts are moved from the position shown in Fi 5 to that shown in Fig. 7, and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the lever and the toggle parts associated therewith the perspective being taken at the side of the lever opposite that shown in Fig. 4.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

The latch lever construction is mounted on the door 1 adjacent the free vertical edge thereof while the keeper for the latch lever is mounted on the door frame or jamb 2. The keeper is of like constructlon to that shown in the patent above noted including a base 3. I

an outwardly extending keeper hook 4 and a trip post or finger 5 extending from the base adjacent the keeper hook.

The latch lever construction mounted on the door includes the usualv metal housing having an outer side or top from which sides 6 and ends 7 and 8 extend inwardly, there being attaching ears for the passage of screws to secure the housing to the door turned outwardly from the sides 6 as shown. The end 7 of the housing nearer the free vertical edge of the door is formed with spaced apart inwardly extending projections 9 near the top of the housing which make a convex seat between them. The inner side of the housing is closed by a base plate 10 in which pairs of openings or slots 11 are cut, as shown, at each side of the longitudinal vertical central line of the housing, the purpose of: which will hereafter appear. The other end 8 of the housing has a portion turned inwardly and parallel to the top, as indicated at 12, between the top and the base plate 10. The pivot post 13 for the latch lever extends, as best shown in Fig. 2, through the portion 12 and the base plate, the pivot post 13 being of tubular form so that its inner end may be spun outwardly post 13, and at one side of the opening the metal is turned upwardly forming an are shaped lip 17 which bears against the inner side of the part or portion 12 described, (see Fig. 2). V

The lever is formed from fiat metal into substantially channel shape in the web of which the opening 16 is made while parallel flanges 18 extend from said web toward the base plate 10. A short distance from the opening 16 the web or upper side of the lever is'cut away and a cross bar 19 is located between the sides 18 of the lever (see Fig. 4) and permanently secured in place. The flanges 18, adjacent the base plate 10, are formed with projecting lugs 20 which are of the proper size, and are so located and spaced apart that they will freely enter the openings 11 in the base plate when the lever is turned to bring said lugs to the openings. The outer end of the lever, after it passes through the housing, may be rolled into substantially cylindrical form, as indicated at 21, and may either be of this form alone or may be located around a rod 22 on which a keeper engaged roller 23 is rotatively mounted at the outer end of the rod 22 (see Figs. 7 and 9) A rocker plate 24 of fiat metal is formed at one edge with a rounded projection 25 and at its opposite edge with two spaced apart concaved seats 26. The rock-er plate 24 is located over the lever 14 against the top of the latch lever. housing with the projection 25 seating in the seat between the two projections 9 on the end 7 of the housing previously described. A second plate 27 of fiat metal is located adjacent the top of the lever housing and is formed with an offset section 28 which passes under the rocking plate 24. When the offset section 28 is pressed from the plate 27 it is cut from and lies between two spaced apart fingers 29, one at each side thereof, which are formed with rounded free ends and are properly spacedfrom each other so as to seat in the concaved seats 26 of the rocker 24. The other i.

t righ a g milking a leg 32 which extends '5'" into the opening in the lever 14 between the sides or flanges 18 thereof (see Fig. 2). A coiled compression spring 33 is located beleg 32. a v

The efi'ect'of the spring-33, under compres sion, is to move the plate 27 so as to bring the ends of the fingers 29 to snug engagement with the seats 26 and thereby force the projection 25on the rocker 24 into the seat be M tween the cross bar 19 on the lever and said ere to ride with some pressure upon the inner side of base plate 10; and when the lever is moved to a position such that these projections 20 are directly opposite the openings ll,

the lever is automatically rocked to bring said lugs into the openings 11 and the lever will be retained in the position in which it has moved and will not return to its initial position. shown in Fig. 5, until the lugs are re leased from said openings.

\Vhen the latch lever is engaged with the keeper, as in Fig. 1, the rocker 24 and the plate 27 are disposed symmetrically to the longitudinal axis of the lever 14:. To turn the lever from the position shown in Fig. 1, (which is also the position shown in Fig. 5), to the position shown in Fig. 7, it is, necessary to turn the lever about the pivot post 13, rock the rocker 24; on the projection and turn one of the fingers 29 in one of seats 26 on the rocker 2% with a consequent compression of spring 23. In effect it is the same as would be the straightening of the toggle lever diagram shown in Fig. 6 where the pivot at 26 must be carried through the are indicated from the point it occupies in Fig. 6 to that which it occupies in Fig. 8. In the toggle lever diagram as shown in Fig. 6, and which is illustrated by broken lines in Fig. 5, the great est force must be applied in the beginning to overcome the resistance of the spring for the reason that the knuckle of the toggle is at that time farthest away from the dead center line.

As the toggle approaches the dead center line, as shown in Fig. 8, a lesser amount of force is required to overcome the resistance of the spring even though the direct compression thrust of the spring may be greater than it was at the beginning. As a result one grasping the handle 15 to actuate the lever is compelled to apply the greatest force at the beginning and as a continuous turning force on the handle 18 is all that is required to keep the lever moving after it has once started, the lever will be insured of turning to the extreme of its movement or to a point where the lugs of projections 20 will come to and enterthe openings 11 at one side of the base plate 10. It also is evident, as a corollary to the previous proposition, that it the greatest force is required at the beginning to turn the lever from its keeper engagingto its keeper disengaging position, then the force of the spring on the lever has its greatest efl'ect when the lever is engaged with the keeper; and this is a very desirable and valuable feature of the invention, particularly in refrigerators.

It is evident that the latch lever may be swung either away from its normal central position, shown in Fig. 1, and that the effect is the same in both cases. This permits the mounting of the latch on doors, whether they swing to the right or to the left.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the latch described is 'full y" capable of attaining the objects and purposes for which it was designed in a simple, practicaland economical manner. The inventionisdelined inL-tl'ie" ap pended claims and isto be" considered comprehensive o'l 'all' forms or; structure coming within theirscop'e. a

1. In a latch, acove'ring housing, a latch lever pivotally mounted within thehousin springjmean's in the hou'sing associated with said lat'ch'lever, andmeans combined with said spring means for normally causing said spring means to hold the latch lever at a central position and exert its greatest effective force upon the lever when at said central position, the efiective force of the spring diminishing when the latch lever is moved away from normal central position and until it reaches its outer position and means to hold it in its outer position.

2. In a latch, a covering housing, a latch lever pivotally mounted within the housing, spring means housed within the latch lever and hearing at one end against the same, and means against which the other end of the spring means bears slidably mounted adjacent said latch lever combined with a rocker mounted for rocking movement against an end of the housing, said last mentioned means engaging against said rocker.

3. In a latch, a covering housing, a latch lever pivotally mounted within the housing, spring means housed within the latch lever, and boggle means associated with said spring means for normally causing said spring means to turn the latch lever to'a central position and resist movement away from said central position, and cause the spring to have its greatest efiect when the latch lever is at cen-J tral position, and a progressively decreasing eflect as the latch lever is moved from normal central position.

4. A latch comprising, a housing, a latchv lever pivotally mounted in said housing, a rocker located within the housing and pivotally mounted at one side against an end of the housing, said rocker having spaced apart seats at its opposite sides, a plate slidably mounted at one side of the latch bar having two spaced apart fingers to seat in said seats on the rocker when the lever is in normal central position, said plate having a leg at one end turned at right angles and extending between the sides of the lever, a

coiled compression spring housed in said latch bar between the lever and said leg, said latch lever having a transverse member against which one end of the compression spring bears.

5. A latch comprising a housing, a latch lever pivotally mounted between its ends in said housing, a plate slidably mounted at one side of the lever and associated with the lever andits pivot for guidance in its sliding movements, a coiled compression spring between sald plate and lever, and a rocker member pivotally engaged with one end of the latch Lil housing at one side and pivotally associated with said sliding plate at its opposite side, the pivotal engagement of said plate and rocker member being to one side of the longitudintal axis of the lever when said lever is in its central position thereby forming a q to le. arran ement.- b b In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. ANDREW EKMAN.

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