1426286 Latches WILMOT-BREEDEN LTD 21 March 1974 [30 March 1973] 15391/73 Heading E2A A latch mechanism for a motor vehicle door 11 comprises a housing 38, Fig. 8, having a mounting face 37 for fixing against the shut face 12 of the door or behind the shut face, a notched latch 30 rotatable about an axis 31 transverse to the mounting face, and a manually operable latch release member 16, or a mounting therefore, such that when fitted the release member is movable in a plane parallel to the mounting face, whereby in use the release member lies behind the outer face of the door and projects from the shut face for latch release by finger insertion round the door edge to pull the release member towards the outer face of the door. As shown, the latching mechanism is mounted within the door 11, the shut face 12 of the door being cut away for entry of a keeper fixed to the door pillar 15. The handle 16 is retained on a pivot 17 projecting from the latch casing and has a recess 20 in which is engaged a pin 19 of a latchreleasing pawl 36 in the casing; the handle is concealed by an edge flange 22 of the door. As shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 the latch mechanism includes a rotary latch member 30 having a notch 32 for engagement with the keeper and safety and fully latched detent notches 34, 35 engageable by the spring-loaded, pivotably mounted pawl 36. An internal release element 40, mounted on the fixed pivot 17 for the handle projects outside the cover plate 38 of the latch casing for connection to an internal release member and has a portion 42 for displacement of the pawl 36 to free the latch member 30. The pawl has a pin-like projection which passes through a slot in the mounting plate 37 and the shut face of the door for releasing engagement by the door handle. The intermediate limb of the keeper staple is positioned behind the latch member 30 in the latching position whereby anti-burst strength in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is provided by the mounting plate 37 itself. A plastics moulding 46 has a guide channel 47 which is engaged by the keeper staple and is provided with a flexible tongue 48 and a ramplike tail 49 beneath which an elastomeric block is positioned, the block being compressed on door closure to provide anti-rattle means. The internal, spring-loaded, release member (50), Fig. 9 (not shown), is recessed into the inner door panel (11) and is coupled to the member 40 by a torsion bar. A pivoted locking lever 60, Fig. 4, has a locking lug 61 and is indexed by an over-centre spring whereby the lug is positioned to block release movement of the pawl 36; one end 63 of the lever is connected to a key-operable external, door mounted lock, and the end 64 is connectible to a link extending to a sill control member for internal locking of the latch mechanism. In modifications, (a) the latch release handle (70), Fig. 12, not shown, is pivotably mounted on the latch casing before fitting to the door and is cranked so that an intermediate position thereof engages an arm 74 on the pawl (36a), (b) the pawl (36), Fig. 15 (not shown) is loaded by a spiral spring (81) to abut against an elastomeric block (82), and (c) handle release of the latch memlber (30), Fig. 16 (not shown), by the pawl (36) is effected by a pin (83) projecting from the handle instead of the pin on the pawl, which pin engages an abutment face (84) of the pawl to lift the latter clear of the latch member.