GB2121096A - Improvements in or relating to a catch - Google Patents

Abstract

A catch for a pair of gates comprises a pin 8 on one gate 5 and a latch 6 on the other gate 4. The latch 6 comprises two spaced-apart plates 10, 11 fixed to the gate 4 and a latch member 18 mounted between them for limited relative movement. As the gates 4, 5 are closed, the pin 8 enters a mouth 12 defined by the fixed plates 10 and 11, rotates the latching member 18 clockwise (in Figure 3) and is then held between the closed end 15 of the mouth 12 and a portion 23 of the latching member 18 as the latching member 18 returns to its resting position. The latch is slim enough to be located between two gates and may be opened from each side by use of one of the portions 24 of the latching member 18. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to a catch The present invention relates to a catch and more particularly relates to a gate catch.

Various types of gate catches have been proposed before, but there is still a need for a gate catch that can be used satisfactorily in a narrow space such as the space between the end of a gate and a gatepost, or in the space between the ends of two gates in a double-gate arrangement, to latch together the two gates.

The present invention seeks to provide such a latch, and more particularly the present invention seeks to provide such a latch that can be mounted in the small inter-space between the free ends of two gates that form a double-gate arrangement or between the free end of a gate and an adjacent gatepost. However it is to be appreciated that a catch in accordance with the invention may be utilised in other situations.

According to this invention there is provided a latch adapted to cooperate with a pin to form a catch for securing a gate or the like, said latch comprising a housing defining a horizontal channel having an open end and a closed end, into which channel the pin can be inserted with the axis of the pin substantially horizontal and substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said channel, and a pivotally movable latch member which is movable between a latching position, in which the said portion of the latch member extends into said horizontal channel at a position between the closed end and the open end thereof to define an aperture adapted to retain the pin, and a non-latching position, in which a portion of the latch member is withdrawn from the said horizontal channel, wherein said housing is defined by at least one substantially planar member having means for pivotally connecting said latch member thereto, the housing having means for securing the housing to a substantially planar surface, with the plane of said planar member forming the housing substantially parallel with said said planar surface, said latch member comprising a substantially planar portion which is substantially parallel with said at least one substantially planar member.

Preferably said housing comprises two plates spaced apart by bosses located intermediate said plates.

Conveniently said latch member is pivotally mounted on one of said bosses.

Advantageously said latch member is provided with an arcuate slot, another of said bosses extending through the arcuate slot, the arrangement being such that the cooperation between the said arcuate slot and the said other boss limits the degree of pivotal movement that can be executed by said latch member. Said bosses may be formed on one of said plates.

In one embodiment both said plates are of substantially rectangular configuration and said horizontal channel has an arcuate closed end and an outwardly divergent mouth at the open end thereof.

Preferably said meansfor securing the catch to a substantially planar surface comprises bores extending through both said plates and through said bosses to accommodate screws or the like.

Conveniently the latch member comprises portions which protrude on two opposite sides of the housing which can be utilised to actuate the latch member.

The latch member may be of substantially triangular form having a horizontal linear top edge and two downwardly declined under edges, there being a recess formed in one under edge which, when the latch member is in the latching position, is co-aligned with a portion of said horizontal channel adjacent the closed end thereof.

Preferably one of said downwardly inclined under edges is adapted to cooperate with the pin, if the pin is introduced to the latch when the latch plate is in the latching position, to cause the latch plate to move pivotally away from the latching position to permit the pin to enter fully into the horizontal channel. In one embodiment, the arrangement is such that the latch plate then returns to the latching position under the influence of gravity. Alternatively, the latch member is so configured that, during the said full entering of the pin into the channel, the pin strikes a part of the latch member and thereby urges the latch member into the latching position.

Conveniently the said plate provided with bosses has bosses which protrude from both sides of the plate.

Advantageously the plate that is not provided with bosses is secured to the plate that is provided with bosses by means of screws which mount the latch in position.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a doublegate arrangement, the gates being fitted with a catch in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a top view of a latch in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the latch shown in Figure 2; and FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of a modified latch plate.

Referring initially to Figure 1 a pair of spaced gate posts 1, 2 support, by means of hinges 3, a pair of gates 4, 5. The gates are only shown diagrammatically in the drawings. Mounted on the gate 4 is a latch 6 in accordance with the invention, and mounted on the other gate 5 is a pin arrangement 7 adapted to cooperate with the latch 6 to form a catch. The pin arrangement 7 comprises a protruding pin 8 which is supported on the gate by means of an appropriate plate 9.

Turning now to Figures 2 and 3 the latch 6 illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a housing formed by two spaced apart vertical parallel plates 10, 11 the plates being of the same shape and being co aligned. As can be seen most clearly in Figure 3 the plates 10, 11 are each of generally rectangular configuration, but one vertical side of the rectangle is recessed to define an open mouth 1 2 having sloping side walls 13, the mouth communicating with a horizontally extending channel 14 that terminates arcuately at 1 5. The channel is dimensioned to receive the pin 8 shown in Figure 1 with the axis of the pin 8 being perpendicular to the plane defined by the plates 10 and 11.

The plate 11, which is the rear plate of the housing, is provided with four symmetrically arranged protruding bosses 16, the bosses protruding from both sides of the plate 11. The bosses protruding from the front face of the rear plate 11 serve to space the front plate 10 from the rear plate 11 and the bosses protruding from the rear are located within bores in the end face of the gate to provide a stronger engagement between the latch and gate than would otherwise be the case. Each boss 1 6 is provided with an axial bore 1 7 therethrough and the front plate 10 is provided with apertures which are coaligned with the bores 17.

When the latch is assembled and mounted in position screws are inserted through the aligned apertures in the front plate 10 and the bores 17 to secure the housing to the gate 4 and also to retain the two parts of the housing together.

A latch member 1 8 is mounted in position between the two plates. The latch member 1 8 is a planar plate of generally triangular form having a substantially horizontal linear top and two downwardly inclined under edges that meet at a point substantially in the region of the horizontal channel 14 defined by the plates 10 and 1 The latch member 1 8 is formed with an aperture 1 9 therein, and one of the bosses 1 6a (see Figure 3) passes through this aperture 1 9. Thus the catch is pivotally mounted in position about the boss 1 6a.

The latch member 18 has an arcuate aperture 20 formed therein, the centre of curvature of the arc being the aperture 19, and a second boss 1 6b passes through this aperture. This enables the latch to execute a limited pivotal movement, as indicated by the arrow 21.

The latch member is provided with a recess 22 adjacent the apex defined by the sloping under edges of the latch member 1 8. The arrangement is such that when the latch member has been pivoted to an elevated position the latch member is entirely withdrawn from the horizontal channel 14, thus permitting the pin 8 to be moved into or out of the channel.However, when the latch member is moved to a lowered pivotal position a portion 23 of the latch member 1 8 adjacent the recess 22 becomes positioned in the horizontal channel 14 between the arcuate end 1 5 and the open mouth 1 2, and part of the recess 22 becomes co-aligned with the portion of the horizontal channel 14 immediately adjacent the arcuate end 1 5. The arrangement is such that if the pin 8 is positioned adjacent the arcuate end of the channel 1 when the latch member 18 is lowered in this way, the latch retains the pin in position thus serving to latch the two gates together.

It is preferable for there to be a drop bolt on one gate which slides down into a hole in the ground to assist in keeping the gate in place although this arrangement is not illustrated.

The gates can be unlatched by pivoting the latch member 1 8 to its upper pivotal position, and to facilitate this hooked portions 24, 25 are provided at each end of the latch member, these hooked portions extending beyond the housing and one hooked portion is readily accessible from each side of the gate to which the latch is connected.

If the pin is introduced into the channel when the latch member is in the latching position the pin will strike against the sloping undersurface 26 of the latch member 18, and by virtue of a camming section will serve to raise the latch member to the unlatching position while the pin moves towards the arcuate end 1 5 of the horizontal channel 14.

The latch member will subsequently drop, under the force of gravity, into the latching position, retaining the pin adjacent the arcuate end 1 5 of the channel 14.

It is to be appreciated that the housing, as described above, may be screwed onto the end face of a gate, as shown in Figure 1, or may be secured to a gatepost to lie in the small interspace between the gatepost and the free end of a gate, and it is for this reason that the housing has been made to be very slim.

Since the front plate is retained in position on the rest of the housing by means of the screws, it is readily possible to dis-assemble the housing and the latch plate, and to re-assemble the components in the opposite handed configuration.

This will mean inverting the front and rear plates, but since these plates are symmetrical about a horizontal line this will have no effect on the operation of the device and, in addition, the rear plate 11 may be reversed in this way because the bosses 1 6 protrude from both sides.

Figure 4 shows a modified latch member 18' in which the arcuate aperture 20' is larger than the corresponding aperture 20 in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, and in which the recess 22' has a different shape. The different shape of the modified recess 22' is partly derived from the fact that the portion 23' of the modified latch member 18' which lies to the left (in Figure 4) of the recess 22' is truncated at its lower extent in comparison with the corresponding portion 23 of the latch member 1 8 described above.

The right hand (in Figure 4) boundary 22'a of the recess 22' has such a shape that, as the pin of the catch enters the recess 22' and strikes the said boundary 22'a, the latch member 18' is forced downwards into the latching position. This is to be contrasted with the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, in which the latch member 1 8 returns to the latching position by the action of gravity alone. Thus, in this modified embodiment shown in Figure 4, a more positive latching action is obtained.

Claims (20)

1. A latch adapted to cooperate with a pin to form a catch for securing a gate or the like, said latch comprising a housing defining a horizontal channel having an open end and a closed end, into which channel the pin can be inserted with the axis of the pin substantially horizontal and substantially perpendicular to the longitudinai axis of said channel, and a pivotally movable latch member which is movable between a latching position, in which the said portion of the latch member extends into said horizontal channel at a position between the closed end and the open end thereof to define an aperture adapted to retain the pin, and a non-latching position, in which a portion of the latch member is withdrawn from the said horizontal channel, wherein said housing is defined by at least one substantially planar member having means for pivotally connecting said latch member thereto, the housing having means for securing the housing to a substantially planar surface, with the plane of said planar member forming the housing substantially parallel with said said pianar surface, said latch member also comprising a substantially planar member which is substantially parallel with said at least one substantially planar member.

2. A catch according to claim 1 wherein said housing comprises two plates spaced apart by bosses located intermediate said plates.

3. A catch according to claim 2 wherein said latch member is pivotally mounted on one of said bosses.

4. A catch according to claim 3 wherein said latch member is provided with an arcuate slot, another of said bosses extending through the arcuate slots, the arrangement being such that the cooperation between the said arcuate slot and the said another boss limits the degree of pivotal movement that can be executed by said latch member.

5. A catch according to any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein said bosses are formed on one of said plates.

6. A catch according to any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein both said plates are of substantially rectangular configuration and wherein said horizontal channel has an arcuate closed end and an outwardly divergent mouth at the open end thereof.

7. A catch according to any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein said means for securing the catch to a substantially planar surface comprises bores extending through both said plates and through said bosses to accommodate screws or the like.

8. A catch according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the latch member comprises portions which protrude on two opposite sides of the housing which can be utilised to actuate the latch member.

9. A catch according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the latch member is of substantially triangular form having a horizontal linear top edge and two downwardly declined under edges, there being a recess formed in one under edge which, when the latch member is in the latching position cooperates with a portion of said horizontal channel adjacent the closed end thereof to form the said aperture.

10. A catch according to claim 9 wherein one of said downwardly inclined under edges is adapted to cooperate with the pin, if the pin is introduced to the latch when the latch plate is in the latching position, to cause the latch plate to move pivotally away from the latching position to permit the pin to enter fully the horizontal channel.

11. A catch according to claim 10 wherein, after the said pivotal movement, the latch plate then returns to the latching position under the influence of gravity.

12. A catch according to claim 10 wherein the latch member is so configured that, during the said full entering of the pin into the channel, the pin strikes a part of the latch member and thereby urges the latch member into the latching position.

13. An apparatus according to claim 5 or any claim dependent thereon wherein the said plate provided with bosses has bosses which protrude from both sides of the plate.

1 4. A catch according to claim 5 dependent thereon wherein the plate that is not provided with bosses is secured to the plate that is provided with bosses by means of screws which mount the latch in position.

1 5. A latch substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

1 6. A latch substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings as modified by Figure 4.

1 7. A catch comprising a latch according to any one of the preceding claims in combination with a pin arrangement.

18. A catch substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

19. A catch substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings as modified by Figure 4.

20. Any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein.