GB2295194A

GB2295194A - Pivoted bolt assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2295194A
Application number: GB9423492A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Hodson Bebb
Original assignee: Lin Pac Mouldings Ltd
Current assignee: Linpac Mouldings Ltd
Priority date: 1994-11-21
Filing date: 1994-11-21
Publication date: 1996-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2014-11-21
Also published as: GB9423492D0; GB2295194B

Abstract

A pivoted bolt assembly has a wall 5 releasably retained on a pallet 1 by a hook bolt 9 (pivotally mounted at 10 on the wall) capturing a stud 4. Pivotal movement of the hook 9 is controlled by longitudinal displacement of a rod 20 extending through an aperture 6 in the wall 5 and pivotally connected at 21 to the hook. A leaf spring 26 biases the rod 20 relative to the wall 5 for a projection 23 on the rod to overlie or underlie a projection 7 in the wall 5. By displacing the rod 22 against the spring 26 sufficiently for the projection 23 to clear the projection 7 and thereafter longitudinally displacing the rod 20 within the aperture 6, the hook 9 can be pivotted to an engaged or disengaged condition with the stud 4. Abutment between the projections 23 and 7 when the hook 9 is in its engaged condition with stud 4 or is in its disengaged condition from the stud 4 prevents the rod 20 from being inadvertently displaced directly longitudinally to move the hook 9 from its selected condition. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE "A catch assembly" TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART The present invention relates to a catch assembly of the kind comprising two components which are to be optionally retained together or released by pivotal displacement of a catch member pivotally mounted on one of the components to either engage with or disengage from a part of the other component.

Possibly the simplest form of catch assembly of the kind mentioned above comprises a hook shaped member which is pivotally mounted on one component so that it can be displaced to capture a stud or similar part of the second component to retain the two components together. Such known assemblies are frequently employed as light-weight swivel catches on domestic articles, typically for holding lids of containers and the like closed. There is a requirement however for what may be regarded as a heavy duty catch assembly, typically for industrial usage, such as may be required for releasably retaining an upstanding retaining wall on the deck of a pallet or platform for the storage or transport of goods where access to the pivotally mounted catch member may be inconvenient.It is an object of the present invention to provide a catch assembly which alleviates the aforementioned inconvenience and which assembly may be of a relatively inexpensive and simple structure that is easy both to manufacture and to operate.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES According to the present invention there is provided a catch assembly comprising first and second components which are to be optionally retained together or released, the first component having a catch member connected thereto for pivotal movement between an engaged condition in which the catch member captures part of the second component to retain the two components together and a disengaged condition for releasing the two components from each other; a control member pivotally connected to the catch member and having a longitudinal extent, the control member being longitudinally displaceable relative to the first component to effect in pivotal movement of the catch member between the engaged and disengaged conditions; first stop means provided on the control member, second stop means provided on the first component, and spring means biasing the control member relative to the first component to urge the first stop means into co-operation with the second stop means, and wherein the first stop means is displaceable over the second stop means by pivotal movement of the control member about its connection with the catch member and against said spring biasing and longitudinal displacement of the control member relative to the first component to effect in displacement of the catch member between its disengaged and engaged conditions, and in the engaged condition said spring means biases the first stop means to co-operate with the second stop means and said cooperation restrains longitudinal displacement of the control member from a position in which the engaged condition is maintained.

Preferably the catch member is in the form of a hook which in the engaged condition captures part of the second component, such part conveniently being a stud or a bar on the second component or a recessed portion of the second component in which the hook is received.

The first stop means and the second stop means are arranged to co-operate with each other, preferably by abutment, in the engaged condition of the catch member so that such co-operation restrains the control member from longitudinal displacement in a sense which permits the catch member to be pivotted unintentionally to the disengaged condition. To permit adjustment of the catch member from its engaged condition to its disengaged condition it is intended that the control member has to be pivotted against the spring biasing and about its connection with the catch member sufficiently for the first stop means to clear the second stop means so that the control member can then be displaced longitudinally relative to the first component in a sense to pivot the catch member to move into its disengaged condition.With the catch member in its disengaged condition it is preferred that the first stop means will co-operate with the second stop means (preferably by abutment) under the biasing effect of the spring means so that the control member must be displaced against the spring biasing to clear the first stop means from the second stop means before the control member can be longitudinally displaced in a sense to pivot the catch member into the engaged condition - by this latter arrangement it may be ensured that the catch member is retained in a disengaged condition in preparation for its intentional adjustment to the engaged condition following the positive displacement of the control member against the spring biasing. Preferably the first and second stop means are in the form of laterally extending projections on the control member and first component respectively.

The control member is conveniently in the form of a rod-like member one end of which is pivotally connected to the catch member and the other end of which presents a handle or foot pedal by which pivotal and longitudinal displacement of the control member is effected.

Preferably the control member is mounted in and to project from an aperture or recess in the first component, for example the catch member may be pivotally mounted to project from one face of a wall of the first component while the control member is mounted in an aperture in that wall to project from an opposing face of that component so that an end of the control member remote from the catch member is accessible to facilitate manual adjustment of the control member and thereby control of pivotal movement of the catch member.

The spring means biases the control member relative to the first component and for pivotal movement about its connection with the catch member and such spring means is preferably carried by the control member to be longitudinally displaceable therewith. The spring means reacts between the control member and the first component and may be of any convenient form such as a helical spring, a leaf spring or even a block of resilient material. The present invention was primarily developed for use with plastics moulded component parts and with this in mind it is preferred that the spring means is formed integrally, conveniently as a leaf spring, with a plastics moulded control member.

The invention was also primarily developed for releasably retaining an upstanding peripheral retaining wall on a horizontal deck of a pallet or platform of the kind frequently used for storage, handling or transportation of produce with the wall serving as the first component and the pallet or platform serving as the second component but it will be appreciated that the invention may be applied with advantage to a wide variety of first and second components which are to be selectively retained together or released.

DRAWINGS One embodiment of a catch assembly will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings, in which: Figure 1 diagrammatically illustrates, in section, the assembly with its catch member in a disengaged condition preparatory for adjustment to an engaged condition, and Figure 2 is a similar view to that of Figure 1 and shows the assembly adjusted to an engaged condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The catch assembly illustrated has a cargo handling pallet, a roll platform or a dollie 1 having a horizontal deck 2 on which is to be mounted, as an optional facility, an upstanding peripheral retaining wall 3 which provides an enclosure on the platform. Both the platform 1 and wall 3 are conveniently formed of plastics with the platform 1 having a horizontally extending stud or bar 4 and the wall 3 having a horizontal base or peripheral flange 5.

Extending vertically through the wall thickness of the flange 5 is an aperture or housing 6 extending laterally into which is a projection 7 from the wall 5. The projection 7 presents an upper shoulder 8 and a lower shoulder 9. Located at the bottom of the aperture 6 is a hook-shaped catch member 9 which is pivotally mounted by a pin 10 to the flange wall 5.

With the base of the wall 3 seated on the platform deck 2, arcuate movement of the hook 9 about its pivot 10 in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 1 causes the hook to pass beneath the stud 4 to capture that stud and adopt an engaged condition (as shown in Figure 2) to retain the wall 3 on the platform 1. The hook 9 is simply disengaged from the stud 4 by being displaced arcuately about its pivot pin in an anticlockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 2 to release the wall 3 from the platform 1.

Arcuate displacement of the hook 9 about the pivot pin 10 is controlled by a rod-like control member 20 which extends longitudinally upwardly through the aperture 6 and is pivotally connected at its lower end by a pin 21 to the hook member 9 at a position spaced radially from the pivot pin 10. The rod 20 extends upwardly from the aperture 6 and its upper end is provided with a head 22 which conveniently serves as a handle or foot pedal by which pivotal displacement of the hook 9 may be controlled. The rod 20 is formed as a one piece plastics moulding to include a laterally extending projection 23 having an upper shoulder 24 and a lower shoulder 25 and a leaf spring 26.

The shoulders 24 and 25 of the projection 23 provide stops which are intended to co-operate with the shoulders 9 and 8 respectively of the projection 7. The leaf spring 26 reacts between the rod 20 and the flange wall 5 in the aperture 6 in a sense to bias the rod 20 for pivotal movement about the pin 21 and thereby to urge the projections 7 and 23 into co-operation with each other in underlying or overlying relationship.

With the hook 9 in its disengaged condition as shown in Figure 1, the projection 23 overlies the projection 7 so that the shoulder 25 abuts the shoulder 8. The rod 20 is biased by the spring 26 to urge the projection 23 into its overlying relationship with the projection 7 and abutment between the shoulders 25 and 8 prevents the rod 20 from being displaced longitudinally of that rod directly downwardly relative to the flange wall 5 thereby alleviating inadvertent pivotal displacement of the hook 9 from its disengaged condition.

To effect adjustment of the hook 9 from its disengaged to its engaged condition, the rod 20 is pivotally displaced about its pin 21 in an anti-clockwise direction in Figure 1 and against the biasing of spring 26 sufficiently for the projection 23 to clear the projection 7. Following this the rod is displaced longitudinally of itself downwardly in Figure 1 through the aperture 6 to impart arcuate movement to the hook 9 about its pivot pin 10 so that the hook moves beneath and captures the stud 4 as shown in Figure 2. In this latter engaged condition of the hook 9, the rod 20 under the biasing of spring 26 may pivot in a clockwise direction (as shown in Figure 2) about the pin 21 to move its projection 23 so that it underlies the projection 7 for the upper shoulder 24 of the projection 23 to be capable of abutting the lower shoulder 9 of the projection 7.This latter positioning is attained automatically when the rod 20 is released and the biasing of spring 26 urges the rod 20 so that its projection 23 is maintained to underlie the projection 7. Abutment between the upper shoulder 24 of the projection 23 and the lower shoulder 9 of the projection 7 acts as a stop which prevents the rod 20 from being withdrawn longitudinally and directly through the aperture 6, thereby alleviating inadvertent displacement of the hook 9 from its engaged condition to its disengaged condition.It will readily be appreciated that to release the wall 3 from the platform 1 the hook 9 is pivotted in an anti-clockwise direction from that shown in Figure 2 to that shown in Figure 1 by pivotting the rod 20 about its pin 21 and against the biasing of spring 26 sufficiently for the projection 23 to clear the projection 7 and thereafter longitudinally displacing the rod 20 upwardly to the position shown in Figure 1.

It will be realised that movement of the hook 9 to either its engaged or its disengaged condition may be controlled wholly at the handle or foot pedal 22 from a position above the flange or base 5, thereby alleviating a possible inconvenience of having to access the hook 9 from below the base 5 (particularly if there is little ground clearance for the hook 9). Furthermore, in both the disengaged and engaged conditions of the hook member, the spring biasing of the control rod 20 and the co-operation between the projections 7 and 23 alleviates inadvertent displacement of the hook member from its selected condition.

Claims

1. A catch assembly comprising first and second components which are to be optionally retained together or released, the first component having a catch member connected thereto for pivotal movement between an engaged condition in which the catch member captures part of the second component to retain the two components together and a disengaged condition for releasing the two components from each other; a control member pivotally connected to the catch member and having a longitudinal extent, the control member being longitudinally displaceable relative to the first component to effect in pivotal movement of the catch member between the engaged and disengaged conditions; first stop means provided on the control member, second stop means provided on the first component, and spring means biasing the control member relative to the first component to urge the first stop means into co-operation with the second stop means, and wherein the first stop means is displaceable over the second stop means by pivotal movement of the control member about its connection with the catch member and against said spring biasing and longitudinal displacement of the control member relative to the first component to effect in displacement of the catch member between its disengaged and engaged conditions, and in the engaged condition said spring means biases the first stop means to co-operate with the second stop means and said co-operation restrains longitudinal displacement of the control member from a position in which the engaged condition is maintained.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the catch member is in the form of a hook.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the hook in its engaged condition captures a part of the second component comprising a stud, a bar or a recessed portion of the second component.

4. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first stop means and the second stop means co-operate with each other by abutment in the engaged condition of the catch member.

5. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which, with the catch member in its disengaged condition the first stop means co-operates with the second stop means under the biasing effect of said spring means for the control member to be restrained from longitudinal displacement from a position in which the disengaged condition is maintained.

6. An assembly as claimed in claim 5 in which the first stop means and the second stop means co-operate with each other by abutment in the disengaged condition of the catch member.

7. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first stop means and the second stop means comprise laterally extending projections on the control member and the first component respectively.

8. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the control member comprises a rod-like member one end of which is pivotally connected to the catch member and the other end of which presents a handle or pedal by which pivotal and longitudinal displacement of the control member is effected.

9. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the control member is mounted in and to project from an aperture or recess in the first component.

10. An assembly as claimed in claim 9 in which the catch member is pivotally mounted to project from one face of a wall of the first component and the control member is mounted in an aperture or recess in that wall to project from an opposing face of the wall so that an end of the control member remote from the catch member is accessible for control of pivotal movement of the catch member.

11. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the spring means is carried by the control member to be longitudinally displaceable therewith.

12. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 in which the spring means is formed integral with the control member.

13. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and having its component parts substantially formed as plastics mouldings.

14. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first component comprises an upstanding retaining wall and the second part comprises a pallet, platform or dollie on which the retaining wall is to provide an enclosure.

15. A catch assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.