NZ536906A - A handle mounting assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A door handle assembly has a specially designed but simple mechanism to enable the "hand" of the assembly to be easily changed without needing to remove screws or clips which can be lost. Instead an internal clip can be loosened to enable the hand to be changed. The clip sits on a threaded rod which is captured in the assembly and cannot be lost. The rod has a screw head accessible through a small hole in the assembly to enable the rod to be rotated from outside the assembly by a screwdriver.

Description

53 6 9 0 6 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z. -t DEC 2m RECEIVED 1 A Handle Mounting Assembly Field of the Invention.

This invention is directed to a handle mounting assembly and is particularly directed to a door or window handle provided with a nonsymmetrical handle such as a lever handle and where the orientation of the lever handle can be quickly changed to enable the handle assembly to be used on a left-hand or a right-hand door and/or where the direction of rotation of a symmetrical handle can be 10 changed. The invention will be described with reference to a door but it should be appreciated that no particular limitation is meant thereby and the handle mounting assembly can also be used in respect of windows etc.

Background Art.

A door handle assembly can contain either a symmetrical handle or a non symmetrical handle. A symmetrical handle typically comprises a knob, and the advantage of this type of assembly is that the lock can be mounted to either side of the door with no modification to the knob. However, it is sometimes necessary to "hand" 2 0 the direction of rotation of the handle i.e. to allow the handle to rotate clockwise or anticlockwise.

Many doors are provided with a non symmetrical handle which is usually a lever type handle. The lever type handle is substantially L-shaped. It is of course a requirement that the lever handle is attached in such a way that the handle 2 5 points away from the adjacent vertical edge of the door. A door will have two handles, being an inside handle and an outside handle. It can therefore be seen that the handles must be attached to the door furniture differently on each side of the door.

There are many known ways by which the lever handle can be loosened from the door furniture, rotated by 180° and reattached to the door furniture to make 3 0 the lever handle suitable for the inside of the door or the outside of the door. Some of these known methods are very simple while others are quite complicated. However, in each case, it is still quite finicky to rotate the lever handle.

For instance, a known arrangement comprises an L-shaped lever handle. The inner edge of the L-shaped lever handle extends into the lock housing. Attached to this inner handle is a roughly disk shaped drive plate. The drive plate is attached to the handle and has two oppositely extending end lugs and an intermediate third lug which is between the two end lugs. A small stop plate is screwed in place and abuts against one of the end lugs of the drive plate. This allows the handle to be depressed by about 45° which rotates the drive plate between one of the end lugs and the intermediate third lug. Basically, to turn the L-shaped handle around to the other side of the lock housing, the stop plate is removed from the housing and held in the person's hand, the lever handle is then rotated by 180° (which also causes rotation of the drive plate), and the stop plate is screwed back to now abut against the other end lug. A major disadvantage with this arrangement is that the small screw and a small stop plate are often dropped and lost.

There are other arrangements which are known which do not require a screw/clip arrangement to be loosened and tightened, but these other arrangements generally require a screwdriver to lever back a small locking clamp etc or other methods and arrangements which have their own difficulties and disadvantages.

Therefore, there would be an advantage if it were possible to change the orientation of a lever handle and /or the direction of rotation of a handle using the simple and reliable screw/clamp arrangement but which can at least partially overcome some of the disadvantages inherent with this existing system.

It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

Object of the Invention.

It is an object of the invention to provide an assembly that may at least partially overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages or provide a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a handle assembly, the handle assembly comprising a handle and a housing, a handing plate within the housing and which is attached relative to the handle, an engagement member which is engageable to or relative to the handing plate in two different positions, one of the positions allowing the handle assembly to rotate in one direction or be a "left-hand" and the other position allowing the handle assembly to rotate in the other direction, or be a "right-hand", the engagement member being movable into engagement with the handing plate and free from the handing plate, and a manual drive means to move the 5 engagement member into the engagement position and the free position, the drive means being operable by a person, the drive means, being attached relative to the remainder of the handle assembly in a non removable manner when the handle is changed.

In this way, the drive means can be manipulated by a locksmith or 10 person attaching the lock to the door, and there is no way that the drive means can be inadvertently lost, dropped and the like. Thus, the invention provides the benefits of the simplified manner to change the position of the lever handle relative to the housing, without having any fiddly screws that can be lost.

The arrangement can be used on non symmetrical handles such as a 15 lever handle or can be used on a symmetrical handle such as a knob to change the direction of rotation.

The handle assembly will typically comprise a door handle assembly but no particular limitation is meant thereby, and the handle assembly can also be used for windows or other wings or partitions that need to be moved. 2 0 The non symmetrical handle will typically comprise an L-shaped lever type handle although it is envisaged that other nonsymmetrical handles can also be used and will benefit from the simple handle changing arrangement that forms part of the invention.

The housing typically comprises an external housing plate or 25 escutcheon that can be of any convenient size, shape and material. Typically, the housing will be substantially rectangular and will have a length of between 5-30 centimetres and a width of between 2-15 centimetres. Typically, the housing will be formed of metal such as die cast metal, brass, steel etc.

The handing plate will typically be attached to the handle such that 3 0 when the handle is turned from the left-hand position to the right-hand position (typically 180°) the handing plate will also rotate by the same amount. The handing plate can have various shapes and sizes and be made of various materials. These materials may include metal, plastics composite materials and the like. Typically, the handing plate will be substantially flat and will extend substantially about an inner part of the lever handle. For instance, the handing plate may have a central aperture through which the inner part of the lever handle can pass. The handing plate may be provided with means to assist engagement with the engagement member. This means 5 may comprise shoulders, enlargements, projections, recesses, abutments and the like. Suitably, the means will comprise a pair of spaced apart shoulders against which the engagement member can engage. The shoulders are typically positioned such that upon engagement by the engagement member, the lever handle will be in either of the two desired positions being the left-hand position or the right-hand position.

The handing plate may incidentally also support the return spring members or other biasing members which bias the lever handle back to the "closed" handle position.

The engagement member may comprise a small clip. The clip may have various sizes, shapes and be made of various materials. Typically, the clip will have a length of between 10-50 millimetres and a width of between 5-20 millimetres and a thickness of between 1-5 millimetres. The clip can be made of metal, plastic, composite materials and the like. The clip may be substantially straight, or may be curved, have an S shaped configuration, a Z shaped configuration, and the like. The clip may function to hold the lever handle in either its left-hand position or the right- 2 0 hand position and this can be achieved by preventing further rotation of the handing plate. Typically, the clip will abut against the handing plate in either of two positions being the left-hand lever position and the right-hand lever position. However, the clip may also clamp against the handing plate or otherwise engage with the handing plate.

The engagement member is moved into its engagement position and its free position by a drive means. The drive means and the engagement member are operatively connected. Various types of connections are envisaged, however a simple type of connection will be a threaded connection where the drive means comprises a rotatable threaded rod and the engagement member comprises a corresponding threaded section such that rotation of the threaded rod causes the engagement member 3 0 to move against or away from the handing plate. However, the drive means may also operate the engagement member by a simple "push/pull" arrangement, by a slide arrangement, by a pivot arrangement and the like.

An advantage of the present invention is that, during the change of the hand or direction of rotation of the handle, the drive means is unable to be removed from the remainder of the handle assembly. Various ways are envisaged by which this may be achieved. If the drive means comprises a rotatable threaded rod, the drive means may be provided with a collar which prevents it from being screwed out of the 5 remainder of the handle assembly. However, other means to achieve the same results are envisaged including the use of circlips, locking pins.

Brief Description of the Drawings.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which: Figure 1. Illustrates part of a handle assembly and particularly illustrates the handing plate, the engagement member and the drive means.

Figure 2. Illustrates the assembly of Figure 1, but where the engagement member has been loosened to enable the handing plate to be rotated by 180°.

Figure 3. Illustrates a section view of the handle assembly.

Best Mode.

Referring to the drawings and initially to figure one and figure two, there is illustrated part of a handle assembly. The handle assembly contains a lever handle 10 which is substantially L-shaped but only the inner part of the lever handle is illustrated in the figures. The inner part of the lever handle engages with various 2 5 components in the handle housing 11, most of the components not forming part of the invention. However, one component which does form part of the invention is a handing plate 12. Handing plate 12 is fitted to handle 10 such that rotation of handle 10 from the left-hand position to the right-hand position also causes similar rotation of handing plate 12. Attached to handing plate 12 is a pair of springs 13 which function 3 0 to bias the handle 10 back to the closed position (this being conventional).

Handing plate 12 is formed with a pair of projections in the form of stop portions 14,15. These stop portions are spaced away from each other.

An engagement member in the form of a clip 16 forms part of the invention. Clip 16 in the particular embodiment is S shaped but no limitation is meant thereby and in other handle designs, the clip may be substantially straight or have other configurations. Clip 16 has a forward nose portion 17 which is adapted for abutment against either of stop portions 14, 15. Thus, when in this position handing 5 plate 12 is only free to rotate away from nose portion 17 of clip 16 for its normal operation. To enable lever handle 10 to be moved by 180°, clip 16 is loosened to the position illustrated in figure 2. In this position, clip 16 has been raised above handing plate 12. This allows lever handle 10 to be rotated by 180°, and in doing so, the other stop portion 15 is now adjacent clip 16. Clip 16 can then be tightened to abut against 10 stop portion 15 to clamp the handing plate and therefore lever handle 10 in the other position.

Clip 16 is easily moved between its engagement position illustrated in figure 1 and its free position illustrated in figure 2 by a drive member which in the particular embodiment is in the form of a rotatable threaded rod 18. Rod 18 has a 15 length of between 5-20 millimetres and a diameter of between 3-10 millimetres and is threaded along its length. Clip 16 is provided with a threaded aperture 19 through which rod 18 passes. The arrangement is that rotation of rod 18 in one direction causes clip 16 to move to the free position (illustrated in figure 2) and rotation of rod 18 in the other direction causes clip 16 to move to the engagement position (illustrated 2 0 in figure 1).

Rod 18 is manually rotated and contains a head portion 20 which is illustrated in figure 3. Head portion 20 is formed with a socket 21 or similar to allow a screwdriver or other type of tool to be inserted into the socket and rotated to loosen or tighten clip 16.

Rod 18 cannot be easily removed from the housing 11 and therefore cannot be lost. In the particular embodiment, this is achieved by providing an annular collar 22 which is formed integrally with rod 18 and is positioned just behind head portion 20 and inside the housing. Collar 22 is larger than the aperture through which head portion 20 extends through housing 11 which means that it is not possible for rod 30 18 to be lost when changing the lock hand.

The simple yet reliable arrangement allows an nonsymmetrical handle such as a lever handle to be quickly changed from the left-hand position to a right-hand position merely by rotating a tool in socket 21 until such time as clip 16 is in the free position. The handle can then be rotated by 180° and the tool rotated in the opposite direction to lock clip 16 against the other stop member which is on the handing plate 12. The drive member cannot be removed or lost from the housing. Similarly a symmetrical handle such as a knob can have its direction of rotation 5 changed.

Referring specifically to figure 3, the drive member (rod 18) sits within a passageway 27. Passageway 27 does not have any internal threads and therefore does not threadingly engage with the drive member. Passageway 27 functions to hold the drive member in place. In figure 3, clip 16 is shown in both the engaged position 10 (25) and the raised free position (26).

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to apply the inclusion of the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers. 15 Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "substantially" or "about" will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to any embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope 2 0 of the invention.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z. -1 DEC 2004 RECEIVED 8

Claims (15)

Claims:

1. A handle assembly comprising a handle and a housing, a handing plate within the housing and which is attached relative to the handle, an engagement 5 member which is engageable to or relative to the handing plate in two different positions, one of the positions allowing the handle assembly to rotate in one direction or be a left-hand handle assembly and the other position allowing the handle assembly to rotate in the other direction, or be a right-hand handle assembly, the engagement member being movable into engagement with the handing plate and free 10 from the handing plate, and a manual drive means to move the engagement member into the engagement position and the free position, the drive means being operable by a person, the drive means, being attached relative to the remainder of the handle assembly in a non removable manner when the handle is changed. 15

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the handle assembly comprises a door handle assembly.

3. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing comprises an external housing plate or escutcheon which is substantially rectangular and has a length of between 5-30 centimetres and a width of between 2-15 centimetres.

4. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handing plate is attached to the handle such that when the handle is turned from 2 5 the left-hand position to the right-hand position, the handing plate will also rotate by the same amount.

5. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handing plate is substantially flat and extends substantially about an inner part of 3 0 the lever handle.

6. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handing plate has a central aperture through which an inner part of the lever 9 handle passes.

7. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handing plate is provided with means to assist engagement with the engagement 5 member, the means comprising shoulders, enlargements, projections, recesses, and/or abutments.

8. The assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means comprises a pair of spaced apart shoulders against which the engagement member can engage, the 10 shoulders being positioned such that upon engagement by the engagement member, the lever handle will be in either of the two desired positions being the left-hand position or the right-hand position.

9. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein 15 the handing plate supports a return spring member to bias the lever handle back to the closed handle position.

10. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the engagement member comprises a small clip. 20

11. The assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein the clip has a length of between 10-50 millimetres and a width of between 5-20 millimetres and a thickness of between 1-5 millimetres. 25

12. The assembly of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the clip has a S shaped configuration, and is adapted to abut against the handing plate in either of two positions being the left-hand lever position and the right-hand lever position.

13. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein 3 0 the drive means and the engagement member are operatively connected which comprises a threaded connection where the drive means comprises a rotatable threaded rod and the engagement member comprises a corresponding threaded section such that rotation of the threaded rod causes the engagement member to move against or away from the handing plate. 10

14. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the drive means is captured by providing a collar on the drive means which prevents it from being screwed out of the remainder of the handle assembly.

15. An assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. 11 Abstract. A door handle assembly has a specially designed but simple mechanism to enable the "hand" of the assembly to be easily changed without needing to remove screws or clips which can be lost. Instead an internal clip can be loosened to enable the hand to be changed. The clip sits on a threaded rod which is captured in the assembly and cannot be lost. The rod has a screw head accessible through a small hole in the assembly to enable the rod to be rotated from outside the assembly by a screwdriver. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z. - 1 DEC 2004 RECEIVED