US115448A - devol - Google Patents

Description

'Patgnted May 30,1871.

f/flWZiZ/f MM J L DEVOL Improvement in Locking-Latches for Gates; No. 115,448,

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I =qttmttavgt. nnyot, or PARKERSBURG, W ST VIRGINIA.

I rtese e m IN LOCKING-LATCHES FOR GATES.

I j specification forming part of Late, Patent No. 115,448, dated May 30, 1871.

I e it known fthat I,;J NATH N norm,

.of Parkersburg in the county of Wood and 1 State of WestfVirginia,[have invented a cer-" tain new and useful{Improvement in Gate ,Fastenings; and Ido; hereby declare that the followin g isa full, clearyand exact description thereof, reference. being had to the annexed drawingmaking a art of this specification,

in whiche. II I Figure lisa .front elevation. Fig. 2 is a transverse section online am of Fig. 1.

The sameletters of reference are employed in bothfiguresin'the designation of I identical parts. 0

y Thisinvention relates to a gate latch or fast ening composed of two spring-jaws, which, in

shutting the gate, lock themselves automatically to thefkeeper on the post; and my improvementconsists. in combining with such springjaws alock of simple construction, to'be employed for holding the-jaws closed when locked to the keeper, as will be'generally ex- 1 plained hereinafter and specifically I pointed outin the claim. I The latch iscomposedof two jaws, A and B,

which are pivotedtogetherin a housing,U, on.

the gate, and project some distance; beyond" I j the outer stile. thereof. The housing 0 also contains a curved spring, 0, whichembraces the jaws and acts to close them. "The keeper D onthe post is constructed'with a pointed head upon each side, oneorthe other of which I enters between the projecting ends of the jaws I and. forces them apartto fall into recesses in the keeper between these heads and hold the gate shut. The latchis maintained in a nearly horizontal position by' a spindle, E, which is provided with a cam, a, at the point where the jaws of the latch embrace it, and,extending beyond the gate at'either side, terminates at each end in a-suitable knob for operating it to I open the jaws by the cam. The spindle turns in a semicircular recess formed upon the outer plate of the lock-case F, which has a vertical elongated slot where the jaws of the latch pass throughit, so that the latter may be opened the proper distance. In the case F is arranged a "plate, G,'which corresponds in width with the height of the case, but is shorter than the latter, sothat it may bemoved horizontally therein. A T-shaped aperture, g g is formed through the plate, the part 9 of which corresponds in size with the aperture through the case, and, in the position of the parts shown in Fig.2, is also in line therewith, sothat the jaws of the latch, passing through it, can be readily opened to slide over the pointed heads of the keeper in opening or closing the gate.

The width or the height of the part g of the aperture is such that it can pass over the jaws when they are locked to the keeper and prevent them from being opened. Another opening, 1 is formed in the plate Gr opposite to the key-hole f in the case, in which opening the key H plays to shift the plate to lock and "unlock the jaws. A spring, I, is intendedto hold the plate G in one position or the other by means of a tapering projection, t, which enfg'ages with one of the correspondingly formed notches g and g in the plate.

-What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a gate-latch substantially such as described, the combination of the jaws A B and sliding plate G, serving to lock them, and operatin g in the manner set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub- Witnesses G. LOOMIS,

N. Looms.

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