US1233880A - Latch-operating mechanism for automobile-doors. - Google Patents

Description

W. J. HOSKYNS.

LATCH-OPERATING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16. I915.

Patented July 17, 1917 MTOR/I/EB nnrrn snare rannr re,

WILLIAM J. I-IOSKYNS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK E. SMITH, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

LATCH -OPERATING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE-DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedJuly 1'7, 1917.

Application filed December 16, 1916. Serial No. 137,313.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. I-IosKYNs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Latch-Operating Mechanism for ,Automobile-Doors, of whichthe following is a specification. s

In many automobile. bodies of the open top type, the latches for the doors are accessible only from the inside,*f0r, by reason of the open top type, a person desiring to open the door from the outside can do so by merely reaching over the top of the door to reach the latch-operating handle on the in side. However, when these bodies have closed tops applied to them, to produce the so-called all-year car, the latch-operating means on the inside of the door becomes inaccessible from the outside, because the space over the door is closed.

It is the object of my present invention to provide an auxiliary latch-operating mechanism which may be applied to these doors when the winter tops are applied to the bodies of which they form part, whereby the latch may be operated from within as before but may also be operated from the outside; and to do this without requiring any of the latch-operating parts to be in the removable top.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention. Figure 1 1s a side elevation of a touring car body equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation from the inside of a portion of the door and its jamb at the latch, showing one well-known form of door latch proper; and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing another well-known type of door latch.

The body 10 of the automobile is shown as of the touring car type-having doors 11, and equipped with a removable winter top 12, of which the portions 13 over the doors 11 are attached to the doors by brackets 14. Each door 11 is hinged in the usual manner, and cooperates with a suitable door jamb 15 forming part of the body 10. The door is held closed by a suitable latch cooperat- 5o ing with a latch-receiving part carried by the door amb.

The latches and latch-receiving parts may take various forms. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 there is a pivoted latch bar 20 carried by a pivot pin 21in the door 11,

and the rear end of this pivoted latch bar is provided with an upwardly extending arm 22 exposed on the inner face of the door so that it can be grasped to turn the latch from the full line to the dotted line position against the action of the spring 23 which tends to throw the latch and handle to the full-line position, in which it may cooperate with a projecting finger 24: from the door jamb to hold the door closed. The upper end of the arm 22 is quite close to the top of the door ll, so that the arm is readily accessible from the outside when the winter top 12 is not in place. However,-when the winter top is in place, the arm 22 becomes inaccessible from the outside. In order still to make it operable, I mount in the door 11 a latch-operating pin 25 which projects through the door from the inside to the outside and at its outer end is provided with a handle 26 by which it may be turned and at its inner end with an upwardly projecting finger 27 which bears against the arm 22 so that when the handle 26 is turned the finger 27 pushes the arm 22 toward the dotted line position to tilt the latch bar 20 and thus release it from the finger 24. The pin 25 is carried by the lower end of the bracket 14 which fastens the portions 13 of the removable top to the doors 11.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, there is a sliding latch 30 which is spring-pressed by a spring 31 into a socket 32 in the door jamb 15, and a latch-operating arm 33 pivoted at its lower end on a pivot pin 34 carries a roller 35 working in a transverse slot in the sliding latch 30 and projects upward beyond such latch between the two walls of the door, at its upper end being provided with a pin projecting through a slot 36 in the inner wall of the door on which pin is an operating knob 87. This knob 37 is accessible from the inside; and is also accessible from the outside when the winter top 12 is not in place. In order to operate the latch 30 from the outside when the winter top is in place, I provide as before a pivot pin 25 which extends through the door 11 from inside to outside and is carried by the bracket 14:, being provided on the outside as before with a handle 26. On the inside, however, the pin 25 is provided with an upwardly extending arm 38 which corresponds largely to the arm 27 of the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 but is provided at its upper end with thereby Withdraw the bolt 30 to permit the opening of the door.

In both these forms of my invention, the latch is made readily operable from the outside of the door, while still being operable from the inside of the door by the same mechanism as is ordinarily provided.

I claim as my invention: a

An automobile body having a door, a latch carried by said door, a latch-operating arm accessible from the inside, a pin projecting through the door and provided With a handle on the outside and an arm carried by the inner end of said pin and bearing against said latch-operating arm to make the latch operable from the outside by the handle While it is still operable from the inside by said latch-operating arm, in combination with a removable top having a section over said door, and attaching means for attaching said section to said door, said attaching means including a bracket in which said pin is pivotally mounted, and said latch and both arms being mounted in the door of said body so that the top section over the door is removable Without disturbing them and the latch is operable from either side whether or not said top section is in place.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 12th day of December, A. B. one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.

WILLIAM J. HOSKYNS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

, Washington, D. G.

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