US1937930A - Latch structure - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 5, 1933. H. E. WOERNLE LATCH STRUCTURE Filed Deb. e, 1929 La 23 Z J4 INV TOR Patented Dec. 5, 1933 PATENT OFFICE 1,931,930 LA'rcn STRUCTURE Harry E. Woernle, Pittsburgh, Pa., assigner, by vmesme assignments, to The American Hardnware Corporation, New Britain, Conn.

Application December 6, 1929. Serial No. 412,083

23 Claims.

This invention relates broadly to lock and latch structures, and more particularly to a latch structure having means for dead-locking the latch. It relates further to latch structures adapted primarily for use in doors which are desired to be more readily locked and unlocked from one side than from the other side.

For certain interior doors such, for example, as bathroom doors, it is desirable to provide latch mechanism which may be easily locked from one side of the door to prevent accidental intrusion, yet which may be readily unlocked from the other side in cases of emergency. It is undesirable to provide a latch mechanism which. cannot under any circumstances be unlocked from without, as it is sometimes necessary to gain access to a room the door of which has been locked by a person within the room. Furthermore, in certain cases it is undesirable to have a readily operable unlocking means on the outside of the door, as such means might unintentionally be operated whereby to subject ,an occupant of a room to undesired intrusion.

It is also desirable in the provision of latch structures adapted primarily to be locked and unlocked from one side only of a door, to provide means for applying the locking mechanism regardless of which edge of the door is hinged.

To the above ends I provide a latch structure comprising reciprocable latch mechanism and reciprocable locking mechanism disposed generally transversely oi the latch mechanism, the latch mechanism and locking mechanism having cooperating portions adapted to interengage when the locking mechanism is in one position to lock the latch mechanism and to clear each other when the locking mechanism is in another position to unlock the latch mechanism.

I further provide a latch structure comprising a housing adapted for connection with a door, reciprocable latch mechanism mounted therein, the housing having oppositely disposed means for receiving locking mechanism adapted for movement generally transversely of the latch mechanism for locking and unlocking the same,-

and locking mechanism primarily operable from one side only of the door adapted selectively for cooperation with either of such means whereby the structure is adapted equally for application to doorslhung from either lateral edge.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description of certain present preferred embodiments thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown (Cl. 'l0-29) certain present preferred embodiments of the invention, wherein Figure 1 is'a side elevational View of a portion of a door having a latch structure applied thereto, the knob being removed;

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken on the line II-II of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section through the latch mechanism shown in Figure 1, taken in the plane of the door;

Figure 4 is a detail plan view of a portion of the locking mechanism shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is a partial detail view, partly in cross-section, of a modified construction; and

' Figure 6 is a detail plan view of a portion of the locking mechanism shown in Figure 5.

Referringy more particularly to the drawing, reference numeral 2 designates a door having a transverse bore 3 and a bore 4 connecting the transverse bore with an edge of the door for the reception of latch mechanism. The latch mechanism comprises a generally cylindrical housing 5 having connected therewith end closure members 6 and '7. The members 6 and 7 have outwardly extending projections 8 adapted to enter corresponding slots provided in the housing 5 for maintaining the closure members in fixed relation thereto. Each of the closure members 6 and '7 has connected therewith and extending outwardly generally axially of the housing 5 a hollow externally threaded cylindrical boss 9. The closure members 6 and 7 and the housing 5 are maintained in assembled relationship by means of screws 10. The housing 5 is provided with a laterally disposed orifice 11 for a purpose to be presently described.

Connected with the interior of the housing opposite the orifice 11 and substantially coaxial therewith is a guide pin 12. Slidably mounted on the guide pin 12 and having a portion ex. tending through the orifice 11 is bolt mechanism 13. Forming a part of the bolt mechanism 13 and disposed Within the housing 5 is a cross head 14. Threaded into the portion of, the member 13 extending outwardly through the orifice 11 of the housing 5 is a bolt member 15. Surrounding the pin 12 and disposed between the housing 5 and the cross head 14 is a spring 16 for resiliently urging the bolt mechanism outwardly of the housing. The'bolt mechanism is guided by the pin 12 and the orifice 11.

Journalled in each of the hollow bosses A9, y

which serves as a bearing therefor, is a bolt retractor 17 having onits inner face a cross head engaging cam 18. Connected to each retractor 17 and extending outwardly therefrom is a spindle 19. To each spindle is connected a knob 20. Rotation of either knob causes rotation of its spindle and of A'the retractor 17 connected therewith, which in turn, through its cam 18, causes movement ofl the cross head toward the right, viewing Figure 3, and consequent retraction of the bolt 15 within the bore 4. A plate 21 is provided in the edge of the door for guiding the bolt.

Disposed at substantially diametrically opposite portions of the housing 5 are similar guides 22 for carrying locking means for dead-locking the bolt. Each of the guides 22 comprises a bent strip of metal having inwardly turned extremities and adapted for supporting and guiding a locking member 23 (see Figure 4). The locking member 23 comprises a body which is substantially flat and rectangular but out of which is stamped a downwardly depending projection 24. Threaded to one end of the locking member 23 is a button or handle 25 adapted for manual operation so as to move the locking member generally transversely of the housing 5. The cross head 14 is provided at its top and bottom with similar slots 26, each of which is adapted in one position of a locking member 23 disposed in the guide 22 adjacent thereto to receive the projection 24 thereof. In this position the locking member 23 has no effect on the operation of the latch mechanism, which is free tomove back and forth to project and retract the bolt. However, upon transverse movement of the locking member 23 the projection 24 is moved out of the line of the slot 26 and engages the face of the cross head 14 opposite the cam 18, whereby the cross head is positively held between the projection 24 and the cam 18 and the bolt thus dead-locked, as shown in Figure 3. Connected with the upper surface of the locking member 23 is a spring 27 having an upwardly extending detent 28 adapted selectively to enter a pair of lslots 29 in the guide 22, whereby to positively resiliently maintain the locking member 23 either in the position to lock the latch mechanism or in the position wherein the latch mechanism is unlocked. Connected with the extremity of the locking member 23 opposite the button 25 is a smaller operating member 30 for a purpose to be presently described.

Disposed on opposite `sides of the door and overlapping the edges of the bore 3 are fastening plates 31 through which and through the housing 5 pass screws (not shown) for adjustably holding the housing within the bore. This construction is specifically described and claimed in my Patent'l No. 1,854,917, April 19, 1932. Extending over the latch assembly at each side of the door is a face plate 32 which is maintained in place by a nut 33 threaded onto the boss 9.

The button 25 is screw threaded into the locking member 23 to provide for adjustment thereof when the latch mechanism is applied to a door. The button is non-circular in crosssection and the corresponding face plate 32 is provided with a non-circular opening of corresponding shape through which the button passes so as to permit back and forth movement of the button and locking member while preventing the button from being rotated and consequently unscrewed with respect to the locking member. The opposite face plate 32 is provided with a smaller opening through which passes the operating member 30, such member and opening being non-circular and of corresponding shape, as above described with reference to the button 25 and its opening in the face plate. When the bolt is locked, the locking member 23 is in its right hand position, Lviewing Figure 2, so that almost the whole of the operating member 30 is drawn within the left hand face plate 32. 'Ihe member 30 is provided near its outer extremity with a groove 34 which, when the member 23 is in locked position, extends barely outside the face plate 32. It is possible by the use of the finger nails or of a suitable instrument to grasp the member 30 through the agency of the groove 34 and pull the same outwardly, or to the left, viewing Figure 2, whereby to move the locking mechanism toward the left and thereby unlock the bolt.

Therefore operation of the locking mechanism is provided for primarily from the inside only of the door, vbut the member 30 is provided at the outside of the door, which member is relatively small and inconspicuous and relatively difilcult to operate, but by which the door may in cases of necessity be unlocked from without. The locking member or slide is easily moved transversely of the latch mechanism, only slight movement of the same being necessary to bring the projection 24 into or out of alignment with the slot 26. It is practically impossible for a person on the outside of the door to unintentionally or unthinkingly unlock the bolt, whereby to accidentally intrude on a person Within.

It is of course always desirable to have the locking mechanism above the knob of the door rather than below the knob. If provision were made for inserting the locking mechanism only on one side of the casing 5, the latch mechanism would be useful only for doors swung in one direction, because if attempted to be applied to doors swung in the opposite direction the locking mechanism would be underneath the knob and hence relatively inaccessible. In order to obviate this disadvantage, provision is made so that the locking means may be inserted on either side of the casing 5 as desired, thus making the latch mechanism equally applicable to doors hung from-either lateral edge. If the latch mechanism is to be applied to a door swung oppositely from that shown in the drawing, the casing will be inverted and the'guide 22 formerly at the bottom of the casing will thereupon be at the top and will be used instead of the guide shown in the drawing as being used. To this end the crosshead 14 has a slot 26 at each extremity and the respective guides 22 are provided with correspondingly positional slots 29 for cooperation with the detent 28 of the spring 27 Each of the closure members 6 and '7 has appropriate openings at oppositely disposed points for reception of the locking mechanism. A cover plate 35 mounted on one of the screws l0 is utilized after the locking mechanism has been inserted into the guide 22 for closing the opening in the casing and also as a stop for limiting movement of the locking member. When the locking member 23 is in locking position. or toward the right, viewing Figure 2, its surface 36 (see Figure 4) strikes against the inside of the cover plate 35, thereby preventing too great outward movement of' the locking member. When the locking member is in the left hand position, v iewing Figure 2, wherein the bolt is unlocked, the surface 37 of the locking member (see Figure 4) stops against the inside of the closure member 6, thus limiting movement of the locking member toward the left. Although only one of the cover plates 35 is actually utilized, it is customary in assembling the mechanism to include two of the plates, one mounted on each screw 10, so that one will be readily available regardless of the position in which the latch mechanism is inserted in the door.

in Figures 5 and 6 is shown a modified embodiment of the invention wherein the operating member 30 of the locking member 23 is replaced by a flat extension 38 having a hole 39 therein. The length of the extension 38 is considerably less than the length of the member 39 oi the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, so that the extension 38 does not pass outwardly through the left hand face plate 32 (see Figure 5) but is always within such face plate. For emergency operation of the locking member in this type of construction, the face plate is provided with a slot 40 through which a hooklike lrey til is adapted to be inserted to engage within the hole 39 oi the extension 38, thereby enabling operation of the locking member. The key 4l may be kept in a predetermined place near the outside of the door so that in case of emergency it can be quickly obtained to unlock the door to gain entrance 'to the room.

While li have shown and described certain present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the same is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: l

1. A latch structure comprising a housing, a latch bolt slidably mounted in said housing and having a crosshead plate, extending substantially unitarily in a plane transverse to the axis of the latch bolt, rotatable means adapted to engage said crosshead plate to retact said latch bolt, and a locking member mounted in said housing for slidable movement substantially in a plane extending generally parallel to the axis of said latch bolt and movable transversely of said crosshead plate into position to engage such plate to dead-lock the same and said actuating means.

2. A latch structure comprisig a housing, a latch bolt slidably mounted in said housing and having a crosshead, means for actuating said crosshead to retract said latch bolt, and a locking member mounted in said housing for slidable movement substantially in a plane extending generally parallel to the axis of said latch bolt and in position above said crosshead and movable transversely thereof into position to dead-lock said crosshead and said actuating means.

3. A latch structure comprising a housi'ig, a latch bolt slidably mounted in said housing and having a crosshead, means for actuating said crosshead to retract said latch bolt, a locking plate slidably mounted in said housing in position above said crosshead and movable transversely thereof, a, slot in the upper edge of the crosshead, and a stop member downwardly depending from said locking plate and normally positioned in registry with the said slot in the crosshead to permit retraction of the latch bolt.

4. A latch structure comprising a housing, a latch bolt slidably ymounted in said housing, and

having a crosshead, means for actuating said crosshead to retract said latch bolt, a locking member having a projecting stop slidably mounted in said housing in position above said crosshead and movable transversely thereof to move said stop into position to dead-lock said crosshead and said actuating means, and manuallyactuated means carried by said member and operable from either side of a door for sliding said locking member into or out of engagement with said crosshead.

5. A latch structure comprising a housing, a latch bolt slidably mounted in said housing and having a crosshead, means for actuating said crosshead to retract said latch bolt, a locking member having a projecting stop slidably mounted in said housing in position above said crosshead and movable transversely thereof to move said stop into position to deadlock said crosshead and said actuating means, manually operable means carried by said member and operable from the inner side oi a door for moving said member into engagement with said crosshead, and generally rectilinearly movable means operable from the outer side of the door for releasing said crosshead.

6. A latch structure comprising a housing having a latch bolt slidably mounted therein, a locking member slidably mounted in said housing and movable into and out of locking engagement with said latch bolt, a face plate connected with one end of the housing and having an opening therein, and an operating button rotatably connected with said member and projecting outwardly through the opening in said face plate, said button and said opening being noncircular in cross-section to prevent rotation of the button.

'7. A latch structure comprising a housing having a latch bolt slidably mounted therein, a locking member slidably mounted in said housing and movable into and out of locking engagement with said latch bolt, manually operable means carried by said member and operable from one side of a door for moving said member, an extension on said member projecting toward the other side of the door, and a face plate connected with said housing and having a keyway therein adjacent said extension, said locking member being adapted to be operated by a key member having a portion insertable in said keyway to engage said extension to move said locking member out of engagement with the latch bolt.

8. A latch structure comprising reciprocable latch mechanism adapted for connection with a door and locking mechanism movable generally transversely of the latch mechanism, the locking mechanism having at one side of the door a button adapted for easy manual operation to lock and unlock the latch mechanism and hav- `ing at the other side of the door a relatively diiilcultly operable locking and unlocking mechanism adapted for hand operation without the use of a key whereby to prevent unintentional locking and unlocking of the latch mechanism from the latter side of the door.

9. A latch structure comprising a housing adapted for connection with a door, reciprocable latch mechanism mounted therein, the housing having oppositely disposed means for receiving locking mechanism adapted for movement generally transversely of the latch mechanism for locking and unlocking the same, and locking mechanism more easily operable from one side of the door than from the other adapted selectively for cooperation with either of such means whereby the structure is adapted equally for application to doors hung from either lateral edge.

10. A latch structure comprising a housing adapted for cooperation with a door, reciprocable latch mechanism mounted therein, the housing having similar openings disposed substantially oppositely with respect to the center of the housing and adapted to extend in a direction transversely of the door for receiving lockingmechanism, locking mechanism adapted selectively to enter either of such openings, and means for partially closing the opening containing the locking mechanism for limiting the movement of the same therein.

- 11. A latch structure comprising reciprocable latch mechanism adapted to protrude from an edge of a door and locking mechanism adapted to extend generally transversely of the door for cooperation with the latch mechanism and more easily operable from one side of the door than from the other, a portion of the latch mechanism being generally symmetrical substantially about a plane passing through the axis thereof and having means on opposite sides of such plane for receiving the locking mechanism, whereby the structure is adapted equally for application to doors hung from either lateral edge.

12. A latch structure comprising a housing, reciprocable latch mechanism mounted therein, an opening in the housing for reception of a locking member, a locking member therein and cooperating with the latch mechanism, and a detachable closure member for closing a portion of the opening not occupied by the locking member to limit the movement of the locking member.

13. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, locking means for the bolt mechanism extending transversely into the casing, and a guide for the locking means connected with and lying along and generally parallel to an interior wall of the casing.

14. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, locking means for the bolt mechanism extending transversely into the casing and slidable into and out of locking relationship with respect to the bolt mechanism, and a pair of selectively operable generally oppositely disposed guides for the locking means connected with the casing.

15. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, locking means slidable transversely of the casing and having a-portion for engagement with the bolt mechanism for locking the same, and a guideway for the locking means along and generally parallel to an` interior wall of the casing.

16. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, locking means slidable transversely of the casing and having a portion for engagement with the bolt mechanism for locking the same, and means forming a guiding and retaining way for the locking means along and generally parallel to an interior wall of the casing.

17. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, means effective for locking the bolt mechanism and operable from outside the casing, and oppositely disposed means extending generally inwardly of the casing and toward each other forming a guideway for the locking means generally parallel to the casing wall and lying therealong.

18. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, means for operating the bolt mechanism, locking means extendable into the casing, and a generally U-shaped guide member connected with and lying generally parallel to an interior Wall of the casing for guiding the locking means.

19. Latch structure, comprising a bolt, a plate connected with the` bolt and extending generally transversely thereof, retracting means adapted to engage the plate on one side to retract the bolt, and rectilinearly slidable means extending to a point directly accessible from without thecasing adapted to engage the plate on the other side of la single thickness of material to prevent it from moving to retract the bolt.

2,0. Latch structure for a horizontally movable door, comprising a bolt, a plate connected with the bolt andV extending generally transversely thereof, rotatable means adapted to engage the plate to retract the bolt, the plate having a slot, and generally horizontally slidable means having a portion movable into and out of registry with such slot for unlocking and locking the plate, such last mentioned means being adapted to engage the plate on the opposite side of a single thickness of material from the retracting means to lock the plate.

21. Latch structure, comprising a housing, bolt mechanism reciprocably mounted therein, a crosshead connected with the bolt mechanism and eilective in retraction thereof, the crosshead having a slot, and means mounted in the housing above the crosshead and having a portion movable into and out of registry with such slot for locking and unlocking the crosshead.

22. Latch structure, comprising a casing, bolt mechanism reciprocable therein, locking means for the bolt mechanism, selectively usable guides for the locking means disposed at substantially opposite parts of the casing,- and a removable closure member for the casing having an opening through which the locking means is adapted to extend and being reversible so as to bring said opening into cooperative relationship with either one or the other of said guides.

23. Latch structure, comprising a generally cylindrical casing, bolt mechanism extending through the curved wall thereof, locking means for the bolt mechanism, guides for the locking means disposed at substantially opposite parts of the casing, and a removable closure member for an end ofl the casing having an opening at substantially the same distance from the axis of the casing as said guides and through which the locking means is adapted to extend.

HARRY E. WOERNLE.

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