US2453935A

US2453935A - Cupboard catch

Info

Publication number: US2453935A
Authority: US
Inventors: Quigley Herbert; Albert F Lickteig
Original assignee: National Brass Co
Current assignee: National Brass Co
Priority date: 1945-06-25
Filing date: 1945-06-25
Publication date: 1948-11-16
Anticipated expiration: 1965-11-16

Description

Nov. 16, 1948- H. QUIGLEY ETAL CUPBOARD CATCH Filed June 25, I945 In Her"ber( u Patented Nov. 1, i948 cornoann CATCH Herbert Quigley and'Albert F. Lickteig, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors to National Brass Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application June 25, 1945, Serial No. 601,380

6 Claims. (01. 292-45) 1 r 1 This invention relates to catches, generally known as cupboard catches, in which a door when swung shut is yieldingly retained in closed position but is readily opened upon a pull thereon. Such catches are used in conjunction with light doors which do not need to be held closed with anything approaching complete surety, nor need they be held tightly closed, for example, as in refrigerators, to prevent the entrance of heat, but are to be opened and closed easily and readily, and held closed against accidental or aimless opening.

It is a primary object and purpose of the present invention to provide a very novel, practical, economically manufactured and easily installed catch of the character noted and in which there is an automatic conformance of the catch to the keeper which engages therewith if the keeper is not mounted in substantially an exact alinement with the catch, or if it gets out of alinement due to swelling orwarping because of atmospheric conditions, of the parts to which the catch and keeper are secured; or for any other reason. The economy and ease of assembly of the structure is also a feature of value in connection with it.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. l is a side elevation of the catch connected with its associated keeper, the first mounted at the inner side of a cupboard casing and the latte on the door.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the latch and keeper separated and the keeper housing in vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a section and plan view substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section substantially on the plane of line 4-4 of Fig. 2, the sections being taken looking in the directions indicated, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective drawing showing the elements of the latch structure and keeper in disassembled condition.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawing.

The keeper maybe mounted at the inner side of the door I and the latch at the inner side of one vertical side 2 of the cupboard casing and adjacent its front edge. The keeper is made from a single length of metal bent substantially midway between its ends to provide upper and lower slightly diverging horizontal sections 3 integrally connected by a transverse bend at 4. From the ends of the sections 3 base flanges 5 are bent in opp site directions and are adapted to lie against the inner side of the door I and have screws or other equivalent fastenings pass through openings therein. I

In the structure of the latch which is mounted on the cupboard casing, a housing made from sheet metal is provided having an open inner side, an outer side 6 which is slotted horizontally substantially midway between its upper and lower edges for a distance to provide a'relatively wide slot I, a back 8 and upper and lower sides 9 which, at their outer ends, are bent inwardly toward each other at an angle to the horizontal providing spaced angularly disposed flanges l0 spaced apart and one located opposite the other. The housing at its rear end has a flat section H extending therefrom through which screws may be passed to secure such housing to the inner side The shoe is located between the back 8 and the partly open front of the housing, and at its outer edge has a lateral tongue or extension l3 which passes through the slot 1 and is bent rearwardly terminating in a widened portion i3a (Fig. 5), wider than the slot 1, and serving as a guide for the shoe against the outer side of the side 6 of the housing. At its inner edges the shoe is formed with an integral forwardly extending side plate l4 which is located against the inner side of the side 2 of the cupboard casing when installed in place. Said shoe at its middle and at its rear side may be provided with a rearwardly extending projection l5 which is in horizontal alinement with a similar projection 8a' extending into the housing from the back 8. A coiled compression spring I! is seated at its ends over said projections, being disposed between the central part of the shoe and the back of the housing. Between the annularly inclined sections i2a of the shoe and the flanges l U of the housing, upper and lower rollers iii are located, being normally held against each other and pressed against the flanges H) by spring l'I.

With the keeper mounted on the door and the latch on the side of the cupboard casing and with the projecting portion or tongue of the keeper located horizontally in a generally horizontal plane coincident with and tangent to the point of contact engagement of the rollers [6, as shown in Fig. 2, on moving the door from an open posi- 2,4ss,ess

tion, as in Fig. 2, to closed position, as in Figs. 1 and 3, the rounded end I of the keeper passes between the rollers, separating them and moving them in opposite directions. The rollers riding on the inner sides of the inclined flanges III are moved inwardly against the oppositely inclined shoe end sections I 2a to compress the spring I1, said rollers being subjected to a camming or wedging action between the parts It and II. The spring, tending to move the shoe outwardly against said rollers, the rollers are in effect wedged between the inclined or cam surfaces of the shoe and of the flanges Ill, causing them to press against opposite sides of the keeper tongue. Opening the door is accomplished merely by a pull from the outside thereon applied to any handle or knob secured to the door.

If the tongue consisting of the sections 3 and the bend at 4 is out of alinement with the contact engagement points of the rollers It, for example above it a short distance, it will first strike the uppermost roller forcing it upwardly and to the rear because of its riding against the upper flange l0, and the shoe M will tilt rearwardly at its upper portion. The lower roller will come upwardly against the lower side of the keeper and said tongue be frictionally engaged and held substantially the same as though the tongue was in direct horizontal alinement with the engagement points of the rollers.

'The structure is of few parts, all very quickly and readily manufactured by quantity production methods. The assembly requires little except locating the parts within the housing and applying the plate II, which plate may be secured in place after the assembly is complete. Of course the invention is not limited necessarily to mounting the keeper at the inner side of the door and the latch at the inner side of one vertical side of the cupboard casing as, with slight modification, each could be mounted at the outer side of the door or cupboard casing instead. .The invention is not to be restricted to the specific form and location set forth but is to be comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within the scope of the appended claims which define the invention.

I claim:

1. A catch including a housing support open at one side for receiving a keeper inserted therein, said housing support above and below said opening having inclined flanges converging outwardly toward each other, two rollers, one located to bear against the inner side of each flange, and a spring pressed shoe back of said rollers, said shoe bearing against the rollers and forcing them against said flanges and normally into contact engagement with each other.

2. A catch as described comprising, a housing support having a vertical outer side, said housing at itsouter side being open between its top and bottom, and including two flanges one above and one below said opening, said flanges being inclined and converging outwardly toward each other, two rollers, one back of each of said flanges,

and a curved shoe within the housing back of the rollers, the ends of said shoe bearing against said rollers, pressure spring means acting upon said shoe to force it against said rollers to move the 4 rollers against the inner sides of the flanges and toward each other.

3. A catch as described comprising, a housin suDDorthaving a vertical outer side with a substantially horizontal slot therein from its outerfi side toward the rear side of the housing, said housing at its outer side being open between its top and bottom, and including two flanges one above and one below said opening, said flanges being inclined and converging outwardly toward each other, two rollers, one back of each of said flanges, a curved shoe within the housing back of the rollers, the ends of said shoe bearing against'said rollers, pressure spring means acting upon said shoe to force it against said rollers, thereby forcing the rollers against the inner sides of the flanges and toward each other and a lateral tongue on said shoe extending into said slot in the side ofthe housing.

4. In a catch, a housing support having an open side for the entrance of an elongated keeper tongue thereinto, two rollers carried in the housing between which said keeper tongue is adapted to be passed, bearing surfaces on said housing against which said rollers engage, and spring actuated means pressing against said rollers to force them against the bearing surfaces, said surfaces being so located with respect to each other and to the rollers that force of the spring means acting on the rollers moves said rollers normally into a yielding contact engagement with each other.

5. In a catch of the class described, a housing having a vertical outer side, a back, and a horizontal top and bottom, said top and bottom at their outer end portions having outwardly inclined converging flanges extending therefrom, the free edges of said flanges being spaced apart providing an opening at the front side of the housing for the entrance of an elongated keeper therein, two rollers one disposed against the rear side of each of said flanges, a shoe located vertically within the housing bearing against said rollers adjacent its ends and above the center'of the upper roller and below the center of the lower roller, and a coiled compression spring bearing at one end against the rear side of the shoe and at its other end against the inner side of the back of'said housing.

6. A construction defined in claim 5, said, vertical side of the housing having a horizontal slot extending from the open front side of the housing rearwardly toward but terminating REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent.

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,210,989 Sutherland Aug. 13, 1940 2,317,277 Knuth Apr. 20, 1948