US2596003A

US2596003A - Door latch

Info

Publication number: US2596003A
Application number: US155653A
Authority: US
Inventors: Acocello Domenick
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1950-04-13
Filing date: 1950-04-13
Publication date: 1952-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 1969-05-06

Description

D. ACOCELLO May 6, 1952 DOOR LATCH Filed April 13, 1950 INVEN TOR. 9 0MJN@'@KA 7CLL a ATTOEMEV Patented May 6, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I 2,596,003 noon LATCH Domenick Acocello, Los Angelcs, Calif.

Application April 13, 1950, Serial No. 155,653

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in door latches.

More specifically speaking the invention pertains to a simplified form of door latch particularly well adapted for use upon small doors of the type used on cupboards and medicine chests. Said circular flange assists materially in maintaining said housing in proper operative position.

Owing to the simplicity of the latch structure provided by this invention the device in which it is embodied may be manufactured and sold at a cost in keeping with the purposes for which it is intended.

By this invention a latch structure is provided wherein the manually operable latch member or dog is operated by a link furnished with manually movable means located at the side of the door opposite to said dog, said link having a skirt portion at all times serving to close what would otherwise .be an objectionable aperture through the door to which the device is applied.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide, the combination with an elongated escutcheon plate on the door, said plate carrying on its inner face mounting means for a catch lever; of vertically reciprocable operating means for said lever, a portion of said means being located interiorly of a slotted part of said plate and the remainder thereof being accessible for manual operation exteriorly of said plate.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred, reduced to practice embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View, on a smaller scale than the remaining views, illustrating the device applied to the door of a small cabinet.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, with parts broken away down to a plane of section, to disclose more clearly inside structure.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section through the central part of the latch structure, the scale being further enlarged. In this View full lines show the latching means in locked position, and dotted lines show said means in the unlocked position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear view of the latch and its operating means taken in the direction indicated by the arrow on Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view lookin at the outer face of the applied latch plate viewed from line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a rear-top perspective view of the latching dog, separately shown.

Referring in detail to the drawing, a vertically elongated escutcheon plate 10, together with an overlying handle II, are shown attached to the cabinet door 12 of a cabinet I3 by nieans of screw bolts l4, said handle consisting of a bridgelike member with thickened end portions having in them screwthreaded sockets into which said screw bolts extend and to which they are anchored.

Under said handle H is a space l5 along the inner side of which extends the escutcheon plate In. Underlying this part of said plate H] a slot I6 is cut through the door l2. Within the upper end portion of said slot is located a latch lever housing I! which is rigidly secured to and projects inwardly from the overlying part of the escutcheon plate l0, this housing supporting the vertically swingable catch lever I8 upon a pin !9 which bridges the space between the vertical side Walls of said housing.

The front part of said housing ll carries a circular flange Ila. which fits within the inner end portion of a circular enlargement llb of the upper end portion of the slot. l6. Said enlargement may be made by boring a hole through the door and thereupon making the remainder of the slot l6.

Catch lever I8 is longitudinally grooved at 18c above and in advance of its pivot l9, and in this grooved part is seated one end portion of a wire spring 20, the mid-length part of said spring being coiled around a pin 20a which spans the housing ll, the opposite end portion of said spring being abutted against the top wall of the housing ll so as to cause the spring to urge said lever toward latching position. Said lever has a downwardly, directed latching nose or shouldered catch element 2| and vertically across its opposite end portion is longitudinally slotted as indicated at 22, thus bifurcating that end portion of the lever in such a manner as to provide a clearance for the upper end portion of its pendant operating link 23 which is connected to the lever by a pivot pin 24 that spans the space across the levers bifurcated part.

The upper end portion of said link 23 is shown slightly deflected from the escutcheon plate l6, but the remaining portion of said link is substantially straight and slidably engages the inner face of said escutcheon plate. Throughout its lower end portion said link 23 has a broadened part 23a which carries a forwardly projecting boss 25 which has a loose working fit in a vertical slot 26 provided for it through said escutcheon plate opposite to the lower end portion of the space 15. A bore is made through said boss 25 and the part of the link 23 from which it projects, and through said bore extends a screw bolt 21 the head of said screw bolt abutting an ear carried by a saddle shaped fingerhold clip 29, thus clamping said clip to the link and providing a means for manually moving the latter.

The aforesaid broadened part 23a of the link 23 extends down far enough to form a closure for the aforesaid slot 26 during all the operative positions of the link.

In the performance of its latching function the catch lever 18 cooperates with a keeper plate 32 which is countersunk below the front edge of a cabinet shelf 33 to which it is attached. Behind the mid-length portion of said plate 32 the shelf 33 is additionally recessed, as indicated at 34 and into this additional recess or alcove projects a catch-forming lip 35 formed by deflecting the metal at the lower side of a rectangular opening 36 through said plate 32, said lip being positioned to cooperate with the catch lever 18 to enable the latter to latch the door in its closed position.

From Fig. 3 it will be seen that the groove Eta along the upper edge of the catch lever 18 extends from the hooked end portion of the lever to a point beyond the pin [9 on which said lever is fulcrumed, and that the spring has a straight portion normally engaging the bottom of this groove at both sides of said pin I9, so that the spring is anchored against lateral displacement in relation to the catch lever.

When the cabinet door is in the closed, latched position as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the catch levers spring 20 holds the nose 2| of the lever down in a latched relation to the lip of the catch plate '32, and said lever, in turn, by means of its pin 24 holds the link 23 and the fingerhold clip 29 in the elevated position, the aforesaid boss 25 at such times contacting with the stop-forming upper end of the slot 26 through the lower part of the escutcheon plate 10, thus limiting the downward movement of said nose of the catch lever. In order to open the door the operator, while taking hold of the door handle I l with one hand, will use the finger portion of the same hand to depress said clip 29 together with the link 23 which carries said clip, thus unlatching the catch lever from the lip 35, whereupon he may open the door by pulling outwardly upon said handle ll. Owing to the saddle shape of the clip 29, the same may be used as a knob to open the door l2 after unlatching the catch lever 18, thus rendering it unnecessary to provide the door with the handle H.

I claim:

1. In a lock structure of the kind described, an elongated escutcheon plate secured with its length extending vertically to the outer face of a swingable cabinet door, a housing secured to the inner face of said escutcheon plate (said housing having a circular flange occupying a circularly enlarged upper part of a vertical slot through said door over which said escutcheon plate forms a closure, said housing being of an inverted U shape in cross section and open below and at the end thereof which is directed away from said plate, a catch lever in part occupying the space between the sides of said housing, a pin carried by said housing, said pin extending through the mid-length portion of said lever and supporting the latter for swinging movement in a vertical plane, said catch lever having a downwardly directed catch forming nose at the end of the lever which is directed toward the interior of the cabinet, said nose cooperating with stationary latching means carried by a shelf of the cabinet, a spring acting between said housing and lever and tending to swing the latter to latching position, a link pendantly pivoted to that end portion of said lever which is opposite to its nose, a manually depressible clip located adjacent to the outer face of the aforesaid escutcheon plate, means securing said clip to the lower end portion of said link in an outwardly spaced relation to the latter, there being a vertical slot through said escutcheon plate within which said means has a sliding fit, the lower end portion of said link being contoured and dimensioned at all times to form a complete closure over the inner side of said slot through said escutcheon plate.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 and said clip consisting of a single piece of sheet metal having a flange with an aperture through it, and said securing means consisting of a boss carried by the lower end portion of said link and screwthreaded means extending through said aperture in said flange and securing the latter to said boss, said boss having a working fit in said slot.

3. In a lock structure of the kind described, an elongated escutcheon plate secured with its length extending vertically to the outer face of a swingable cabinet door, a housing secured to the inner face of said escutcheon plate and 0c cupying the upper part of a vertical slot through said door over which said escutcheon plate forms a closure, said housing being of an inverted U shape in cross section and open below and atthe side thereof which is directed away from said plate, a catch lever in part occupying the space between the sides of said housing, a pin carried by said housing, said pin extending through the mid-length portion of said lever and supporting the latter for swinging movement in a vertical plane, said catch leverihaving outwardly spaced from said open side of said housing an end portion furnished with a downwardly extending catch-forming nose in a cooperative relation to stationary latching means carried by a shelf of the cabinet, said lever having along its upper side portion a longitudinal groove; a wire spring to control the swinging movement of said lever, mounting means for said spring carried by said housing and mounting the spring in 'a position wherein an end portion thereof extends along said groove, and manually operable means connected with said lever to move it to unlocked position in opposition to said spring.

4. The subject matter of claim 3 and said manually operable'means including a link pendantly pivoted to that end portion of said lever which is opposite to its said nose, said link extending downwardly through the open side of said housing along the inner side of said escutcheon plate.

5. The subject matter of claim 4 and said escutcheon plate having through it a vertical slot and said link carrying a manually depressible part located partly in said slot and partly outside of said escutcheon plate.

DOMENICK ACOCELLO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of. this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Great Britain pee. 19, '1911