US3527488A - Self-aligning door catch - Google Patents

Description

P 1970 R, M. COURTWRIGHT 3,527,488

SELF-ALIGNING DOOR CATCH Filed May 17, 1968 m N m/%uw 4 l F 3 G Hm J 2 6 w 4 1. A m

INVENTOR. ROBERT M. COURTWRIGHT QQQ wrggy ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 292--23 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A door catch providing a Teflon roller carried by the door and lodging, when the door is closed, in a stall defined by opposed spring arms which yieldingly grip the roller at diametrically opposite sides of its circumference.

This invention relates to a door catch, and as one of its objects aims to provide a simple and inexpensive device for this purpose which will keep a door from saggmg.

A further and important object is to devise a door catch for the doors of a double-doored caster-mounted cabinet, and one especially which will positively hold the two doors in perfect alignment, thus to preclude the doors from popping open as the cabinet is moved over an uneven floor.

The invention has the yet further object of providing a door catch in which a roller carried by the door engages in a stall provided by the cabinet, with the stall defined by opposing spring arms and the roller composed of a material such as Teflon so that the peripheral surfaces will be substantially free of Wear after even countless opening and closing operations of the door.

The above and still additional objects and advantages in view will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the environment in which the illustrated embodiment of the invention is used, and indicating the door catch in phantom.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the several elements which compose the door catch, with one element shown partly in section.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 33 of FIG. 1; r

and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

The door catch of the present invention is comprised of a roller structure which is carried by the door and a keeper which is mounted upon a jamb or shelf in position to receive the roller as the door is closed. As here illustrated I show the catch as being designed for the swingmounted doors -11 of a double-doored cabinet 12.

A respective roller 13 is provided for each of the two doors and is composed of Teflon or other like or suitable slip-surfaced material and is journaled adjacent the free edge of the related door by a pin 14 for rotation about an axis disposed parallel to the door and normal to the swing axis of the hinges 15 which hang the door. Supporting the pin is an angle bracket 16 secured by screws 17 to the inner face of the door.

The cabinet is shown as having a cross-bar 20 extending from one to the other side wall below a bottom shelf 21, and the keeper receives its support from the crossbar. The keeper is designed so as to be a common to both door catches, and comprises a spring-metal plate 22 of a 'ice generally rectangular plan configuration with an H-shaped opening 23 (FIG. 2) stamped in the center. The length of this opening is such that it will accommodate the two rollers 13 and two bracket legs 24 which give support to the pins from which the rollers are jo-urnaled. The width of the opening substantially exceeds the diameter of the rollers.

The two opposed arms 25 which are defined by the opening 23, one above and the other below the cross-slot of the H, are given both a curvilinear configuration, as viewed in side edge profile, and an inward bending deformation, which is to say away from the front face of the plate, into positions producing the top and bottom walls of a roller-receiving stall. The span between these walls is moderately less than the diameter of the rollers, thus to releasably grip the rollers when the same enter the stall. Considered in point of stall depth, said top and bottom walls 25 project inwardly beyond a perpendicular raised from the pins 14 when the doors of the cabinet have reached the extreme limit of their permitted closing swing.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing description of my illustrated embodiment. Changes in the details of construction can be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is therefore my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A door catch and aligning device comprising a roller, a roller bracket for mounting said roller carried by a swinging door, said bracket including a door mounting plate extending at right angle to a roller mounting plate, means rotatably mounting said roller parallel with said roller mounting plate, a flat, rectangular keeper plate mounted to be functional to said roller when the door is in closed position, upper and lower spaced, arcuate arms struck from said keeper plate in a direction away from said door mounting plate a space in the keeper being provided incident to the forming of said arms, said space being slightly less than the diameter of said rollers and an opening formed in said keeper adjacent said arm to receive the roller mounting plate when the door is closed.

2. The door catch of claim 1 in which the total opening formed in the keeper is H-shaped and the upper and lower arms define above and below the cross-bar of the H.

3. The door catch of claim 2 in which a roller is carried by one of the two doors of a double-doored cabinet, and a second roller is carried by the second door to rotate about a coinciding axis in close proximity to the first roller, and wherein the keeper plate is common to the two rollers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,105,963 8/1914 Clem 29277 1,111,426 9/1914 Ziganek 292- 1,778,851 10/1930 Ferris 292-76 2,789,850 4/1957 Roinestad 29276 2,833,583 5/1958 Stone 292-340 2,983,536 5/1961 Heyer 292-75 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner E. I. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 292--340

Images