US658310A - Latch for swinging bins or compartments. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Spt. I8, |900.

C. A. BABB.

LATCH FOR SWINGING BINS 0R COMPARTMENTS.

(Application l'ed Ian. 22, 1900.)

{No Model.)

W, fa. M

y UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.A

cHAELES A. BABB, 0E M'EADVILLE, MISSOURI.

LAToH-FoR swlNelNo BINS on ooMPAR'r'MENTs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,310, dated September 18, 1900. Application led January Z2, 1900. 4Serial'Nol 2,343.y (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be itknown that I, CHARLES A. BABB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Meadville, in the county of Linn and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Latches for Swinging Bins or Compartments,of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved latch for swinging bins, and has for its object to provide a simple and inexpensive latch of improved construction by means of which the swinging bin or other device may be locked in both its open and closed positions and in any intermediate position between its open and closed positions and which also serves as a handle for opening and closing the bin.

It also has for its object to arrange the latch in such manner that when the handle is grasped to open the bin the latch will automat-Y ically be disengaged or unlocked, and when it is released will automatically lock the bin.

To these ends my invention consists in the features and in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed'out in the claim following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication, wherein- Figure lis a perspective View of a swinging bin with myimproved latch applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse section, the latch being shown in dotted lines; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the latch.

Referring to t-he drawings,the numeral 1 indicates a frame or casing, or it may be a storecounter, which may be of any suitable or preferred construction, and is provided with vertical sides or partitions 2. Journaled at its ends between the sides 2 is a swinging compartment 3,which may be of any desired shape and construction, but is shown in the present instance as consisting of a bin constructed in an ordinary and well-known manner. As shown in this application,the bin is suspended within the casing by pivots or journals 4, which are fitted in the ends of the bin and the sides of the casing at points above the horizontal cent-er of the bin, whereby the center of gravity of the bin falls below its pivotal points, thus causing the bin to normally close or swing within the casing when released.

The pivots or journals 4 may be of any approved construction, the same forming no part of the present invention.

'Journaled as shown the bin may be freely swung in and out of the casing with but little force or exertion,and when released will swing closed within the casing. Attached to one end of the bin and preferably near the front and upper edge thereof is a face-plate 5,provided with a laterally-projecting lug or pivot-pin 6, on which is pivoted the latch which I will now describe.

The numeral 7 indicates a [iat curved metallic bar or arm, which is pivoted near one end in the pivot-pin 6 and at its outer adjacent end is reduced and has fixed thereon a handle 8. Said curved arm as the bin is swung about its pivots travels through a guide-such as staple 9, for example-attached to the side 2 of the casing. On the under side of the arm are formed a plurality of notches l0, said notches being larger or wider at their inner than at their outer Sides-that is to say, the notches are contracted at the edge ofthe armas shown and for the purpose presently hereinafter explained. Said notches may be of any desired number and arranged at any desired distance apart; but the end notches should be arranged at such points on the arm that when the bin is completely closed the notch nearest the handle 8 will engage the staple to hold the bin locked in its closed position, and when the bin is opened toits fullest extent the notch on the innermost end of the arrn will in like manner engage the staple and lock the bin in its open position.

Normally the bin remains closed by gravity; but it is positively locked in its closed position by the latch-arm, which, being pivoted near its outer end to the pin, rests by gravity on the lower leg of the staple 9, and when closed the notched inner end of said arm drops over the lower leg of the staple, and thus locks the bin against any movement about its pivots. When it is desired to open the bin, the handle 8 is grasped and drawn outward and downward, thus swinging the latch-arm 7 upward about its pivot and disengaging it from the lower leg of the staple and at the same time swinging the bin outward from the casing. When the bin has IOO been swung open as far as desired, the handle is released,whereu pon the latch-arm drops by gravity onto the lower leg of the staple, and as the bin starts to swing back into the casing the lower leg of the staple is engaged by the first notched portion of the arm that it encounters, whereby the movement of the bin is arrested and the latter is held open. To close the bin, the latch-arm is raised out of contact with the staple and the bin permitted to swing back into the casing by grav ity, when it will be held closed in the manner before described. By forming the notches in the manner described-that is to say, contracting the th roats of said notches-the latch-arm is prevented from being accidentally disengaged from the staple and can only be released therefrom by positively lifting the latch-arm out of contact with the staple by means of lthe handle 8.

I have shown and described the bin as being pivoted at a point above its horizontal center, whereby the bin will automatically swing to its closed position by gravity when the latch is disengaged from the loop or staple; but it may be pivoted at a point below the horizontal center, so that it will automatically swing open by gravity when the latch is released. In either case the operation of the latch is the same-that Ais to say, it will operate to lock the bin in any of its adjusted positions.

In the present application I have shown and described the latch in connection with a bin; but I do not wish to be understood as confining my invention to such employment, as it may be used to advantage in swinging, tilting, or oscillating compartments and devices of various different descriptions.

Having described my invention, what I claim is The combination with an inclosing casing closed on all sides excepting at the rear and a swinging bin open only at its top and pivoted at its opposite ends above its axial center to the ends of the casing, whereby it swings closed by gravity, of a face-plate rigidly fixed to one end of the bin near the outei` edge and above the pivotal point of the latter and provided with a fixed laterally-projecting pivotpin, a downwardly-curved arm disposed between one end of the bin and casing and pivoted near its outer end on the said pivot-pin, said arm being provided on its under side with a plurality of notches having contracted throats, a staple fastened to the inner side of the end of the casing and straddling the arm, the notches on the under side of the arm being arranged to engage the lower leg of the staple and hold the bin against movement in either direction, the outer end of the arm projecting outward from and between the bin and casing and provided with a handle projecting at a right angle to the end of the arm, said handle operating, when it is grasped to swing the bin open, to automatically disengage the arm from the lower leg of the staple and permit the bin to be swung open, substantially as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES A. BABE.

Witnesses:

ALFRED K. BAILEY, JOHN W. ABELL.

Images