US960381A - Door-latch. - Google Patents

Description

A. NEUENSGHWANDER.

DOOR LATCH. APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 6, 1909.

960,381. Patented June 7, 1910.

1 WITNESSES: INVENTORI 2% v %"A TTORNEY'.

ADAM NEUENSCHWANDER, OF BERNE, INDIANA.

DOOR-LATCH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADAM NEUENSOHWAN- DER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berne, in the county of Adams, in the State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Latches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in door latches.

The primary object of my present invention is to provide a cheap, simple, eflicient, reliable and durable door latch specially designed for barn doors, either sliding or hinged, and adapted to be opened from either the inside or the outside with equal facility.

My invention consists of an upright supporting plate having a central longitudinal slot in which a gravity latch is pivotally mounted, and a pivoted catch in transverse arrangement on the plate in cooperative relation with the said latch, and adapted to secure the latch out of its holding relation when the door is open.

The principal novel feature of my invention resides in the cooperative relation of the latch and the catch whereby the latch can readily be opened from either side of the door, and it can be temporarily secured out of its holding position when desired.

Similar reference numerals indicate like parts in the several views in which Figure 1 is an edge view of my invention in position in a barn door shown in a fragmentary section, the latch being shown in its holding position and its position when engaged by the catch being shown in dotted outline. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of my invention showing the relative arrangement and manner of mounting the latch and the catch. Fig. 3 is a plan view of my invention showing the position of the latch when engaged with its locking pin. Fig. 4 is a detail front view of the slotted plate on which the coacting latch and catch are mounted.

All parts of my invention are made of suitable metal. The plate 1 of proper dimensions has a longitudinal sl0t 2 midway of its sides for the door latch hereafter de- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 6, 1909.

Patented June 7, 1910. .Serial No. 481,769.

scribed, and is provided near its upper end with a pair of integral guides 3 in parallel relation and directly opposite the upper end of the slot 2, and has near its lower end the parallel ears 6 in which the pivot pin 8 is rigidly fixed. This plate is rigidly fixed upon the outer face of the door 4; by proper screws and which is provided with a vertical slot 5 in register with the slot 2. The latchbar 7 is pivotally mounted near its lower end on the pin 8, and has a pendent extension 9 for the purpose about to be described. The latchbar has its upper end considerably ex tended to substantially the upper limit of the slot 5, and then laterally curved into a position approximately at right angles to the lower end of the bar as shown in Fig. 1. The upper edge of the curved upper end of the bar 7 has a transverse notch 19 to receive the adjacent edge of the interlocking catch about to be described.

In the guides 3 is loosely mounted a horizontally arranged catch 10 which is pivoted at one end on the screw 11 fixed in the opening 12 of the plate 1. This catch 10 has its other free end 13 bent at substantially right angles to its main body and then passed through a suitable slot 14 in the door, Fig. 3. At a suitable point on the catch 10 is arranged a fixed or integral lateral lug 15 which serves as a handle for lifting the latch.

In a suitable post 16 arranged in proper relation to the slot 5 of the door 4, is fixed a pin 17 in substantially the same horizontal plane as is the pin 8, whereby when the free end of the latch rests thereon, Fig. 1, it is in a substantially horizontal position. The pin 17 has a head 18 upon its outer end to prevent lateral displacement of the latch when in its engagement therewith.

The operation and manner of employing my invention thus described is obvious and briefly stated is as follows: When it is desired to open the door 1 from the outside, assuming the door to be locked, the operator elevates the latch 7 into the dotted outline position thereof in Fig. 1, by the pressure of his thumb on the pendent extension 9. In the last mentioned position the latch is at its outermost limit because the extension 9 comes into contact with the outer face of the plate 1 below the slot 2. In this elevating movement of the latch the catch will be automatically elevated by contact with the latch, and will then resume its normal position by gravity, and will rest in the notch 19 of the latch, and thereby temporarily secure the same in its elevated position, which is very convenient when the door is open. When the operator desires to close and latch the doorfrom the outside he simply lifts the catch by means of the lug after which the latch 7 descends by gravity to its holding engagement with the pin 17 To open the latched door from the inside thereof, the operator simply elevates the latch from its engagement with the catch as before by seizing the inner-end thereof,

and to latch the door from the inside the operator simply elevates the catch 10 by means of the inwardly extended end 13, after which the latch will automatically re-' sume its holding engagement with the pin 17 by gravity as before.

Having thus described my invention and the manner of employing the same What I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

: 1. In a door latch a baseplate having a longitudinal slot therein; a latch bar pivotally mounted in the said slot and having a curved inner end, and a pendent lower end,

the latch being adapted to be temporarily secured in an upright position, and to form a holding engagement when in a horizontal position; and a horizontally arranged catch pivoted on said plate, and provided with means for. limiting its vertical play, and adapted to engage the said latch when in its upright position.

2. A door latch comprising the combination of a base plate having a vertical slot thereinya gravity latch pivotally mounted in the said slot, andprovided upon its outer end with means for limiting its outward movement; and a pivoted gravity catch pivoted on the base'plate in transverse relation Withthe said slot and at or near its upper end, and adapted toiengagethe latch when in its elevated position in the slot.

Signed by me at Berne,Adams county, State of Indiana, this 13th day of February, 1909.

ADAM NEUENSCHWANDER.

Witnesses:

J. D. WINTEREGG, EMIL LmoHTY.

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