Closure fasteners – Bolts – Sliding and swinging
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-30
2003-06-17
Estremsky, Gary (Department: 3677)
Closure fasteners
Bolts
Sliding and swinging
C292S358000, C292SDIG006, C292S200000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06578884
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority of Taiwan Application No. 90207753, filed on May 11, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a latch assembly, more particularly to a latch assembly that is adapted to be mounted on a recessed door of a cabinet, such as a fuse cabinet, for closing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional latch assembly is shown to include a casing
10
, a coupler shaft
24
, a latch member
30
, a pair of fastener nuts
33
, a locking plate
28
, an urging member
27
, a pivot pin
25
, and a lever
21
.
As illustrated, the casing
10
is mounted on a recessed door P of a cabinet (not shown) via a U-shaped bracket
41
and a mounting bolt
42
, includes a peripheral wall
101
defining a lever chamber
11
and having a front open end
109
for access to the lever chamber
11
. The casing
10
further includes a rear wall
102
confining a rear side of the lever chamber
11
, and a spring-confining flange
103
that projects rearwardly from the rear wall
102
to define a spring chamber
105
. The rear wall
102
is formed with a shaft-extension hole
102
″ in spatial communication with the spring chamber
105
and the lever chamber
11
.
The coupler shaft
24
extends in a longitudinal direction, is disposed movably and rotatably in the casing
10
, and passes through the shaft-extension hole
102
″ in the rear wall
102
. The coupler shaft
24
has a threaded portion
242
that is disposed outwardly and rearwardly of the spring chamber
105
, and a pivot portion
241
that extends into the lever chamber
11
and that is formed with a pin-hole
241
″. The coupler shaft
24
is rotatable about an axis.
The latch member
30
has a coupler portion
31
that is formed with a threaded shaft hole
311
for extension of the threaded portion
242
of the coupler shaft
24
therethrough. The threaded shaft hole
311
is confined by a threaded inner face that threadedly engages the threaded portion
242
of the coupler shaft
24
. The nuts
33
are disposed at two opposite sides of the coupler portion
31
of the latch member
30
via two washers
32
, and threadedly engage the threaded portion
242
of the coupler shaft
24
so as to secure the latch member
30
on the coupler shaft
24
and so as to permit co-rotation of the latch member
30
and the coupler shaft
24
about the axis and co-movement of the latch member
30
and the coupler shaft
24
in the longitudinal direction.
The locking plate
28
is fastened securely to the pivot portion
241
of the coupler shaft
24
via a fastener nut
29
for co-movement with the coupler shaft
24
in the longitudinal direction between an engaging position, in which, the locking plate
28
extends into the spring chamber
105
and releasably engages the flange
103
, thereby preventing rotation of the coupler shaft
24
about the axis in the spring chamber
105
, and a disengaging position, in which, the locking plate
28
moves outwardly of the spring chamber
105
to disengage from the flange
103
, thereby permitting rotation of the coupler shaft
24
about the axis.
The urging member
27
is disposed in the spring chamber
105
for constantly urging the locking plate
28
and the coupler shaft
24
to move away from the spring chamber
105
.
The pivot pin
25
is disposed in the lever chamber
11
, and extends in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction, and through the pin-hole
241
″ in the coupler shaft
24
.
The lever
21
extends in a vertical direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, and has a U-shaped pivot end
210
that projects into the lever chamber
11
and that has a pair of lugs
211
which confine a gap therebetween for receiving the pivot portion
241
of the coupler shaft
24
and which are formed with two opposing pivot slots
212
for extension of the pivot pin
25
therethrough. The lever
21
further has an operating end
213
that is opposite to the pivot end
210
. Each of the pivot slots
212
is confined by a slot-confining wall that has a rear end generally aligned with the pin-hole
241
″ in the coupler shaft
24
such that the pivot pin
25
constantly abuts against the rear ends of the slot-confining walls of the pivot slots
212
by virtue of urging action of the urging member
27
. The lever
21
is turnable manually about the pivot pin
25
to a first position, as best shown in
FIG. 2
, in which, the operating end
213
of the lever
21
abuts against the casing
10
by virtue of the urging action of the urging member
27
to prevent rearward movement of the locking plate
28
and the coupler shaft
24
from the engaging position to the disengaging position in the longitudinal direction, thereby preventing rotation of the latch member
30
via the coupler shaft
24
in the spring chamber
105
. The lever
21
is turnable manually about the pivot pin
25
to a second position, in which, the operating end
213
of the lever
21
turns outwardly and forwardly of the casing
10
and the pivot end
210
of the lever
21
turns rearwardly and downwardly toward the rear wall
102
, thereby permitting rearward movement of the locking plate
28
and the coupler shaft
24
from the engaging position to the disengaging position. As such, co-rotation of the coupler shaft
24
and the latch member
30
about the axis is permitted.
A connecting member
23
includes a U-shaped portion
230
which is interposed between the pivot end
210
of the lever
21
and the pivot portion
241
of the coupler shaft
24
and which permits extension of the pin
25
therethrough. A tension spring
22
is interposed between the lever
21
and the connecting member
23
in such a manner that two opposite ends of the spring
22
resiliently abut against the lever
21
and the connecting member
23
so as to prevent change of relative positions of the connecting member
23
and the lever
21
when the lever
21
turns about the pivot pin
25
between the first and second positions.
During assembly of the aforesaid conventional latch assembly, it is inconvenient and laborious to mount the coupler portion
31
of the latch member
30
on the threaded portion
242
of the coupler shaft
24
at a desired position by virtue of threaded engagement between the inner threaded face of the latch member
30
and the threaded portion
242
of the coupler shaft
24
. Moreover, the nuts
33
tend to loosen after a period of use, which may result in downward turning of the latch member
30
due to gravity, thereby unlocking the recessed door.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of this invention is to provide a latch assembly that can overcome the drawbacks associated with the pivot art.
Accordingly, a latch assembly of the present invention is adapted to be mounted on a recessed door, and includes a casing, a coupler shaft, a latch member, a pair of nuts, a locking plate, an urging member, a pivot pin, and a lever. The casing is adapted to be fixed on the recessed door, and includes a peripheral wall defining a lever chamber and having a front open end for access to the lever chamber, and a rear wall that confines a rear side of the lever chamber. The casing further includes a spring-confining flange that projects rearwardly from the rear wall to define a spring chamber. The rear wall is formed with a shaft-extension hole in spatial communication with the spring chamber and the lever chamber. The coupler shaft extends in a longitudinal direction, is disposed movably and rotatably in the casing, and passes through the shaft-extension hole in the rear wall. The coupler shaft has a threaded portion that is disposed outwardly and rearwardly of the spring chamber, a pivot portion that extends into the lever chamber, and that is formed with a pin-hole, and a mounting portion between the threaded and pivot portions. The threaded portion has a terminating end distal from the pivot portion and formed with a pair of axially aligned grooves that extend fro
Christensen O'Connor Johnson & Kindness PLLC
Estremsky Gary
LandOfFree
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