T-handle operable rotary latch and lock

Details T-handle operable rotary latch and lock T-handle operable rotary latch and lock

2000-10-11

2003-11-25

Barrett, Suzanne Dino (Department: 3676)

Locks

Special application

For control and machine elements

C292S216000, C292SDIG003

Reexamination Certificate

active

06651467

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel and improved slam-capable, flush-mountable, T-handle operated rotary latch assembly connected to rear portions of a pan-shaped housing, with a pair of pivotal operating arms that rotate together with the T-handle in a forward direction of rotation to operate or “unlatch” the latch, wherein the operating arms engage stops defined adjacent a backwall of the housing to limit reverse direction rotation of the operating arms and the T-handle, and wherein a key operated lock may be provided to retain the operating arms in their non-operated positions. More particularly, the present invention relates to a T-handle operated rotary latch unit of the type described that preferably employs a rotary latch assembly of the type having a single rotary jaw that is releasably retained in its latched position by a rotary pawl, with the latch having spaced first and second housing side plates that sandwich the rotary jaw, the rotary pawl and a torsion spring that biases the jaw toward an open position, with the side plates defining aligned first and second U-shaped notches that cooperate with a third U-shaped notch formed in the rotary jaw to concurrently receive and to latchingly retain a suitably configured strike formation, and with one of the housing side plates being rigidly connected to the pan-shaped housing by at least a tab-like formation that overlies the backwall and defines one of the stops, wherein pivotal movement of the operating arms trips a release trigger of the pawl in response to operation of the T-handle to permit the rotary jaw to be pivoted by the torsion spring to an open position.
2. Prior Art
Flush mountable, paddle handle operated latches and locks are known that employ rotary latch bolts, also referred to as “rotary jaws,” wherein the jaws are provided with U-shaped strike-receiving notches for latchingly receiving and releasably retaining suitably configured strike formations. It also is known to utilize a spring-biased operating arm that is pivotally connected to a back wall of a pan-shaped housing to transfer unlatching movement from a rearwardly extending projection of a housing-pivoted paddle handle to a rotary latch assembly that is connected to the pan-shaped housing, as is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,458 issued Dec. 24, 1996 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled HANDLE OPERABLE ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,642 issued Mar. 23, 1982 to John V. Pastva, Jr., entitled PADDLE LOCKS WITH HANDLE DISCONNECT FEATURES, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Other disclosures of latch and/or lock units that employ rotary jaws are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,642 issued Mar. 23, 1982 to. John V. Pastva, Jr., entitled PADDLE LOCKS WITH HANDLE DISCONNECT FEATURES; U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,412 issued Apr. 17, 1990 to Jye P. Swan et al, entitled VEHICLE DOOR LOCK SYSTEM PROVIDING A PLURALITY OF SPACED ROTARY LATCHES; U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,906 issued Jan. 30, 1990 to Lee S. Weinerman et al entitled VEHICLE DOOR LOCK; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,491 issued Dec. 3, 1991 to Lee S. Weinerman et al entitled VEHICLE DOOR LOCK SYSTEM. The disclosures of these patents also are incorporated herein by reference.
The rotary latch and/or lock units that are disclosed in the four patents identified just above are of a relatively heavy duty type that often are employed in “personnel restraint applications,” typically on doors of passenger compartments of vehicles. These heavy duty units employ pairs of lousing-mounted rotary jaws, with the jaws being sandwiched between pairs of housing side plates, and with notches that are formed in each pair of rotary jaws being configured to receive and engage opposite sides of a suitably configured strike formation, typically a cylindrical stem of a striker pin. While both of the housing side plates are provided with U-shaped notches, neither of these notches defines a strike engagement surface that cooperates with a notched rotary jaw to latchingly receive and releasably. retain a strike formation. The notches that are formed in the jaws, not the notches that are formed in the housing side plates, receive, engage and latchingly retain suitably configured strike formations.
Lighter duty rotary latch and lock units that employ single rotary jaws also are known, as exemplified by the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,948 issued Mar. 23, 1999 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK; U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,224 issued Mar. 18, 1997 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled HANDLE OPERABLE ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK; U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,458 issued Dec. 24, 1996 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled HANDLE OPERABLE ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK; U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,295 issued Oct. 15, 1996 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled HANDLE OPERABLE ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK; U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,260 issued Aug. 8, 1995 to Lee S. Weinerman et al, entitled HANDLE OPERABLE ROTARY LATCH AND LOCK; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,203 issued Jan. 26, 1982 to Edwin W. Davis entitled FLUSH-MOUNTABLE LOCK WITH ACTUATOR DISCONNECT FEATURE.
While flush-mountable T-handle operated latch and lock mechanisms of various types are known, as is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,478 issued Nov. 17, 1987 to Jye P. Swan et al, entitled ROTARY HANDLE OPERATED DOOR LOCK, and while T-type operating handles are sometimes preferred over paddle-type operating handles in some applications, relatively little has been done until now to provide flush mountable, T-handle operated rotary latch assemblies that can be substituted for paddle handle operated rotary latch assemblies.
Although considerable thought has been devoted during recent years to providing improved, more compact and highly reliable handle-to-latch interconnection mechanisms in paddle handle operated rotary latches, it has seldom been possible to make much use of the resulting improvements in T-handle operated rotary latches. One of the reasons why improvements made in the handle-to-latch interconnection mechanisms of paddle handle operated rotary latches tend to be unsuitable for use in the handle-to-latch interconnection mechanisms of T-handle operated rotary latches has to do with the very different way in which paddle handles and T-handles connect to and pivot with respect to their associated pan-shaped flush mountable housings.
Whereas paddle handles execute a simple pivoting action about axes that parallel the back walls of their associated housings when moving between their non-operated and operated positions, T-handles ordinarily accomplish no unlatching movement at all when they pivot between their nested and extended positions about axes that substantially parallel the back walls of their associated housings; rather, they accomplish unlatching only when pivoted about axes that extend substantially perpendicular to the back walls of their associated housings. This very basic difference in the character and operation of the two types of handles has necessitated the use of very different handle-to-latch interconnection mechanisms on paddle-handle operated and T-handle operated rotary latch and lock units.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a slam-capable, flush-mountable, T-handle-operated, single-jaw rotary latch assembly having a jaw-retaining rotary pawl with an associated “trigger” that can be tripped to “unlatch” the rotary latch by a compact arrangement of two independently movable operating arms that pivot in a forward direction alongside a back wall of the housing for executing an “unlatching” movement in response to movement of the T-handle from its non-operated position to its operated position, with a compact arrangement of stops being provided adjacent the back wall for limiting the pivotal return movement of the operating arms and the T-handle as these three components return to their non-operated positions.
One feature of the invention resides in the provision of first and second independently movable operating arms that pivot alongside the back wall of a pan-shaped housing to drivingly c

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