GB878270A - Improved latch mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

878,270. Latches, keepers. FORD MOTOR CO. Ltd. Dec. 31, 1958 [Feb. 25, 1958], No. 34752/60. Divided out of 878,246. Class 44. A latch mechanism for a swinging door of a motor vehicle comprises a pair of latch plates 13 pivotally mounted on a free edge wall of the door and a keeper device 102 mounted on a pillar of the vehicle body to which the free edge wall is to be latched, the latch plates 13 each including a jaw 24, the two jaws being adapted to cooperate to peripherally grip a sleeve 118 of the keeper device, the span of the jaws 24 when the latch plates 13 have been fully swung towards their gripping positions being less than the span of the sleeve 118, when ungripped, at the area of engagement with the jaws, the sleeve 118 or the latch plates 13 being resiliently mounted to permit substantial equalization of the spans and so that the sleeve is tightly gripped by the jaws. In a first embodiment, Figs. 1 and 2, the sleeve 118 is longitudinally split at 119 and is mounted on a pin 112 carried by a plate 111 secured to the body pillar, a rubber bushing 117 being interposed between the sleeve and the pin, and the proper location of the split side of the sleeve 118 is ensured by a locating lug 121 on the plate 111. The latch plates 13 are interconnected for rotation in unison by intermeshing control plates 21, 22 and are rotatably mounted. in a case plate 11 and a cover plate 105, secured to the door. An enlarged head portion 116 on the pin 112 co-operates with the latch plates 13 to prevent disengagement thereof in a direction longitudinally of the pin 112 in the event of a collision. In a second embodiment, Fig. 3 (not shown), the latch plates are spring-urged to their doorunlatched position and are journalled in rubber bushings, and the split in the sleeve is dispensed with. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specification 800,437.