US2779588A - Casing closure and latching means - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 29, 1957 R. w. HEWES 2,779,588

CASING CLSURE AND LATCHING MEANS Filed Dec. 5, 195s FIGA. FIGB.

IN V EN TOR.

lRWHEWES HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent @hice 2,779,588 Patented Jan. 29, 1957 CASING CLOSURE AND LATCHING MEANS Ralph W. Hewes, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to General Railway Signal Company, Rochester, N. Y.

Application June 5, 1953, Serial No. 359,830

Claims. (Cl. 268-72) This invention relates to casing closures and more particularly to a means for sealing shut and opening a mechanism case door which requires only one movement of a handle by only one hand to accomplish the operation.

l'n mechanism cases ordinarily exposed to the weather and which are used for housing electrical apparatus and levers, such as for example, a switch lock located in a railroad yard, it is essential that the door closure be water tight and firmly held closed even though it has to be readily accessible for use by a maintainer or yardman, the yardman in some cases being a partially incapacitated man who has the use of only one hand.

In the present invention, there is provided such a casing closure means which consists primarily of a sturdy handle which is pivotally mounted on the side of the casing and has a hollowed out portion which houses and carries latching and opening elements which cooperate with a projecting element on a suitably gasketed hinged door. A single, downward movement of the handle unlatches and forces open the door which may be stuck shut. Also, with the door positioned in the nearly closed position, a single upward movement of the handle pulls the door tightly against its gasket seal and latches it in its closed position, wherein it is spring held.

Other objects, purposes and characteristic features of the invention will appear as the description progresses and reference should be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l shows the door end of a conventional mechanism casing with the handle opening and closing means attached thereto;

Fig. 2 shows a side view of the same device;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and shows the cover and casing seal as well as the latching and opening means located within the handle;

Fig. 4 is a side View partially in section and shows the latching means in a closed position, handle upright;

Fig. 5 is another side view partially in section and shows the handle in a horizontal position wherein the l door is unlatched but still closed;

With more particular reference to Figs. l, 2, and 3, there has been shown a boxlike casing 1 mounted on a pedestal or base 2. The open end of the casing 1 is covered by a door 3 which door is hinged to the casing 1 by means of lugs 4 on the casing 1, lugs 5 on the door 3 and hinse pins 6 passing therethrough. One of the hinge pins 6 is threaded to receive a nut which is staked or pinned in place to prevent removal of the door. Inserted in a formed groove 7 in the door 3 is a gasket 8 of wicking or'other suitable material, this gasket 8 bearing against the vedge of the open end of the casing 1 around its entire periphery with the door 3 in a closed position.

Pivotally mounted on the side of the casing 1, by means of a shouldered screw 10, is a handle H. This handle H is mounted to turn freely as ample clearance is provided when the screw 10 is inserted into a bored hole in the boss 11 of the handle H and is then threaded into the casing 1 until the shoulder 12 on the screw 1t) bears against a boss on the casing 1. After the handle H is securely mounted in place, the inner threaded portion of the screw 10 is staked or peened over to prevent turning and removal of the screw by unauthorized persons.

This handle H is formed to provide a grip portion 13 and a hollowed out housing portion 14 in which is contained a latch spring 15 and a cam member 16 which is a cast-in part of the handle H (see Figs. 3 and 4). The latch spring 15 is pivotally mounted on the handle H by an anchor pin 17 and should be mounted so that it can swing freely due to its own weight when lthe handle H is moved from one position to another, for reasons explained hereinafter.

This latch spring 15 is preformed in a general arch shape, one end 1S being bent to form an eye to receive the anchor pin 17 while the other end l? is formed into a hook shape, after which the complete latch spring 1S is spring tempered. The hook end 19 of this latch spring 15 is adapted to engage a preshaped lug 20 which is riveted or otherwise suitably fastened to the door 3 and projects within the housing 14 of the handle H. This lug 2t) is formed from rectangular stock and the end 26 which extends inside of the handle H to engage the latch spring 15 and the cam 16 is forged or stamped out into an arcuate shape having a curved hump portion 27 at its lower edge as more clearly shown in the enlarged- View of Fig. 6. As viewed in the latched up position shown in Fig. 4, this arrangement allows the hook end 19 of the latch spring 1S to pivot on the lower hump portion 27 of the end 26 of the door lug Ztl while the upper portion of the lug end 26 arcs away from the latch spring 15 and its upper end provides a camming surface which cooperates with the door opening cam member 16 (see Fig. 6). Also, the back face of this arcuate shaped lug end 26 forms a pocket which butts against the arcuate shaped face of the cam member 16 when the door 3 is being closed and thus prevents damage to the face of the cam member 16.

With more particular reference to Fig. 4, it should be noted at this point that with the handle H in its upright or latched position, the spring tempered latch spring 15 is elongated and has assumed its nearly extended or latched position and thus holds both the door 3 and the handle H in their closed and latched positions, wherein a flange portion 23 on the handle H bears against a stop bracket 22 suitably fastened to the side of the casing 1.

In this nearly extended over-center position of the latch spring 15, a center line drawn between the pivot point of the hook 19 and the center of the anchor pin 17 would lie below the .center of the handle pivot screw 10. This arrangement creates in efect, a spring held toggle which exerts a pull on the lug 2t) of the door 3 against the reaction of flange 23 bearing against the stop bracket 22. During the upward or latching movement of the handle H, the latch spring 15 was in a fullyextended or elongated position when the pivot point of the hook 19, the

center of the handle pivot screw 1i) and the center of the anchor pin 17 were all three in line.

Referring now to the operation of the device, the normal closed position of the casing door 3 has just been described and is as shown in Fig. 4. With reference to Fig. 5, the handle H has been shown as moved to a horizontal position, which for illustrative purposes, is called an unlatcned position. During this movement of the handle H, the latch spring 15 was elongated or slightly Vaan-aises straightened out while passing through the over-center position of the latching rmovement and 'thereafter Ithe tension was released so that further movement of the handle H carried .the pivot end 17 ,of the latch spring l5 -to ,an upright position, wherein'the'hook end of the 4latch springl has become disengaged 'from the door lug Ztl and the latchtspring l5 hangs in a vertical position by reason of its own weight and lies'between the door lugand a boss 2l formed on the inside of the housing portion 14 of the handle H. ln this horizontal position i of the handle H, the cam member lo is about to engage the door lug 2t) and further downward movement of the handle will cause the cam member i6 to engage the door v'lug 20 and force the door 3 outward (see Fig. 6), Vthereby H. Theboss 2li and the inner end 26 of the door lug 20 also serve to limit the-swinging movement of, and form al guide-for, the latch spring i5, as mentioned hereinafter.

When it is desired to close up the casing again, which can only be done when the handlei'lis-in its '-lowerrnost position as shown in Fig. 7, the door must first be moved to its nearly closed position. ln so doing, the door lug 20 will strike the inner surface or" the handle housing 14 -at the high point 2S near where the pivot pin i7 is anchored and the handle H, which is now hanging by gravity on its pivot hearing lh, will be swung slightly on its pivot so that the lug 2@ can clear and enter the handle housing 1d and come to rest against the cam member i6. The door 3 is now in position for the latching movement and the handle H is gripped and moved upward. The hook end l@ of the latch spring i5, which as previously described, lies cradled in the housing .portion 14 of the handle H, now is guided into position to come in contact with the door lug 2t), as shown in Fig. 5. At this point of the handle movement, the cam member lo :has moved out of contact with the door lug 2h and further upward movement of the handle H causes the hook 19 to latch onto the door lug 2@ and pull the door 3 .toward the opening in casing l until maximum pulling force is applied as the latch spring l5 is elongated and passes through the over-center position, after which the latch spring .l5 contracts slightly again and holds the door tightly closed as hereinbefore described and shown in yFig 4.

As previously mentioned, the stop bracket 22 located on the side of the casing l cooperates with a ange portion 23 on the handle H when the handle H is in its latched position. Aligned holes 1A are provided in both the bracket 22 and the iiange 23 so that a padlock 2S may be inserted in the ho-les 24 to protect the device from unauthorized use.

From the foregoing description and with reference to the drawings, it will be seen and understood that a casing closure and opening devicehas been provided which is positive in action and may be manipulatedby a single motion in one direction or the other merely by one hand if desired. .it should also be understood that the disclosure shown and described is merely for the purpose of illustra- .tion and various other modifications and means of operation could be shown without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appending claims.

What i claim is:

l. A casing door fastening and opening means comprising, a gasket between the casing and the door to form an airtight moisture proof seal when said door is closed and latched,a handle and an associated latch spring and cam member, said handle being pivotally mounted on said casing in a piane at right angles to said door and adapted to be moved between latching and nonlatchingtpositions, said handle having a recessedfportionadjacent its pivotsection for housing said associated latch spring and cam member, said latch spring having one end pivotallyattached to said handle andthe other end forming a hook adapted to engage a protruding door lug when said handle is moved from a nonlatching to a latching position, said cam member being formed around said handle pivot section and adapted to push against said protruding door lug to force said door open upon movement of said handle beyond its nonlatching position wherein said latch spring was disengaged from said protruding doorlug; whereby, a single one handed motion of said handle to its extreme upward ,position latches ,said door and said handle in their latched positions and a single one handed motion of said handle to its lower hanging position causes said door to be unlatched and forced open.

2. A casing doorfastening and opening means comprising, a gasket between the casing and the door to form an airtight moisture proof seal when said door is closed and latched, a handle, an associated latch spring and cam member, and `a protruding door lug, said handle being pivotally mounted on said casing in a plane at right angles to said door and adapted'to be moved1between latching and nonlatching positions, said handlev having a recessed portion adjacent its pivot section for housing said associated latch spring and earn member, said latch spring being arch shaped and having one end pivotally attached to said handle and its free end hook shaped, said latch spring being so positioned within said recessed -portion of said handle thatwduringfthe movement lof said handle from its nonlatching to its latching position said hook end of said ylatch spring isV guided into engagement with a pivot 'point on said protruding door lug, said latch spring thus arching over-said handle pivot to form a spring toggle connecting-means between said door and said casing when said handle is in said latching position, a stop on said casing for arresting further movement of said handle and providing a reaction against the pulling force of said spring toggle after said handle has reached its latching position, said cam member being formed around said handle pivot section and being so positioned that the initial movement of said handle from its latching to its nonlatching position will only cause said hookend of said latch spring to disengage from said protruding door lug, whereas further nonlatching movement of said handle will cause said cam member to engage fand push against said protruding door lug to force said door open.

3. A casing door fastening and opening means comprising, a handle pivoted on the casing and mounted on a plane at right angles to the door, said handle having a recessed portion in which is located a latchspring having one end fastened to said handle and the other end engaging a lug on said door when said door and said handle are in a closed latched position, and a cam member formed around the pivot sectionof said handle to cause said door to be forced open as said cam member bears against vsaid door lug-.when said handle is moved toanopen unlatched position.

4. A casing door fastening and openingrmeans comprising, a gasket between the casing and theV door to form an airtight moisture proof seal when said door is closed Vand latched, a handle pivoted on the casing and mounted on a plane at right angles to the door, said handle having a recessed portion in .which is located a latch spring having one end fastened to said handle and the other end hook-shaped and adapted to engage aflug on said door, a cam member formed around the pivot section of said handle and Valso adapted to engage said lug on said door, said handle and. saiddoor having a closed latch position wherein said latch spring engages said door lug and said cammember disengages said door lug, and said handle and said door-having an open unlatched position wherein said latch spring disengages said door lug and said cam member .engages said door lug to break said gasket. seal and force'isaid door open.

5. A easing door fastening'and opening means comprising, a gasket between the casing and the door to form an airtight moisture proof seal when said door is closed and latched, a handle pivoted on the casing and mounted on a plane at right angles to the door, said handle having a recessed portion in which is located a latch spring having one end fastened to said handle and the other end hook-shaped and adapted to engage a lug on said door, a cam member formed around the pivot section 0f said handle and also adapted to engage said lug on said door; whereby a single upward movement of said handle causes said latch spring to engage said protruding door lug to latch both said door and said handle in their latched positions, and a single downward move- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,122,557 Versluis Dec. 29, 1914 1,698,928 Wentorf Jan. 15, 1929 2,016,519 Schmidt Oct. 8, 1935 2,336,129 Sargisson et al Dec. 7, 1943

Images