US2976070A - Latching mechanism - Google Patents

Description

March 21, 1961 F. w. GOLLBACH LATCHING MECHANISM Filed July 13, 1959 INVENTOR.

FRED W. GOLLBACH (BMW 5 Qm ATTORNEYS nite rates LATCHING MECHANISM Filed July 13, 1959, Ser. No. 826,526

2 Claims. (Cl. 292-25) This invention relates to a latching mechanism and more particularly to a latching mechanism which is particularly suited for latching together two movable members of the type shown in the application filed by Padlo, Ser. No. 799,653 on March 16, 1959, now Patent No. 2,957,539 dated October 25, 1960, wherein the two members consist of two sides of a folding ladder.

In many places it is desirable to latch a fixed member to a movable member such as to latch together the two sides of a ladder of the folding type as mentioned above, or to latch a door to a door frame, etc., and wherein the latching mechanism is positive working and may be easily actuated under any one of a number of diiferent motions. Thus, in case of a panic or in case of the necessity of quickly operating the latching mechanism, where the person operating it either does not know how to operate it properly or does not have time to read directions, it is desirable to have a latching mechanism which he can operate in a number of dilterent ways and yet will still operate to unlatch.

'Il1us, it is an object of this invention to form a latching mechanism which is operated by a control which may be either twisted, like a doorknob, either clockwise or counter-clockwise or which may be pushed to release the latch.

Another object of this invention is to form a latching mechanism with two or more operators or controls widely spaced from one another and wherein each control may be separately operated either by twisting the control clockwise or counter-clockwise or by pushing the control to operate the latching mechanism.

Another object of this invention is to form such a latching mechanism which is operable in a number of difierent ways, but which is extremely inexpensive to fabricate and install, which requires a minimum of maintenance, and which is formed of a minimum number of parts.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of which the attached drawings form a part.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation view, partially in cross-section, showing the latching mechanism installed between two members, one being movable and the other being fixed.

Fig. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrows 22 of Fig. 1.

This latching mechanism is designed to latch a fixed member to a movable member and for purposes of illustration, the fixed member 11 and the movable member 12 are illustrated as being two elongated channels arranged vertically, with the opposite flanges of each of the channels having meeting edges 13 and with the fixed channel 11 being secured to a wall 14. These two channels may form the opposite sides of a toldable ladder of the type mentioned above relative to the'application of Padlo and whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.

The wall 14 may be the exterior wall of a house or 2,976,070 Patented Mar. 21, 1961 a building having more than one floor wherein the channels are fixed on the outside. of the building and form the sides of a foldable ladder. The rungs of the ladder are folded within the channels so that when the movable channel is unlatched, the ladder rungs are unfolded and are available for use for someone to climb out of an upper story window and climb down to the ground thereon. Here, it is desirable to provide a control means inside the building on each of the floors of the building which will operate to unlatch the movable member 12.

The means for latching the movable member to the fixed member consists of a pair of hooks 20 and 2011, each pivotally mounted upon a pivot pin 21 connected to the fixed member and each having a hook portion 22 arranged to engage a pin 23 which is connected to the movable member. The hooks may pivot about their pivot pins 21 to either engage or disengage from their respective pins 23. Each of the hooks are provided with a stud 24 on their opposite ends and are arranged so that movement of the studs towards each other will pivot the hooks to disengage from their pins 23.

The two studs 24 are interconnected by a flexible, elongated cord 25 which may be formed of conventional rope made of plastic, or some organic material, or of a metallic material, such as woven metal stands or of a chain. The cord is taut between the two studs and normally extends in a straight line therebetween as shown in Figure l.

The opposite ends of the cord are each passed through a transverse opening 26 formed in each of the studs 24 and may be knotted at 27 at their opposite ends to restrain them from moving out of the studs.

A pair of guide studs 28 are each secured to the fixed channel member 11 and extend into the path of the cord between the two hooks and each are provided with openings 29 through which the cord is freely passed. At each end of the cord, a coil spring 30 is arranged to surround the cord and be seated between the guide stud 2'8 and the hook studs 24 to resiliently bias the hooks into the latching position, shown in Figure l, where the hooks engage their pins 23.

To operate the latching hooks, a control means 35 is provided. This control means includes a shaft 36 arranged transversely to the cord 25 and mounted in the wall .14 and on the fixed member 11. This mounting means consists of a U-shaped channel 37 having a base 38 arranged against the base of the channel 11 and having a threaded central opening 39 in the base 38. A sleeve 40 passes through the wall- 14 and has an end threadedly engaged with a'threaded opening 39 of the U-shaped member 37. A nut 41 threadedly engages the opposite end of the sleeve and thus locks the sleeve in place in the wall.

The shaft slidably fits within the sleeve 4%) and also may rotate either clockwise or counter-clockwise within the sleeve. At the innerend of the shaft, a transverse opening 44 is drilled and the cord 25 freely passes through this transverse opening. The opposite end of the shaft is exposed and is provided with a handle 45. Also, a pair of rotatable guide rollers 46 are arranged across the two flanges of the channel 37 to contact the cord 25 and thus form guides to guide the cord between the base 38 and the two rollers.

As shown in Fig. 1, two sets of control means are provided, each being identical. One set could be located on one floor of a building, and the other set of controls 35 could'be locatedon a different floor of the building so that the controls maybe operated independently of. each other from two different floors of the building; to.

unlatch the hooks. 20 arid 200. At times, one control In operation, the cord 25 is stretched tautly between the two studs 24 and the hooks 20 and 20a, being spring biased, engage theirpins '23.

At this point, a person may grasp one of the handles 45 and twist thehandle either'clockwise or counterclockwise to thus twist the cord 25. Thus by shortening the cord a pull is provided on it to pull the ends of the hooks upon Which the studs 24are mounted andthereby release the hooks from their pins'23. Alternatively, the handle 45 may be pushed so as to move the shaft axially and thereby displace the cord from its-straight line position. This, likewise, will provide a'pull upon the cord to operate the hooks as above mentioned. In either case, while one of the sheets is being rotated or pushed, the other shaft functions as a journal bearing to maintain the cord in its proper guided position and prevent it from becoming tangled or disengaged from its proper alignment. Thus, one shaft serves as the operator and the other shaft serves as a guide means or journal.

At times, only one hook may be needed, such as when the movable and fixed members are short in length. Hence, one end of the cord may be secured to a fixed anchor with the opposite end of the cord being secured to the rotatable hook. For example, the lower stud 28 could be the fixed anchor to which the cord is fastened. Likewise, the lower end of the cord could simply be knotted beneath the lower shaft 36 so that the lower shaft 36 forms the anchor where only one latching hook is used.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following attachedclaims. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoing description be read as being merely illustrative of an operative embodiment of this invention and not in a strictly limiting sense.

I now claim:

l. A latching mechanism for latching a fixed member to a movable member, comprising a journal formed in and extending through one of the members and a shaft fitted in said journal and extending beyond both ends of the journal, one end of the shaft being exposed for manually grasping the shaft, said shaft being axially slidable in the journal and also being rotatable in both a counterclockwise and a clockwise direction about its axis, the opposite end of the shaft being provided with an opening extending transversely through the shaft, alatching hookmeans pivotally secured to said one member and arranged to engage a pin means secured on the other member, an elongated, flexible cord having an end secured to the hook means so that a pull on the cord causes the hook means to pivot and thereby disconnect from the pinmeans, the cord loosely passing through said shaft opening and having its opposite end secured to the same one member, with the cord being taut at all times, whereby rotation of the shaft either clockwise or counterclockwise or axial movement of the shaft all will provide a pull on the cord to thus pivot the latching hook means.

2. A latching mechanism for latching a movable member to the outside surface of a wall of a building and being operable from within the building, comprising a pair of Widely spaced openings formed transversely through said wall, a journal extending through and secured within each of said openings, each of the journals having a shaft journalled through it, the shafts cuch having an outside end extending beyond the outside surface of the wall and an inside end extending a distance beyond the inside surface of the wall and being exposed for manually grasping the inside ends, the shafts each being axially slidable within their journals and also being rotatable both clockwise andcounterclockwise within their journals, a pair of latching hook means secured to the outside surface of the wall and arranged to engage pin means secured to the movable member; an elongated, flexible cord having one end secured to one of the hook means and its opposite end secured to the other hook means so that a pull on the cord operates both hook means to simultaneousiy disengage them from their respective pin means; each of the outside ends of the shafts being provided with an opening extending transversely through that shaft, and the cord loosely passing through both of said shaft openings, the cord being taut at all times, whereby manual rotation of the inside ends of either of the shafts, either clockwise or counterclockwise, or a manual axial movement on the inside ends of either of the shafts all will provide a pull on the cord to thus operate the latching hook means, and with the shaft opening of one of the shafts acting as a guide journal for the cord when the other shaft is operated to apply a pull to the cord.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 197,115 Frees Nov. 13, 1877 365,281 Thorud June 21, 1877 540,911 George June 11, 1395 550,719 Hudson Dec. 3, 1895 1,613,023 Diete Jan. 4, 1927 2,191,437 Bode -2 Feb. 27, 1940 2,541,352 Ginter Feb. 13, 195i FOREIGN PATENTS 374,583 France Apr. 22, 1907

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