US3241871A

US3241871A - Latch for sliding screen door

Info

Publication number: US3241871A
Application number: US317473A
Authority: US
Inventors: Banner Joseph
Original assignee: Anjac Manufacturing Co Inc
Current assignee: Anjac Manufacturing Co Inc
Priority date: 1963-10-21
Filing date: 1963-10-21
Publication date: 1966-03-22
Anticipated expiration: 1983-03-22

Description

arch 22, 1966 BANNER LATCH FOR SLIDING SCREEN DOOR Filed Oct. 21, 1963 I NVEN TOR. JOSEPH IVA/ER i! 1 HM BY fem/Alan D OER/AN A TTOR/VEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,241,871 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 3,241,871 LATCH FOR SLIDING SCREEN DOOR Joseph Banner, Whittier, Califl, assignor to Anjac Manufacturing Co., El Monte, Calif., a limited partnership Filed Oct. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 317,473 4 Claims. (Cl. 292--153) This invention is directed to a lockable latch for a sliding screen door.

In the modern trend towards outdoor living large expanses of glass are being installed in homes and other structures. In most of these installations a portion of the glass is openable. The opening is usually in a horizontal direction with a whole glass panel sliding adjacent to the next such panel. Such openability is highly desirable for the purpose of opening the building to the fresh air, but raises the additional problem of permitting the entrance of insects. Thus, it is conventional to have a screen which may be moved into position over the opening. In such sliding door installations it is also conventional to have the screen door slide into position. Suitable latches for such sliding screen doors are non-existent for the doors are of relatively light material, normally of extruded or rolled hollow aluminum sections, and standard hardware does not fit them. Thus, there is need for a specially designed latch for use to retain the sliding screen doors of such constructions in closed position. Of course, such a latch should be provided with a lock so that it may be locked from the inside to prevent unauthorized opening from the outside.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a latch for a sliding screen door, such latch being of special design for use in this environment so that it is sturdy and trouble free.

It is another object of this invention to provide a latch for a sliding screen door, which latch is spring operated so that it automatically latches when the door is closed, and to provide both inside and outside handles of appropriate design so that the door may be unlatched and opened when desired.

It is another object of this invention to provide a lock on the interior of the spring latch of this invention so that the latch may be rendered inoperative from the exterior, while in the latched position so that the sliding screen door is locked.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon a study of the following portion of the specification, the claims, and the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the side of a building showing a sliding screen door having the latch of this invention in place thereon;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view, partially in section, of the inside of the sliding screen door showing the latch of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial section similar to a portion of FIG. 3 showing the latch of this invention in locked condition.

As a means for describing this invention in essentially summary form it can be stated that it essentially comprises a latch of specific design for use with the frame of a sliding screen door. An operating member penetrates from the inside to the outside of the door, and this operating member is spring urged toward the latched position. The operating member is adapted to be manually engaged both from the inside and the outside for motion in opposition to the spring force. A latch on the operating member engages with a keeper in the door frame so that when closed, the latch is urged past the keeper by the opposed cam faces thereon against the action of the spring, until the door is completely closed when the latch engages behind the keeper. Thereupon the spring urges the operating member into the latched position. A more detailed understanding of this invention will become apparent from the following portion of the specification wherein the structure is described in detail with respect to the drawings.

Referring now to FIG. 1, seen therein is a building 10 having an opening 12, in one end of which is mounted a fixed glass panel 14. Also within the opening 12 is mounted screen door 16 for horizontal sliding motion to an open position where it stands in front of the fixed glass panel 14. Behind the screen door 16 is a conventional sliding glass panel which is also moveable to a position where it lies adjacent the fixed glass panel 14. The screen door 16 has suitable rails 18 for its horizontal guidance and uprights 20 for structural supports.

As seen in FIG. 4, uprights 20' are formed of rolled stock to have a screen metal engaging section 22 and an edgewise oriented open channel 24. This structure defines an interior opening 26 which extends the length of the upright 20. It is clear that while the structure shown is of rolled material, it could be equally well produced from extruded material, provided the material is of suitable characteristics for extrusion. It is conventional to use aluminum for these doors, and thus both rolled and extruded uprights and rails are possible. Secured to the inside of the screen door 16 is an inside handle 28 adapted to be manually engaged for the opening of the screen door 16. Similarly, secured to the outside of the screen door 16 is an outside handle 30 adapted to be manually engaged from the outside for opening the door 16. Screws 32 pass through both handles to secure them to opposite sides of the door. The inside handle 28 is in the form of a relatively fiat member bent in appropriate contour to fit the shape of the upright 20, and contains slot 34 therein to receive the inside manual latch operator, as is hereinafter described. The outside handle 30 is relieved at 36 to provide suitable clearance for the exterior latch operating manually engageable handle.

The upright 20 has slot 38 cut in the bottom of channel 24 for the entry and securement of the mechanism of the instant latch. Inserted within the slot 38 is frame 40 which has a lower lip 42 secured by screw 44 to the bottom of the channel 24. An upper lip 46 is arranged to engage the opening 38 to secure the other end of the frame 40 within the opening. The frame 40 is basically a U shaped channel bent of sheet stock having legs 48 and 50 extending parallel to each other. These legs extend upwardly where they are bent together and notched at 52 for engagement by hook 54 of spring 56.

The frame 40 is slotted at 58 to provide passage of shank 60 of latch 62. The latch 62 is of suitable configuration to engage beneath the hook 64 of keeper 66 secured in the edge of the opening 12. On the other end of the shank 60 is a flange 68 which has a hole 70 through one edge thereof for reception of hook 72 of spring 56. Since spring 56 is a tension spring, it urges the latch 62 in the upward direction as seen in the drawings.

The faces of the upright 20 are slotted at 74 and 76 for reception of the inside and

outside latch operators

78 and 80 respectively. Each of these latch operators has a boss which extends inwardly to engage upon the flange 68, and screw 82, having its head recessed in the inside latch operator 78, passes through the inside latch operator 78, through the flange 68 and is threadedly engaged in the outside latch operator 80. Thus, these three elements are firmly joined together for concurrent motion.

Slots

74 and 76 serve as guides to move the latch 62 in a rectilinear path, and flanges 48 and 50 serve as transverse guides for the latch 62. The outside latch operator 80 has a handle 90 which projects through the relief 36 of the outside handle 30 for convenience of manual actuation.

The inside latch operator 78 is in the form of a slider which fits within the slot 34 of the inside handle 28. The slider has convenient corrugations for engagement by the thumb when unlatching is desired, and also carries a lock to prevent unauthorized opening of the latch. The lock is in the form of a lockable detent 84 which is pivoted at 86 in an opening 88 in the inside latch operator 73. The configuration of the detent member 84 is such that when it is in the unlocked position, as seen in FIG. 3, it is relatively flush with the back of the inside latch operator 78. When the detent member 84 is rocked about its pivot 86, as seen in FIG. 5, it projects into the bottom of the slot 74. Thus, when force is applied to attempt to unlatch the sliding screen door 16, the detent member 84 abuts the bottom of the slot 74 preventing motion in the unlatching direction. Thus, the door is effectively locked.

It is clear from this specification that a lockable latch of particular utility for sliding screen doors has been described in its preferred embodiment. Numerous modifications and embodiments within the skill of those skilled in the art are possible. Accordingly the scope of this invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A latch for a sliding screen door comprising:

an upright forming a structural part of the door, said upright being hollow and having an inside and an outside parallel to the inside and the outside of the door, said upright having an outwardly open channel formed at the edge thereof, slots formed in the bottom of said channel and in the interior and exterior sides of said upright;

a frame positioned within said slot in the bottom of said channel and secured to said channel, said frame being of such configuration so as to present flanges within the hollow interior of said upright, said frame including first and second lip means, one of said lip means engaging one end of said slot so as to position said frame with respect thereto, the other of said lip means being secured to said channel adjacent to said slot;

a latch located within said channel and extending into the hollow interior of said upright between said flanges, said latch being movably mounted with respect to said frame, a spring connected between said frame and said latch to urge said latch with respect to said frame toward a latched position;

interior and exterior manually actuatable latch operators extending through said slots on the interior and exterior of said upright, respectively, said latch operators being secured to said latch so that motion of said latch operators cause motion of said latch whereby said latch can be manually actuated both from the interior and exterior of the sliding screen door.

2. The structure of claim 1 further including detent means, said detent means being connected to the inside latch operator and being positionable to engage the edge of the slot on the inside of said upright, so that when so positioned actuation of said latch is prohibited.

3. A latch for a sliding screen door, said latch comprising:

an upright forming a structural part of the door, said upright having a hollow space and having an inside substantially planar panel and an outside substantially planar panel defining the hollow space and respectively facing the inside and outside of the door, said panels terminating at an edge, said upright having an outwardly open channel formed at the edge thereof, a slot formed in the bottom of said channel, a slot formed in said inside panel into the hollow space therebelow, a slot formed in said exterior panel into the hollow space therebelow;

a frame positioned within said slot in the bottom of said channel, said frame being secured to said channel and being engaged with said channel bottom adjacent both ends of the slot in said channel bottom, said frame having first and second substantially parallel flanges extending into the hollow interior of said upright, said flanges being substantially parallel to said panels, said frame including first and second lip means, one of said lip means engaging one end of said slot so as to position said frame with respect thereto, the other of said lip means being secured to said channel adjacent to said slot;

a latch located within said channel and extending into the hollow interior of said upright between said first and second flanges, a spring connected to at least one of said flanges and to said latch to urge said latch toward a latched position;

an interior manually actuatable latch operator extending through said slot in the interior panel of said upright, an exterior manually actuatable latch operator extending through said slot in said panel on the exterior of said upright, said interior and exterior latch operators each being secured to said latch interiorly of said panel so that operation of either of said latch operators actuates said latch and said latch can be manually actuated both from the interior and exterior of the door.

4. The latch of claim 3 further including detent means, said detent means being pivotally mounted on said inside latch operator and being positionable to engage the end of said slot in said inside panel of said upright, so that when said detent means is positioned in engagement with said end of said slot in said inside panel actuation of said latch is prohibited.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,964,344 12/1960 Rich 292153 3,012,430 12/1961 Spork.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,202,985 4/1958 France.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Examiner.

Claims

1. A LATCH FOR A SLIDING SCREEN DOOR COMPRISING: AN UPRIGHT FORMING A STRUCTURAL PART OF THE DOOR, SAID UPRIGHT BEING HOLLOW AND HAVING AN INSIDE AND AN OUTSIDE PARALLEL TO THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE OF THE DOOR, SAID UPRIGHT HAVING AN OUTWARDLY OPEN CHANNEL FORMED AT THE EDGE THEREOF, SLOTS FORMED IN THE BOTTOM OF SAID CHANNEL AND IN THE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR SIDES OF SAID UPRIGHT; A FRAME POSITIONED WITHIN SAID SLOT IN THE BOTTOM OF SAID CHANNEL AND SECURED TO SAID CHANNEL, SAID FRAME BEING OF SUCH CONFIGURATION SO AS TO PRESENT FLANGES WITHIN THE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF SAID UPRIGHT, SAID FRAME INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND LIP MEANS, ONE OF SAID LIP MEANS ENGAGING ONE END OF SAID SLOT SO AS TO POSITION SAID FRAME WITH RESPECT THERETO, THE OTHER OF SAID LIP MEANS BEING SECURED TO SAID CHANNEL ADJACENT TO SAID SLOT;