U.S. patent number 3,782,800 [Application Number 05/265,337] was granted by the patent office on 1974-01-01 for latch mechanism.
This patent grant is currently assigned to The Stanley Works. Invention is credited to Willard J. Benner, John L. Remington.
United States Patent |
3,782,800 |
Remington , et al. |
January 1, 1974 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
LATCH MECHANISM
Abstract
A latching arrangement for a reciprocable drawer or chassis
assembly operable to securely hold the individual drawers in the
fully open position once opened and in the fully closed position,
when closed, until released manually. Latch stops are secured on
the front and rear of one side of each drawer itself, each of which
cooperates with a single latch member having a locking arm which is
pivotally secured to the side of the stationary frame member.
Alternate embodiments of the invention are disclosed showing
camming surfaces, which cause the latch member locking arm to
engage the stops, as being either on the latch stop or on a portion
of the latch member itself. A release lever which is used to
release the latch arm from either of the stops may be easily
reached when the drawer is in either the open or closed position.
When in the closed position, the release lever protrudes through a
notch in the front of the drawer and is thus readily
accessible.
Inventors: |
Remington; John L. (Coplay,
PA), Benner; Willard J. (Quakertown, PA) |
Assignee: |
The Stanley Works (New Britain,
CT)
|
Family
ID: |
23010025 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/265,337 |
Filed: |
June 22, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/333;
312/334.47 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B
88/57 (20170101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47B
88/16 (20060101); A47B 88/04 (20060101); A47b
088/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;312/333,348,346,347,349,330 ;308/3.6 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: McCall; James T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Washburn; Robert B.
Claims
We claim:
1. A latching arrangement for use in securing a drawer of a cabinet
in either an open or closed position comprising:
a latching member pivotally secured to the cabinet frame adjacent
the position of the drawer, said latching member having a latching
arm;
a rear latch stop mounted on the rear portion of the side of said
drawer nearest said latching member and positioned to be engageable
by said latching arm of said latching member;
a front latch stop mounted on the front portion of the side of said
drawer nearest said latching member and positioned to be engageable
by said latching arm of said latching member; and
camming means in which said latching arm is cammed into locking
engagement with said rear latch stop as said drawer reaches an open
position and in which said latching arm is cammed into locking
engagement with said front latch stop as said drawer reaches a
closed position, said latching member further including a release
means by which said latching arm may be released from locking
engagement with said rear latch stop and said front latch stop.
2. The latching arrangement of claim 1 wherein said camming means
comprises:
a. in the case of the engagement of the latching member with said
rear latch stop in which said drawer is secured in its open
position, a camming surface on the forward portion of said latch
stop which is engaged by said latching arm as said drawer is
opened; and
b. in the case of the engagement of the latching member with said
front latch stop in which said drawer is secured in its closed
position, a camming surface of said latching member which engages a
part of said drawer to cause said latching arm to engage said front
stop as said drawer is closed.
3. The latching arrangement of claim 2 wherein the part of said
drawer which is engaged by the camming surface of said latching
member comprises a notch in the front of said drawer of which the
bottom surface is aligned to cam up the camming surface of said
latching member as said drawer is closed.
4. The latching arrangement of claim 3 wherein the means to release
said latching member comprises a latching release lever which is
accessible on the side of said drawer when said drawer is in its
fully open position and which extends forwardly through said notch
in the front of said drawer when said drawer is in its fully closed
position.
5. The latching arrangement of claim 4 wherein said latching member
camming surface is the lower surface of said latching release
lever.
6. The latching arrangement of claim 1 wherein the camming means
includes camming surfaces on said front latch stop and said rear
latch stop which are engageable by said latching arm as said front
latch stop is engaged as said drawer is closed and as said rear
latch stop is engaged as said drawer nears its fully open
position.
7. The latching arrangement of claim 1 including a spring means
which is engageable between said latching member and said cabinet
frame and is effective to bias said latching arm to its locking
position.
8. A latching arrangement for use in securing a drawer of a cabinet
in either an open or closed position comprising:
a latching member pivotally secured to the cabinet frame adjacent
the position of the drawer, said latching member having a latching
arm;
a rear latch stop mounted on the rear portion of the side of said
drawer nearest said latching member and positioned to be engageable
by said latching arm of said latching member and of a configuration
so that the latching arm will pass over and drop into locking
position as said drawer is opened;
a front latch stop mounted on the front portion of the side of said
drawer nearest said latching member and positioned to be engageable
by said latch arm of said latching member and of a configuration so
that the latching arm will pass over and drop into locking position
as said drawer is closed;
means to restrain said latching member to enable said latching arm
to drop only as far as a locked position with respect to said latch
stops and during th times said latching arm is free of said latch
stops; and
camming means in which said latching arm is cammed into locking
engagement with said rear latch stop as said drawer reaches an open
position and in which said latching arm is cammed into locking
engagement with said front latch stop as said drawer reaches a
closed position, said latching member further including a release
means by which said latching arm may be released from locking
engagement with said rear latch stop and said front latch stop.
9. The latching arrangement of claim 8 in which said restraining
means comprises a stationary bracket member for said drawer upon
which the bottom surface of said latching member abuts as said
latching member and attached latching arm pivot to the down
position.
10. The latching arrangement of claim 8 in which said restraining
means comprises an engaging arm which abuts against a side column
of said cabinet as said latching arm reaches the down position.
11. The latching arrangement of claim 8 further comprising a washer
member which is used in pivotally seucring said latching member to
the cabinet frame, said washer member having a sleeve which is
insertable in a drill hole in said latching member and further
having a groove around which a spring is wrapped, said spring being
attached to said latching member at one end and said cabinet at the
other to bias said latching arm to a down position.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention has utility whenever it is desired to equip
drawer and chassis assemblies with mechanisms by which the drawers
may be secured in both closed and opened positions. The invention
has particular utility when used on cabinets and the like which are
designed for ships, trucks, mobile carts, aircraft and in other
environments where a rocking or tilting action will cause closed
but unlocked drawers to open and open drawers to close under the
influence of gravity during periods of motion. Not only is this an
annoyance and the cause of inefficient operations, but also
presents a safety problem in that bystanders may be jolted by
drawers sliding open and the fingers and hands of persons working
or filing in the open drawers may be pinched as drawers slide
shut.
Many key-lock cabinets are of such a design that the drawers will
slide open as soon as the cabinet or its environment is tilted
somewhat. The necessity to lock or unlock all drawers in a cabinet
at one time means the cabinets must as a rule be left unlocked
during working hours at which time the drawers if otherwise
unrestrained are free to slide. The subject invention provides a
means of preventing this unwanted and dangerous shifting.
PRIOR ART
In th past, locking and release mechanisms for securing drawers in
both fully open and closed positions have been cumbersome and
complex making their installation costly and unattractive. For
example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,630,364 which issued on Mar. 3, 1953 to H.
S. Gleason discloses a locking and releasing mechanism for both
open and closed positions. The Gleason mechanism utilizes camming
surfaces on latch members which cooperate with a pin 12 secured to
the stationary housing. Each of the latches 18 and 64 are operated
by push buttons 23 which project from the front of the drawer. When
the buttons 23 are manually pushed, arms 18 and 64 are lifted over
the stationary pins 12 such that, in the case of pin 64 the drawer
may be opened and in the case of arm 18 the drawer may be closed.
Arms 18 and 64 must be responsive to the actuation of buttons 23
necessitating the chain of part as can be readily seen from FIG. 2
of the Gleason patent.
Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,429 which issued on June
4, 1963 to G. W. Barnes, disclose an apparatus for holding a
cabinet drawer open in an extended position but do not disclose
apparatus which also secures a drawer in its locked position or
could be readily adapted to do so with a single operating
mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the subject invention to provide an
improved latching arrangement for use particularly on ships, mobile
installations, and the like in which a single cabinet drawer
latching mechanism is effective to secure the drawer in both closed
and opened positions to prevent the drawer from sliding open or
closed during a tilting or rocking motion.
It is still another object of the subject invention to provide a
latching mechanism that can be constructed and installed at less
cost and at the same time is more durable than latching mechanism
complexes used in the past to secure drawers in both closed and
fully opened positions.
It is yet another object of the subject invention to provide a
latching mechanism for securing a cabinet drawer in both closed and
fully opened positions wherein the latching release means is the
same for both operations and is thus located in one position.
It is still a further object of the subject invention to provide a
latching mechanism for securing the cabinet drawer in both closed
and fully opened positions in which the release means is
conveniently located and accessible when the drawer is both closed
and fully opened.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a latching
arrangement for use on individual drawer assemblies of a key-lock
type cabinet which relieves the necessity to lock the entire
cabinet to prevent drawers from sliding open as a result of tilting
motion.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a latching
arrangement for use on individual drawer assemblies which prevent
the drawer(s) from closing as a result of tilting motion.
In accordance with the above objects, a latching arrangement is
provided in which one operating mechanism is used to both secure
the drawer in a closed position as well as to secure it in an open
position. The latch or operating mechanism or member comprises a
pivotal body portion mounted on the stationary side frame of the
cabinet which has a latching arm extending perpendicularly from the
body portion for engaging latch stops which are secured on the
front and rear of one side of each individual cabinet drawer. In
one preferred embodiment the rear latch stop has a camming surface
which causes the latching arm to pass over the stop and be secured
in a lock position. The same latching arm engages the front latch
stop, however, the arm reaches its locking position by means of a
camming surface on the latch mechanism itself, rather than on the
latch stop, which engages a notch in the front of the drawer to
cause the latching arm to seat in a lock position. The latching arm
is released from both its open lock position and its closed lock
position by manually raising an extended lever of the latch member,
which is easily accessible regardless of the position of the
drawer, to pivot the front of the latch member and its latching arm
upwardly to unseat the latching arm while at the same time sliding
the drawer so that the latching arm will be free of the particular
latch stop in which it was engaged. When in the closed position,
the opening lever protrudes out in front of the drawer while in the
open position, the lever is to the side of the opened drawer.
The utility of the latching mechanism may be further increased by
stretching a spring member from the latch mechanism to the
stationary side frame where the latch is attached, although the
latch mechanism will operate without such a spring. Several
embodiments of the latch mechanism may be used which depend on the
size, particularly the height of the drawers. If a drawer is used
of a size in which the latch member may be installed adjacent to a
portion of the carriage track, then the latch arm may be caused to
seat in its locking position as the side of the latch is pivoted to
an abutting position against the carriage track. On the other hand,
if the drawer is of a size whereby the latch member cannot be
installed adjacent the carriage track, the latch member may be
equipped with an arm member which can be secured against a portion
of the cabinet frame when the latch is in its locking position.
In an alternate embodiment, the front and rear latch stops may be
substantially of the same design both having camming surfaces over
which the latching arm of the latch mechanism passes as it seats
into its locking position as opposed to the earlier embodiment
where the latch mechanism itself had a camming surface which passed
over a notch on the drawer to cause the locking arm to secure the
drawer in its closed position. In this latter embodiment the
release lever operates in the same fashion to release the latch
locking arm from either the front or rear latch stops.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a cabinet showing a drawer with
latching member and rear latch stop installed;
FIG. 2 is an exploded isometric view showing the latching member
with its spring member;
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view showing the latching member and
latch stops as seen from inside of the cabinet;
FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of a
latching member as seen from inside of the cabinet; which may be
positioned independently of the carriage bracket;
FIG. 4a is a cross sectional view of a portion of the latching
member of FIG. 4 taken along section line 4a;
FIG. 5 is a side elevational cutaway view of the latching
arrangement of FIG. 1 as seen from the outside of the cabinet
showing an upper drawer in its closed position with the latching
member protruding through the notch in the front of the drawer and
the latching arm engaging the front latch stop, and a lower drawer
in its fully opened position with the latching arm engaging the
rear latch stop; and
FIG. 6 is a side elevational cutaway view showing an additional
embodiment of a latching arrangement as seen from the outside of
the cabinet in which both front and rear latch stops are provided
with camming surfaces.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to FIG. 1 a cabinet 10 is shown having a standard
type drawer or chassis 11 which is reciprocably slidable from
closed to open position on supporting structure. The supporting
structure may comprise generally stationary supporting members or
carriage brackets 12 mounted on each of the cabinet sides, and an
intermediate moveable member or carriage 13 reciprocably supported
with respect to member 12. Drawer 11 may be reciprocably supported
by the carriage 13. Various means and mechanisms for drawer
reciprocation are well known to the art and thus will not be
described in detail since the subject invention is not limited to
any particular means. A latching member 14 is secured to the side
of the cabinet in a manner as will be described. Secured to the
drawer 11 itself are front and rear latch stops 16 (see FIG. 3) and
18 respectively. As drawer 11 is pushed to its closed position the
latching member 14 automatically engages the front latch stop 16 to
secure the drawer in the closed position with mechanism 14
protruding through drawer notch 20 as will be subsequently
described in detail. As the drawer 11 is pulled to its fully open
position by means of drawer-pull 21, latching mechanism 14
automatically engages rear latch stop 18 to secure the drawer in
its fully open position.
With reference to FIG. 2 the latching member 14 is shown as having
a central body pivot portion 22 which will be pivotally secured to
the side of the storage cabinet 10 by means of screw 24. The
latching member 14 further has a latching arm 26 which extends at
approximately a right angle from body portion 22 and is the part of
the latching member which engages latch stops 16 and 18 as will be
explained. Extension 28 serves as a lever arm and permits the
latching member 14 to be pivoted manually to release the latching
arm 26 from th latching stops 16, 18. Extension 28 has a lower
camming surface 30 which will engage the bottom surface 32 of notch
20 as the drawer 11 is closed (see FIG. 1). The indented area 34 of
the latching member 14 is designed to allow the latching arm 26 to
drop into locking position after camming surface 30 has passed over
the notch surface 32 as the drawer 11 is closed.
The latching member 14 is attached to the side of cabinet 10 by
passing the screw 24 through a hole 36, drilled in latch body 22
and into a threaded screw hole 37 (see FIG. 3) in the side of the
cabinet. Sleeve portion 42 of a washer 44 is of a size to fit
compatibly in drill hole 36 of the latching body 22 and allows the
latch member 14 to pivot although secured tightly in place by screw
24. An optional spring means 38 may be attached to cause the
latching arm 26 to be biased to a locking or otherwise down
position as will be described, in which case washer member 44 will
have a groove 40 on its outer periphery into which spring member 38
is secured. When the washer 44 is secured in place on the cabinet
wall side of latch member 14 as the unit is assembled and mounted,
spring tip 46 is hooked in aperture 48 of latching mechanism 14.
The other tip 50 of the spring member 38 is secured to a receiving
means which may be bracket support slots 51 in the side of the
cabinet 10.
With reference to FIG. 3, the latching member 14 as described in
FIG. 2 is mounted in close proximity to carriage bracket 12 which
is firmly secured to the side of cabinet 10 by screws 53 in screw
holes 37 and by bracket supports 55 lodged in slots 51. It will be
noted that when the top edge 54 of extension lever 28 is
approximately horizontal, edge 56 abuts against edge 58 on the
corner of bracket member 12. As can be visualized notch 60 has been
made in latching member 14 for clearance purposes to enable the
front lever 28 of latching member 14 to pivot upwardly around screw
member 24 which is the pivot point.
Front latch stop 16 is shown on the cutaway front portion of drawer
11 in FIG. 3 as comprising a top portion 62 which extends
rearwardly from the drawer front by horizontal arm 64; the stop 16
being mounted by welding lower portion 66 to the drawer front or
securing by other means.
Rear latch stop 18 includes a camming surface 68 which faces to the
front of drawer 11 and is aligned to engage latching arm 26 as
drawer 11 is pulled open; and a rear surface 70 behind which
latching arm 26 will assume a locking position. The rear latch 18
may be mounted to the drawer side by welding or other means,
preferably made easier by a lower extension (not shown) which is
perpendicular to the stop portion which engages locking arm 26. The
lower extension may be received by a groove in the drawer to aid in
its placement.
As can be seen from FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 as drawer 11 is pushed to a
closed position lever 28 of latching member 14 which is aligned
with notch 20 will protrude through the notch as the front of the
drawer 11 nears its closed position within cabinet 10. As this
happens camming surface 30 of latch 14 engages the bottom portion
32 of the notch 20 which causes extension portion 28 of latch
member 14 to raise upward. This motion also causes the latching arm
26 which is rigidly secured to the latching member 14 to raise
upward as latch stop 16 approaches latching arm 26 as the drawer 11
is closed. The dimensions of the latch camming surface 30 are such
that as a top portion 62 of the front stop 16 reaches the locking
bar 26, the locking bar is raised to allow the upper portion 62 of
the front stop 16 to pass under the locking bar 26. After this
occurs, the indented portion 34 of the latching member 14 reaches
the notch bottom 32 and the forward extension portion 28 of latch
mechanism 14 abruptly drops downwardly with latch member edge 56
engaging edge 58 of the carriage bracket once again. This movement
causes locking bar 26 to lower into locking position in the space
between the upper portion 62 of front stop 16 and the front of
drawer 11. Spring member 38 aids in causing the quick return of the
latch mechanism 14 to its down position. Thus the drawer 11 will be
secured firmly in place and will remain so despite a pulling force
which may be exerted on the drawer or a tilting motion of the
cabinet.
When it is desired to open drawer 11, lever 28 which protrudes
through notch 20 as best seen in FIG. 5 (top drawer) may be used as
a release handle and manually lifted upwardly to raise locking bar
26 free of front stop 16. As this is done, drawer 11 may be pulled
outwardly from the cabinet.
The same latching member 14 is also used to lock a drawer in a
fully open position to prevent it from closing which could
otherwise be expected if the cabinet were subjected to a tilting
motion. As the drawer 11 nears its fully open position, cam surface
68 on the front of the rear stop 18 engages latching arm 26 of
latching member 14. As the drawer 11 opens fully, the locking arm
slides over rear latch stop 18 and drops down on the rear side of
member 18 as permitted by the pivoting of latch member 14 about
screw member 24 (see lower drawer of FIG. 5). The drawer is of
course prevented from coming out further by standard carriage
mechanism which prevents drawers from falling out. Thus the drawer
11 cannot slide outward nor can it slide or be pushed inwardly
since the latching arm 26 will abut against the rear surface 70 of
the latch stop 18. When it is desired to close the drawer,
extension lever 28 of the latching member 14 is used once again as
a release handle. Thus, manually raising lever 28 will raise the
locking arm 26 to a height above stopping member 18 and allow the
drawer 11 to be pushed inwardly to a closed position.
As seen in FIGS. 1 and 3 the down position of latching member 14 is
achieved when surface 56 abuts against notch edge 58 of the
carriage bracket 52. An alternate latching mechanism is also shown
in FIG. 4. Latching member 74 is substantially identical to
latching member 14, however, latching member 74 has an upper arm 76
with a perpendicular portion 78 (see FIG. 4a) which is designed to
fit around and abut the column 80 of the cabinet side. Upward
extension 76 and its arm 78 have dimensions which when the locking
arm 26 is in its down position, arm 78 will abut against the column
80 preventing the front extension 28 as well as the latching arm 26
from pivoting further downward than what was permitted in the FIG.
3 embodiment by the interaction of edge 56 of latching member 14
with carriage bracket surface 58. When manual pressure is exerted
on lever extension 28 to raise latching arm 26, arm 78 swings
downwardly free of the column restraint to allow latching arm 26 to
be raised to clear either latch stop 16 or 18 as previously
described. Thus, extension 76 with its perpendicular arm 78
replaces the lower edge 56 function of latching member 14 and
enables latching member 74 to be placed in position irrespective of
the positioning of carriage bracket 12. The notched area 60 of
latching member 14 which enables that mechanism to be pivoted clear
of bracket 12 is no longer necessary. Latching member 74 has
utility with drawers having more depth than the drawer of FIG. 1
since the placement of latching member 14 is determined by the
carriage bracket positioning.
With reference to FIG. 6 an alternate latch stop embodiment is
shown. The latching member 81 may be substantially identical to
members 14 or 74 and the rear latch stop 18 may be the same and
operate in conjunction with the latching member 14 and 74 as
previously described. In place of front latching member 16 a
latching stop 82 substantially identical to rear latching stop 18
is used only with the camming surface 84 facing toward the rear of
the drawer 11 rather than toward the front as described for the
rear latching stop 18. Thus as the drawer 11 is closed, latch arm
26 will be cammed upwardly by camming surface 84 causing the
latching arm 26 to slide over the latch stop 82 and drop into a
locked position between the edge 86 of latch stop 82 and the front
of drawer 11.
To release the latch, the front lever 28 of latching member 81 is
manually raised upwardly to cause the latching arm 26 to rise above
latching stop 82 and when force is applied outwardly to the drawer,
it will slide open free and clear of the locking restraint of
latching arm 26. In this modification the need for camming surface
30 of the latching member and its mating camming surface 32 on the
drawer front are eliminated since the camming upward of the
latching arm 26 is accomplished by the interaction between latching
arm 26 and camming surface 84.
While various embodiments of the invention have been shown and
described it will be understood that various modifications may be
made. The appended claims are therefore intended to define the true
scope of the invention.
* * * * *