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A slam-capable rotary latch employs a single rotary jaw that is releasably retained in its latched position by a rotary pawl, with the latch having a pair of spaced housing side plates that sandwich the rotary jaw and the rotary pawl, with the side plates defining aligned first and second U-shaped n

A slam-capable rotary latch employs a single rotary jaw that is releasably retained in its latched position by a rotary pawl, with the latch having a pair of spaced housing side plates that sandwich the rotary jaw and the rotary pawl, with the side plates defining aligned first and second U-shaped notches that cooperate with a third U-shaped notch formed in the rotary jaw for concurrently receiving and latchingly retaining within the confines of the first, second and third U-shaped notches a suitably configured strike formation, with housing side plate portions that define a selected one of the first and second U-shaped notches being rigidified and strengthened by the close proximity presence of a flange 1) that is formed integrally with side plate portions that define the selected notch and 2) that extends transversely to bridge between the housing side plates at a location near the first and second U-shaped notches. The rotary latch is particularly well suited to be bracket-mounted together with an operating linkage to form a modular assembly that can be installed behind the front wall of the closure of an industrial cabinet by utilizing the same threaded fasteners that are used to hold a flush-mountable paddle handle and housing assembly in place in a mounting opening that is formed through the front wall of the closure. The latch may be “locked”by positioning a movable locking member to extend into a path of movement of the operating linkage to selectively permit and prevent movement of the linkage along the path of movement.

대표청구항 ▼

A flush-mountable, handle-operable rotary latch for mounting on a closure for releasably retaining the closure in a closed position by latchingly engaging a suitably configured strike formation that is located within relatively close proximity to the rotary latch when the closure is in its closed po

A flush-mountable, handle-operable rotary latch for mounting on a closure for releasably retaining the closure in a closed position by latchingly engaging a suitably configured strike formation that is located within relatively close proximity to the rotary latch when the closure is in its closed position, comprising: a) flush-mountable front assembly means for mounting as a first modular assembly on a closure adjacent a mounting opening that is formed through a front wall of the closure, including: i) first housing means including a pan-shaped housing for mounting on the closure adjacent the mounting opening, including a one-piece housing that defines: A) mounting flange means for defining a front wall of the pan-shaped housing, including a mounting flange that is configured 1) to extend perimetrically about the closure\s mounting opening, 2) to closely overlie portions of a front surface of the closure\s front wall that extend perimetrically about the mounting opening, and 3) to be clamped toward engagement with said portions of the closure\s front surface to substantially flush-mount the pan-shaped housing on the closure; B) side walls and a back wall that cooperate to define a forwardly-facing recess, 1) with the side walls being configured to extend forwardly and rearwardly through the closure\s mounting opening when the mounting flange closely overlies said portions of the closure\s front surface, 2) the side walls having front portions that join smoothly with and being perimetrically surrounded by the mounting flange, 3) the side walls having rear portions that join smoothly with portions of the back wall, 4) with said portions of the back wall being configured to extend substantially parallel to the front wall of the pan-shaped housing, 5) with said portions of the back wall having a front surface that faces forwardly into the recess and a rearwardly-facing back surface on the opposite side thereof, and 6) with a main back wall opening formed through said portions of the back wall; ii) handle means including an operating handle that is at least partially nested within the recess, and that is connected to the first housing means for movement relative to the pan-shaped housing between a non-operated position and an operated position; and, iii) projection means connected to the handle and extending rearwardly through the opening formed in the back wall for being moved by movement of the handle 1) such that, when the handle is in the non-operated position, the projection means is caused by its connection to the handle to be in a first position, such that, 2) when the handle is moved from the non-operated position to the operated position, the projection means is caused by such movement to move from the first position to a second position, and such that, 3) when the handle is moved from the operated position to the non-operated position, the projection means is caused by such movement to move from the second position to the first position; b) rear assembly means for mounting as a second modular assembly on the closure, for being connected to the front assembly means to clampingly draw the mounting flange toward engagement with said portions of the closure\s front surface to securely mount the rotary latch on the closure, including: i) mounting bracket means including a mounting bracket having a rear wall for overlying at least a portion of the back surface of the back wall of the pan-shaped housing, for bridging at least a portion of the closure\s mounting opening at a location behind the back surface of the closure\s front wall, for being fastener-connected to the front assembly means, and for defining back-surface engaging means for being clamped toward engagement with the back surface of the closure\s front wall when the mounting flange of the first housing means is being clamped toward engagement with said portions of the closure\s front surface; ii) said mounting bracket means having a projection receiving opening formed therethrough through which said projection means extends when said back-surface engaging means is fastener-connected to the front assembly means, with said projection receiving opening having a first end and an opposed second end, and with said projection receiving opening further being configured such that, 1) when said projection means is in said first position, a rearwardly projecting part of said projection means is located near said first end, and such that, 2) when said projection means is in said second position, the rearwardly projecting part of said projection means is located near said second end; iii) rotary means including second housing means rigidly connected to the mounting bracket means, with the second housing means including: A) an elongate, generally rectangular first housing side plate having opposed end regions near opposite ends of the length thereof, and defining a first U-shaped notch located near one of the opposed end regions of the first housing side plate; B) an elongate, generally rectangular second housing side plate having opposed end regions near opposite ends of the length thereof, and defining a second U-shaped notch located near one of the opposed end regions of the second housing side plate, with the second U-shaped notch being substantially aligned with the first U-shaped notch; C) spacer means for extending transversely between, for rigidly connecting with, and for maintaining a substantially parallel relationship between the first and second housing side plates, with the spacer means including a first spacer that extends along a first transverse axis that intersects each of the first and second housing side plates at a location that is relatively near to the other end regions thereof, and with the spacer means also including a second spacer that extends along a second transverse axis that intersects each of the first and second housing side plates at a location that is substantially mid-way between the opposite ends thereof; iv) with the rotary means additionally including a rotary jaw and a rotary pawl that extend substantially within a common plane located between the first and second housing side plates, with the rotary jaw being connected to the second spacer and being rotatable through a limited range of angular movement about the second transverse axis between latched and unlatched positions but being spring-biased toward its unlatched position, with the rotary pawl being connected to the first spacer and being movable relative to the housing about the first transverse axis between jaw-retaining and jaw-releasing positions to selectively release and retain the rotary jaw in its latched position but being spring-biased to move the rotary pawl toward its jaw-retaining position as the rotary jaw moves to its latched position, with an operating arm being provided for moving the rotary pawl to release the rotary jaw from its latched position, with the rotary jaw defining a third U-shaped notch that is configured to cooperate with the first and second U-shaped notches to concurrently receive and to latchingly retain within the confines of the first, second and third U-shaped notches a suitably configured strike formation when the rotary latch latchingly engages the strike formation, and with a selected one of the first and second housing side plates being strengthened and enhanced in rigidity by the close proximity presence of a transversely extending flange that is formed integrally with said selected housing side plate; and, v) with the operating arm of the rotary means being pivotally connected to the mounting bracket means, with a designated part of the operating arm extending into engagement with said rearwardly projecting part of the projection means for being moved by the rearwardly projecting part of the projection means to effect movement of the rotary pawl to release the rotary jaw from being retained in its latched position in response to movement of the operating handle away from its non-operated position toward its operated position to thereby release the striker from being concurrently received within and latchingly retained within the confines of the first, second and third U-shaped notches; and, c) fastener means for connecting and clamping toward each other the housing means and the mounting bracket means to thereby clamp the back-surface engaging means of the mounting bracket toward a position of engagement with the back surface of the closure\s front wall, and to clamp the mounting flange of the pan-shaped housing toward a position of engagement with said portions of the closure\s front surface.