US 7,501,573 B2
Subgrade vault with latching cover
William J. Balfour, Jr., Torrington, Conn. (US)
Assigned to Oldcastle Precast, Inc., Auburn, Wash. (US)
Filed on Jul. 16, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/879,084.
Prior Publication US 2009/0020304 A1, Jan. 22, 2009
Int. Cl. H02G 9/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 174—37  [174/38; 174/135; 174/50; 174/59; 174/63; 248/291.1; 361/695; 52/33; 109/53] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. In combination:
a vault having a peripheral wall and an upper access port surround by a ledge, the access port being internally bounded by a sidewall;
a cover to close the said access port, said cover having a lip to rest on said ledge and a skirt so proportioned and arranged that when it is properly placed it will nest in said access port against said sidewall;
a latch aperture in said sidewall forming a latch surface;
a latch assembly mounted to said cover including a body, a latch pin having a deflector surface and a retraction surface, both at a respective angle for retraction of the latch pin, said latch assembly being placed where said deflector surface will engage the ledge so that the latch pin will be retracted while the cover is pressed onto the vault, will be extended to engage in said aperture when the cover is in place, and will be retracted when a tool is pressed against the retraction surface to retract the latch pin when the cover is to be released.