US 7,523,969 B2
Door entry latch
Andrew Thornton, Kingswinford (United Kingdom); and Jack O'Byrne, Fareham (United Kingdom)
Assigned to Southco, Inc., Concordville, Pa. (US)
Filed on Feb. 23, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/678,411.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/777192, filed on Feb. 26, 2006.
Prior Publication US 2007/0200356 A1, Aug. 30, 2007
Int. Cl. E05C 1/12 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 292—172  [292/169.14] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A latch for selectively latching and unlatching a first member which is connected to said latch to the surface of a keeper on the second member, said latch comprising:
a latching means for engaging the surface of the keeper on the second member, said latching means being moveable from a latched position in which said latching means engages the surface of the keeper to an unlatched position in which said latching means does not engage the surface of the keeper such that the first member can be unlatched from the second member;
a rotating means for moving the latching means between the latched position and the unlatched position, said rotating means being moveable between a first position in which said latching means is in the latched position to a second position in which said latching means is in the unlatched position;
a driving means for moving the rotating means between the first position and the second position, said driving means being rotatable about a first rotation axis that is parallel to a second rotation axis, said rotating means being rotatable about said second rotation axis;
a disengaging means for disengaging the driving means from the rotating means such that said rotating means can move said latching means between the latched and unlatched position when said driving means is not moving, said disengaging means being moveable from an engaged position in which movement of said driving means moves said rotating means such that said latching means can move between the latched and unlatched position, and a disengaged position in which movement of the driving means does not move said rotating means; and
a cam means for moving said disengaging means between the engaged and disengaged position and for moving said rotating means such that said rotating means moves the latching means between the first position in which said latching means is in the latched position to a second position in which said latching means is in the unlatched position.