Door latch

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a door and latch therefor, and also to a poultry crate including such door and latch.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Plastic poultry crates are now widely used, and a number of door and latch arrangements have been devised for such crates. Some of the most widely used door and latch arrangements are not automatically self-latching (i.e., upon closing the door); others are difficult to disassemble for repair purposes; and still others are made of a number of relatively complicated and costly parts.

An object of the present invention is to provide a door and latch of a novel construction having advantages in all the above respects. A further object is to provide a poultry crate utilizing such door and latch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a door and latch in which the door is formed with a rectangular-shaped opening and the latch includes a latch member disposed in the opening and movable by a spring to latching position. The latch member includes a latching element depending from the inner face of the door and formed with an intumed lip the outer surface of which constitutes a camming surface automatically latching the door closed when the door is permitted to fall. The latch member is further formed with a finger piece extending upwardly from the outer face of the door for manually moving the latch member to the unlatching position against the action of the spring.

According to a further feature, the spring comprises a 35 resilient rod passing through the latch member, the opposite ends of the rod being receivable in seats formed in the door on opposite sides of the rectangular opening.

According to still further features, the seats are formed with open slots to facilitate removal and dissembly of the latch. In 40 addition, the rectangular opening is circumscribed, on at least the two opposite sides thereof parallel to the movement of the latch member, by a rim of reduced thickness, the latch member being formed with an integral extension on each side thereof slidable on one face of the rim for guiding the movement of the latch member. Separate guide elements are further provided, these being slidable on the opposite face of the rim and in alignment of each of the integral extensions.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a plastic poultry crate constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a part of the door and latch used in the poultry crate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view, looking from the right-hand end, of the door and latch of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along lines IV—IV of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The poultry crate illustrated in FIG. 1 is made of molded plastic material and includes a top wall 2, a bottom wall 4 and four sidewalls 6. This type of crate is made in two halves which halves are secured together by plastic pins 8. A door and latch construction in accordance with the present invention is mounted in the top wall 2 of the crate and serves as the closable lid therefor. The door is indicated at 10 and the latch at 12. The door 10 is pivotably mounted along one edge 10' of the top wall 2 of the crate, the latch 12 being positioned close to the opposite or closing edge 10 of the door.

AU the walls of the crate are preferably made of an open construction, such as shown by sidewalls 6 and door 10 (but now shown in top wall 2, FIG. 1).

Door 10 is formed with a rectangular opening 14 adjacent to its closing edge 10. Latch 12 is disposed in this opening and is movable therein toward and away from door edge 10. A spring 16, in the form of a resilient rod passing through the latch member, biases the latch member to the latching position, i.e., toward door edge 10.

The ends of resilient rod 16 are receivable in seats 18 formed in the door adjacent to edge 10, on opposite sides of rectangular openings 14. Seats 18 are formed with open slots 18', the openings facing door edge 10. This facilitates insertion and removal of resilient rod 16, which enables the latch to be assembled and disassembled in a quick and facile member as will be described more fully below.

Openings 14 in door 10 is circumscribed on its four sides by a rim 20 of reduced thickness with respect to the bordering areas of the door. While all four sides of the rim are so reduced, it is actually only necessary to provide the reduced thickness to the two opposite sides of the rim parallel to the movement of the latch member, i.e., those indicated at 20' 20 in FIG. 2.

Latch 12 is formed of a single integral piece of plastic and includes a transverse opening 22 through which spring rod 16 passes; a latching element 24 depending from the inner or lower face of the door; and a finger piece 26 extending upwardly from the opposite or outer face of the door for manually moving the latch member to its unlatching position.

Latching element 24 is formed with a horizontal shoulder 24'and a depending intumed lip 24. The outer surface of lip 24 serves as a camming surface engageable with a fixed element in the path thereof when the door is closed. In this case, the fixed element is the rim 26 formed in the top wall 2 of the crate engageable by the latch when the door is closed.

It will be seen that when the door 10 is dropped against rim 26 of the top wall 2, camming surface 24 of latching element 24 will first engage rim 26, moving latch 12 away from edge 10 of the door (i.e., leftwardly in FIG. 4) until the top horizontal surface 24' of the latch clears rim 26, at which time resilient rod 16 will return the latch (rightwardly in FIG. 4), so that horizontal surface 24' of the latch underlies rim 26, whereby the door is latched closed. Thus, merely dropping the door 10 on the top wall 2 automatically latches the door closed.

Latch 12 is formed on its upper surface with integral lateral extensions 12' slidable on the upper face of the borders 20', 20 for guiding the movement of the latch. At the underside of the latch the movement is guided by a pair of separate gu ide elements 21 slidable on the opposite face of the rim and in alignment with extensions 12'. Resilient rod 16 also passes through openings in these guide elements These elements are made separate from, rather than integral with, latch member 12 in order to facilitate the assembly and disassembly of the latch within opening 14 of the door.

The latch is easily opened by placing a finger or thumb against finger piece 26 and moving it away from door edge 10 against the action of resilient rod 16. This opening movement, as well as the later closing movement, of the latch is guided by the sliding of extensions 12' and guide elements 21 on the opposite faces of rim sides 20', 20 bordering the rectangular opening 14 in the door.

In order to close the door, it is only necessary to permit it to drop whereby it will automatically latch closed by its own weight, in the manner described above.

To assemble the latch, latching member 12 is inserted from above into the rectangular opening 14 in the position illustrated, with the integral extensions 12' against the upper face of rim sides 20', 20, and the separate guide elements 21 on the lower face of the rim sides. Resilient rod 16 is then passed through opening 22 in latch member 12, and in the corresponding openings in the separate guide elements 21, and the ends of the rod are inserted into seats 18 on opposite sides

3,632,007 ₄ of the rectangular opening 14. As indicated above, the slotting openings 18' in the seats permit the rod 16 to be snapped into place in a very facile manner.

To disassemble the latch, e.g., for repair purposes, it is merely necessary to remove resilient rod 16 from its seats, 5 whereupon the latch member 12 and the guide elements 21 may be easily removed.

It is thus seen that the latch described utilizes only a very few, simple and inexpensive parts, may be easily assembled and disassembled, and automatically is self-latching on 10 dropping the door.

Many variations, modifications and other applications of the illustrated embodiment will be apparent.