Latches for gates and doors

Abstract

A latch has a displaceable latching element in a housing for engagement with a separate striker arm to be latched behind an engagement shoulder of the latching element. The housing mounts a cylinder lock to receive a key from the front: A rotor is mounted on the rear of cylinder lock and rotation of the key rotation the rotor to drive a locking element to engage and lock the latching element. The rotor may also be axial displaceable against spring biasing responsive to a rear unit pushing element whereby unlocking from a rear cylinder lock may rotate the rotor to unlock and pushing causes the latching element to be displaced against its biasing to release the striker arm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a front unit for a latch embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a complementary latching arm intended to be fitting to a gate;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a cartridge assembly for the lock unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a rear access unit for use with the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view through the front unit showing the tongue in a latching position but prior to engagement with a striker bar;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of the front unit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding with FIG. 5 showing engagement by a striker bar;

FIG. 8 is a part sectional rear view of the body showing inter-engagement between the tongue and the rotor prior to engagement of the striker bar, the rotor being held displaced from its final locking position; and

FIG. 9 corresponds with FIG. 7 but shows the components when in the locked position.

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of a front unit for a latch of a second embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation of the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a front elevation of the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a central cross sectional side elevation of the second embodiment with an optional rear locking unit in position and;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 13 positional on a gate post with a striker arm unit positioned on a gate.

Claims

1. A latch for holding closed a gate (or door) wherein the latch is adapted to co-operate with a striker arm, the latch comprising: (a) a housing in which(b) a displaceable latching element is mounted to be displaceable from a latching position towards an open position in which the striker arm is released for gate opening, and(c) the latching element having a latching shoulder to retain the striker arm when engaged behind the latching shoulder and having an engagement surface adapted to be engaged by the striker arm when the gate is moved towards a closed position to displace the latching element and for permitting relative movement of the striker arm to adopt a position behind the latching shoulder(d) a key-operated lock mounted in the housing and having a key operation for unlocking the latch.(e) a locking element for locking the latching element and adapted to be displaced upon actuation of the key-operated lock between a locking position, in which movement of the latching element is restrained from moving, and a displaced position in which the latching element is free to be moved(f) the element being in the form of a rotor rotatably mounted in the housing, and(g) the rotor having a portion remote from the lock capable of being engaged by a remote actuating unit which may be mounted on an opposite side of the gate post to the latch for remotely operating the latch via the rotor.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein the lock is a cylinder lock.

3. A latch as defined in claim 2, wherein the rotor is rotatably mounted about the cylinder lock axis.

4. A latch as defined in claim 3, wherein the rotor has rotary motor of about 20° between the locking position and the displaced position.

5. A latch as defined in claim 3, wherein a rear portion of the rotor remote from the cylinder lock is connectable to the remote actuating unit.

6. A latch as defined in claim 5, wherein the rotor also has limited axial motion along the axial direction of the cylinder lock and is biased to a position away from the front cylinder lock, the rotor having a projecting element which is adapted to displace the latching element from the latching position towards an open position when the rotor has been moved from a locking position into a position in which the latching element is free to be moved, and the rotor is displaced against the biasing

7. A latch as defined in claim 1, in combination with the rear actuator unit and having an axially displaceable element which is operable to displace the latching element remotely.

8. A latch as defined in claim 7, wherein the axially displaceable element is operable to engages with and displaces the rotor against spring biasing to cause remote actuation of the latching element to open the latch.

9. A latch as defined in claim 8, wherein there is a second lock in the rear unit which is adapted to be connected to transmit rotation to the rotor from the locking position to the displaced position and from the displaced position to the closed position, whereby either the housing lock or the rear lock can be used either to lock the latch or to open it.

10. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein the latching element is partially enshrouded in the casing with a protruding portion extending out of a face slot so as to facilitate manual lifting of the latching element when a lock has been unlocked.

11. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein the latch is configured as a gravity latch and the latching element is pivotal and is biased by gravity to the latching position.

12. A latch as defined in claim 7, wherein a rear actuating unit is provided with a push button or a similar structure mounted to be depressed axially and to drive a mechanism to turn the rotor so that further action then causes the latching element to be displaced from the rear of the gate.

13. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein the latch has a self-locking function, with the latching element enshrouded and displaceably by an internal mechanism to release the striker arm, the latching element being biased from its latching position towards an open position at which the striker arm is released so that the gate can be opened, return motion of the striker arm urging the latching element to move against its biasing to release the internal mechanism which operates through its own biasing to engage a retainer with the latching element to close the latch.

14. A latch as defined in claim 13, wherein the internal mechanism comprises the locking element having biasing to base it towards the locked position and the latching element has an interference portion operable, when the latching element has been displaced away from the latching portion to prevent the locking element returning to its locking position.

15. A latch as defined in claim 14, wherein the latching element is in the form of a laminar element substantially wholly encloses in the housing for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis within the housing, a spring being provided for biasing the laminar element towards the open position.

16. A latch as defined in claim 14, wherein the latch is adopted for co-operation with an optional rear actuator unit adapted to be mounted on the opposite side of a gate post to that of the latch, and the locking element is structured so that it can move relative to a base portion of the housing and the base portion of the housing is adapted to receive therethrough an actuating element associated with the rear actuator unit for operating the mechanism and moving the locking element from the locking position to a displaced position

17. A latch as defined in claim 16, wherein a single actuating element is provided for passage through a hole extending through the gate post for transmitting all displacement functions of the rotor.

18. Apparatus for holding closed a gate (or door) wherein the latch is adapted to co-operate with a striker arm, the latch comprising: (a) a housing in which(b) a displaceable latching element is mounted to be displaceable from a latching position towards an open position in which the striker arm is released for gate opening,(c) the latching element having a latching shoulder to retain the striker arm when engaged behind the latching shoulder and having an engagement surface adapted to be engaged by the striker arm when the gate is moved towards a closed position to displace the latching element and for permitting relative movement of the striker arm to adopt a position behind the latching shoulder,(d) a locking element for locking the latching element and adapted to be displaced upon actuation of a key-operated lock between a locking position, in which movement of the latching element is restrained from moving, and a displaced position in which the latching element is free to be moved,(e) the element being in the form of a rotor, and(f) the rotor being mounted on a base portion of the housing and capable of being displaced axially by a rear actuating unit having a connection through an aperture in the base portion of the housing for unlatching the latching element.