Claims
- 1. Two housings capable of being attached and unattached comprising:
- a first housing having a wall with a generally planar exterior surface and a locking opening at the exterior surface, the locking opening defining an engagement locking edge at its boundary;
- a second housing having a wall with a generally planar exterior surface and a plunger opening there through, the wall of the second housing further having a mounting region at the interior surface thereof associated with the plunger opening, the locking opening of the first housing and plunger opening of the second housing being aligned at attachment of the housing; and
- a locking mechanism mounted in the mounting region of the second housing, such mechanism including:
- a plunger mounted for movement up to an extended position and down to a retracted position in the plunger opening, the extended position being the unattached position and the retracted position being the attachment position;
- a biasing device urging the plunger toward the extended position;
- a catch spring including a lock catch section and a plunger release and hold down section, the lock catch section having an arm extending in the direction of the up and down movement of the plunger and an engagement lip on an end region of the arm extending laterally of the arm, the catch spring being mounted so that the arm extends through the plunger opening to place the engagement lip in spaced apart relationship with the external surface of the second housing, the plunger release and hold down section extending in a direction transverse to the movement of the plunger, the catch spring further including a biasing section urging the arm to place the engagement lip into interlocking engagement with the locking edge, the plunger further having a stepped member providing a hold down surface and a hold off surface, the hold off surface extending generally normal to the hold down surface, the plunger release and hold down section of the catch spring engaging the hold down surface of the stepped member of the plunger when the plunger is in the retracted position, the arm moving under the influence of the biasing section to place the engagement lip into interlocking engagement position with the locking edge of the locking opening of the first housing and allowing the plunger release and hold down section of the lock catch to move into engagement with the hold down surface of the plunger when the plunger is moved downwardly to the retracted position, the hold off surface of the stepped member to hold the arm so that the engagement lip is out of interlocking relationship with the engagement; and
- a release button having a ramp, such release button being mounted on the second housing for forward and rearward movement in a direction transverse to the up and down direction of the plunger and along a path bringing the ramp into contact with the biasing section of the catch spring when the release button is moved forward, such forward movement of the release button causing the ramp to move the catch spring to disengage the engagement lip from the engagement locking edge of the first housing and to disengage the plunger release and hold down section of the catch spring from the hold down surface of the plunger, the plunger being allowed to move under the influence of the biasing device to the extended position.
- 2. The two housings according to claim 1 wherein the plunger is elongated and U-shaped in transverse cross-section.
- 3. The two housings according to claim 2 wherein the biasing device urging the plunger toward the extended position is a spring.
- 4. The two housings according to claim 1 wherein the biasing section of the catch spring includes a portion of such spring bent back on itself.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/492,464, filed Jun. 19, 1995 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5434743 |
Hosoya et al. |
Jul 1995 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
593242 |
Apr 1994 |
EPX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
492464 |
Jun 1995 |
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