GB2230049A - Securing apparatus e.g. for doors and windows - Google Patents

Abstract

A mortice unit 10 comprises a plastics moulded body 20 with a face plate portion 21, and a pair of support members 15 and 16 inserted into a rear part of the body to define therewith an open ended guideway which extends longitudinally of the body to the rear of the plate portion 21; a slider 34 is slidably located in the guideway and a securing member comprises an arm 32 which extends into an opening in the face plate portion 21 from a hub 31 located in the rear of the body, and a linkage arrangement (35,37), 38,39 connects the arm with slider 34. As shown, arm 32 is swung between a retracted position (Figure 1) and a locking position (Figure 3) by arcuate movement of a handle having a square section shaft 56. 11 is a directly actuated bolt member. The linkage comprises a pin 38 slidably engaging a slot 39 in arm 32 but other arrangements are envisaged. An installation may include both master and slave forms of the apparatus (see Figure 6). with operating members 12 interconnecting with units 10. Details of the fastening of the body and the assembly of the unit are given. <IMAGE>

Description

SECURING APPARATUS FOR DOORS OR WINDOWS This invention concerns securing apparatus, e.g. for doors, windows and like openable closures.

A mortice latch is known for windows, which latch comprises a bilaterally symmetrical two-part cast metal body in which the parts each provide one side of a hollow housing. The body is split in a plane perpendicular to a front plate which is integral with one of the two parts.

Inside the body there is a latch member which comprises an arm extending from a hub having trunnion extensions coaxial and integral with the hub. The trunnion extensions are journalled in apertures in the sides of the body. The hub and extensions have, coaxial therewith, a square section bore, to receive a shaft of a handle mounted at one side of an openable window frame, which frame is recessed to provide a mortice to accept the latch body. The latch arm can be swung, by arcuate movement of the handle, from a position in which it is substantially retracted into the face plate to a position in which it projects forwardly beyond the face plate so as to engage in a keep-plate or socket of a fixed structural member, e.g. a keep-plate mounted in a fixed frame surrounding the window frame.One edge portion of the body is apertured to admit an elongate locking member into the body, and one end of this locking member is pivotally attached to and carried by a central portion of the arm so that the locking member can be moved transversely of the bodyupon movement of the locking arm.

The elongate locking member extends within a bore in one run of the window frame to a run of the frame which is transverse to said one run providing the mortice socket, so that movement of the latch arm can cause the locking member to project from and be retracted into the transverse run, to give a second locking engagement, e.g.

with the fixed frame, in the manner of a retractable bolt.

However, whilst this mortice latch is convenient for use in wooden window frames, it is relatively expensive to produce, and cannot be readily adopted for use in doors, windows and like closures having frames made from plastics extrusions.

According to the present invention there is provided securing apparatus comprising a plastics moulded body integrally incorporating a front plate, which body is rearwardly open to the rear of the front plate, at least one support member inserted into a rear part of the body to define therewith an open ended guideway or guide channel which extends longitudinally of the body to the rear of the face plate, a slide member slidably located in the guideway so as to be movable transversely of the body, a latch member incorporating an arm which extends into an opening in the face plate from a hub located in the rear of the body, and a linkage arrangement connecting the arm with slide member.

The linkage arrangement is preferably of sliding pivot or sliding cam form to connect, and permit relative sliding movement between, intermediate parts of the arm and the slide member.

The support member or members are preferably secured in the body e.g. by a fastener or fasteners, and preferably provide sockets for further fasteners for securing the body, in use, in a frame. The face plate may also provide sockets for further fasteners to secure the body to the frame.

It will be readily appreciated that the body and support member are easy to mould and to assemble so as to provide guidance for the latch member and to provide accurate guidance for the slide member, so that the two are constrained to move in unison in predetermined paths upon one or the other being moved by external application of force.

The securing apparatus may be of master or slave form. In the latter case the slide member is connected by a connection at one end to an operating member which shifts the slide member longitudinally in the guideway.

However, for use as a master unit, the hub is preferably provided with a square section socket therein to receive a shaft of an external handle for arcuate movement of the latch member.

Both ends of the slide member may be provided with sockets to receive operating members or to receive one or more elongate bolt members.

The support members preferably also provide limits for movement of or bearing support for the hub, and are preferably plastics mouldings.

The free end of the arm is preferably provided with a flange or head to engage behind an abutment provided by the socket in the fixed frame or a keep-plate secured to the fixed frame, so as to limit separation of the abutment and the face plate, and thus preent transverse withdrawal of the arm from the fixed frame socket or keep plate.

The socket or sockets in the slide member are preferably screw-threaded internally, and the end of the operating member or bolt member is preferably male threaded so that the depth of interengagement therebetween can be controlled and precisely determined.

The socket preferably also provides a threaded cross bore for a fastener to engage the operating member or bolt The installation preferably includes both master and slave forms of the apparatus, or the master form of apparatus with direct bolt and/or motion changing bolt forms of secondary locking devices.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 show vertical cross-sections of parts of an embodiment of apparatus in released, partial locking and fully locking conditions; FIGURE 4 shows a section through the apparatus on the line IV-IV in FIGURE 2; FIGURE 5 is a part sectional rear view of the apparatus, in which the sectional portion is taken partially along the line V-V in FIGURE 2; and FIGURE 6 is a diagram showing part of a window incorporating such security apparatus.

The security apparatus generally comprises at least one mortice latch unit 10 and optionally a directly actuated bolt member 11, an operating member 12, a motion reversing bolt device 13, and/or a motion direction changing device 14.

The mortice latch unit primarily comprises a moulded plastics body 20, a mechanical assembly 30 and support members 15 and 16.

The body 20 includes a face plate portion 21, and to the thereof, two parallel side panels 22 perpendicular to the portion 21. The portion 21 has, between end parts 23, a longitudinally extending slot 24 to the rear of which the portion 21 is stepped to provide longitudinally extending front bearing surfaces 25, and transverse thereto, stiffening flanges 26 which bridge the front end parts of the panels 22.

Each panel 22 provides two oblong stepped support receiving apertures and a circular trunnion receiving aperture therebetween in a rear portion of the panel.

The support members 15 and 16 provide bores 18 to receive screw fasteners and further bores which in the members 15 are shaped to facilitate insertion of malethreaded fasteners 17, and in the members 16 are stepped and shaped to retain female threaded fasteners 18, as shown in FIGURE 4. The members 15 and 16 are secured in pairs by fasteners 17,18 so that flanges thereof engage in the respective stepped apertures in the panels to link, support and extend between the panels. The members 15 and 16 occupy the rear of the body and provide rear bearing surfaces 27. The confronting surfaces of the front portions of the panels 22 together define an open ended guideway behind the portion 21.

The assembly 30 comprises a latch member, a slider and a linkage. The latch member has a rear hub 31 and an arm 32 projecting forwardly from the hub 31 across the guideway and through the slot 24 to a free front end. The hub 31 is rotatable about a central axis perpendicular to said panels 22; has oppositely directed co-axial trunnion extensions 33 which extend into and are generally located by said apertures in the panels to locate the hub between the pairs of supports 15 and 16; and has a square section bore 28 to receive a shaft.

The slider comprises a cast metal body 34 of elongate form one side of which forms part of the linkage and provides a stepped recess in which an intermediate portion of the arm is retained by a locating plate 35 (not shown in FIGURES 1 to 3) secured in the recess by rivetted over pins 36 integral with the body. Shoulders 37 bounding parts of the recess may serve as cams of the linkage to move the slider and arm in unison, but in this embodiment this function is provided by a pivot arrangement comprising a pin 38 (integral with the body 34) carrying a hollow bearing roller 39 which slidably engages in a slot 29 in the intermediate portion of the arm. The pin 38 is further supported (at its free end) by being a close fit in a socket in the locating plate 35.The recess 37, shoulders, plate 35, pin 38 and roller 39constitute the linkage and provide a sliding connection between the slider and latch member to constrain the slider to move, longitudinally in said guideway, in unison with arcuate movement of the arm about said central axis between limits determined by stops which are provided, by corner surfaces of the supports 15,16 or as in this embodiment, by the shoulders 37 themselves.

The body 34 includes an integral extension 40 at one end, which provides an internally threaded socket to receive a male threaded end 41 of the bolt member 11 (or operating member 12), and a pair of small internally threaded bores 42 to receive locking fasteners 43 to clamp said end 41 in the socket. The face portion is apertured at 44 to provide access to the fasteners 43, and at 45 to receive fasteners for securing the unit to a window frame 50.

The other end of the body may be provided with a similar, oppositely directed extension 40A, as indicated in broken lines in FIGURE 1.

During assembly, the assembly 30 is assembled prior to being inserted into the body 20, and during insertion the panels 22 are sprung apart to admit the trunnion extensions 33 into the apertures; thereafter the supports 15,16 are inserted and secured in situ in the body by the fasteners 17,18.

In use, the unit is inserted into a mortice opening in a hollow plastics extrusion forming one run 51 of the window frame 50, so that the face plate 21 abuts a web of a forwardly open recess in peripheral face of the run, and is secured thereto by short fasteners driven into said web.

Suitable openings are provided in a side face 52 of the run to permit a back plate 54 of a handle assembly 53 to be secured to the side face by fasteners driven through back plate and the side face into the sockets 19 provided in the supports 15,16. The back plate is preferably of a form which provides a bearing 55 for a handle and a socket to receive a square section shaft 56, and may be decorative or ornamental or provided with an ornamental or decorative cover 57. The handle may be of lockable form. To prevent binding of the handle and latch mechanisms, the shaft has some clearance in the bore 28, and the trunnion extensions 33 are a loose fit in the trunnion receiving apertures in the panels 22.

Upon arcuate movement of the handle, shaft and hub, the arm is swung between the retracted position shown in FIGURE 1 and the locking position shown in FIGURE 3 via an extended position shown in FIGURE 2, and the linkage causes the slider to be moved longitudinally in the guideway in unison with the movement of the arm.

In the extended and locking positions, the arm is received in a slot 57 in a keep plate 58 (secured to a fixed frame so as to confront the face plate portion when the window is closed) so as to retain the window in the closed position. To prevent or hinder the frames being prised apart (e.g. by insertion of a crowbar therebetween) the free end of the arm preferably has an end flange or end flanges 46, and the slot in the keep plate is stepped to provide a wide portion 58 and a narrow portion so that the end flange 46 can enter the wide portion and be moved to engage behind the parts 59 of the keep plate defining the narrow portion through which the arm 32 extends in the locking position.

To provide the window with further locking points, a further unit or units 10, with or without handle assemblies, may be secured in the run of the frame or in one or both runs 62 transverse thereto, and interconnected with the aforementioned unit either by one elongate operating member 12 connected directly between to the extensions 40 and 40A, or connected by two such members 12 linked by the device 14 in the form of, e.g. a bell-crank mechanism 60, at the corner of the frame.

Also, in addition to the bolt member 11, the device 13 (in the form of, for example, a two arm pivotally mounted lever having a bolt extension 61 carried by one arm and the other arm connected pivotally to an operating member 12) may be employed at a corner of the frame to provide a further locking point.

The invention is not confined to details of the foregoing example, and many variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, the number of support members may be reduced, e.g. to a single support member having a forwardly open socket to receive the hub between end portions providing the bores required to receive the fasteners which clamp or secure together the back plate, body and window frame, which support member may be secured in the rear of the body by fasteners, bonding, adhesive or welding.

Furthermore, the apparatus preferably includes locking means which acts directly upon the slider in the locking condition shown in FIGURE 3 to prevent the extension 40 being moved towards the body 20 (or the extension 40 being moved away from the body) to the condition shown in FIGURE 1. Such locking means may comprise an abutment which is movable, by a manually actuable part or member at one side of the window frame, between a free position permitting movement of the slider and a blocking position in engagement with, or in the path of movement of, the slider, e.g. in a position between the extension 40 and the upper end of the body 20.In such apparatus, the arm 32 of the unit fitted with such locking means serves as a frangible link in the installation, which link can yield if the handle or the arm itself is subjected to destructive force whilst the locking means is operative, the latter remaining effective to hold the other units and members 11 and 61 in the locking condition. In the event of the mechanism being forcibly damaged so that the handle becomes ineffective, the apparatus can be moved to the released condition by drilling an access aperture in the web 52 to admit an operating shaft into the bore 28 of the or one of the slave units 10.

The invention further provides apparatus having any novel feature or part, or novel combination of parts and/or features disclosed herein and/or in the drawings.

For example, the invention includes apparatus comprising a slider movable linearly by arcuate movement of a locking arm, locking means to restrict movement of the slider, and a supplementary locking device actuable by movement of the slider, wherein the locking means is operable to block movement of the slider by the arm.

Also, the invention includes a unit generally of the kind described in which the linkage provides both a sliding pivot interconnection between the slider and the arm, and a cam form of interconnection which, in the event of breakage or malfunction of the pivot interconnection, is operative to permit movement of the slider by the arm and vice versa.

Claims (23)

1. Securing apparatus comprising a plastics moulded body integrally incorporating a front plate, which body is rearwardly open to the rear of the front plate, at least one support member inserted into a rear part of the body to define therewith an open ended guideway or guide channel which extends longitudinally of the body to the rear of the face plate, a slide member slidably located in the guideway so as to be movable transversely of the body, a latch member incorporating an arm which extends into an opening in the face plate from a hub located in the rear of the body, and a linkage arrangement connecting the arm with slide member.

2. Apparatus as claimed in. Claim 1 wherein the linkage arrangement is of sliding pivot or sliding cam form to connect, and permit relative sliding movement between, intermediate parts of the arm and the slide member.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the support member or members are secured in the body.

4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the support member or members are secured in the body by a fastener or fasteners, and provide sockets for further fasteners for securing the body, in use, in a frame.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the face plate provides sockets for further fasteners to secure the body to the frame.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the slide member is connected by a connection at one end to an operating member which shifts the slide member longitudinally in the guideway.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein the hub is provided with a square section socket therein to receive a shaft of an external handle for arcuate movement of the latch member.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the support members also provide limits for movement of or bearing support for the hub.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the free end of the arm is provided with a flange or haad to engage behind an abutment provided by the socket in the fixed frame or a keep-plate secured to the fixed frame, so as to limit separation of the abutment and the face plate, and thus prevent transverse withdrawal of the arm from the fixed frame socket or keep-plate.

10. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein both ends of the slide member are provided with sockets to receive operating members or to receive one or more elongate bolt members.

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 wherein the socket or sockets in the slide member is or are screw-threaded internally, and the end of the operating member or bolt member is male threaded so that the depth of interengagement therebetween can be controlled and precisely determined.

12. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 or 11 wherein the socket also provides a threaded cross bore for a fastener to engage the operating member or bolt member and prevent relative rotation of the latter.

13. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the face plate provides access apertures for insertion of an implement to operate the fastener.

14. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the body provides openings to receive extensions of the hub which openings have a diameter greater than that of the extensions.

15. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the linkage arrangement provides both a sliding pivot interconnection between the slider and the arm, and a cam form of interconnection which, in the event of breakage or malfunction of the pivot interconnection, is operative to permit movement of the slider by the arm and vice versa.

16. Security apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGURES 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.

17. A method of making the securing apparatus comprising the steps of separately moulding a body and a support member or members; making a slide member and a latch member; assembling the latch and slide members together with a linkage arrangement to form an assembly; inserting the assembly into the body via a rearwardly open part of the body; and inserting and securing the support member or members into the rear of the body to retain the assembly therein.

18. A method of making security apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. Security apparatus made by the method claimed in Claim 17 or 18.

20. A door or window installation incorporating security apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 16 or 19.

21. An installation as claimed in Claim 20 incorporating both master and slave forms of the security apparatus linked so that actuation of the master actuates the slave.

22. An installation as claimed in Claim 20 or 21 comprising secondary locking devices actuated by the security apparatus.

23. A door or window installation substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGURE 6 of the accompanying drawings.