891,558. Latches. MENZIMER, L. W. Jan. 14, 1960 [July 2, 1959], No. 1361/60. Class 44. Vehicle door control mechanism comprises a keeper 16 adapted to be secured on a door post 12, the keeper 16 having front wall and edge wall portions 27 and 28 and a latch receiving opening which includes a notch 32 in the front wall portion, and a keeper pocket 31 at the rear of the front wall portion 27, holding means on the front wall portion, a support adapted to be mounted on a door 11, a latch 18 pivoted on the support and being movable into the opening to a door-latched position in the keeper, and a roller 19 pivoted on the support and located for guided engagement with the edge wall portion 28 to facilitate entry of the latch into the keeper, the roller being movable into the pocket to a doorlatched position behind and in overlapping relation to the front wall portion to prevent spreading apart of the door and door post, the door-latched position of the roller 19 being in spaced relation to the edge-wall portion 28 and the door-latched position of the latch 18 being in door-supporting engagement with the holding means. As shown, the latch 18 is secured to a pivot shaft 20 and is provided with a pair of teeth 47, 48 which co-operate with teeth 35, 36 formed in the front wall 28. The roller 19 is journalled on the shaft 20 and the arrangement is such that when the door is moved from the unlatched position, shown in phantom lines in Fig. 2, to the latched position, shown in full lines, the latch tooth 47 engages the keeper tooth 35 which swings the latch to engage the tooth 48 with a recess 37 between the teeth 35 and 36. Also, the roller 19 first engages a guide portion 40 of the keeper and thereafter a spring-loaded pivoted thrust member 42 within the keeper. A ratchet 60 mounted on the shaft 20 and spring-loaded for swinging the latch in the unlatching direction, co-operates with a detent lever 75 which is actuatable either by an outside push button 58 or by an inside lever 65 to disengage the lever 75 from ratchet teeth 72 or 73 corresponding respectively to a safety latched and fully latched position of the latch 18. In the unlatched position of the latch, the lever 75 engages a ratchet tooth 71. The inside lever is actuated by a link 67 which has a pin-andslot connection 68, 69 with the lever 65 whereby the link may be moved to the position shown in Fig. 1 to block movement of the lever 75 by the push button 58. In a modification, Figs. 8-14 (not shown), a locking lever is movable into locking and release positions with the arm 81 of the lever 75 by a key actuatable finger or by a garnish moulding button. The locking lever is also movable to its release position by a lever which corresponds to the lever 65 and which is connected through a link with an inside door handle. In another modification, Figs. 15-21 (not shown), the latch is provided with five equally spaced teeth, the keeper with two full teeth and the ratchet with ten equally spaced teeth, the arrangement being otherwise generally similar to that of the Figs. 1, 2 and 5 arrangement. In another arrangement Figs. 22-28 (not shown) which includes the modifications of Figs. 8-21, the ratchet teeth are arranged in pairs and the recesses between pairs of adjacent teeth comprise full depth and shallow depth recesses in alternating relation around the circumference of the ratchet, the shallow depth recesses providing- the safety-latched position for the detent lever 75. The detent lever differs from that of the previous arrangements in that it comprises two levers mounted on a common pivot, one of the levers being actuatable by the push button and an inside control arm, and the other lever co-operating with the ratchet and having a control arm which co-operates with the inside control arm of the first lever and includes a finger which is engageable in a notch of the locking lever of Figs. 8-14 to swing the latter to its unlocking position, when the door is closed in the event of the mechanism being actuated to a locked condition while the door is still open.