US1923679A - Doorlatch - Google Patents

Description

R MARPLE El AL Aug. 22, 1933.

DOORLATCH Filed July 21, 1932 POZZO HZ? ATTORN EYS.

Patented Aug. 22, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlci:

DOORLATCH Rollo Marple and Albert F. Baker, Jackson,

Mich., assignors to Hancock Manufacturing Company, a Corporation of Michigan Application July 21, 1932. Serial No. 623,718

16 Claims.

of novel construction between the roll back hub and the handle spindle of a door latch, so arranged that the hub resiliently grips the spindle door handle to therebyeliminate possible rattling between the parts.

Another object is the provision of a novel hub structure for a roll back for a door latch so constructed as to resiliently grip the shank of a cooperating door handle at all times and yet permitting a slight amount of universal movement between them.

Another object is the provision of means for resiliently contracting the hub of a roll back and at the same time forming an abutment for resilient means constantly urging the cooperating door handle toward a predetermined desired position.

Another object is the provision of resilient means interconnecting the roll back of a door latch with another part of the latch mechanism whereby to constantly urge the cooperating door handle toward a predetermined desired position.

Another object is the provision of a radially resilient roll back hub and cooperating handle spindle so constructed as to place the hub under tension.

Another object is the provision of a door latch having certain novel features of construction.

The above being among the objects of the present invention, the same consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and then claimed, having the above and other objects in view.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates suitable embodiments of the present invention and in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several different views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a door latch embodying one form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 but illustrating theposition of certain parts ofthe mechanism when the latchbolt is in retracted position.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the contracting ring and spring abutment member employed in the construction shown in the previous figures.

Fig.y 5 is a slightly enlarged end view of the hub member for the roll back shown in Figs. l to 3 in- 65 elusive.

Fig. l6 is a sectional View taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevational view of y the roll back member employed in the construction shown in Figs. l to 3 inclusive.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing a modified form of construction.

Recent improvements in the power plants of automobiles which have materially lessened the operating noise thereof have caused other noises arising in other parts of the automobile to become increasingly apparent. Among other parts employed in connection with automobiles and which during operation of the automobile may be a source of noise or rattling, are the door latches. Such latches conventionally include a plurality of parts at least some of which. because of the necessity of proper clearance for their production and/or operation, or from wear, if notv other- Wise restrained, are subject to shock or vibration during operation of the motor car, resulting in rattles which up until recently have not become noticeable due to the fact that they were drowned out by the engine noise. However, as above pointed out with the advent of quieter running engines, these noises have now become so noticeable as to be often obnoxious and their elimination in an eiiicient and economical manner olers many dimculties of solution. At least one phase of the present invention deals with an efficient and economical manner of eliminating certain noises that are liable to develop in automobile door latches.

We have found that one of the most prevalent sources of rattles developing in door latches is in the connection between the outside door handle and the roll back actuated thereby and employed for retracting the latch bolt, and particularly between the shank of the handle and the huh of the roll back. In the past, because of necessary manufacturing tolerances both in the construction of the latch itself and also in the door to which the latch is secured, it has been found that invariably the shank of the handle was relatively loosely received in the hub oi' the roll -back, and as a result of this clearance relative of these parts or of the door to which the latch is secured.

The construction provided for eliminating the possibility of rattling between the shank of the door handle and the roll back admirably lends itself to the provision of further means for constantly urging the door handle into a predetermined position except lwhen actually being operated, thus not only tending to eliminate rattling of the handle in its outer bearing in the door but also insuring the handle being normally maintained in its proper position relative to the door which aids rather than detracts from the general appearance of the automobile. Although this latter feature of the present invention lends itself for cooperation with the parts provided for effecting the result first described, and is so shown in the drawing and hereinafter described, it will also be apparent that it may be employed separately therefrom, but in view of the fact that it will be apparent to anyone skilled in the art what small structural changes are necessary for the separate utilization of the two features of the invention, it is not deemed necessary herein vto shovr.r or specifically describe such changes "as might be necessary to eiect their separate uses.

As illustrative of one type of door latch to which the present invention may be applied, I show in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, a door latch comprising a supporting plate 10, one edge of which is angularly bent as at 11 for cooperation with the free edge of the door in accordance with conventional practice. .The edge 11 is provided with an opening 12 therein'through which the head of the latch bolt 13 projects and is slidably guided therein. The opposite end of the latch bolt 13 is provided with an elongated slot 14 in which is slidably received a pin 15 secured between the plate 10 and a strap-like bracket member 16 suitably secured to the plate and bent into spaced relation with respect thereto so as to receive the latch bolt 13 and a swinging or pivoted link 17 therebetween. The latch bolt 13 is therefore guided for the desired sliding movement by the wall of the opening 12 and on the pin 15.

The latch bolt 13, at its rear end, is provided with an upwardly extending offset projecting part 18 providing an abutment 19 for cooperation with a rounded cam-like projection 20 on the pivoted link 17. A link 21 pivotally connected to the pivoted link 17 as at 22 may extend toward the center of the door where it may be connected to an inside handle (not shown) of any conventional construction in accordance with conventional practice. A tongue 23 struck outwardly from the plate 10 in spaced relation to the general plane thereof overlaps the near ae of the pivoted link 17 thereby confining the pivoted link 17 between itself and .the plate 10 so as to retain it in its proper relative position durin g operation. It also cooperates with a button 24 'pressed in the link 17 to effect a spring-like catch for holding the link 17 in locked position. In the operation of this part of the mechanism, when the handle (not shown) adjacent the center of the door is operated to pull the link 21 to the left, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, the pivoted link 17 is caused to rotate in a counter clockwise direction and the projection 20, .bearing against the abutment 19, causes the bolt 13 to be retracted.

Adjacent its lower edge and adjacent the center thereof the material from which the bolt 13 is formed isbent to provide a vertically extending transverse lug or abutment 30 against the rear or left hand face of which the end of a torsion spring 31 of conventional construction bears to constantly urge the bolt 13 to projected position.

The left hand end of a sliding link 32 bears against the forward face of the abutment 30 and this link is provided with an upwardly extending projecting portion 33 which lies between the bolt 13 and the plate 10 and thus serves to retain the link 32 in its proper lateral position with respect to the plate l0. The projection 33 also serves as an abutment for cooperation with the end portion 32a of the pivoted link 17 when the latter is swung downwardly back of it to lock the link 32 against rearward movement, and consequently lock the outside door handle against operation. A second projecting portion 33a extends over the top of the lug 30 and thus serves to properly support the rear end of the link 32. At its forward end, the link 32 is provided with a pin 34 fixed thereto and which is slidably received in an angularly extending slot 35 in the plate 10 and which therefore guides the right hand end of the sliding link 32 in its sliding movement.

A roll back assembly indicated generally as at in Figs. l and 2 is rotatably received between the plate l0 and a strap bracket 41 secured to the plate 10 at its upper and lower edges and positioned in generally spaced l*relation with respect thereto over the remainder of its length. The

roll back 40 is provided with a cam finger 44 hav-y ing a rounded point which is received in a depression 46 in the right hand end of the sliding link 32, so that when the roll back 40 is rotated in a counter clockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, the cam finger 44 presses the sliding link to the left, and the sliding link 32 in turn presses the bolt 13 to the left and causes a retraction of the same. During this movement the forward end of the sliding link 32 is guided by the engagement of the pin 34 in the slot 35 and the rounded tip 45 of the cam finger 44 rolls in the depression 46 of the sliding link 32 so that a minimum amount of wear takes place between these parts.

In conventional constructions the roll back 40 :has conventionally been made integral, that is,

its hub and cam nger portion 44 has been formed in one piece. The hub portion of the same has been made solid and accordingly the squared opening in the same provided for reception of the shank of an outside door handle, such as illustrated in- Fig. 3 at 50, has necessarily been made slightly larger in dimensions than the end of the shank 50 in order to take care of manufacturing tolerances both in the size of the opening and the end of the shank. The result has been thatin the majority of these constructions a slight looseness is unavoidable between the end of the shank and the squared opening, and this looseness permits a rattling of the end of the shank in the opening under certain conditions. A constructicn for eliminating possibility of such rattling between these parts constitutes one of the features of the present invention.

The roll back 40 in accordance with the present invention, is formed from three different parts, illustrated singly in Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, and in assembled relationship in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The hub 52 of the roll back and which is illustrated in detail in Figs. 5 and 6, constitutes one of these parts and, as illustrated in the figures, it is of generally cylindrical conformation on its exterior and is interiorly provided with a squared opening 54 in accordance with conventional practice for reception of the end of the outside door handle shank 50. The opening 54 is formed with as great, if not grec ter, clearance provision for the end of the shank 50 as in conventional constructions, but in the present case the hub 52 is slotted diametrically and axially'as at 56 and 58 from opposite ends to approximately the midpoint thereof, the slots 56 being angularly offset from the slots 58 so that no severance of the hub 52 occurs. In the present case, :the slots 56 cut through the corners of the squared opening 54 while the slots 58 c ut midway through the side walls of the opening 54. By slotting the hub 52 in this manner vit will be apparent that the hub, instead of being a solid and rigid member, is changed into a more-or-less resilient structure, the ends of which may be sprung in a radial direction. The outer surface of the hub 52 is provided on the quarters with axially extending peripheral grooves 60 the purpose of which will hereafter be apparent.

The roll back cam element 44, in accordance with the present invention, is formed as an' integral part of a continuous ring 62 having an opening 64 therein for the reception of the hub member 52 therein, and which opening is interiorly provided with inwardly struck tongues or keys 66 corresponding in size and spacing 'with the grooves 60. The hub member 52 is forced into the ring 62 with the keys 66 received within the slots 60 and, accordingly, the cam finger element is non-rotatably fixed to the hub member 52.

The third element of our roll back assembly constitutes the element shown in detail in Fig. 4 and which comprises a split ring 68 of resilient characteristics having an opening 'l0 therein of a size slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the hub member 52 when in unsprungcondition. The ring 68 isv also provided with an inwardly extending projection or key '72 adapted to be received in one of the grooves 60 for the purpose of non-rotatably anchoring it to the hub member 52. The ring 68 is also provided with an outwardly extending hook portion '74 the purpose of which will hereinafter be more fully disclosed.

The split ring member 68 is of such strength that when it is forced upon one end of the hub member 52, such end of the hub member 52 is caused to contract radially to such an extent that regardless of relatively wide manufacturing tolerances in the size of the squared end on the handle of the shank 50, such squared end will always be closely and resiliently gripped by the hub member 52 when inserted therein. Accordingly, due to this resilient gripping of the hub member on the handle shank all loosenessbetween the two parts is eliminated and any possibility of rattling between these parts is obviated. Furthermore, because of the fact that but one end of the hub member 52 is contracted into engage- .,ment with the handle'shank 50, the play between the opposite ends of the hub and such shank permits a certain amount of universal movement between the shank and the hub, as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and this is particularly desirable in view of the fact that in the manufacture of door panels it is not always possible to absolutely align all of the openings and locating surfaces thereof to such an extent as to insure absolute alignment between the axis of the hub 52 when in assembled position and the opening (not shown) in the door through which the shank 50 projects. The provision of a slight amount of universal movement of the shank 50 to take care vof any variations in the above respect is a further feature of the present invention.

Another feature of the present invention is the provision of means for constantly urging at all times the outside door handle into a predetermined desirable position. As will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 when the bolt 13 is in projected position, the spring 31 which urges it to such position acts through the link 32 to force the fiat surface '76 on the cam finger 44 of the roll back 40 against the edge 11 of the plate 10 and thereby place both the link 32 and roll back 40 under a resilient pressure which tends to keep these parts from rattling against the plate 10, and also hold the roll back 4() in a predetermined rotatable position, which the outside door handles of course conform with. However, when the latch bolt 13 is retracted by the insidehandle by the means previously described it will be apparent that this resilient pressure on the link'32 and roll back 40 will be relieved, and should the weight of the outside door handle be oi center there will be a tendency for it to rotate out of its desired position.

In order to overcome such tendency of the outside door handle to rotate out of its desired position in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, we strike one or more tongues '78 laterally outwardly from the upper edge of the slidingl link 32 and then spring a curved spring member 80 between the lug '78 and the hook end 74 on the split ring 68. The result of this construction is that the spring 80 constantly urges the roll back 40 in a counter clockwise direction of rotation and maintains it in such position except during those times that the outside door handle is-manually operated to retract the bolt 13. At the same time the spring 80 causes the pin 34 in the sliding link 32 to be resiliently pressed against the edge of the slot 35 in which it is received and tension the hub of the roll back in its bearing so as to eliminate any possibility of rattling occurring by reason of movement of these parts.

In Fig. 8 we have shown a modified form of the present invention. In this construction a plate 82 corresponding with the plate 10 previously described is provided with a bent up edge 83 corresponding to the edge 11 eviously described. The latch bolt 84 is slida ly guided in the edge 83 in accordance with conventional practice and a torsion spring 85 pressing against an abutment 86 formed thereon constantly urges the bolt 84 to projected position. In this construction a roll back including a hub 87, split ring 88 and cam finger member 89 of substantially the same construction as previously described, is provided. In this case however, the cam finger 89 of the roll back engages directly against a downward projection 90 on the latch bolt 84 without the interposition of any sliding link such as the link 32 described in connection with Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive. In this case the` split ring 88 instead of being disposed between the bracket member 91 and' the plate 82, corresponding to bracket 42 in the previous figures, is located outside of the bracket 91, and in this case the bracket 91 is provided with an up struck lug 92 between which and the hook 93 on the split ring 88 a spring 94 is tensioned. The result of this construction is substantially identical to that previously described inasmuch as the spring 94 constantly urges the roll back toward a predetermined rotative position with the cam finger 89 in contact with the bent edge 83 of the plate 82, and thus constantly urges the door handle toward a predetermined desirable position on the outside of the door. The roll back itself, being of substantially identical construction previously described, of course functions in the same manner and achieves the same result.

In Fig. 9 is illustrated a modied form of our invention for causing a resilient gripping effect of the rollback on the spindle. In this case the end of the spindle 50 which cooperates with the roll back hub 52 is provided with square portion 100 which is non-rotatably received Within the square hole 54 of the hub 52 and this square portion 100 is bounded at its outer end with radially outwardly inclined surfaces 101. A screw 102 threaded axially into the inner end of the end 100 urges a washer 103 against the inner end of the roll back hub 52 and consequently tends to pull the tapered portion 101 into the opening 54. This tends to spread the outer end of the hub 52 and causes it to resiliently grip the tapered portion v101, thereby preventing the possibility of rattling between these parts. If desired, the hub 50, where it cooperates with the tapered portion 101, may be tapered in a complementary manner as at 104.

Although but two modifications of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many other modifications and changes may be made after the teachings herein and, accordingly, formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described Without departing from the spirit and substance of the broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a resilient hub therefor, and resilient means constantly tending to contract said hub. Y

2. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a resilient hub therefor having an opening therein, and resilient means acting on said hub constantly urging it to a position to reduce the size of said opening.

3. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a radially resilient hub therefor, and resilient means constantly urging said hub toward radially contracted position.

4. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a hollowroll back hub one end of which is slotted and the other end of which is rigid, and resilient means embracing said slotted end tending to contract the same.

5. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back hub having a radially resilient end and a radially rigid end, and a split ring tensioned around said resilient end. v 6. In a latch mechanism, in combination, an axially slotted roll back hub, a' roll back cam member keyed thereon, and split spring ring tensioned around one end of said hub tending to contract said end.

7. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a rolll back, a hub therefor having an opening therein,

one end only of said hub being resilient a shank member received in said opening, and means c'onstantly urging said one end only of said hub toward contracted relation with respect to said member.

8. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a hub therefor having an opening therein, a door handle shank received in said opening and having a limited amount of clearance over the greater part thereof, one end of said hub being yieldable, and means engaging said end tending to contract it on said shank.

9. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a latch bolt, a roll back, a link operatively connecting said roll back and bolt, and spring means tensioned between said link and roll back constantly urging said roll back to a predetermined rotatable. position.

10. Iny a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a hub therefor having a yieldable end, resilient means constantly tending to contract said end, and a spring co-operating with the said means constantly urging said roll back to a predetermined rotative position.

11. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a hub therefor having a yieldable end, a split ring surrounding said end tending to contract it, an abutment on said ring, and a spring engaging said abutment constantly urging said roll back to a predetermined rotative position.

12. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a

roll back, a hub therefor having a radially lyieldable end, an opening through said hub, a handle shank received in said opening in generally looser relationship with respectv thereto, a split ring keyed against rotation relative to said hub received around said yieldable end and urging it lnto gripping relation with respect to said shank, an abutment on said ring, and a spring contactlng said abutment constantly urging said roll back to one limit of its rotatable position.

13. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back, a hub therefor having a radially yieldable end, an opening through said hub, a handle shank received in' said opening in generally loose relationship with respect thereto, a split ring keyed against rotation relative to said hub received around said yieldable end and urging it into gripping relation with respect to said shank, a'n abutment on'said ring, a latch bolt, a sliding link operatively connecting -said roll back and said bolt, and a spring tensioned between said abutment yand said link constantly urging said roll back to one limit of its rotatable position.

y 14. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back having a single piece radially resilient hub, and a spindle received in said hub and resiliently gripped thereby.

15. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back having a hub axially slotted at one end only thereof for imparting radial resiliency thereto, and a handle shank received in said hub, and means for causing said shank to be resiliently gripped thereby comprising a resilient member encircling the slotted end of said hub and urging it toward radially contracted position. f

16. In a latch mechanism, in combination, a roll back having a single piece radially resilient hub, a handle spindle received in said hub, vand means cooperating between said spindle and hub tending to vconstantly place said hub under tension.

ROLLO MARPLE.

ALBERT F. BAKER.

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