Trigger lock
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsGrant A. Sweer, David Dills
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A trigger lock provides a high retention force and a low reset force to secure, release and reset a translating member to a stationary member. A retention latch has a complementary shape to engage and resist axial translation of the translating member. The retention latch pivots downward to disengage from the translating member. A spring pack compresses to resist the downward pivot to set the high retention force. A trigger lock assembly restrains the compressed spring pack to allow the translating member to return and reset the trigger lock with the low reset force. A spring-loaded latch clearance cam is configured to push the translating member away from the retention latch as the translating member disengages and returns to reset the trigger lock.
Claims19
A trigger lock configured to secure, release and reset a translating member that translates axially along an axis relative to a stationary member, the trigger lock comprising:
- a retention latch pivotably attached to the stationary member, said retention latch and said translating member having complementary shapes to engage and resist axial translation, said retention latch configured to pivot downward to disengage from said translating member in response to a first axial force (F1) greater than a first threshold (TH1),
- a spring pack coupled between the retention latch and the stationary member to provide a restraining force that compresses to resist the downward pivot of the retention latch to set TH1,
- a trigger lock assembly including a trigger latch configured to restrain the compressed spring pack to allow the translating member to return and, once the complementary shapes of the translating member and retention latch are aligned and a second axial force (F2) provided by the translating member engaging a latch trigger exceeds a second threshold (TH2), to disengage the trigger latch and release the compressed spring pack to engage the complementary shapes of the retention latch and translating member and reset the trigger lock, wherein TH2<TH1;
- and
- a spring-loaded latch clearance cam configured to push the translating member away from the retention latch as the translating member disengages and returns to reset the trigger lock.
A trigger lock configured to secure, release and reset an axially translating member that translates axially along an axis relative to a stationary member, said trigger lock configured to secure the translating member to the stationary member if when an axial force (F1) applied to a retention latch is less than a first threshold (TH1), said retention latch releasing the translating member from the stationary member to translate axially away from the stationary member when the F1 applied to the retention latch exceeds TH1, said trigger lock configured to allow the translating member to return to the stationary member and reset the retention latch if when a second axial force (F2) applied by the translating member to a latch trigger exceeds a second threshold (TH2), where TH2<TH1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.