Two point latching system
AssigneeSouthco, Inc.
InventorsFabrice Vitry, Andrew Thornton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to a latch having a button pawl shaft for attaching two panels together at two different points. The shaft of the latch has bezels in which the shaft rotates connected to one of the panels. The shaft has pawls at both ends which engage a keeper on a second panel and disengage and clear the keeper when a force is applied to the button on the shaft thereby rotating the shaft. A precompressed torsion spring provides a force on the button at all times. When a user presses on the button thereby rotating the shaft such that the pawls disengage with keepers the spring will rotate the shaft and button back to the same position as that prior to the user applying a force on the button.
Claims19
A button pawl shaft for releasably joining first and second panels comprising:
- a shaft connected to one of said first and second panels, said shaft having;
- a pawl on opposite ends of said shaft, each of said pawls having a portion thereof which is shaped so as to be engageable with a respective keeper on one of the first and second panels upon rotation of said shaft, and a button on said shaft between said pawls, said button actuating the rotation of the shaft when a user applies a force to said button such that each of said pawls engages the respective keeper on the other of the first and second panels.
A button pawl shaft for releasably joining first and second panels comprising:
- a center shaft piece, said center shaft piece having at least one recess at each of two opposite longitudinal ends of said center shaft piece;
- a first end shaft piece and second end shaft piece, each of said first and second end shaft pieces having:
- a protuberance at an end thereof, each protuberance being engaged with a respective recess of the center shaft piece, and
- a pawl, each of said pawls having a portion thereof which is shaped so as to be engageable with a respective keeper on one of the first and second panels upon rotation of said button pawl shaft,
- wherein said center shaft piece has a button thereon, said button actuating the rotation of the button pawl shaft when a user applies a force to said button such that each of said pawls engages the respective keeper on the other of the first and second panels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.