Clutch mechanism for a lock assembly

A lock assembly having a locked state and an unlocked state, the lock assembly comprising:

• a latch assembly having a latch movable between an extended position and a retracted position;
• an interior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly and including an interior handle;
• an exterior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly opposite the interior handle assembly and including an exterior handle;
• a clutch mechanism including a retractor mechanism coupled to the latch assembly to move the latch between the extended position and the retracted position, the retractor mechanism including a first retractor and a second retractor movable in response to movement of the interior handle, the second retractor selectively movable relative to the first retractor in response to movement of the exterior handle;
• and
• an engagement mechanism coupled to the interior handle assembly and the exterior handle assembly, the engagement mechanism further coupled to the retractor mechanism and selectively operable to engage and disengage the second retractor relative to the latch, the engagement mechanism partially defined by an actuator assembly movable in a first direction to disengage the second retractor relative to the latch such that rotation of the exterior handle does not move the latch to the retracted state, the actuator assembly movable in a second direction to engage the second retractor relative to the latch such that rotation of the exterior handle is operable to move the latch to the retracted state.

A lock assembly having a locked state and an unlocked state, the lock assembly comprising:

• a latch assembly having a latch movable between an extended position and a retracted position;
• an interior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly and including an interior handle;
• an exterior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly opposite the interior handle assembly and including an exterior handle;
• a clutch mechanism engaged with the latch to move the latch between the extended position and the retracted position;
• and
• a free spinning mechanism engageable with the clutch mechanism and partially defined by an alignment mechanism coupled to the exterior handle to maintain alignment of the exterior handle relative to other components of the lock assembly during rotation of the exterior handle,
• wherein in response to rotation of the exterior handle when the lock assembly is in the unlocked state, the clutch mechanism is operable by the exterior handle to move the latch from the extended position to the retracted position, and
• wherein in response to rotation of the exterior handle when the lock assembly is in the unlocked state, the latch remains in the extended position and the exterior handle is free to rotate 360 degrees.

A lock assembly having a locked state and an unlocked state, the lock assembly comprising:

• a latch assembly having a latch movable between an extended position and a retracted position;
• an interior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly and including an interior handle;
• an exterior handle assembly coupled to the latch assembly opposite the interior handle assembly and including an exterior handle;
• a clutch mechanism including a first retractor engaged with the latch to move the latch between the extended position and the retracted position, and a second retractor removably coupled to the first retractor such that the second retractor is selectively engaged with the latch;
• and
• a free spinning mechanism coupled to the exterior handle and engageable with the clutch mechanism such that in response to rotation of the exterior handle when the lock assembly is in the unlocked state, the clutch mechanism is operable by the exterior handle to move the latch from the extended position to the retracted position, and in response to rotation of the exterior handle when the lock assembly is in the unlocked state, the latch remains in the extended position and the exterior handle is free to rotate 360 degrees.