US 4,050,723 AGranted

Mechanism for securing a door in open or closed position

OwnerGeorge Papadatosinventor

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Abstract

Mechanism for securing a door in open or closed position comprises a casing which is secured to the inside of the door near the bottom and has vertically aligned openings to receive a vertically movable hollow cylinder. The cylinder is biased upwardly by a helical spring in the casing, upward movement of the cylinder being limited by a plate which is affixed to the cylinder and engageable with the upper end wall of the casing. A plunger which is reciprocable in the cylinder is biased downwardly relative to the cylinder and is held in an upper or retracted position by a latch provided at the upper end of the cylinder. When the latch is released, the plunger is forced downwardly by its spring into engagement with the floor or with a socket set in the floor. When the cylinder is pushed downwardly far enough for the latch to engage the plunger and is then released, the cylinder and plunger are moved to their upper positions by the spring acting on the cylinder.

Claims9

Dependent claims

Mechanism for securing a door in open or closed position comprising a casing having vertically aligned openings, means for securing the casing to a door near the floor, a hollow cylinder received in said openings of the casing and guided by said openings for vertical lengthwise movement relative to the casing, first spring means for biasing said cylinder upwardly relative to the casing, means for limiting upward movement of said cylinder relative to the casing to position said cylinder in an upper position, a plunger received in said cylinder and longitudinally movable therein, second spring means for biasing said plunger downwardly relative to said cylinder, detent means on the upper end of said plunger, latch means on the upper end of said cylinder engageable with said detent means on the upper end of said plunger to hold said plunger in an upper position, means for manually releasing said latch means whereupon said plunger is pressed downwardly into engagement with the floor by said second spring biasing means, said cylinder being manually movable downwardly relative to said casing and said plunger from said upper position to a position in which said latch means again engages said detent means whereupon said cylinder and plunger are raised by said first spring biasing means to said upper position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.