Door latch having three-way actuation means

In a latch device mounted in a door, a base secured to said door, a shaft rotatably mounted on said base with a portion located inside said door and a portion extending through said door to the exterior thereof, a strike bar slidably carried by said base and extending transverse to the axis of said shaft, spaced abutments radially extending from said strike bar and being located on the strike bar inside said door, a lever keyed to said shaft and having a pair of fingers straddling said strike bar between said spaced abutments, the width of said fingers in the direction of movement of the strike bar being less than the spacing between said abutments, a spring surrounding said strike bar for urging a latch end portion of the strike bar out of the door and into the latched position, the spacing between said fingers on the lever and the abutment on the latch end portion of said strike bar being sufficient to permit the latch bar to be moved to the unlatched position without movement of said lever, exterior handle means keyed to the end portion of said shaft located exterior to said door, interior handle means keyed to the end portion of said shaft located inside the door, whereby pivoting either the interior or exterior handle means will pivot the shaft and the lever to contact one of said abutments to compress the spring and to retract the strike bar into the door, and handle means on said strike bar for moving said strike bar relative to said lever independent of the internal and external handle means for retracting the strike bar from a latched position.