Latching system for luggage articles

In a latching system for a luggage article including a latch, means for mounting said latch on a wall portion of the article for reverse swiveling movement in a plane substantially parallel to the general plane of said wall portion between a latching position and an unlatching position, a manual actuator for moving said latch between said positions, said actuator including an actuator lever, means for mounting said lever on said wall portion for swiveling movement substantially coaxially with said latch in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of swiveling of the latch and a lost motion connection between said lever and said latch for translating movement of said lever in one direction from a rest position into movement of the latch from its unlatching to its latching position, said lost motion connection permitting return of the lever to the rest position while the latch is retained in its latched position, and for translating movement of the lever in the opposite direction from the rest position into movement of the latch from its latching to its unlatching position, said lost motion connection permitting return of the lever to the rest position while the latch is retained in its unlatching position.

A latching system for a luggage article including a latch, a swiveling actuator lever for moving said latch between latching and unlatching positions and a lock for releasably locking said lever in a rest position, said lock including a movable plug member terminating in a latch formation adapted to engage a complementary catch formation on said lever to hold the lever in the rest position and resilient biasing means urging said plug member toward a position in which said latch formation is adapted to engage said catch formation, said latch and catch formations defining corresponding cam surfaces adapted to cooperate for moving said formations into and out of engagement only when the lock is unlocked by manual movement of said lever to and from the rest position accompanied by camming movement of said plug member against said resilient biasing means.

In a luggage article latching system, a pair of spaced latches, means mounting each of said latches for movement between latching and unlatching positions, drive means connecting said latches for movement in unison between their latching and unlatching positions, a manual actuator lever, and connection means between said lever and one of said latches for translating movements of said lever in opposite directions from a rest position into movements of the latches between the latching and unlatching positions and between the unlatching and latching positions, respectively, said connection means permitting said lever to return to the rest position independently of said latches, the system including a combination lock for retaining said lever in the rest position except when the lock is on combination, wherein said lock includes a plug terminating in a latch formation adapted to engage a complementary catch formation on said lever to lock said lever in said rest position, said formation defining cam surfaces adapted to cooperate for disengaging and reengaging said formations when the lock is on combination by movement of said lever from said rest position accompanied by depression of said plug against a resilient biasing means.

In a luggage article latching system, a pair of spaced latches, means mounting each of said latches for movement between latching and unlatching positions, drive means connecting said latches for movement in unison between their latching and unlatching positions, a manual actuator lever, and connection means between said lever and one of said latches for translating movements of said lever in opposite directions from a rest position into movements of the latches between the latching and unlatching positions and between the unlatching and latching positions, respectively, said connection means permitting said lever to return to the rest position independently of said latches, wherein said drive means includes a pulley portion on each of said latches and an endless drive element looped around said pulley portions.

In a luggage article latching system, a latch-carrying assembly for mounting on the interior of a wall portion of one section of the article, and a combined lock and actuator assembly for mounting on the exterior of said wall portion, said latch-carrying assembly including a pair of spaced latches mounted for movement between latching and unlatching position on opposite sides of a central carrying handle of the article respectively, and drive means connecting said latches for movement in unison between their respective latching and unlatching positions, said combined lock and actuator assembly including a manual latch actuator for operating one of said latches by manual movement of said actuator from a rest position and thereby operating the other of said latches through said drive means, said combined assembly including a lock having a movable plug and locking means for the plug, the plug being adapted to engage the actuator for releasably locking the actuator in said rest position, said lock and actuator being located to one side of said carrying handle of the article.

A combination lock comprising a casing, a shaft axially movably mounted in said casing, a nose portion at one end of said shaft defining a latch formation for engaging a member to be locked, said shaft having a latching position in which the nose portion projects from the casing, combination locking means for releasably locking the shaft in said latching position, the shaft being moveable axially from said latching position to an unlatching position only when said combination locking means is on combination by movement of said nose portion inwardly with respect to said casing, and the shaft being moveable axially beyond said unlatching position when the locking means is on combination by further movement of said nose portion inwardly with respect to said casing to move the shaft into a position in which the combination of said locking means can be changed.