Back to results
US 4,564,230 AGranted
Restraint apparatus for cargo box doors
OwnerEdward A. Haistinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerEdward A. Haistinventor
Estimating the term…
Door-swing restraint apparatus for a pair of latched doors closing an end opening of a cargo box comprises a chain or cable link connected between margins of the doors so that a person actuating a bar to release door latches will not be injured by freight items which bear against the door. One end of the link is fixed in the marginal edge of one door, the other end being fixed to a lever arm which can be selectably engaged with or disengaged from a lateral bracket on the latch bar of the other door, only when the arm is rotated out of its horizontal transport position into the vertical. Rotation of the bar due to torque exerted by a freight item pressing against the door is limited by a stop pin carried by the bar engaged in a slot in a door-mounted journal. The opening swing of the door is limited to a few centimeters as the link becomes taut and the lever arm remains horizontal, visually signalling the hazard. The lever arm is formed with a side-opening right-angle slot engageable with a pin in the latch bar bracket. In another embodiment the arm carries the pin and the bracket sidewalls are slotted.
In a cargo box comprising an end frame having left and right vertical side members and top and bottom horizontal members, said members defining an end opening of said box, a pair of doors having vertical side edges pivotally mounted on said side members and having opposite vertical edges meeting centrally of said opening when said doors are closed on said opening, a vertical latch-actuating bar carried by each said door adjacent said opposite vertical edge, each said bar having latch means fixed on its ends, latch keeper structure carried on said top and bottom frame members engageable by said latch means, said bars having brackets and lever arms connectable with each bracket for effecting opening and closing rotations of respective bars by turning a lever arm in the horizontal plane, the improvement wherein a restraint link is connected by one end with the bar of a first door of said pair and by its other end with the lever arm of the second door and has a length such that when the lever arm of the second door is turned to release respective latches for opening said second door the opening door, swing is limited by said link to a predetermined minor amount, and wherein the second lever arm is rotatable relative to its associated bracket in a vertical plane and is disconnectable from the bracket only when the lever arm is substantially vertical.
Door restraint apparatus comprising, a peripheral frame defining a door opening, a pair of doors each hingedly connected by one vertical margin along one vertical side of said frame and having an opposite vertical margin meeting the opposite vertical side of a door when the doors are closed on said opening, journal means mounted on each door, latch means for locking each door in closed position comprising a vertical latch bar having claws engagable by rotation of the latch bar in said journal means with keepers fixed on upper and lower sides of said frame, said latch bar having a bracket, a recess in said bracket opening laterally away from the bar and opening also downwardly and extending the horizontal length of the bracket, a transverse slot communicating with the recess having an initial slot portion shorter than the length of the bracket opening horizontally to either side of the bracket and having an angled portion opening at right angles to said recess and extending from an end of said initial slot portion remote from the bar, link means permanently connected by one end with a margin of one door and selectably connectable by its other end with the other door of the pair adjacent the opposite vertical margin thereof and of a length to limit door opening swing when said other end is connected to said other door, said selectable connection comprising a lever arm for actuating the latch bar of said other door having said other end of said link fixed in the arm and having a flattened arm end portion receivable in said bracket by insertion in said recess and having a transverse pin in said end portion extending to either side of said arm freely slidable in said slot, whereby when the arm is vertical, said end portion may be inserted into said recess from underneath with said transverse pin guided in said angled portion of said slot, and whereby when said arm is thereafter rotated to the horizontal said arm becomes captive in said bracket with said transverse pin in said initial slot portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.