Latch and lock housings, handles and mounting brackets

A combination lock and latch housing, comprising:

• (a) a one-piece housing formed from injection molded thermoplastics material that is selected to provide a strong, rigid, impact resistant structure that is readily machineable, with the one-piece structure including as integral parts thereof:
• (i) a front wall;
• (ii) a back wall located behind the front wall;
• (iii) rearwardly extending wall portions that join with the front and back walls, and that cooperate with the back wall to define a forwardly facing recess that opens through the front wall;
• (iv) a mounting flange that is defined by the front wall and that extends in an uninterrupted manner perimetrically about about the recess;
• (v) rearwardly facing mounting surface means defined by the back wall including a substantially planar back wall surface for mounting and guiding the movement of such relatively movable lock and latch components as may be secured to the housing;
• (b) the rearwardly extending wall portions of the one-piece housing including opposed top and bottom walls that define opposite ends of the recess, and including opposed side walls that define opposite sides of the recess;
• with the side walls extending in planes that are located substantially equidistantly from and on opposite sides of an imaginary center plane of the recess, and that extend substantially parallel to the center plane;
• and, with the top and bottom walls extending in spaced, substantially parallel planes that intersect the planes of the side walls substantially perpendicularly;
• (c) mounting means rigidly connected to the back wall of the one-piece housing including first and second mounting studs formed from metal, with each of the mounting studs having an elongate, generally cylindrical body with opposed end regions, with an enlarged head formation being defined on one end region of the body, and with a threaded shank being defined on the other end region of the body, with the enlarged head regions of the first and second mounting studs being embedded within the molded plastics material that defines the back wall to provide a rigid connection between the mounting stud and the back wall, with the generally cylindrical bodies of the first and second mounting studs being oriented such that their axes extend substantially parallel to each other and through the mounting surface in directions that are substantially perpendicular to the plane of the mounting surface, and with the threaded shanks projecting rearwardly from the mounting surface at spaced locations on opposite sides of the mounting surface for connection with pull, latch and lock components to mount such components on the housing;
• (d) sleeve means defined by the housing including a generally cylindrical formation of the one-piece housing that is located adjacent a selected one of the end walls that defines an end of the recess;
• (e) the front wall of the housing extending adjacent one end region of the sleeve means and providing a machinable surface portion that closes the one end region of the sleeve, but which can have an opening formed therethrough as by machining to provide a through passage that extends through the sleeve means and opens through the front wall of the housing for enabling the housing to journal latch and lock components within the through passage;
• and,
• (f) groove means formed in the sleeve means for facing into such a through passage for receiving and releasably retaining locking elements such as tumblers of a key cylinder assembly, and for receiving and releasably retaining a detent formation such as a spring-projected ball detent carried by a rotary plug assembly.

A housing, handle and mounting bracket assembly, comprising:

• (a) a one-piece pan-shaped housing formed from molded plastics material having a front wall, and having wall portions that are located behind the front wall for defining a forwardly-facing recess that opens through the front wall, with the front wall having portions that extend perimetrically around the recess to define a mounting flange;
• (b) the recess defining walls of the one-piece housing including a back wall having a substantially flat rearwardly facing mounting surface that extends substantially within a common plane, with mounting means rigidly connected to the back wall and projecting rearwardly therefrom, including first and second mounting studs formed from metal, with each of the mounting studs having an elongate, generally cylindrical body with opposed end regions, with an enlarged head formation being defined on one end region of the body, and with a threaded shank being defined on the other end region of the body, with the enlarged head regions of the first and second mounting studs being embedded within the molded plastics material that defines the back wall to provide a rigid connection between the mounting stud and the back wall, with the generally cylindrical bodies of the first and second mounting studs being oriented such that their axes extend substantially parallel to each other and through the mounting surface in directions that are substantially perpendicular to the plane of the mounting surface, and with the threaded shanks projecting rearwardly from the mounting surface at spaced locations on opposite sides of the mounting surface;
• (c) a pair of elongate mounting posts threaded onto the threaded shanks for providing threaded mounting formations at locations spaced behind the back wall formations for connection to a mounting bracket at said locations spaced behind the back wall;
• (d) a U-shaped mounting bracket having a central leg that interconnects a pair of forwardly extending end legs, with the center leg overlying the back wall of the housing, and with the forwardly extending legs projecting toward mounting flange portions at opposed end regions of the housing, and with first and second holes formed through the central leg at said locations spaced behind the back wall;
• (e) first and second threaded fastener means for extending through said first and second holes and for being threadedly connected to the threaded mounting formations at said locations spaced behind the back wall;
• (f) hole means formed through the recess-defining walls;
• (g) a handle for positioning in the recess;
• and,
• (h) rearwardly extending post portions formed on the handle as an integral part thereof, with at least a plurality of the post portions being extensible through the hole means formed in the housing and being heat deformable so as to provide a means for rigidly connecting the handle to the housing.

A universal housing assembly for mounting on a closure or the like, and for providing a plurality of mounting stations for selectively connecting the housing assembly to pull, latch and lock components, comprising:

• (a) housing means including a housing formed as a rigid, one-piece structure from injection molded plastics material, and having as integrally formed portions thereof:
• (i) front wall means for defining a relatively thin front face of the one-piece housing with boundaries thereof being defined by a pair of relatively long opposed edge surfaces, and a pair of relatively shorter edge surfaces that interconnect the relatively long edge surfaces and that cooperate therewith to provide the housing with a generally rectangular shape as viewed from a front side thereof, and with the front wall means having a rearwardly facing mounting surface for overlying a forwardly facing surface of a closure or the like on which the housing means is to be mounted;
• (ii) recess defining means for defining a forwardly facing recess that opens through the front wall, with the recess being defined by a pair of relatively long opposed side walls and a pair of relatively shorter opposed end walls that cooperate to give the recess a generally rectangular shape as viewed from a front side thereof, and with the recess defining further including a back wall means of generally rectangular shape as viewed from a front side thereof, with the back wall means defining a substantially planar, rearwardly facing component positioning station in engagement with which latch and lock components can be positioned for being connected to the housing at desired locations relative thereto;
• (b) the front wall means having portions thereof that extend perimetrically around the recess defining means for providing a mounting flange that borders the recess, and with the width of the mounting flange means differing adjacent the opposed end walls so as to provide a relatively wider mounting flange portion adjacent one of the end walls than is provided adjacent the other of the end walls;
• (c) mounting means rigidly connected to the back wall of the one-piece housing including first and second mounting studs formed from metal, with each of the mounting studs having an elongate, generally cylindrical body with opposed end regions, with an enlarged head formation being defined on one end region of the body, and with a threaded shank being defined on the other end region of the body, with the enlarged head regions of the first and second mounting studs being embedded within the molded plastics material of the back wall means to provide a rigid connection between the mounting stud and the back wall means, with the generally cylindrical bodies of the first and second mounting studs being oriented such that their axes extend substantially parallel to each other through the mounting surface in directions that are substantially perpendicular to the plane of the mounting surface, and with the threaded shanks projecting rearwardly from the mounting surface at spaced locations on opposite sides of the mounting surface for securely attaching latch and lock components that are positioned in contact with the back wall means of the housing;
• (d) elongate mounting post means threaded onto the threaded shanks and extending rearwardly with respect to the housing for defining at least one mounting position at a location extending along the length of the mounting post means, and with the mounting post means being configured at said one mounting position for connection to said latch and lock components to mount such components on the housing;
• (e) threaded fastener receiving formation means provided on a rearward end region of the mounting post means for defining an additional mounting station on which components can be connected to the housing;
• (f) mounting bracket means for overlying the back wall means and having holes formed therethrough for aligning with the threaded fastener receiving formation means, with portions of the mounting bracket means being configured for engaging a closure or the like on which the housing is to be mounted;
• and,
• (g) threaded fastener means for extending through the holes formed in the mounting bracket means and for threadedly connecting with the threaded fastener receiving formation means for attaching the mounting bracket means to the elongate post means.

A flush-mountable lock, comprising:

• (a) pan-shaped housing with a forwardly facing recess surrounded by a mounting flange that has a front face and a rear face, with the housing also having a locking plug mounting location defined adjacent the recess by means of a generally sleeve-like structure which has a through passage that opens through the front face of the mounting flange;
• (b) the housing being formed as a one-piece structure from injection molded plastics material and having a back wall at the rear of the forwardly facing recess, with the back wall closing the rear of the recess, and defining a substantially planar mounting surface on the back of the housing, with mounting means rigidly connected to the back wall of the one-piece housing including first and second mounting studs formed from metal, with each of the mounting studs having an elongate, generally cylindrical body with opposed end regions, with an enlarged head formation being defined on one end region of the body, and with a threaded shank being defined on the other end region of the body, with the enlarged head regions of the first and second mounting studs being embedded within the molded plastics material of the back wall to provide a rigid connection between the mounting stud and the back wall, with the generally cylindrical bodies of the first and second mounting studs being oriented such that their axes extend substantially parallel to each other and through the mounting surface in directions that are substantially perpendicular to the plane of the mounting surface, and with the threaded shanks projecting rearwardly from the mounting surface at spaced locations on opposite sides of the mounting surface;
• (c) handle means including a handle that is rigidly connected to the housing;
• (d) latch bolt means connected to the housing for movement relative to the housing between latched and unlatched positions;
• and,
• (e) latch operator means movably connected to the housing at a location external to the recess and being accessible through the front wall for moving the latch bolt means between its latched position and its unlatched position.