Articulating locking mechanism
AssigneeValley Design Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsLoren L. Isensee, Joseph S. Bettin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An articulating locking mechanism for the locking and unlocking of a shaft member has a housing for mounting to any support surface, including an underside of a table. An operator pulls on a latch actuator to unlock the locking mechanism, thereby allowing a shaft member support to rotate within the housing between a first upright position and a second folded position. To lock the shaft member support into either position, the operator releases the latch actuator, whereby a finger on a latch member is urged by a spring into one of two grooves on the shaft member support, thereby locking the shaft member support into either its first upright position or its second folded position.
Claims17
A locking device for articulatably mounting a shaft member to a support surface, the locking device comprising:
- a housing mounted to the support surface, the housing having a cavity therein, the cavity having an upper opening and a lower opening;
- a shaft member support rotatably mounted on a first axis within the cavity of the housing for movement between a first upright position and a second folded position, the shaft member support having first and second lock grooves thereon, with the lock grooves arcuately spaced apart about the first axis;
- a latch member rotatably mounted on a second axis parallel to the first axis within the cavity of the housing adjacent the lower opening thereof for movement between a shaft member support engaged position and a shaft member support disengaged position, the latch member having a finger thereon formed to selectively project into the first lock groove on the shaft member support when the latch member is in its engaged position and the shaft member support is in its first upright position, and into the second lock groove on the shaft member support when the latch member is in its disengaged position and the shaft member support is in its second folded position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.