US 7,905,521 B2Granted

Multi-point sliding door latch

AssigneeVision Industries Group, Inc.

InventorsLuke Liang, Tong Liang, David Chen

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Abstract

A multi-point door latch adapted to fit in the stile of a door. The multi-point door latch includes a pair of hooks that are allowed to rotably pivot around a pair of eccentric cams. The eccentric cams are allowed to rotate inside of apertures located through the hubs of the hooks. The eccentric cams are geometrically centered inside the hubs of the hooks, and are kept in position via pins that are eccentrically orientated through cams. The multi-point door latch also includes an opening for receiving a turning mechanism. In addition, the turning mechanism is connected to a pair of toothed gear wheels that mesh with a toothed bar. The toothed bar is connected to a synchronizing link which simultaneously rotates the hooks to either an engaged or disengaged position. The multi-point door latch also includes stopping members, which prevent the hooks from rotating passed a certain point when the door latch is not engaged.

Claims40

Dependent claims

A multipoint latch of the type appropriate for use in sliding doors, said latch having a housing which houses two retractable hooks that work in co-action with at least one keeper that is set in a door jamb, so as to allow for locking and unlocking of the sliding door, wherein said multipoint door latch comprises:

(a) a pair of hooks that are respectively mounted upon a pair of eccentric cams, and, by the motion of a turn-key, are driven to rotate from a retracted position inside the housing to a position where each hook is generally in line with a portion of said at least one keeper, but remain displaced therefrom, each cam being biased by a spring, said spring biasing having a direction being coordinated with the corresponding cam's rotational position, and wherein a spring force, exerted by the spring, causes rotation of each cam relative to each hook, and movement of said cams from a first to a second position, said cam rotation relative to said hooks resulting in translation of said hooks from said in-line position to engage the keeper in a locked position;
(b) a pair of actuators responsive to said turn-key motion and configured such that said actuators drive said hooks into the locked position, and alternatively drive the cams to return the hooks back to the retracted position, where the hooks and respective cams are interconnected through at least a portion of the motion from said locked position to said retracted position and a portion of the motion from said retracted position to said locked position;
and said hooks and respective cams also rotating freely relative to one another during a portion of the motion from said locked position to said retracted position and a portion of the motion from said retracted position to said locked position.

A multipoint latch for use in locking and unlocking of a sliding door, said multipoint door latch comprising:

(a) a housing;
(b) a first hook and a second hook, said first and second hooks being adapted for selective travel between an unlocked position, wherein said hooks are retracted to be within said housing, and a locked position;
said selective travel comprising hook rotation for at least a portion of said travel and hook translation for at least a portion of said travel;
said first and second hooks being rotatably mounted upon respective first and second cams, each of said respective cams being pivotally mounted in said housing, said rotatable mounting of each of said hooks upon said respective cams being eccentric to said pivotal mounting of its respective cam;
(c) a first spring and a second spring, said first spring biasing said first cam relative to said housing and said second spring biasing said second cam relative to said housing, each of said springs biasing said respective cams in a direction relative to said housing, said biasing direction being coordinated with respective cam positioning;
(d) a first actuator and a second actuator, said actuators being responsive to the motion of a turn-key to thereby drive said first and second hooks and cause said hooks to rotate out from said retracted position, and wherein a protrusion on each of said hooks engages a corresponding protrusion on said respective cams permitting said rotation of said first and second hooks to cause corresponding rotation of said respective cams, each of said hooks rotating to a position where at least a portion of each of said hooks extends outside of said housing to be in line with a keeper but remaining displaced therefrom;
said springs biasing said respective cams to counter said rotation and thereby bias said hooks, through said engagement of said hook protrusion with said cam protrusion, toward said retracted position, said biasing to counter said rotation continuing until said first and second hooks have rotated at least part way to said in-line position;
and
(e) wherein upon reaching said position being part way to said in-line position, said springs each then bias said respective cams to rotate, said cam biasing then being without corresponding biasing of said respective hooks;
and
(f) wherein upon reaching said in-line position, said actuators cease driving said hooks to rotate, and said spring biased rotation of said cams relative to said respective hooks causes translation of said respective hooks into said locked position wherein said respective hooks engage the keeper.

8 more elements

A latch comprising:

a housing;
a first cam and a second cam, each of said cams being pivotally mounted in said housing to pivot respectively about a first axis and a second axis;
a first hook and a second hook, said first and second hooks being adapted for travel between an unlocked position and a locked position;
said unlocked position being a position where said hooks are retracted into said housing, and said locked position being a position where at least a portion of each of said hooks extend outside of said housing and engage a keeper;
said first and second hooks being rotatably mounted upon said first and second cams, respectively, said rotatable mounting of said hooks each comprising a rotation axis being parallel to, but displaced from, said pivotal axis of its respective cam;
a first spring and a second spring, said first spring biasing said first cam relative to said housing and said second spring biasing said second cam relative to said housing, each of said springs biasing said respective cams to rotate in a direction relative to said housing, with said direction being dependent upon rotational positioning of said respective cams;
a first actuator and a second actuator, said actuators being responsive to rotational motion of a turn-key to thereby drive said first and second hooks and cause said hooks to rotate outward from said retracted position, and wherein a first protrusion on each of said hooks engages a corresponding lateral extension on said respective cams to permit said rotation of said first and second hooks to cause corresponding rotation of said respective cams, each of said hooks rotating outward to a position where at least a portion of each of said hooks is in line with a keeper but remains displaced therefrom;
said springs causing counter-rotational biasing of said respective cams, and thereby biasing said hooks, through said engagement of said hook protrusion with said cam extension, toward said retracted position;
said counter-rotational biasing continuing until said first and second hooks have rotated at least part way to said in -line position;
and
wherein upon reaching said position being part way to said in-line position, said first and second springs each then cause rotational biasing of said respective cams, said rotational cam biasing being without corresponding biasing of said respective hooks;
and
wherein upon reaching said in-line position, said actuators stop driving said hooks to rotate, and said spring biased rotation of said cams relative to said respective hooks causes translation of said respective hooks into said locked position.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.