Latch assembly and latch

• US 7,029,043 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2003
• Issued: 04/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Meritor Technology, Inc. (Cummins Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Systems (UK) Ltd. (Meritor, Inc. (Nevada))
• Inventors: Fisher, Sidney Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Estremsky, Gary
• Application Number:
  US10/683,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20040104592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• Field of Search: 292/337, 292/1, 292/DIG.39, 292/DIG.40, 292/DIG.51, 292/340, 292/341.13, 292/DIG.56, 292/DIG.55
• US Class Current: 292/341.13
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 15/0006 Devices for aligning wing and frame; Anti-rattling devices for vehicle doors E05B83/367
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 77/38 Cushion elements, elastic guiding elements or holding elements, e.g. for cushioning or damping the impact of the bolt against the striker during closing of the wing
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 79/20 using flexible connections, e.g. Bowden cables
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 83/12 for back doors of vans E05B83/04, E05B83/08 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 83/38 for pillar-less vehicles, i.e. vehicles where a front and a back door engage each other in the closed position
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 85/045 for bifurcated bolts
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 9/00 Arrangements of simultaneously actuated bolts or other securing devices at well-separated positions on the same wing Locking, cross or security bars E05C19/003; locks for safes or the like E05B65/0075; of the vertical-rod type for panic or emergency doors E05B65/1006; similar constructions for engineering closures F16J13/08
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 292/40 Combined dovetail and keeper
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 292/691 Take-up

Abstract

A latch bolt engages a striker to releasably secure a first door to a vehicle body or a second door by relative displacement of the latch towards the striker. The latch bolt moves in a first plane to releasably retain the striker. The assembly includes a vertical wedge arrangement includes a first wedge surface on the latch and a second wedge surface on the striker. The first wedge surface and the second wedge surface cooperate to compensate for any misalignment and to prevent movement between the striker bar portion of the striker and a mouth of the latch in a direction parallel to the first plane. The latch is a plant-in latch, and the first surface is provided on a wedge plate securable to a shut face surface of the latch. The first wedge surface and the second wedge surface can be resilient.

Claims

1. A latch assembly mountable in a body of a vehicle comprising:

a latch including a latch housing having a mouth and an exterior shut face, a claw-type latch bolt rotatable in a first plane, and a wedge plate securable to the exterior shut face of the latch housing and having a first wedge surface, wherein the latch is mountable to a first vehicle component selected from one of a vehicle door and a vehicle body and the wedge plate is releasably securable to the latch, wherein the first vehicle component includes a skin, and the skin is located between the latch and the wedge plate;

a striker including a striker bar engageable by the claw-type latch bolt and a second wedge surface, wherein the striker is mountable to a second vehicle component which is the other of the vehicle door and the vehicle body, and engagement of the claw-type latch bolt and the striker bar releasably secures the first vehicle component to the second vehicle component by relative displacement of the latch towards the striker; and

a vertical wedge arrangement including the first wedge surface and the second wedge surface, wherein the first wedge surface and the second wedge surface cooperate to prevent movement between the mouth of the latch housing and the striker bar in a direction substantially parallel to the first plane.

2. The latch assembly according to claim 1 wherein the latch includes a third wedge surface and the striker includes a fourth wedge surface.

3. The latch assembly according to claim 2 further including a second plane substantially perpendicular to the first plane, wherein the third wedge surface includes a region substantially parallel to the second plane.

4. The latch assembly according to claim 2 further including a second plane substantially perpendicular to the first plane, wherein the fourth wedge surface includes a region substantially parallel to the second plane.

5. The latch assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the latch assembly is used in a vehicle.

6. The latch assembly according to claim 1 further including a second plane substantially perpendicular to the first plane, and wherein the first wedge surface is inclined relative to the second plane.

7. The latch assembly according to claim 1 further including a second plane substantially perpendicular to the first plane, and wherein the second wedge surface is inclined relative to the second plane.

8. The latch assembly according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the first wedge surface and the second wedge surface is a resilient surface.

9. The larch assembly according to claim 8 wherein the resilient surface is formed of a block of a resilient material.