Patent ID: 7267377
Filing Date: 2007-09-11
Classification: E05B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. In combination: a) a closure element that is movable relative to a support between first and second positions; and b) a latch assembly on the movable closure element, said latch assembly comprising: a housing attached to the movable closure element; a first rotor movable relative to the housing selectively between a) a first latched position and b) a release position, the first rotor having first and second spaced legs and a first throat between the first and second legs to receive a strike element; a second rotor movable relative to the housing selectively between a) a first latched position and b) a release position; and an operating assembly having a latched state and an unlatched state, the operating assembly in the latched state releasably maintaining the first rotor in its first latched position and the second rotor in its first latched position, wherein the first rotor is movable substantially parallel to a first reference plane as the first rotor moves between its first latched and release positions, the first rotor and/or the second rotor having a non-uniform thickness taken orthogonally to the reference plane, one of the first and second rotors having a first thickness residing within a space bounded by second and third, spaced, reference planes, each parallel to the first reference plane and spaced from each other by a distance equal to the first thickness, the other of the first and second rotors having a thickness substantially the same as the first thickness and residing substantially fully in the space between the second and third reference planes, the first and second rotors overlapping with each other at a first location so that the first and second rotors at the first location block a strike element in the first throat with the first and second rotors in their first latched positions, the first and second legs each overlapping the second rotor with the first and second rotors in their latched positions.