Gate latch

A gate latch is provided for a stockade type fence. The latch may be opened from either side of the gate. Provisions are made whereby a padlock may be applied to the latch on either side of the gate. Means are provided for positively captivating the latch post carried by the gate to prevent the gate from being opened by merely forcing the latch post out of its associated slot in the latch.

This invention relates to gate latches for a stockade type fence and more 
particularly to a gate latch of the type which may be manipulated from 
either side of the gate. 
Stockade type fences are very common in urban and suburban America and 
typically comprise a series of wooden posts spaced about the periphery of 
the area to be enclosed. The posts are sunk in the ground and are 
interconnected by a pair of vertically spaced horizontally extending 
wooden runners to which are nailed a series of upright wooden planks which 
constitute the barrier to entry. This type stockade fence is extremely 
common to control access to the backyards of single family dwellings, 
apartment areas, swimming pools and the like. 
One of the common problems of stockade type fences is that the gate latches 
normally used therewith are quite insecure. The conventional arrangement 
is that the gate carries a horizontally extending latch post which 
contacts, in the gate closing direction, an arcuate cam face of a latching 
lever. The engagement of the latch post with the camming face causes the 
latch lever to pivot upwardly to allow the latch post to enter a reentrant 
slot in the latch lever. The latch lever is spring biased toward a latched 
position and the reentrant slot is configured to prevent simple horizontal 
swinging movement of the gate away from the latch when the latch is in the 
latched position. 
The difficulty with the prior art latches is that the reentrant slot is 
downwardly facing and is unobstructed so that play in the gate hinges 
allows the latch post to be depressed downwardly out of the reentrant slot 
of the gate latch so that the gate may be opened without manipulating the 
latch. Accordingly, even if the latch were locked in their intended 
fashion, as with a padlock, the latch could be circumvented as discussed 
more fully hereinafter. There are some gates or gate hinges which 
initially have enough play so that the latch post can initially be moved 
out of the latch reentrant slot merely by putting one's weight on the 
gate. Even if a gate has very little play when initially installed, 
sagging of the gate or gate hinges almost universally occurs as the fence 
ages. Consequently, there are few or no stockade fence gates which cannot 
be forced merely by putting one's weight on the gate until the latch post 
moves out of the reentrant slot and then swinging the gate open. 
One would think that the simplest technique for obviating this difficulty 
would be to mount the conventional gate latch upside down so that the 
reentrant slot is upwardly facing rather than downwardly directed. It 
turns out that this is no solution for a number of reasons. First, if the 
gate latch were to carry part of the weight of the gate, it would 
inherently loosen in time and add to play in the gate hinges. Second, and 
more important, if the gate hinges have sufficient play that the latch can 
be circumvented merely by pushing downwardly on the gate, then it follows 
that the latch can be circumvented by pulling upwardly on the gate. 
The technique employed in this invention is to configure the gate latch in 
such a way that the reentrant slot of the latching lever is at least 
partially closed or obstructed so that the latch post cannot move out of 
the slot until the latch is manipulated in its intended fashion. In 
accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, a second or 
locking lever is mounted on the first or latching lever to at least 
partially close or obstruct the reentrant slot in the gate latched 
position. In another embodiment of the invention, the prior art latching 
lever is reconfigured so that the reentrant slot cooperates with the latch 
bracket in the gate latched position to at least partially close or 
obstruct the reentrant slot. 
Disclosures of general interest are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 336,714; 
2,312,184 and 2,671,683. 
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved gate latch. 
A more specific object of this invention is to provide an improved gate 
latch for a stockade fence which positively captivates the latch post in 
the gate latched position. 
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become more fully 
apparent as this description proceeds, reference being made to the 
accompanying drawings and appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, there is illustrated a fence 10 having a gate 12 
therein which is secured in a closed position by a latch 14 of this 
invention. The fence 10 is of conventional construction and comprises a 
plurality of vertical posts 16 embedded in the ground at regular 
intervals. Except across the gate opening, the posts 16 are interconnected 
by horizontally extending, vertically spaced wooden runners 18 to which 
are nailed a plurality of vertically extending wooden planks 20. The fence 
10 will accordingly be recognized by those skilled in the art as being of 
the stockade type. 
The gate 12 is positioned between posts 16 and comprises two or more 
horizontal runners 22 interconnected by vertically extending planks 24. 
The gate 12 is connected to an adjacent post 16 by two or more hinges 26 
comprising hinge halves 28, 30 secured to the gate 12 and post 16 by 
fasteners 32 such as screws or nails. It will be seen that the hinge 26 
mounts the gate 12 for pivotal movement about a vertical axis between the 
gate closed position illustrated in FIG. 1 and an open position. Affixed 
to the gate 12 adjacent the free swinging end thereof is a latch post 34 
comprising a first segment 36 having apertures therein receiving fasteners 
38 for securing the latch post 34 to the gate 12. The latch post 34 also 
comprises a second segment 40 extending beyond the end of the gate 12. The 
second segment 40 typically is spaced from the plane of the planks 24. It 
will accordingly be seen that the fence 10 and gate 12 are of conventional 
construction. 
The latch 14 is designed to hold the latch post 34 in the gate closed 
position, to release the latch post 34 upon actuation of the latch from 
either side of the gate 12 and to retain or lock the latch post 34 in its 
closed position. To these ends, the latch 14 comprises, as major 
components, a bracket 42, a latching lever 44, a captivating lever 46 and 
a locking mechanism 48. As will be noted more fully hereinafter, a number 
of the components of the latch 14 are substantially identical to the 
components of latches that are presently commercially available. 
The bracket 42 is one of these components. Typically, the bracket 42 is 
manufactured from a single metallic piece and comprises a pair of coplanar 
ears 50 providing apertures 52 therein for receiving fasteners 54 for 
securing the bracket 42 to the post 16 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Offset 
away from the plane of the ears 50 is a metal section 56. Extending at 
right angles from the section 56 is a slotted leg 58 which abuts the plank 
20 as shown in FIG. 1. The leg 58 in FIG. 3 is broken in order to expose 
the latching lever 44. The shape of the slot therein may be of any 
suitable size or shape so long as it accommodates the levers 44, 46. As 
will be more fully apparent hereinafter, the latching lever 44 and the 
captivating lever 46 extend through the slot in the leg 58 and are 
accordingly constrained thereby to movement in a generally vertical plane. 
The bracket 42 also includes a threaded opening 60 as may be provided by a 
nut 62 welded or otherwise secured to the bracket section 56. An opening 
64 is provided in the bracket section 56 for purposes more fully explained 
hereinafter. 
The latching lever 44 is also substantially identical to the prior art 
components. The lever 44 is typically formed from a single planar metallic 
piece and comprises a planar vertically extending body 66 having ears 68, 
70 on opposite sides of the bracket 42 for manipulating the lever 44 from 
opposite sides of the gate 12 as may be seen from FIG. 1. The lever 44 is 
pivotally mounted on the bracket 42 by a pin 72 which is shown as 
comprising a pin on the backside of the body 66 extending into an opening 
provided in the bracket section 56. It will be seen that the lever 44 is 
mounted for vertical swinging movement as constrained by the slot in the 
leg 58. For purposes more fully explained hereinafter, the lever body 66 
provides a plurality of openings 74, 76, 78. 
The forward end of the latching lever 44, i.e. the end engaging the latch 
post 34, comprises an arcuate cam surface 80 merging through a rounded 
corner 82 into a vertically extending reentrant slot 84 disposed adjacent 
the surface of the slotted leg 58. The opposite side of the reentrant slot 
84 merges with a striker face 86 for purposes more fully explained 
hereinafter. As will be evident to those skilled in the art, the latching 
lever 44 is more-or-less identical to its counterpart in the commercial 
latch. In the commercially available latch, the bracket 42 is affixed to 
the gate post 16 so that the latch segment 40 of the gate 12 engages the 
cam surface 80 as the gate 12 is swung toward its closed position. The 
latching lever 44 is pivoted about the axis of the pin 72 so that the 
latch segment 40 passes along the cam surface 80 and rounded corner 82 to 
strike the face 86 and ultimately pass into the vertical reentrant slot 
84. As the latch segment 40 enters the slot 84, the latching lever 44 is 
biased in a latching direction illustrated by the arrow 88 due to the 
action of a return spring 90 received in the opening 64 and connected to 
the latching lever 44. 
The commercially available latches typically include means to selectively 
prevent rotation of the latching lever 44 relative to the bracket 42. 
Typically, these devices require a padlock to couple the latching lever 44 
to a locking mechanism. The purpose of these locking devices is to prevent 
easy access through the gate 12. With the commercially available latch, 
this approach is worse than useless since it may foster an unwarranted 
sense of security on the part of the property owner. As mentioned 
previously, locking mechanisms of the prior art latches may readily be 
circumvented merely by pushing downwardly on the gate 12 until the latch 
post 34 passes out of the reentrant slot 84. With the latch post so 
depressed, the gate 12 may be swung outwardly to the gate open position. 
Broadly, the approach of this invention is to provide a lockable gate latch 
by obstructing the reentrant slot 84 after the latch post 34 is received 
therein so that the latch post 34 cannot be moved out of the reentrant 
slots 84 unless the latch is manipulated. Manipulation of the latch may 
selectively be prevented by the locking mechanism 48 to be described 
hereinafter. 
To these ends, the captivating lever 46 is provided. The captivating lever 
46 is typically formed from a single piece of planar metallic material 
providing a planar body 92 having a pair of ears 94, 96 at opposite ends 
thereof so that the captivating lever 46 may be manipulated from opposite 
sides of the gate 12 as shown best in FIG. 1. The body 92 provides 
openings 98, 100, 102 which align with the openings 74, 76, 78 
respectively in the latching lever 44 as may be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. The 
forward end of the captivating lever 46 includes a surface 104 which 
conveniently is identical in shape to the cam surface 80. The surface 104 
terminates in a pointed projection 106 which extends across the gap 
between the rounded corner 82 and the striker face 86 to effectively block 
or obstruct movement of the latch segment 40 out of the reentrant slot 84 
as may best be seen in FIG. 2. Starting at the projection 106, the 
captivating lever 46 provides a reentrant slot 108 which, at the upper end 
thereof, overlaps the slot 84 to provide a recess for the latch segment 
40. A spring 110 extends between the captivating lever 46 and the opening 
64 in the bracket 42 to bias the captivating lever 46 in a captivating 
direction indicated by the arrow 112. 
The captivating lever 46 is preferably mounted on the latching lever 44 for 
independent pivotable movement relative thereto. To these ends, a fastener 
112, such as a nut and bolt, extend through the aligned openings 76, 100 
to support the captivating lever 46 on the latching lever 44 while 
allowing independent pivotal movement relative thereto. A spacer 114, in 
the form of a washer, is positioned between the levers 44, 46 and is 
captivated by the fastener 112 to prevent binding of the locking mechanism 
48 as will be more fully pointed out hereinafter. 
When closing the gate 12, the latch post 34 engages the cam surfaces 80, 
104 and thereby pivots the levers 44, 46 in a counterclockwise direction 
as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 until the latch post 34 is positioned adjacent 
the gap between the rounded corner 82 and the striker face 86. At some 
time during closing of the gate 12, the user must manipulate the 
captivating lever 46 to further bias it in a counterclockwise direction, 
as by depressing the ear 96 or elevating the ear 94, to move the 
projection 106 out from between the rounded corner 82 and the striker face 
86. This allows movement of the latch segment 40 into the reentrant slot 
84. As the gate 12 reaches the closed position, the captivating lever 46 
may be released so that the spring 110 biases the lever 46 to the position 
shown in FIG. 2 to captivate the latch segment 40 in the reentrant slot 84 
of the lever 44. 
In order to open the gate 12 and release the latch segment 40, the user 
depresses the ears 70, 96 on one side of the gate 12 or elevates the ears 
68, 94 on the other side. The lever 46 is rotated to a greater extent than 
the lever 44 in order to move the projection 106 out of the gap between 
the rounded corner 82 and the striker face 86. This effectively unblocks 
movement of the latch segment out of the reentrant slot 84. When the latch 
segment 40 clears the rounded corner 82, the gate 12 may be moved to its 
open position. 
In order to lock the gate 12 in its closed position, the locking mechanism 
48 is provided. The locking mechanism 48 comprises a lever manufactured 
from a single piece of planar metallic material and includes a body 116 
having an upstanding leg 118 providing an opening 120 therein receiving a 
threaded fastener 122 coupled to to the nut 62 for supporting the locking 
mechanism 48 on the bracket 42 and allowing pivotal movement thereof about 
the axis 124. The body 116 includes a notch 126 which allows the springs 
90, 110 to be connected to their respective levers 44, 46 without 
interference as may be seen best in FIG. 2. The locking mechanism 48 also 
includes an opening 128 aligned with the openings 74, 98 of the levers 44, 
46 respectively. A tab 130 on the locking body 116 overlies the 
captivating lever 46 so that rotation of the captivating lever 46 in the 
captivating direction 112 causes rotation of the locking mechanism 48 in 
the same direction. 
When it is desired to lock the levers 44, 46 in their closed position, the 
hasp of a padlock may be placed through the aligned openings 74, 128, 98. 
In this fashion, relative pivotal movement between the levers 44, 46 is 
prevented. It will be seen, of course, that unless the lever 46 can pivot 
relative to the lever 44, the projection 106 cannot be moved to unblock 
the path of movement of the latch segment 40 out of the reentrant slot 84. 
Referring to FIG. 4, a latch 132 is illustrated comprising another 
embodiment of this invention. The latch 132 is identical, in all respects, 
to the latch 14 except that the locking mechanism 48, the nut 62 and the 
spacer 114 have been eliminated. Accordingly, the brackets 42, 134 are 
identical, the latching levers 44, 136 are identical and the captivating 
levers 46, 138 are identical. The levers 136, 138 are connected by a 
threaded fastener (not shown) extending through aligned openings 140, 142 
in much the same manner that the fastener 112 mounts the lever 46 on the 
lever 44 while allowing relative pivotal movement therebetween. Since the 
locking mechanism 48 has been eliminated, it would seem that the locking 
feature afforded thereby has been eliminated. It is desirable, of course, 
to provide a locking feature. To this end, the lever 136 provides openings 
144, 146 on opposite sides of the gate 12 which align respectively with 
openings 148, 150 in the captivating lever 138. By placing a padlock 
through the openings 144, 148 or through the openings 146, 150, relative 
rotation between the levers 136, 138 is no longer possible. Accordingly, 
the latch post 34 necessarily remains captivated between the reentrant 
slots 152, 154 of the levers 136, 138. 
Referring to FIG. 5, a latch 156 comprising another embodiment of this 
invention is illustrated. The latch 156 comprises, as major components, a 
bracket 158, a latching and captivating lever 160 and a locking mechanism 
162. The bracket 158 is identical to the bracket 42 except for the shape 
of the slot in the leg 164. The leg 164 provides a compound shaped slot 
166 having a rectilinear enlargement 168 rather than the simple 
rectangular slot envisioned in the leg 58. In addition, the connection 
between the bracket 158 and the lever 160 is shown as reversed comprising 
a pin 170 on the bracket 158 extending through an opening in the lever 
160. 
The lever 160 is quite similar to the captivating lever 46 in that the 
forward end comprises a cam surface 172 terminating in a pointed 
projection 174 which is spaced, in the latch closed position, from the 
slotted leg 164 a distance less than the diameter of the latch segment 40. 
A reentrant slot 176 receives the latch segment 40 in the closed position 
of the gate 12. 
As the gate 12 is moved toward its closed position, the latch segment 40 
contacts the cam surface 172 and biases the lever 160 in a 
counterclockwise direction. The latch segment 40 will not readily pass the 
projection 174 and some manipulation of the lever 160 by the user may be 
required to pass the latch segment 40 into the reentrant slot 176. As the 
latch segment 40 moves into the slot 176, a spring 178 biases the lever 
160 in a latching direction indicated by the arrow 180. As the lever 160 
approaches its fully closed position, the projection 174 approaches the 
leg 164 a distance less than the diameter of the latch segment 40. Thus, 
if the lever 160 can be selectively precluded from pivotal movement 
relative to the bracket 158, the latch segment 40 may be locked in place 
and not released until manipulation of the latch 156 is allowed. 
To these ends, the locking mechanism 162 is provided. The locking mechanism 
162 comprises a simple planar metallic body 182 having an opening 184 
received on the pin 170. The body 182 extends through the enlargment 168 
of the slot 166 and is thereby prevented from rotation relative to the 
bracket 158. The body 182 also provides a pair of openings 186, 188 which 
align with the openings 190, 192 in the lever 160. In order to prevent 
rotation of the lever 160 and thereby to prevent movement of the latch 
segment 40 out of the reentrant slot 176, a padlock may be placed through 
the aligned openings 186, 190 on one side of the gate 12 or through the 
openings 188, 192 on the other side. 
It will accordingly be seen that there is provided an improved latch in 
accordance with the principles of this invention.