Abstract:
A sliding door has a latch assembly and a vertically disposed pull handle that would normally interfere with convenient operation of the latch lever. A rotatable latch lever is located beyond the handle and a rotatable latch is located opposite the handle. A 4-bar coupling extends between the lever and the latch so that the latch is conveniently rotatable from beyond the pull handle for engaging a cooperating keeper.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/613,294, filed Jul. 10, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,572, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/214,493, filed Jun. 27, 2000. 

   STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Not Applicable 
   REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
   Not Applicable 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to sliding door latch assemblies, and more particularly to the combination of a sliding door and latch assembly in which the latch, although behind or under the door pull handle, is conveniently operated by having the lever that operates the latch mounted beyond the area of the handle, and coupled to the latch by an elongated mechanism that translates the rotary action of the lever to rotary shifting of the latch from beyond the handle area. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Sliding doors have leading stiles that fit to the doorjamb. The door lock comprises a latch that interfits with a keeper in the doorjamb. Sliding doors are heavy and may not slide easily after a time. Typical handles provide for but a finger hold to move the door. Accordingly, better, larger handles are required, but there is little space on the latch assembly for the handle unless the area over the latch actuation mechanism is used. This handle placement, however, leads to difficulties in operating the mechanism in its hidden and difficult to reach location. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the invention to enable the use in sliding doors of larger handles that can be gripped by more than the fingertips while avoiding the difficulties that such placement of the handle causes when the handle in order to be adequate in size and shape tends to block the hand movement needed to reach the latch and latch lever. It is a further object to eliminate the resultant interference with latch operation and door locking and unlocking that use of larger handles has precipitated. 
   It is another object of the invention to provide a sliding door and latch assembly that provides a large handle for door shifting but is readily latched as well. It is a further object to provide an improved latch assembly that is accessible despite the presence of the larger handle. It is a still further object to provide a sliding door latch assembly that vertically spaces the latch and the latch lever such that the lever is accessible beyond the handle while the latch is within the housing locus where the handle is located. It is a further and specific object to provide an elongated, vertically disposed 4-bar coupling of the spaced latch and lever that translates the rotation of the lever into rotation of the latch for shifting the latch into or out of latching relation with the latch keeper. 
   These and other objects of the invention to become apparent hereinafter are realized in a sliding door latch assembly comprising a vertically extended housing having a vertically disposed pull handle opposite a housing locus extending over a major portion of but not all of the vertical extent of the housing, a latch mounted within the housing locus and shiftable to and from the housing for locking the sliding door to a cooperating keeper mounted in a sliding doorjamb opposite the latch, a rotary actuator within the housing locus for shifting the latch, a hand-operated lever rotatably mounted to the housing beyond the housing locus, the lever being vertically spaced a predetermined distance from the rotary actuator, the lever being rigidly linked to the rotary actuator for rotatably actuating the latch by the rotatable lever without having the lever within the housing locus, whereby hand actuation of the lever and latch is free of interference from the pull handle. 
   In this and like embodiments, typically, the latch is hook-shaped and the cooperating keeper comprises a slot; the housing is rectangular in cross-section; the lever further includes a rotatable lever plate, the lever plate and the lever being mounted to a common pivot for rotation together responsive to hand operation of the lever; the rotary actuator comprises a rotatable latch plate, the latch plate and the latch being mounted to a common pivot for rotation together responsive to actuation of the latch plate by the lever; the lever further comprises a rotatable lever plate, the lever plate and the lever being mounted to a common pivot for rotation together responsive to actuation of the latch plate by the lever, the lever plate and the latch plate being rigidly coupled such that rotation of the lever plate causes a like rotation in the latch plate and the latch, there is also included a pair of bars movably fixed to and extending between the lever plate and the latch plate, the bars being arranged to transmit rotary movement of the lever plate to the latch plate, and the bars are of a length to extend from within the housing locus to beyond the housing locus and across the predetermined vertical distance. 
   In a further embodiment, the latch is hook-shaped and the cooperating keeper comprises a slot, the housing is rectangular in cross-section and comprises front, rear and side walls, the front wall being slotted to pass the latch in shifting relation to and from the keeper, the side walls supporting the latch assembly, the pull handle is an inside handle sized for grasping with several fingers, and including also an outside handle fixed to the housing, and there is also included a sliding door having a leading stile, the leading stile defining the housing. 
   In a further embodiment, the invention provides a sliding door and latch assembly having a vertically disposed pull handle, a rotatable latch lever beyond the handle and a rotatable latch opposite the handle, and a 4-bar coupling between the lever and the latch, whereby the latch is rotatable from beyond the pull handle for engaging a cooperating keeper. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be further described in conjunction with the attached drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the invention sliding door latch assembly, partly broken away to show underlying parts; 
       FIG. 2A  is a top plan view of the latch assembly; 
       FIG. 2B  is a side elevation view thereof; and 
       FIG. 2C  is a bottom plan view thereof. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   With reference now to the drawings in detail, in  FIGS. 1 and 2  the invention sliding door latch assembly, generally indicated at  10 , comprises a vertically extended housing  12  that is suitably a portion of the leading stile  14  of the sliding door  16 . Secured to one side of the housing  12  is an escutcheon plate  12   a  and a vertically disposed pull handle  18  opposite a housing locus  22  extending over a major portion of but not all of the vertical extent of the housing. The handle  18  is connected to the escutcheon plate  12   a  at one or more connection points  18   a . Extending from the front face of the escutcheon plate  12   a  is a lever  46 , for actuation by a user. An actuator shaft  45  extends from the opposite face of the escutcheon plate  12   a  to mate with slot  47  on the latch housing  25 . The latch  24  proper extends from latch housing  25  that is mounted within the housing locus  22 , the latch being shiftable to and from the housing for locking the sliding door to a cooperating keeper  26  mounted in a sliding door jamb opposite the latch. 
   The latch  24  is suitably hook-shaped; its cooperating keeper  26  comprises a slot  27  sized to receive and retain the latch hook portion. Housing  12  is suitably rectangular in transverse cross-section and comprises front wall  28 , rear wall  32 , and side walls  34 ,  36 . Housing front wall  28  is slotted to pass the latch  24  in shifting relation to and from the keeper  26 . Side walls  34 ,  36  support the latch housing  25  in position through mounting screws  38 . Pull handle  18  defines the door inside handle and is sized for encirclement by and grasping with several fingers. An outside handle  42  is also fixed to the housing  12  to complete the door and latch assembly. 
   It will be noted that the handle  18  covers much of the housing locus  22 , and will cover a latch-operating lever that is in the typical position. The invention places the latch  24  in the typical position in housing locus  22 , but moves the latch operating lever to a position that is not behind or covered over by the handle  18 . For this purpose the invention uses a 4-bar linkage  25  that transmits the rotary motion of the lever to the latch actuator as follows: A rotary actuator  44  located within the housing locus  22  serves to shift the latch  24  in locking and unlocking relation by rotation of shaft  45  in latch housing slot  47 . A hand-operated lever  46  is rotatably mounted to the housing  12  beyond the housing locus  22 . Lever  46  is vertically spaced a predetermined distance D from the rotary actuator  44  and rigidly linked to the rotary actuator for rotatably actuating the latch  24  by the rotatable lever without having the lever within the housing locus  22 . Thus, hand actuation of the lever  46  and shifting of the latch  24  is free of interference from the pull handle  18 . 
   Lever  46  includes a rotatable lever plate  48 , the lever plate and the lever being mounted to a common pivot, shaft  52 , for rotation together responsive to hand operation of the lever. The rotary actuator  44  comprises a rotatable latch plate  54 , the latch plate and the latch being mounted to a common pivot, shaft  45 , for rotation together responsive to actuation of the latch plate by the lever  46  and its rotatable lever plate  48 . Lever plate  48  defines a first bar  49 , and lever plate  54  defines a second bar  55 . Bars  58 ,  62  define third and fourth bars of the 4-bar linkage  25 . Bars  58 ,  62  are movably fixed to bars  49 ,  55  at either edge of the lever and latch plates  48 ,  54 , respectively, and extending therebetween, so as to transmit rotary movement of the lever plate to the latch plate. It will be noted the bars  58 ,  62  are of a length to extend from within the housing locus  22  to beyond the housing locus and across the predetermined vertical distance D. 
   The invention thus provides a sliding door and latch assembly that provides a large handle for door shifting but is readily latched as well, and an improved latch assembly that is accessible despite the presence of the larger handle that vertically spaces the latch and the latch lever such that the lever is accessible beyond the handle while the latch is within the housing locus where the handle is located. In particular, the invention provides an elongated, vertically disposed 4-bar coupling of the spaced latch and lever that translates the rotation of the lever into rotation of the latch for shifting the latch into or out of latching relation with the latch keeper. The foregoing objects are thus met.