Patent ID: 7261332

Claim:
In an aircraft servicing pit latch mechanism for holding and releasing a pit lid removably mounted atop a subsurface aircraft servicing pit, wherein said pit lid has an upper surface and an undersurface and said pit has an upright wall, and including a catch member depending from said underside of said pit lid and mounted for rotational movement relative thereto about a catch member axis, and a latch member located on said upright wall adjacent said catch member and engageable therewith, the improvement wherein one of said catch and latch members is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced teeth alternatively and selectively engageable by the other of said catch and latch members, and wherein said catch member is a gravity operated device that is biased toward engagement with said latch member by the force of gravity and which includes a lever arm for disengaging said catch member from said latch member.