Patent ID: 7460812

Claim:
A gang safety latching mechanism for preventing unsafe separate simultaneous movement of plural co-assembled movable bodies relative to a reference body, the gang safety latching mechanism comprising; (a) a torsion spring and bracket device including (i) a torsion spring subassembly for attaching to a first movable body of the plural co-assembled movable bodies, (ii) a first bracket mounted onto said torsion spring subassembly, having a first free position and a first loaded position, and being movable between said first free position and said first loaded position, and (iii) a second bracket mounted onto said torsion spring subassembly, having a second free position and a second loaded position, and being movable between said second free position and said second loaded position, and wherein on said torsion spring and bracket device, a first direction of movement of said first bracket from said first loaded position to said first free position is opposite to a second direction of movement of said second bracket from said second loaded position to said second free position; (b) an interference assembly defining a receiving area, said interference assembly being locatable on the reference body and including (i) an opening for passage of an end portion of said torsion spring and bracket device into and out of said receiving area, (ii) a knocker member for contacting said first bracket when said end portion of said torsion spring and bracket device is passed through said opening; and (iii) a catch lip for trapping said second bracket within said receiving area; and (c) a gang locking member locatable on a second movable body of the plural co-assembled movable bodies for locking said second bracket to said first bracket, thereby gang locking said second movable body to said first movable body, and thereby preventing unsafe separate simultaneous movement of said second movable and said first movable body relative to said reference body.