Patent ID: 7013682

Claim:
A door assembly for a horizontal axis laundry machine having a drum mounted within said laundry machine, said drum being configured to have a substantially horizontal rotational axis, said door assembly comprising: a laundry machine lid positioned to provide access to said drum from above a circumference of said drum, said laundry machine lid being moveable from a closed lid position to an open lid position; a drum door pivotally mounted to a circumferential portion of said drum so as to be moveable radially outwardly from a closed drum door position to an open drum door position and so as to be radially inwardly moveable to a latch released position; a gravity controllable latch member comprising a first side and a second side; and a pivotal connection which pivotally connects said gravity controllable latch member with respect to said drum such that when said drum door is moved radially inwardly to said latch released position then said second side pivots with respect to said first side in a direction downwardly toward Earth in response to a gravitational force acting on said gravity controllable latch member.