Patent ID: 7044509

Claim:
In a latch assembly formed of a bolt housing, a longitudinally elongated latch bar partially retained within a passageway of the bolt housing and longitudinally extendable therefrom, and a keeper having a reception passage for receiving an extending free end of the latch bar; wherein the free end of the latch bar is extendable from the bolt housing into the keeper, thereby establishing a latching relationship with the keeper, the improvement comprising: the free end of said latch bar is configured with a cavity on a lateral face thereof, and the latch bar is forked from the free end of the latch bar to a junction with said cavity, thereby defining a longitudinal slot extending from the free end of the latch bar and leading into the bolt cavity; the cavity is of a dimension wider than the width of said slot at its junction with the cavity; said keeper comprises a cross-latch in a transversely moveable relationship with respect to said reception passage, between positions of greater and lesser intersection with the reception passage; resilient means biases movement of said cross-latch toward a position of greater intersection with the reception passage; an operator is connected to the cross-latch for selectively retracting the cross-latch against the force of said resilient means to a position of lesser intersection with the reception passage; the latch bar comprises a keeper end stop, and said cross-latch is suitably positioned with respect to the reception passage to be engaged with said keeper end stop for stopping entry of said latch bar within the reception passage at a location where the cavity is positioned to receive the cross-latch when the cross-latch is in said position of lesser intersection with the reception passage; wherein said cavity and cross-latch are suitably arranged such that the cross-latch and cavity are mutually engaged when the cross-latch is in said position of greater intersection with the reception passage and the latch bar is positioned in the reception passage to receive the cross-latch, thereby locking the latch bar to the keeper; and the cross-latch and cavity are mutually disengaged when the cross-latch is in said position of lesser intersection with the reception passage, allowing the latch bar to be inserted into or removed from the reception passage.