Rotary latch and lock mechanism

1. A latch actuation mechanism for actuation with a single pushbutton, the mechanism comprising:

a pair of latches, each latch comprising:

at least one support plate;

a latch fork pivotally supported from the support plate;

a lock cam that is pivotally supported from the support plate, the lock cam being movable from a first position where the lock cam prevents rotation of the latch fork to a second position where the lock cam does not interfere with the movement of the latch fork;

a spring, the spring being attached to the latch fork and the lock cam and extending between the latch fork and the lock cam, with the support plate being mounted between the spring and the latch fork, so that the spring biases the lock cam towards the first position while biasing the latch fork to a release position; and

a rod that extends from each lock cam, the rod being mounted from a rotating lever to create translation motion along the rod as well as translation of the rod about the rotating lever, the rotating lever being adapted for rotating about a pivot point in response to the pressing of the pushbutton, so that the rotation of the lever moves the rod to simultaneously move both of the lock cams to the second position.

2. A latch actuation mechanism according to claim 1 that is connected to a pushbutton actuator, the pushbutton actuator being connected to the rotating lever so that the lock cam of at least one of said latches moves from the first position to the second position in response to the pushing of the pushbutton actuator.

3. A latch actuation mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said at least one support plate of at least one of said latches comprises a pair of spaced apart support plates.

4. A latch actuation mechanism for actuation with a single pushbutton, the mechanism comprising:

a pair latches, each latch comprising:

a pair of spaced apart support plates, the spaced apart support plates defining a gap therebetween, at least one of the plates having a slotted aperture;

a latch fork pivotally supported from the support plates and positioned in the gap between the support plates;

a lock cam that is pivotally supported from the support plates and positioned in the slot, the lock cam being movable from a first position where the lock cam prevents rotation of the latch fork to a second position where the lock cam does not interfere with the movement of the latch fork;

a spring, the spring being positioned next to the slotted aperture and outside of the gap, the spring being attached to the latch fork and the lock cam so that the spring biases the lock cam towards the first position while at the same time biasing the latch fork to a release position, so that the movement of the lock cam to the second position allows the spring to move the latch fork to the release position; and

a rod that extends from each lock cam, the rod being mounted from a rotating lever, the rotating lever being adapted for rotating about a pivot point in response to the pressing of the pushbutton, so that the rotation of the lever moves the rod to simultaneously move both of the lock cams to the second position.

5. A latch actuation mechanism according to claim 4 wherein said latch fork includes a mouth that is adapted for accepting a striker, and said lock cam includes a closure portion that closes the mouth when the latch fork is in said first position.

6. A latch actuation mechanism according to claim 4 and further comprising a pushbutton lock, the pushbutton lock having a pushbutton that is connected to the rotateable lever, so that pushing of the pushbutton causes said pivotable cams to move the lock cams to said second position, so that the latch fork of each latch is free to be moved by the spring.

7. A latch actuation mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said rotatable lever moves the actuation rod in response to the pushing of the pushbutton only when the pivotable cam is in the unlocked position, the actuation rod being connected at least at least one lock cam, so that pushing pushbutton while the pivotable cam is in the unlocked position causes actuation rod to move the at least one lock cam to move to the second position.

8. A pusbutton operated latching system, the latching system comprising:

a pushbutton;

at least one striker;

at least one latch mechanism adapted for cooperating with the at least one striker, the at least one latch mechanism comprising:

a pair of spaced apart support plates, the spaced apart support plates defining a gap therebetween, at least one of the plates having a slotted aperture;

a latch fork pivotally supported from the support plates and positioned in the gap between the support plates, the latch fork being adapted for accepting the striker and pivoting from a lock position where the striker is retained by the latch fork to a release position where the striker is released from the latch fork;

a lock cam that is pivotally supported from the support plates and positioned in the slot, the lock cam being movable from a first position where the lock cam prevents rotation of the latch fork to a second position where the lock cam does not interfere with the movement of the latch fork;

a spring, the spring being positioned next to the slotted aperture and outside of the gap, the spring being attached to the latch fork and the lock cam so that the spring biases the lock cam towards the first position while at the same time biasing the latch fork to a release position, so that the movement of the lock cam to the second position allows the spring to move the latch fork to the release position; and

and

a rod that extends from each lock cam, the rod being mounted from a rotating lever, the rotating lever being adapted for rotating about a pivot point in response to the pressing of the pushbutton, so that the rotation of the lever moves the rod to simultaneously move both of the lock cams to the second position.

9. A latching system according to claim 8 wherein each of said at least one latch fork includes a mouth that is adapted for accepting a striker, and said lock cam includes a closure portion that closes the mouth when the latch fork is in said first position.