Pallet Latching Assembly
A truck bed is divided into a plurality of bays, each bay being defined by a pair of dividers. In each bay is a pallet. A latching mechanism assembly is attached to a bottom rail of each pallet and comprises a bolt which is spring-loaded outwardly, through the keeper hole in an adjacent divider. A triangular link is rotatably mounted at a fixed pivot point in the assembly. The bolt is coupled to a second point on the link. An actuator is movable substantially vertically and is attached to a third point on the link. When the fork of a lift truck engages the actuator and raises it, the link is caused to rotate about the fixed pivot point, to withdraw the bolt and thereby unlatch the latching mechanism.
1 . A latching mechanism attached to a pallet to retain the pallet on a support having a keeper, comprising:
a base member configured for attachment to a bottom rail of a pallet;
a bolt movably mounted to said base member, movable substantially horizontally between a latching position in the keeper and an unlatching position outside the keeper;
a spring for urging said bolt to the latching position thereof, an actuator movable substantially upwardly and substantially downwardly, a link mounted for rotation about a fixed point, a slot in said link and a pin passing therethrough and attached to said bolt for coupling said bolt to said link, said actuator coupled to said link, said actuator comprises a plate for being engaged by the fork of a lift truck for moving said actuator substantially upwardly to move said bolt to the unlatching position thereof.
2 . The latching mechanism set forth in claim 1 , wherein said bolt has a yolk-shaped end, said yolk-shaped end receiving said link and said pin passing through said yolk-shaped end and said link.
3 . The latching mechanism set forth in claim 1 , wherein said plate is slightly inclined.
4 . The latching mechanism set forth in claim 1 , wherein said actuator has an inclined surface.
5 . The latching mechanism set forth in claim 1 , wherein said link includes a plate of generally triangular shape having three corners, said fixed point being adjacent to one of said corners, said slot adjacent to a second of said corners and said actuator being coupled adjacent to a third of said corners.
6 . A latching mechanism assembly for mounting to a pallet to retain the pallet on a support having a keeper, comprising:
a base member configured to fit within a bottom channel of a pallet;
a bolt movably mounted to the base member and movable substantially horizontally between a latching position in the keeper and an unlatching position outside the keeper, a spring for urging said bolt to the latching position thereof, an actuator for being engaged by the fork of a lift truck for moving said actuator substantially upwardly to move said bolt to the unlatching position thereof.
7 . The latching mechanism assembly according to claim 6 , wherein said base member is channel shaped and comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart walls fixed to the base member within the channel shape of said base member, each wall having a hole, the holes being in longitudinal registry, said bolt guided for horizontal movement by being movable in said holes.