Importance

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Abstract

Locking mechanism having a casing including a pair of spaced support plates of similar size and shape. The support plates have identical, spaced, congruent, T-shaped tongues along their front edges. When installed in a door, the tongues extend beyond the edge to engage a strike in the door frame. A pair of bolt members are pivoted in the space between the support plates and are movable between an extended, closed position engaging the strike to a retracted, open position not engaging the strike. A slide rod engages the bolt members and is rotatably and reciprocally journaled between the plates. The slide rod has a transverse arm portion adapted to be connected to one or more manual locking elements in the vehicle door to turn the rod between locked and unlocked mode positions. A slide actuator lever is pivoted to the casing and is engageable with the slide rod arm portion to turn it between locked and unlocked mode positions. A bolt actuator member is pivotably supported in the space between the support plates and is adapted to be connected to manual opening elements on the inside and outside of the door. The slide rod has an intermediate offset portion. When the slide rod is turned to its unlocked mode position, the offset portion thereof is engageable by the bolt actuator member to move the bolt members to their open position. When the slide rod is turned to its locked mode position the offset portion thereof is not engageable by the actuator member, thereby disabling the slide rod from moving the bolt members to open position when the actuator member is moved.

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First Claim