Sliding latches of this type are known in the art and are usually employed to block doors and wings of doors or windows to the posts to which they are hinged. They are vertically arranged and have a lock available that engages a suitable seat obtained into the transverse upper and lower posts or directly into the floor or on the ceiling.

Usually, the sliding latches are arranged in an upper or lower position on the door or window wing that is desired to block, and, when this latter one is in its closed position, remain included within the existing space between two adjacent wings, that is usually very small.

All major sliding latches that can be found nowadays on the market exploit the work of a lever connected to the lock and resting onto a small leaf spring that pushes the lever into its two latch opening and closing positions. These sliding latches are however composed of a high number of parts and are not satisfactory, also from the point of view of their closing ease and seal.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior-art problems, by providing an improved sliding latch equipped with a very reduced number of parts, that makes its realization easy, reducing costs and simplifying installation procedures.

A further object of the present invention is providing a sliding latch that, due to the insertion of suitably-preloadd resilient means, makes it easy to reach the opening and closing positions, simplifying its use for the end user, since, once having exceeded the force on the lever provided by the resilient means preload, the resilient means themselves apply the necessary force to make the lever snap into its two opening and closing positions.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained through an improved sliding latch for window and door frames as claimed in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are claimed in the dependent Claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which: -Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the sliding latch according to the present invention in its closing position; -Figure 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1 with the sliding latch in its opening position; -Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the parts composing the sliding latch of Fig. s 1 and 2; -Figure 4 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the sliding latch according to the present invention in its closing position; -Figure 5 is a similar view to Fig. 4 with the sliding latch in its opening position; and -Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the parts composing the sliding latch of Fig. s 4 and 5.

With reference first to Fig. s 1 to 3, a first preferred embodiment of the sliding latch 1 of the present invention is shown.

According to Figs 1 to 3, the sliding latch 1 substantially comprises lock means 3; lever means 5 adapted to cooperate with the lock means 3 in order to move them into their two operating opening and closing positions of the window and door frames; support means 7 for the lever means 5, which support means 7 are equipped with resilient leaf means 9 to push the lever means 5 into their two operating positions; and resilient means 11 adapted to operatively connect the lock means 3 and the lever support means 7.

In particular, the resilient means 11 are composed of a spring that is substantially shaped as an open-ring rectangle, equipped with a pair of parallel arms 14,16 with mutually different lengths; each one of the arms 14,16 is equipped with a respective projection 15,17 adapted to be connected to the lock means 3.

The spring 11 is realized as preloaded (with a preload that depends on the material with which it is made and on the thickness of the spring itself), that is with arms 14,16 that, in a rest position, are mutually offset by a certain angle. With this configuration and with the projections 15,17 of the arms 14,16 that are adapted to be inserted into corresponding offset holes 18,20 of the lock means 3, the preload of the spring 11 is fully exploited to reach the operating positions of the sliding latch 1, and, once having exceeded the force of the spring 11, the lever 5 is taken by the spring 11 to reach by itself the opening and closing positions of the sliding latch 1.

The spring support means 7 are commonly realized as a small plate 7 equipped with holes 50, 52 adapted to contain respective dowels or screws 54,56 for securing the small plate 7 to a window and door frame in an unmovable way. Moreover, the small plate 7 is equipped with rings 58,60 through which a small pin 62 passes in order to secure the lever means 5 to the small plate 7, with the leaf spring 9 cooperating in a known way with the lever means 5 themselves.

In the first embodiment, the lock means 3 are then composed of two separate elongated bodies 22, 24 adapted to be mutually connected through a union member 26 equipped with at least two holes 28,30 within which respective projections 32,34 are inserted, that are obtained into the two elongated bodies 22,24, wherein one, 24, of the two elongated bodies 22,24 and the union member 26 are equipped with wings 70,72,74 adapted to allow the insertion of the lock means 3 inside suitable grooves or slots obtained into the window and door frames. The presence of the union member 26 is useful for making the sliding latch 1 assembling operations more flexible, since the installing operator can choose a union member 26 with a desired length and obtain therein the two holes 28, 30, finally realizing a sliding latch of the desired length according to the applications.

With reference now to Fig. s 4 to 6, a second preferred embodiment of the sliding latch 1 of the present invention is shown, wherein the parts that are identical or similar to the ones of the previous first embodiment are shown by the same reference numbers and will not be described any more.

According to Fig. s 4 to 6, the sliding latch 1 is different from the previous one since the lock means 3 are realized as an elongated rod and are equipped with at least two box-shaped sliding members 36,38 that are adapted to be secured to window and door frames through common securing means 80 (such as the screws).

The sliding latch of the second embodiment is further equipped with an external covering structure 40 adapted to substantially cover the lock means 3 in one portion thereof, and to house inside it (opening 41) the lever means 5 and the lever support means 7, leaving them able to be reached from the outside in order to operate them.