BACKGROUND The invention finds particular application, but is not restricted to, metal cabinets and drawers and is particularly useful for such enclosures which are fabricated from sheet metal. Such enclosures find application in many industries including the storage of metal parts, the storage of items contained within motor vehicles or boats, and the like.

Such drawers, doors, etc. are often latched in order to maintain the door or drawer closed and are each provided with a handle which incorporates a latch release mechanism. This mechanism is operable to simultaneously release the latch and allow the drawer or door to be pulled open by the handle.

The object of the present invention is to provide a latching handle which can be used in the above mentioned environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a latching handle for drawers, doors and like members movable with respect to a frame which has first and second stationary portions located one to either side of said drawer, one to the top and one to the bottom of said door, and the like, said handle comprising a fixed base extending substantially between said first and second stationary portions and shaped to be secured to said movable member, a manually graspable part also extending substantially between said first and second stationary portions and pivotably mounted with respect to said base, a pair of latches each pivotably mounted and positioned at a corresponding opposite end of said base, each said latch being shaped to co-operate with a corresponding

one of said stationary portions, and said latches being substantially hidden from view by said manually graspable part and movable thereby to release said latches.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of latching and releasing drawers, doors and like movable members.

A method of, and apparatus for, securing a lock are also disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a set of drawers each of which is provided with a latching handle in accordance with the preferred embodiment, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a metal enclosure with a single pivoting door which is provided with the latching handle of the preferred embodiment, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a cupboard provided with a pivotal door to which a latching handle of the preferred embodiment is fitted, Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the top right hand corner of the set of drawers of Fig. 1 as viewed from the interior of the uppermost drawer, Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the frame illustrated in Fig. 4 but viewed from the opposite direction, Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of one end of the latching handle of Fig. 4 but viewed from the opposite direction, Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view through the fixed base of the handle of Fig. 4, Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an aluminium extrusion from which the fixed base is fabricated, Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view through an extrusion from which the manually graspable part of the handle is fabricated, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of an aluminium extrusion from which the manually graspable part is fabricated.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT INVENTION Turning now to Fig. 1, a set of drawers 1 having four drawers 2 is illustrated. Each drawer 2 has a latching handle 3 by means of which the drawer 2 may be opened by sliding

in the direction of the arrows of Fig. 1. A lock 4 is provided to enable all the drawers to be locked shut.

In Fig. 2, a similar enclosure 6 is illustrated having a single door 7 which is pivoted at its upper edge and is movable in the direction of arrows indicated in Fig. 2. The door 7 is provided with the latching handle 3 as before. Fig. 3 illustrates an alternative form of enclosure such as a cupboard 8 which has a single door 9 pivoted in conventional fashion so as to be movable in the direction of arrows indicated in Fig. 3. The door 9 includes a latching handle 3 extending from top to bottom thereof.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 4, it will be seen that the lock 4 is fitted into the right hand upright 12 of the frame 13 of the set of drawers 1. The lock 4 is retained in position by means of an apertured keeper 14 which is frictionally engaged with the body of the lock 4.

The keeper 14 is provided with a partially punched centre portion 15 and an apertured lug 16. The keeper 14 is only able to be removed by engaging a hook with the aperture in the lug 16 and pulling upwardly on the keeper 14 so as to result in the keeper 15 deforming about the centre portion 15.

A vertical locking bar 18 extends alongside the upright 12 and has an elongate slot 19 which slides over a guide 20. The guide 20 has an ear 21 which is located in a slot 22 in the upright 12. A pop rivet 23 secures the guide 20 to the upright 12 after it has been passed through the elongate slot 19. Shoulders 24 on the guide 20 ensure that the locking bar 18 is only able to move reciprocally in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the elongate slot 19.

The locking bar 18 is provided with a number of protrusions 26 which equal the number of drawers 2 and which inter-engage with a cutout 27 formed in a lip of the corresponding drawer 2. The upper end of the locking bar 18 has a horizontally aligned opening 28 which receives a pin 29 eccentrically positioned on a cam 30 which is rotated by means of the key (not illustrated) used to operate the lock 4.

That is, the key when placed in the lock 4 is able to rotate the cam 30 and hence the pin 29 which, because it is engaged in the opening 28, is able to raise or lower the locking bar 18 thereby either engaging or disengaging, the protrusions 26 from the corresponding

cutouts 27. In this way, all of the drawers 2 can be simultaneously locked by a single operation of the key in the lock 4.

In addition to being collectively lockable, each of the drawers 2 is individually latchable and the latch mechanism will now be described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6. It will be seen that the upright 12 is provided with a series of vertically spaced apart square holes 32 extending along its length. A base plate 33 having a central threaded aperture 34, a hook 35, a pair of wings 36 and feet 37 is provided in order to enable a latch plate 40 to be positioned at any desired location along the upright 12.

The base plate 33 is able to be turned so as to lie on a diagonal of one hole 32 and the hook 35 and wings 36 of the base plate 33 are then passed through that hole 32 and the base plate 33 manipulated so that the hook 35 passes out of, and is engaged with the lower edge of, the next uppermost hole 32. The feet 37 prevent the base plate 33 passing completely through any hole 32 and thus being lost within the interior of the upright 12.

With the hook 35 engaged with the lower rim of the next upper hole 32, the central aperture 34 is aligned with the centre of the one hole 32 and the wings 36 engage the vertical sides of the one hole 32. With the base plate 33 in this position, the threaded shank of a screw 39 can be passed through the central aperture 41 of the latch plate 40 and the latch plate 40 securely held relative to the base plate 33 and thus relative to the upright 12.

In this way, the latching aperture 42 of the latch plate 40 can be positioned at any one of a number of locations along the upright 12, each corresponding to a location for the corresponding square hole 32. Although only one upright 12 is illustrated in Fig. 5, it is to be understood that each upright located to either side of the drawers 2 is provided with a similar latch plate 40 having a latching aperture 42 for each drawer so that each drawer 2 is provided with a pair of simultaneously operable latches.

One end of the latching handle 3 provided for each drawer 2 is illustrated in Fig. 6. As seen in Figs. 4 and 6, the handle 3 is formed from a fixed base 45 and a manually graspable part or handle proper 46 which at each end has an end plate 47, only one of which is illustrated in each of Figs. 4 and 6. The end plate 47 is secured to the fixed base 45 by means of pop rivets 48,49.

Each end plate 47 is provided with a threaded stud 50 over which is passed a sleeve 51, return spring 52, and a latch 53 which is secured by means of a nut 54. The latch 53 is shaped to cooperate with the latching aperture 42 of the latch plate 40.

As best seen in Fig. 9, the handle 46 is provided with a lip 56 at each end of which a longitudinally slit bearing 57 is positioned so as to be engagable with a semicircular groove 59 formed in the fixed base 45. This enables the handle 46 to pivot relative to the fixed base 45 and two return springs 60, only one of which is illustrated in Fig. 6, are positioned between the fixed base 45 and the handle 46 so as to return the handle 46 to the rest position illustrated in Fig. 4.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate the aluminium extrusion of constant cross section from which the fixed base 45 is fabricated and Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate the aluminium extrusion of constant cross section from which the handle 46 is fabricated.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the latch 53 protrudes through the square opening 58 in the end plate 47 (Fig. 6) and thus is obscured from view in Fig. 4 being under the horizontal lip 31 in which the cutout 27 is formed. As a consequence, when the drawer 2 is open and is pushed home by a manually exerted force being directed on the front face of the handle 46, the latch 53 engages with the latching aperture 42 in order to latch the drawer shut. In order to open the drawer, the handle 46 is manually grasped and pivoted anticlockwise as seen in Fig. 4 (and clockwise as seen in Fig. 6) so as to depress the latch 53 which then clears the latching aperture 42 and enables the drawer 2 to be pulled open.

The above described structure provides a number of various substantial advantages.

Firstly, the drawer 2 is latched at each opposite side and this pair of latches provides a more secure arrangement than any single latch. Secondly, the fixed base 45 and handle 46, which are of extruded aluminium, have a substantial bending moment and thus provide a considerable stiffening to the entire structure of the drawer 2 (or doors 7,9). Furthermore, because the handle 3 extends across the width of the drawer 2, or from top to bottom of the door 9, for example, the drawer 2 or door 9 can be opened by the handle 3 being manually grasped anywhere along its length. This provides considerable convenience when working in cramped conditions, for example.

In addition, as each of the drawers 2 is individually latched, in the event that, say, the uppermost drawer 2 of the set of drawers 1 is pulled open by a user and thereby inadvertently pitches the entire set of drawers 1 forwardly towards the user, this pitching movement does not result in all the other drawers sliding forwardly. Furthermore, the forward pitching motion can be easily reversed by the user pushing rearwardly on the particular drawer 2 which was opened and against which the user's hand is already positioned. This means that such a pitching motion can be immediately corrected. This advantage is of considerable assistance in boats or similar vessels which may be subjected to passing wakes (caused by a ferry or similar vessel) which often arrive at inopportune times.

Also, the manually graspable part, or handle 46, hides from view the latch mechanism thereby providing an overall aesthetically pleasing appearance to the latching handle 3.

Similarly, the base 46 and handle 47 being fabricated from extrusions, means that different length handles 3 can be easily fabricated simply by cutting the components 45 and 46 to the desired length. Further, the fixing mechanisms used for the latch plate 40 and fixed base 45 means that the handle 3 can be readily positioned in a large number of possible locations using identical componentry.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The term"comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of"having"or"including"and not in the exclusive sense of"consisting only of'.