DescriptionBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As the world's population continues to grow humans encroach further into wildlife habitat. Wildlife is forced to adapt to living around humans, and, likewise, humans must adapt to living around wildlife. Wildlife and humans
DescriptionBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As the world's population continues to grow humans encroach further into wildlife habitat. Wildlife is forced to adapt to living around humans, and, likewise, humans must adapt to living around wildlife. Wildlife and humans are discouragedhowever from living together. For example, a popular adage is "a fed bear is a dead bear." Access to full garbage cans by bears or other wildlife is dangerous to both the bears and the humans. A variety of latches have therefore been designed todiscourage wildlife from opening a garbage or refuse container. Devices have been designed that simply reconfigure the lid or the handle of a garbage can to lock the can closed (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,782; and 4,691,840). Mechanicallatches are available for both single household refuse containers or residential garbage carts (U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,583,433; 3,731,964; 5,102,001; and 6,880,717 B1) and multiple household dumpsters (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,222,619; and 5,490,606). Gravitybased locking mechanisms have been designed to address the issue of automated garbage pick-up (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,224,744; 5,474,341; and 5,772,264). Many latches are available to lock refuse containers, these latches however are often complicated andnot designed to thwart wildlife. A need remains for a latch that is both simple in design and sturdy enough to discourage all animals, including bears.
All patents, patent applications, provisional patent applications and publications referred to or cited herein, are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the extent they are not inconsistent with the explicit teachings of thespecification.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention involves a latch for a refuse container or residential garbage cart that cannot be foiled by a grizzly bear. The latch has a rotatable handle that when turned slides one plate over another unlocking the latch by releasing pinsattached to the lid of the refuse container. The plates are spring-biased in a locked position. To open the container the latch must be opened against the spring. The subject latch is configured for both manual operation and automated operationtriggered to open upon being lifted by a garbage truck.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the latch of the subject invention on a refuse container.
FIG. 2A is a side elevational view of the latch shown in FIG. 1 in the latched or locked position which shows the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 2B is a side elevational view of the latch shown in FIG. 1 in the unlatched or open position which shows the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another preferred embodiment of the latch of the subject invention mounted on mounting means.
FIG. 4A is a side elevational view of the latch shown in FIG. 3 in the latched or locked position which shows the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 4B is a side elevational view of the latch shown in FIG. 3 in the unlatched or open position which shows the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 5 is a exploded view of the latch shown in FIG. 3 including mounting means.
FIG. 6 is a top elevational view of another preferred embodiment of the latch of the subject invention showing placement of the trigger mechanisms.
FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a trigger mechanism for the latch of the subject invention.
FIG. 7B is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the trigger mechanism for the latch of the subject invention shown in FIG. 7A.
FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the latch of the subject invention shown on a refuse container in a latched or locked position, the figure showing the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the latch shown in FIG. 8 in a unlatched or open position, the figure showing the internal working mechanisms of the latch.
FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of another preferred embodiment of the latch of the subject invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The bear-proof latch of the subject invention can be configured to be opened manually by a single user or to be opened automatically during automated pick-up by a garbage truck. The latch 10 is applied to a refuse container having a body 12 anda hinged lid 14. A latch plate 16 slides upon a slide plate 18 upon rotation of a handle 20. The latch plate 16 has at least one notch 22 that engages at least one pin 24 on the hinged lid 14 to secure the lid to the body 12 of the refuse container. The latch plate is biased to the slide plate by a spring so that notch in the latch plate engages the pin on the hinged lid and the lid is locked to the body of the container. To open the container the latch plate must be slid along the slide plateagainst the spring.
In the exemplified embodiments, the slide plate 18 is connected to the body 12 of the refuse container by a channel 26. The channel is bolted to the container body and the slide plate is bolted to the channe