Strike Assembly Shim Plate for Deadlatch Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Deadlatch systems face issues with alignment variability during installation, leading to unintended depression of the deadlatch lever into the socket, and the existing strike assemblies have constrained spaces that make drilling or tapping for shims difficult, restricting access and proper alignment.
Innovation Solution
A strike assembly with a housing featuring an internal socket wall aperture and an insert with a female thread, allowing for secure engagement of rectangular shims and a shim plate, which can be aligned and fastened to prevent deadlatch lever misalignment and facilitate installation by providing additional access for mounting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the strike's socket is made larger than the primary latch to accommodate alignment variability, then the primary latch engagement reliability is improved, but the deadlatch lever becomes more likely to undesirably engage the socket
Solution Approach 1:
A shim plate is introduced as an intermediary component between the deadlatch lever and the socket. The shim plate fills the gap between these components, preventing the deadlatch lever from contacting and depressing into the socket while allowing the primary latch to engage the socket normally. This mediator resolves the contradiction by blocking the harmful interaction without interfering with the desired engagement.
2Reliability
If drilling or tapping holes is performed into the internal wall of the strike socket at the installation site, then shims can be secured to prevent deadlatch lever engagement, but the constrained space of the strike socket makes such actions difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The shim plate is designed as a separate, pre-fabricated component with a hole pattern that aligns with the receiving aperture in the strike socket. This segmentation allows the shim plate to be installed as a discrete unit rather than requiring in-situ drilling or tapping operations within the constrained socket space. The shim plate can be secured using existing apertures or minimal fastening points, greatly simplifying the installation process.
3Ease of manufacture
If a unitary housing for the strike is provided that integrally delimits its exposed internal and external surfaces, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but drilling or tapping access to the socket walls is further restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The shim plate is designed to be pre-installed into the strike socket before the final assembly is completed. The receiving aperture for the shim plate is formed as an integral part of the unitary housing during manufacturing, providing predetermined access points. This preliminary preparation of the aperture allows the shim plate to be installed easily without requiring subsequent drilling or tapping operations on the unitary housing.
Data Source
AI summary
The strike assembly can have a strike with a strike face, a socket in the strike face for receiving a male locking member retractably mounted to a door, the socket having a shim-receiving wall integral to and normal to the strike face, the shim-receiving wall having a receiving aperture, an insert being securely engageable into the receiving aperture along an insert engagement path, and a shim plate held firmly in the socket, against the shim-receiving wall, by the insert, when the insert is engaged into the receiving aperture.