As is known in the art of door latching, typically an electrically-controlled strike is mounted in a frame portion of a door and engages a mortise-type lockset disposed on or in an edge portion of the door. Typically, the mortise-type lockset includes a spring latch and a dead latch that is linearly spaced-apart from the spring latch along the edge portion of the door. The spring latch is reciprocally moveable between an engaged position so that it can engage the strike, thereby to retain the door in a fastened state, and a release position, wherein the door is released from the fastened state and is free to open. The dead latch is reciprocally moveable between an enabled position (extended) that permits movement of the spring latch from the engaged position to the release position and a disabled position (depressed) that prohibits movement of the spring latch from the engaged position to the release position. The spring latch is resiliently biased into an engaged position and the dead latch is resiliently biased into the enabled position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,991 B2, the relevant disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an electrically-controlled strike comprising a housing adapted to be mounted in a frame portion of a door and having a cavity with a forwardly disposed opening that is sized and adapted to receive a spring latch and a dead latch when the door is in the fastened state; a spring latch mounted for linear reciprocal movement in a longitudinal throw direction in the housing between an extended position and a retracted position; a dead latch mounted for linear reciprocal movement in the longitudinal throw direction in the housing between an advanced position and a withdrawn position; a head portion supported on the spring latch plunger and being selectively positionable at a selected head location in the opening of the cavity, the head portion being operative to engage spring latch bolt when the door is in the fastened state thereby to accommodate different locations of the spring latch on the edge portion of the door; a striker assembly supported on the dead latch plunger and including an ensemble of strike elements operative to define a strike surface for the dead latch and providing a portal for the spring latch at a selected portal location, the strike elements being selectively arrangeable into different configurations thereby to vary the selected portal location to accommodate different spring latch and dead latch arrangements (as found over a variety of mortise locksets); and a drive operative to reciprocally drive the dead latch from the advanced position to the withdrawn position and to advance the spring latch from the retracted position to the extended position. The invention provides a single electrically actuated door latch structure that can be customized to a variety of spring latch and dead latch arrangements.
The disclosed mechanism is complex, comprising a large number of components including an electric motor gear train, and worm gear drive; a multiple-component attack head subassembly for enabling and disabling the door spring latch; and a multiple-component strike element subassembly for enabling and disabling the dead latch. The attack head subassembly and the strike element subassembly are driven reciprocally in coordination by the electric motor gear train during operation of the mechanism.
What is needed in the art is a simplified electrically-controlled strike that can be customized to a variety of spring latch and dead latch arrangements and that has relatively few components operated simply by an electric solenoid.
What is further needed is a kicker disposed in the strike and cooperative with the keeper and spring latch to facilitate movement of the spring latch toward its released position.
It is a principal object of the present invention to reduce the cost and complexity of an electrically-controlled strike for a mortise door lockset and to improve spring latch release operation.