Abstract: A latch mechanism having a flexible catch attached to a base with a centering disk for cooperative self-alignment with the door through which the latch mechanism is to be inserted and a shaft having a plurality of retention disks at spaced apart locations on the shaft is preferably molded into a single piece construction for cooperative combination with a handle (or knob) which is preferably molded in two sections and connected by a flexible hinge such that each section is a mirror image of the other. Each handle section has arrayed along its centerline a series of receivers for the plurality of disks on the latch shaft such that the disks are captured and retained in the receivers when the two sections of the handle are folded over onto one another and snap locked in place by cooperating projections and receivers positioned in opposing positions on each section of the handle.

Abstract: This invention relates to a one-piece latching device comprising a body of thermoplastic elastomer of specified durometer hardness having a substantially plane supporting surface, which is disposed in slidable relation in a recess or nesting site in a door or supporting panel, which comprises an elongated opening substantially in the plane of the supporting panel. One edge of the body, transverse to the supporting surface, terminates in a latching lip for engaging a striker bar or surface in cam-like fashion. The body is provided on its upper surface with means for providing a manual pull or thrust for retracting the latching lip and causing the body to slide in the direction of its opposite end, which terminates in an elastic spring member. The latter is compressed against an edge of the nesting site on the side opposite the latching lip imposing a spring-bias on the body, which causes it to slide in the opposite direction when the manual pull is released.