Abstract: A child-proof safety latch for a swimming pool safety barrier, or other stretched-panel fence, includes a threaded rod having an expandable nut, such as a toggle-wing nut, that can move to and fro along the rod between a movable stop and a fixed stop adjacent an end of the rod that is distal from a first fence pole to which the rod is permanently affixed. To fasten two adjacent fence panels together, an operator collapses the expandable nut and inserts it through an eyelet attached to a second fence pole. The operator then expands the nut so as to capture the eyelet and turns the expandable nut so as to draw the two poles together.

Abstract: Lightweight, easily handled safety barriers are commonly erected around swimming pools to save small children from accidental drowning. Prior art barriers are made of a number of flexible panels attached to poles that are inserted into partially sleeved receptacles. The degree of protection offered by such a fence is improved by the provision of interlocking poles and receptacles. In a preferred embodiment, each pole has a key at its lower end and each sleeve has a keyway through which a corresponding pole's key can be inserted. When the barrier is erected each panel is drawn taut, which rotates all but one pole of a section into a locked orientation. The remaining pole, which is at an end of the section, is rotated into a locked orientation by latching it to an end pole of an adjacent section of the barrier.