Door lock apparatus
A locking apparatus, particularly desirable for modifying a "push/pull" latch apparatus for a hospital door, by which it may be released from a locked condition by manual effort applied from either side of the door, thus giving an unlocking effect to a door even though its locking has been caused by a manual locking effort applied by the person on the other side of the door.The apparatus has a particularly beneficial use in a large commercial installation such as a hospital, and provides that the lock-releasability may be achieved by a manual effort applied wholly on the outside of the door, as well as the person on the inside of the door being able to either lock or unlock the door; and, although the door may be locked or unlocked from either side, the unlocking component manually operable to lock or unlock the door from the outside is provided to be of such an inconspicuous nature that it would be realistically considered to not be a component with a door-unlocking effect.Thus the door may have the advantage of granting privacy to a person on the inside of the room, even though during an emergency a nurse or other authorized person would be able to achieve a locking-release effect of the door.
Claims
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Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 24, 1997
Date of Patent: May 11, 1999
Inventor: Donald L. Walls (Indianapolis, IN)
Primary Examiner: Darnell M. Boucher
Attorney: Locke Reynolds
Application Number: 8/816,964
