Refuse container having safety lid

Claim 1

A boxlike container having facing front and rear walls connected by facing side walls, lid means hingedly connected to said rear walls for permitting opening and closing of said container by pivotal movement of said lid means about a pivot axis, a swinging arm fixedly connected to said lid means and extending externally along one of said sidewalls, a latch plate pivotally connected at its rearward end to said swinging arm and having its forward end mounted for reciprocation in a confining bracket extending from said one of said sidewalls, said bracket including a horizontal latch plate supporting surface engageable by the lower edge of said latch plate in a nonlatching position as said lid is moved between open and closed position and a horizontal lock rod located above said latch bar, a plurality of latch slots extending inwardly from the upper edge of said latch plate with each of said slots extending between a mouth portion on the upper edge of said latch plate and a bottom trough located centrally within said latch plate and spaced a greater distance from the rearward end of said plate than is the mouth portion of each respective slot and dimensioned to receive said locking rod when said latch plate is in a latching position so that said lid can be locked in an open position and the weight of the lid Tends to urge the latch plate in a direction to retain the lock rod in said trough but wherein movement of said lid in an opening direction causes said latch plate to move with respect to said lock rod so that said slot no longer receives said lock rod and the latch plate is moved by gravity to its nonlatching position and said lid is consequently free to close.