Locking mechanism for portable gate

Claim 2

In a portable gate arrangement for temporarily closing an opening between spaced side walls, said arrangement having a set of vertical support posts including a pair of end posts and at least one intermediate post, separate movable base carriages supporting each of said end posts and said one intermediate post, extensible and collapsible lazy tongs connecting adjacent posts of said set, and a pair of locking bars swingably mounted to opposite ends of said gate to move between a generally upright gate-collapsed position wherein each locking bar extends alongside the corresponding end post and a horizontal gateextended position wherein the locking bars have overlapping free ends overlying the base carriage of said one intermediate post, the improvement comprising bumper means on the gate facing endwise outwardly thereof for engaging the side walls and cooperating interference means interengageable when said locking bars intersect at intermediate swing positions thereof to create predetermined relative endwise extension travel of the locking bars during final swinging movement to the horizontal gateextended position to compress said bumper means against said side walls, said arrangement including stationary anchors in floor regions adjacent the side walls and each end of the gate includes retainer structure engageable in vertically interlocking relation with said anchors in response to outward extension of the gate.

Claim 3

In a portable gate arrangement for temporarily closing an opening between spaced side walls, said arrangement having a set of vertical support posts including a pair of end posts and several intermediate posts, separate movable base carriages supporting each of the end posts and each of the intermediate posts extensible and collapsible lazy tongs connecting adjacent posts of said set, and a pair of locking bars swingably mounted to the end post base carriages to move between a generally upright gate-collapsed position wherein each locking bar extends alongside the corresponding end post and a horizontal gate extended position wherein the locking bars have overlapping free ends supported upon the base carriages of said intermediate posts, the improvement comprising resilient bumper means facing endwise outwardly on eacH of said end post base carriages for engaging the side walls and cooperating interference means on the free ends of said locking bars for interengagement when said locking bars intersect at intermediate swing positions thereof to create predetermined relative endwise extension travel of the locking bars during final swinging movement to the horizontal gate-extended position whereby said end post base carriages move outwardly to compress said bumper means against said side walls to the extent determined by said travel, said arrangement including stationary anchors in floor regions adjacent the side walls and each of the end post base carriages includes retainer structure engageable in vertically interlocking relation with said anchors in response to outward shifting of said end post base carriages due to the interengagement action of said interference means.

Claim 4

In a portable gate arrangement for temporarily closing an opening between spaced side walls, said arrangement having a set of vertical support posts including a pair of end posts and several intermediate posts, separate movable base carriages supporting each of the end posts and each of the intermediate posts extensible and collapsible lazy tongs connecting adjacent posts of said set, and a pair of locking bars swingably mounted to the end post base carriages to move between a generally upright gate-collapsed position wherein each locking bar extends alongside the corresponding end post and a horizontal gate extended position wherein the locking bars have overlapping free ends supported upon the base carriages of said intermediate posts, the improvement comprising resilient bumper means facing endwise outwardly on eacH of said end post base carriages for engaging the side walls and cooperating interference means on the free ends of said locking bars for interengagement when said locking bars intersect at intermediate swing positions thereof to create predetermined relative endwise extension travel of the locking bars during final swinging movement to the horizontal gate-extended position whereby said end post base carriages move outwardly to compress said bumper means against said side walls to the extent determined by said travel, said arrangement including stationary anchors in floor regions adjacent the side walls and each of the end post base carriages includes retainer structure engageable in vertically interlocking relation with said anchors in response to outward shifting of said end post base carriages due to the interengagement action of said interference means.

Claim 5

In a portable gate arrangement as defined in claim 2 wherein each of said anchors includes an upstanding shank terminating in an enlarged head and each of said retainers has an endwise open slot to receive the shank and engage in vertical interlock beneath the head.