Latch and detent mechanism for sliding tray

Claim 1

A latch and detent mechanism for a sliding tray situated in a cabinet comprising: a detent bar fixedly mounted to said cabinet beneath said tray, said detent bar being essentially elongate and having a plurality of linearly disposed, spaced apart detent slots along the length of said detnet bar, said detent bar having a shoulder extending outward from at least one side of the detent bar at each end thereof, and each shoulder having an upwardly extending stop integral therewith; a latch bar pivotably mounted to the underside of said tray, said latch bar being essentially elongate and being disposed parallel to said detent bar and parallel to the direction of movement of said tray, said latch bar having at one end a finger and a stop on at least one side with said finger disposed to engage said detent slots and said latch bar stop disposed to abut said detent bar stops when said tray is at its two extreme extents of motion, said finger and stop of said latch bar being spaced apart one from the other; said detent slots each have four side walls with a first and a second of the side walls disposed transversely to the direction of tray movement, said first and second side walls being inwardly inclined with respect to the top of the detent bar to form a V-shaped slot, and wherein said finger has forward and aft faces that are inwardly inclined by an amount matching the first and second corresponding walls of said V-shaped slot, said forward and aft faces of the finger being disposed to contact said first and second walls of the slot when said finger is engaging one of said detent slots, the incline of the first and second side walls of the detent slots being selected to provide locking of the finger with the detent slot while at the same time allowing the finger to pop out of the detent slot under a force that is less than the shear force of the finger when the tray is struck: means coupled to said latch bar for pivoting said latch bar to raise said finger from said detent slots for unlocking said tray; and means coupled between said tray and said latch bar for urging said finger into said detent slots.