Method and apparatus for mounting a push/pull handle on a latch

Abstract

Method and apparatus for mounting a push/pull handle on a latch mechanism is disclosed. Recently, it has become desirable for large medical service facilities, such as hospitals, to change their door latch mechanisms from rotatable lever handles to push/pull handles. The apparatus comprises a pair of mating adapter plates mountable on either side of a door outwardly adjacent a mortise lock presently mounted in the door. The adapter plates include a plurality of pairs of aligned apertures, each of the several pairs of which are adapted to align with a pair of apertures which differing lock manufacturers position in differing radial and arcuate positions with respect to a mortise operating key. The adapter plates fasten through the mortise to the respective door sides and allow push/pull type handle assemblies to be mounted on the adapter plates so as to be operatively connected through the mortise operating key. In the method, the rotatable door handles are removed from the door and latch mechanism, the adapter plates are mounted on the sides of the door outwardly adjacent the mortise. The push/pull handle assemblies are then mountable on the adapter plates and operable through the mortise operating key.