US1644045A - Door closing and check mechanism - Google Patents

Description

W. W. WEEKS DOOR CLOSING AND CHECK MECHANISM Filed April 5. 1923 az p54 A TTORNEY5 Patented Oct. 4, 1927. 1' v UNITED STATES COMPANY, INC., ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PATENT. OFFICE SUPPLIES noon CLOSING: AND CHECK MECHANISM.

Application filed Apri1 3,

This invention relates to a door closer and check mechanism, and more particularly to a mechanism of this character especially adapted for use upon the doors of elevator hatchways.

One form of door-closing and check mechanism which has been heretofore used to a considerable extent comprises an oil con trolled dab-pot and one or more coiled springs acting upon the dash-pot piston in a direction to produce closing movements of the door. In this form of door-closing and check mechanism it has been necessary to provide a stufiing box at the end of the dash-pot cylinder through which the piston rod passes to prevent the leakage of oil from the cylinder at this point. This stuffing box packing takes up a considerable part of the power of thedoor-closing spring, thereby rendering the mechanism less efficient. The springs employed in this i mechanism have been coiled springs of the compression type and it has heretofore been found to be impracticable to employ a single spring inasmuch as the spring buckles under compression and is thereby thrown against the sides of the chamber in which it is enclosed, causing a great deal of friction. To avoid this difiiculty in one construction heretoforeproduced, two springs are employed in combination with a separator interposed between the springs and mounted to slide along the piston rod, thereby complicating the construction. g V

The principal objects of the present invention are to improve the construction and mode of operation of doorclosing and check mechanism and to produce a mechanism of this class in which the disadvantages above pointed out are wholly obviated. y I

lVith these objects in view, a feature of the invention contemplates the provision, in connection with an oil receiving chamber connected with the dash-pot cylinder, of a r dash-pot cylinder having communication with the chamber so that oil on one side of the piston may flow freely from the dash-pot cylinder into the chamber during the movement of the piston in one direction in the cylinder and may thereafter flow back from the chamber into the cylinder preferably on the other side of the piston. Inasmuch as the dash-pot cylinder is thus kept filled with oilfrom the chamber, and the combined capacity of the dash pot cylinder and 1923. Serial No. 629,552.

chamber is greater than the quantityof oil which is used, thereis no necessity to employanypacking to take up power. For the sake of convenience and compactness in the construction arrangement of parts, the door closing spring is preferably mounted in the oihreceiving chamber.

Certain other features of the invention relate to the provision of an improved doorclosing spring constructed to prevent the buckling of the spring under compression I so that a single spring may beemployed to produce the door-closing movement.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention in its preferred form and the following detailed description of the construction therein shown.

In the drawings :,Fig. 1 is a view in elevation illustrating a door-closing and check mechanism embodying the present invention applied to a horizontally sliding door. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation partly in section illustrating certain parts of the mechanism shown'in Fig. 1,-and Fig. 3 is a detail sectiona-l view taken substantially on the line 3'3 of Fig. 1. I c

As shown in the drawings'of the present application, the invention is embodied in a door-closing and check mechanism applied to a horizontally sliding door. In the construction shown, the door indicated 'at 1 is mounted to slide horizontally upon a suitable track indicated at 2. The mechanism for opening and closing the doorcomprises a toggle lever consisting of two members 3 and 4 pivotally connected together at 5 of ,which the member 4 is pivoted at 6 to the side of the elevator hatchway and the member 3 is pivoted at 7 to the door. The toggle lever may be operated to open the door and to initiate the closing movement thereof by means of a manually operable lever 8 pivoted at 9 to the door and connected with the member'3of the toggle lever by a link 10.

In the present embodiment of the invention, thedash-pot and door-closing spring of the door-closing and check mechanism are arranged to' act upon the member 4 of the oft-he daslnpot its-mounted on the lower Ill l "1: .r? r if end of a piston rod 20 which; at its upper end, is pivotally connected at :22 to a bracket 24- secured to the member 4 of the door operating toggle lever. i The dash-pot cylinder is filled with an oil or any othersuitable liquid for controlling the movements of the piston in the cylinder. The piston.18 is arranged to fit comparatively clo' ely in the lower part ofthe dash-pot cylinder andthe cylinder is provided with a by-pass passageway 26 through which theho l may flow in either direction 1 during the movement of I the pis ton in the lower part of the cylinder. The fipw of the oil through this. by-pass'. is con; trolled by an adjlr-table check valve 28. The partl ;of; the .dash-pot cyl-inder above the check valve. 28 -is preterablyformed with a series;; of 1 longitudinal grooves 30 through which; the; oil nay fiow between the. piston and ;the,cylinder during the movement of the pistoninthis part/0t the cylinder. H -Jllhedah-pot piston rod 20 is acted upon by a; doonclosingspring 32 mounted within a chamber 3 lsecured to the upperend of the dash-pot cylinder This, spring at its upper end engagesthe end wall of thechamher 34:;- and at its, lower end surrounds a thi nble-36 secured. to the dash-pot piston rodQO and actsngainst a 'fiangeZ-ES formed on thelgnver part of the thimble,

Inorder that the oilwithin the dash-pot cylinderl2 may escape freelyinto th'e chamber 34: during. the upward movement otthe pisto-n 18 incsai d cylindenthe upper end of the dash-pot cylinder is. o'penfpreierably throughout snbstanti ally the entire diameter ot th e pistonv guideway in said cylinder, as shown clearly in .Fig. 1 The thimble 36 engages one or nore abutinents ltl to liinit its downward movement sonthat there is a space.- between the thinible and the upper end of the. dash-pot cylinder even when the thimble-isin its lower limiti ng position, these abutinents being arranged so. that there is ample space between the same for the flow o t; oil. This allows the oilto flow freely from the dash-pot cylinder between the uplperendnf thecylinder and the thi nble into the chamber 3d at the beginning of the upward movementio tthe piston. I i-order to allow t;he.oil discharged into the chamber 34 to fiowbackinto, the dash-pot cylinder 12 so as tokeep the cylinder filled with oil at leastiiptothe upper end of theby-pass 26,

the cylinder. informed with diagonal passageways-{l2 connect ng the chamber with tho nterioigot the cylinder. These passageways .are arranged so that when the piston sra't the upper lim t ot its strok-eas indicated in d ot ted lines in Fig.2, their lower or discharge ends are located'below the piston so that the oil from the chamber will i .cl hl rgeclbe w th pis lifi th p in in the operation of the mechanism. In the use of the above mechanism sufiicient oil is introdu ced into the to the dash-pot cylinder and to partially fill said chamber.

Inthe operation ofxtlie niechanisiii deupper end of "the bypass, the oil above fth'e piston can flow freely through the grooves 30 be tween the piston and the" walls of the cylinder, and can alsoflow treely into the chamber 34 through the upperlend of the cylinder. During the upward movement or the piston, the coiledspring 32 is of course comprcsned by the upward movement of the piston VVhenthe door is released, the coiled spring 32 acting on the piston rod will t ree the rod downwardly and through its action on the levers E} and 10 will close the door. During the first part of the downward movement of the piston in the cylinder,

the oil in the cylinder iwill have very little retarding action on the piston as it;ca'n tlow 't'rcely through the grooves 30 past the piston so that'the first part of the closing movement of the door will be a relatively rapid inovcnienti When the piston however reaches the upper end oi. the by-pass 26, ,its movement will be checked by the oil below the same and will be controlled by the passage of the oil from below the piston through the byepass 26. Thus the final closing movei nient otthe door will be a comparatively slow gradual movement. v

The chamber 34 of the present QOnQtfuation is preferably cylindrical in cross-section and threaded-into a flange 4:4: formedon the dash-pot cylinder; The chamber is formed at its upper end with a cap 46, threaded on the body of thechainber and provided with a plug 48 which may be reinoved to allow oil to be introduced. into the chamber. he lower end of the dash-pot cylinder is provided with a cap. 50 threaded on the body oi the cylinder which may be removed when it is desired to gain access readily to the interior of the cylinder.

The coiled spring preferably has the construction clearly illustrated in' Fig. 2.

As shown in this figure, the coiledsprin'g from a'point intermediate its ends 'towardits upper end is tormed with coils gradually diminishing in diameter. and also, gradually diminishing in pitch.1t.is tound'thatha I coiled springer this constructionwillnot nae buckle under compression. The variations in the diameters of the coils and the changes in the pitch of the coils in the upper part of the spring are so proportioned that the spring will have substantially the same tension throughout its length; i l

The above door-closing andcheck mechanism maybe employed with the dash-pot cylinder and chamber in a substantially "upright position, as shown in the drawing, or

in an inclined position such that the oil will flow from the chamber into the dash-pot cylinder so as to maintain the cylinder filled with oil above the upper end of the bypass. As the oil necessary to be used is much less than the capacity of thespring chamber, there is no necessity for any packing to be used to take up power.

The present invention is not limited to use in connection with the doors of elevator hatchways, but is capable of various other applications. It is also to be understood that the invention is not limited to the par-' ticular construction and arrangement of parts of the illustrated embodiment of the invention, but that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the claims.

The plunger 18 is preferably tapered at its lower portion, as shown at18, in which the lower surface is .015 less in diameter than the upper portion. This serves to break the vacuum more quickly and has other advantages.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention and having specifically described a device embodying the invention in its preferred form, what is claimed is 1. A door closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder, operating connections between a door and one of said parts, a chamber connected with the cylinder and communicating with the cylinder so that the controlling fluid isdischarged freely from the space in the cylinder on the outer side of the piston during the outward stroke of the piston and having passages discharging directly from the chamber into the space in the cylinder on the inner side of the piston when the piston is at or adjacent the position which it assumes at the end of its outward stroke, said passages discharging into the space in the cylinder on the outer side of the piston except when the piston is at or adjacent the position which it occupies at the end of its outward stroke.

2. A door closing'and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder having a by-pass through which the controlling fluid flows with a retarded movement during the movement of the piston in the in ner portion of the cylinder, a chamber connected with the cylinder and'communicating with the cylinder so that the fluid on the outer side of the piston is discharged freely from the cylinder into the chamber during the outward movement of the piston in the its stroke.

cylinder and having passages between the "outer, end of the by-pass and the outer end a point between the ends of the spring toward one end thereof, a bypass in .the cylinder connecting the inner end of'the cylinder with another part thereof, a piston operatingin the cylinder and having its inner end tapered, and connections for relatively operat ing the piston and cylinder from a door to carry the tapered portion of the cylinder past the inner end of the by-pass during the door opening movement.

4. A door closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder in which the piston operates having an enlarged outer portion in which the piston moves freely and a contracted inner portion in which the piston fits closely, operating connections between a door and one of said 7 parts, a by-pass for controlling the movement of fluid in the inner portion of the cylinder to control movement of the piston in this portion, a separate spring chamber of larger diameter than the cylinder mounted on the outer end of the cylinder in co-axial position with relation to the cylinder, the cylinder having an opening at its outer end between the same and the chamber through which the fluid may flow freely, and a door operating a spring mounted in the spring chamber and acting on said connections to actuate the door.

5. A doorclosing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder in which the piston operates having a larger outer portion in which the piston moves freely, and a contracted inner portion in which the piston fits closely, operatin connections between a door and one 0%- said parts, a by-pass for controlling the movement of fluid in the outer portion of the cylinder to control the movement of the piston, a separate spring chamber connected in co-axial relation wtih the cylinder, the cylinder having an opening at its outer end through which the fluid may fiow freely from the cylinder into the chamber and passages for conducting the fluid from the chamber back into the cylinder on the inner side of the piston. 1

6. A door closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder in which the piston o crates having a bypass for controlling the movement of the controlling fluid to control the movement of the piston iii-the cylinder; aspri-ngchzimber of" larger 4 diameter than the cylinder connected co -ax-iallywithlthecylinder, the cyl- =-inder having an open-inginto thechamber of at least vthe'iull diameter of the piston, a door operating spring-niounted in the chamber and acting on" said connections to actuate the door, and means for dischargingoil from the chamber into the cylinder on the inner side of the piston- When the piston is at its 7 outer: position in the cylinder. 7

. 7'. Aidoo'r' closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, a cylinder having) a by-pass thru Whichthe controlling "fluidhas' a retarded movement, the upper portion-0f said cylinder being provided with aspiring-containing chamber, and means for charged 'into the cylinder on the inner] side =ofthe; piston When the, piston is traversin a I portion of; its outward "stroke.

Signed at New York, N.1Y., this 2d da of' -April,1923,

WILLIAM W. EEKe;

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