US1377626A - Folding door - Google Patents

Description

E. J. G. PHILLIPS.

FOLDING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17. 1920.

Patented May 10, 1921.

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E- J. G. PHILLIPS FOLDING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY17, 1920.

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E. J. G. PHILLIPS.-

FOLDING DOOR- APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, I920- Lfiwfigfio Patented May 10,1921.

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PATENT oFricE.

nLLIs J. c. rnILLIPs, or AURORA, ILLINOIS, essrenoa T nrcnanhswl MANUFACTURING COME-ANY, 0F AURORA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLI- FOLDING- DOOR.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1921.

Application filed. May 17, 1920. Serial No. 382,011.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLIs J. G. FIIILLIPe, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Doors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to folding doors of the type hinged together in pairs and slidably supported so as to be capable of being moved to one side of the doorway and there folded together at right angles to their former position for leaving the major portion of the doorway clear. It is the object of my invention to provide new and improved means for holding the doors normally at the side of the doorway when folded back, such means being adapted to permit a free movement of the doors again into operative closing position in the doorway when the doors are given an unfolding movement to bring them again intov allnement in the doorway; to provide an improved form of caster wheel for supporting the doors, employing guiding means holding the wheel in proper operative relation to the .track in which it runs; and to provide improved means for adjusting the caster vertically with respect to the door. The preferred means by which I have accomplished my objects are illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter specifically described. That which I desire to cover by this application is set forth in the claims.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a view of six doors hinged together in pairs closing a doorway;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectiontaken on lme 2+2 of Fig. 1, and showing in'dotted lines the position of the doors at about the close I of an opening operation;

'Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail, partially,

1 broken away, illustrating the doors in their open position; v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary v1ew illustrating the means employed at the bottom of the door for pivotally su porting the door farthest to the right in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an edge view of one of the doors,

.being partly in section as seen on the line indicated by the same reference characters, 10 and 11 indicate two doors hinged together at 12 within a doorway 13. As is best shown in Fig. 4, the door 10 is pivotally mounted at its right-hand edge as shown in Fig. 1 by means of alined pivot pins 14, the arrangement being such that the doors 10 and 11 are adapted to be moved into parallel position at right angles to their operative doorclosing position. The remainder of the doorway is closed by means of doors 15 and l6 hinged together at 17 and doors l8 and 19 hin ed together at 20. The left-hand edge 0 the door 11 and the outer edge of each ofthe doors 15, 16, 18 and 19, are pro vided with supporting means as hereinafter described by which such doors are adapted to slide transversely of the doorway.'

Each of the doors, with the exception of door 10, is provided at its outer edge with guiding means adapted to have operative engagement with a slotted track or guide extending longitudinally of the doorway at the top thereof. This guiding means comprises pins 21 rising from the doors near their edge portions and provided with rollers 22 loosely mounted thereon, the rollers 22 having a working fit between two spaced guides 23 and 24 fixedly secured in position at the top of the doorway. Washers 25 are provided on the upper ends of the pins 21 serving to hold the rollers 22 against withdrawal from the slot provided by the spaced guides 23 and 24.

Each of the doors except the door 10 is provided at its lower end at the free side thereof with a caster adjustably mounted upon the door for supporting thedoor in its sliding and turning movements. As is best shown in Fig. 6, each of the casters is secured to the door by means of a bracket comprising two horizontally disposed bars 26 and 27, the bracket being secured in position by means of screws. A caster comprising a housing 28 which has revolubl mounted therein a caster wheel 29 is provided with a pintle 30 which has a working fit in an opening through the bar 27 and which is adjustab y and revolubly connected with the bar 26 of the bracket. This adjustable connection with the bar 26 is provided by the use of a collar 31 which is mounted by means of screw threads upon the pintle 30, a lock nut 32being provided for holding the adjusting collar 31 in the desired adjusted position. The collar 31 is revolubly mounted in the bar 26 by means of a reduced portion 33 extending through a suitable opening in the bar and having a working fit therein, a washer 34 being mounted on the upper end of the collar above the bar 26 for preventing its withdrawal. The collar 31 is provided with suitable sockets 35 in its face by the use of which the collar" can be turned with respect to the intle for adjusting the caster wheel vertical y with respect to the door. With the caster in position upon the door,

an adjustment can be effected by the removal of either one or both of the inclosing plates 36 which, f are secured in position upon opposite sides ofthe bracket and-caster.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 7, the caster wheel 29 is revolubly mounted in the housing 28 by means of a horizontally-disposed pin 37 which supports bearing blocks 38, antifriction devices of any suitable type being interposed between the blocks 38 and the have provide wheel 29. The wheel 29 is adapted to bear upon the spaced bars 39 of a slotted or ooved track, a circumferential rib that orms a part of the caster wheel being adapted to extend between the track portions for guiding the caster wheel upon the track. As an addltional means for holding the caster wheel and the housing 28 in proper posi tion with resipect to. the grooved track, I a lug 41 extending downward from the housing 28 into engagement with the groove of the track. The lug 41 extends downward slightly beyond the rib 40'of the caster wheel and is adapted to clear from they groove any forelgn matter which might interfere with the free and easy movement of the wheel in the groove.

The means for holding the doors against" sliding out of their normal folded position comprises lugs 42 and 43 secured in position tively, the lugs 42 and 43 being positioned at the top and bottom edges respectively of the doors. These lugs extend beyond the side edges of the doors so as to be in position to contact pins 44 which are secured to the floor adjacent to the track 39 and to the guide member 23 at the top of the doorway. The lugs 42 and 43 are in the same vertical plane passing outside of the door near one face thereof, and the pins 44, with which the lugs 42 and 43 of the several doors are brought into contact, are in vertical alinement with each other. By this arrangement, the lugs are adapted to pass into operative engagement with the pins 44 by a-smooth easy movement without any unnecessary binding or clashing. By reason of the lugs 42 and 43 being upon the leading edges of the doors as the doors are moved to their normal folding position, such lugs are passed readily .into contact with the pins 44 for holding the doors against movement toward the left as illustrated in Fig. 2 except as the doors are again moved into alinement with each other for closing the doorway.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination of a door, a grooved track, a housing pivotally mounted on said door to turn about a vertical axis thereon, a lug extending downward from said housing into the groove of said track for bolding the housing in proper position with respect to the track, and a caster wheel revolu bly mounted in said housing and compr sing a circumferential rib engaging the groove of said track.

2. The combination of a door, a bracket comprising two spaced -'apart horizontal and'a collar adjustably connected y means of screw threads with said pintle, said collar having a reduced ortion at one end by which it is pivotally connected with said bracket.

4. The combination of a door, a bracket 1-2 one of said two bars, and an adjusting memher having a swiveled connection with the upper one of said two bars and having a screw threaded connection with said pintle.

5. The combination of a door, a bracket comprising two horizontally-disposed bars secured rigidly in position with respect to said door, a caster comprising a pintle having a working fit in an opening in the lower one of said two bars, a collar adjustably connected with said pintle by means of-screw' 10 threads and having a swiveled connection with the upper one of said tWo bars, and a locking nut for securing said collar against turning about said pintle.

ELLIS J. G. PHILLIPS.

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