AU2005225070A1

AU2005225070A1 - A doorjamb

Info

Publication number: AU2005225070A1
Application number: AU2005225070A
Authority: AU
Inventors: David John Ashard
Original assignee: Product Development And Marketing Int Pty Ltd
Current assignee: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING INTERNATIONAL Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-12-14
Filing date: 2005-10-20
Publication date: 2006-06-29

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): Product Development and Marketing International Pty Ltd Invention Title: A DOORJAMB The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2 A DOORJAMB c, o O FIELD OF THE INVENTION l 5 The present invention relates generally to a doorjamb and more particularly a doorjamb that permits a hingedly O mounted door to be opened in an alternative direction should the door become obstructed and prevented from being Cl opened in its normal direction.

tr BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Existing doorjambs are commonly fitted to a door opening in a wall and basically consist of two parts: a jamb member for mounting to the wall; and a doorstop element that is mounted to the jamb member and which protrudes therefrom. When an existing doorjamb is mounted to a wall the doorstop element essentially acts as a doorstop to prevent a hingedly mounted door from opening in a particular direction.

A situation may arise where it would be highly desirable to be able to open the door in the particular direction because for some reason it is not possible to open the door in its normal opening direction. This situation can occur, for example, when a person collapses against the door in an unconscious state and obstructs the door from being opened in its normal opening direction. In this exemplary situation, it is highly desirable to be able to open the door in the particular direct so as to quickly gain access to the person and administer medical assistance. Unfortunately, existing doorjambs do not enable a door to be readily opened in the particular direction because the doorstop element is securely fixed in position.

599\58639.doc 20/10/05 -3- SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION c o Accordingly, the present invention provides a doorjamb that comprises: a jamb member; a doorstop element; and Sa coupling means coupling the doorstop element to the jamb member, the coupling means being arranged to allow the Cl doorstop element to be moved, relative to the jamb member, I1 0 from a first position for stopping a door from being opened in a particular direction to a second position for allowing C' the door to be opened in the particular direction.

A doorjamb according to an embodiment of the present invention is similar to existing doorjambs in that the doorstop element (when in the first position) prevents a door from being opened in the particular direction. However unlike existing doorjambs, the doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention effectively enables the doorstop to be retracted (that is, moved from the first position to the second position) so that it no longer obstructs the door to thereby allow the door to be opened in the particular direction. This aspect of the embodiment of the doorstop element is advantageous in emergency situations where, for example, a person collapses in an unconscious state against the door preventing it from being opened in the normal direction. Retracting the doorstop element of the doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention enables the door to be quickly and easy open to gain access to the collapsed person.

The doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention further comprises a locking means for locking the doorstop element in the first position.

Being able to lock the doorstop element in the first position is advantageous for security reasons because it L:\Speci\500 599\58639.doc 20/10/OS 4 provides a means for preventing unauthorised persons from moving the doorstop element from the first position to the O second person in order to open the door.

The locking means of the doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises: Sa housing; Sat least one elongate member located in the housing; CI and a key operated locking mechanism coupled to the elongate member, the key operated locking mechanism being such that it enables an end portion of the elongate member to be retracted into the housing by using a key.

The key operated locking mechanism ensures that only authorised persons possessing the key can retract the elongate member into the housing so as to enable the doorstop element to be moved from the first position to the second position.

The coupling means of the doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of spaced apart latches that are attached to the jamb member and the door stop element, each of the latches comprises a locking mechanism for locking a respective latch to securely hold the door stop element in the first position, the locking mechanism being such that it can be unlocked by being pressed so as to allow the door stop element to be moved from the first position to the second position.

The jamb member of the doorjamb according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a surface that defines a void for receiving the door stop element.

J:\Speci\SOO 599\58639.doc 20/10/05 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS c o Notwithstanding any other embodiments that may fall Swithin the scope of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, Sin which: c figure 1 illustrates a typical existing doorjamb; S figure 2 illustrates a doorjamb in accordance with an C embodiment of the present invention; figure 3 illustrates a cross sectional view of the doorjamb shown in figure 2; figure 4 illustrates another view of the doorjamb shown in figure 2; figure 5 illustrates a locking mechanism used in conjunction with the doorjamb of figure 2; and figure 6 provides an alternative view of the locking mechanism shown in figure AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION A doorjamb 11 that is typical of existing doorjambs is shown in figure 1. The doorjamb 11 basically comprises two parts: a jamb member 13 and a doorstop element 15. The jamb member 13 is elongate and is designed to be mounted to a portion of a wall 17a that defines a door opening 19. The jamb member 13 of the doorjamb 11 is typically made from a timber material, but other materials such as aluminium can be used. The doorstop element 15 is also elongate and is securely fixed in a position on the jamb member 13 (usually by way of nails) such that it stands proud of the jamb 599\58639.doc 20/10/05 6 member 13. The doorstop element 15 is also typically made from timber, but is also commonly made from other materials 0 o such as aluminium. As can be see in figure i, the doorstop element 15 is designed to obstruct a hingedly mounted door c' 5 111 from being opened in a particular direction B. The door 111 does, however, have a normal opening direction A.

SIn contrast to the existing doorjamb 11 shown in figure 1, figure 2 illustrates a doorjamb 21 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Like the existing doorjamb 11 shown in figure 1, the doorjamb 21 of figure 2 comprises a jamb member 23 and a doorstop element However, unlike the doorjamb 11 of figure 1, the doorstop element 25 of the doorjamb 21 shown in figure 2 is not securely fixed in a position to the jamb member 23. The doorstop element 25 of the doorjamb 21 of figure 2 is such that it can be moved, relative to the jamb member 23, from a first position to a second position.

To enable the doorstop element 25 to be moved from the first position to the second position, the doorstop element 25 is coupled to the jamb member 23 by a coupling means in the form of a plurality of spaced apart catches 413, which are shown in figure 4. A cross section of the doorjamb 31 can be seen in figures 3(a) and which also illustrates the doorstop element 35 in the first position (figure and the second position (figure As can be seen in figure the doorstop element is proud of the jamb member 33 so as to obstruct the door 311 from moving in direction B. Figure 3(b) also shows the doorstop element 35 in the second position, in which the doorstop element 35 is not proud of the jamb member 33 to thereby not obstruct the door 311 from moving in the direction B.

The catches 313 are such that in order to move the doorstop element 35 from the first position to the second J:\Speci\500 599\58639.doc 20/10/05 7 position a person merely needs to press the catches (which are press operated) to release them and place the doorstop

O

O element 35 in the second position by simply pushing the doorstop element 35 toward the jamb member 33.

C- With reference to figure 5, the doorjamb 51 comprises a locking means 515 for locking the doorstop element 55 in Sthe first position. The locking means 515 essentially provides a mechanism for ensuring that unauthorised persons It 10 are unable to move the doorstop element 55 into the second position so as to open the door 511. As shown in figure 6, c-I the locking means 615 comprises a key operated lock 617 and at least one elongate member 619. The key operated lock 617 and the elongate member 619 are located in the doorstop element 65. The elongate members 619 are located in open ended channels (not shown in the figures) that are internal to the doorstop element 65. The key operated lock 617 can be operated by a key to retract the elongate members 619 from a locking position, in which the elongate members protrude from the doorstop element 65, into the doorstop element 65. When retracted into the doorstop element 65 the doorstop element 65 is effectively unlocked from the first position and is capable of being moved to the second position.

Persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that even though the present invention has been described in the context of a door jamb the present invention has application to a window frame. In which case, the doorstop element could be used to stop the windows.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. It should be understood that the invention includes all such variations and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

599\58639.doc 20/10/05

Claims

2. The doorjamb as claimed in claim 1, further comprises a locking means for locking the doorstop element in the first position.
3. The doorjamb as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking means comprises: a housing; at least one elongate member located in the housing; and a key operated locking mechanism coupled to the elongate member, the key operated locking mechanism being such that it enables an end portion of the elongate member to be retracted into the housing by using a key.
4. The doorjamb as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the coupling means comprises at a plurality of spaced apart latches that are attached to the jamb member and the door stop element, each of the latches comprising a locking mechanism for locking a respective latch to securely hold the door stop element in the first position, the locking mechanism being such that it can be unlocked by being pressed so as to allow the door stop element to be moved from the first position to the second position. J:\Speci\500 599\58639.doc 20/10/05 -9 0 5. The doorjamb as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the jamb member comprises a O o surface that defines a void for receiving the door stop element. CM
6. The doorjamb as claimed in claim 1 and Ssubstantially as herein described with reference to the Saccompanying figures 2 to 6. Iq 10 Dated this 20 th day of October 2005 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK J:\Speci\500 599\58639.doc 20/10/05