AU2008243258A1 - Pivoted Door Opening and Closing Mechanism - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant(s): MONARCH GROUP PTY LIMITED Actual Inventor(s): Stephen Rodney JONES Address for Service: FRASER OLD & SOHN Patent Attorneys PO Box 560 MILSONS POINT NSW 1565 Invention Title: Pivoted Door Opening and Closing Mechanism Details of Associated Provisional Applications: 2007 906 215 Dated 14 November 2007 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to large and heavy pivotal doors and, in particular, to the opening and closing mechanism used thereon. 5 Background Art Large heavy access doors are used where large openings are required. For example, the openings between lounge rooms and verandas on a beach house, are commonly constructed of glass panels inserted into a grid like pattern on a metal framed door. It will be appreciated in this connection that the term "glass" as used herein, should be 10 understood as including polycarbonate, PERSPEX and light transparent plastics materials which are substitutes for glass. Alternatively, such a metal frame can be clad with any sheet material. Such heavy doors as described above require a motorised opening and closing 15 mechanism. These doors can either be a pivotal single panel door or a foldable multiple panel door. The folding axis can be horizontal or vertical. Normally these doors require a counterweight to assist in the opening and closing operation. It has been found that with existing arrangements, a substantial torque is required to 20 start the lifting operation as the weight of the door must be overcome. Such forces required for the opening mechanism in large installations have therefore required large and expensive motors. It has also been found that when the door is closing, the forces applied to the closing 25 mechanism are also greatest when the door is nearly closed. Once again, this short period of the closing operation necessitates large and expensive motors with substantial torque outputs. Genesis of the Invention 30 The genesis of the present invention is the desire to provide an opening and closing mechanism for a pivotal door which does not necessitate the provision of larger capacity electric motors to open and close the doors. 35 3159C-AU 3 Sumarn Of the Invention In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed an opening and closing mechanism for a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door, the door being supported by at least one track which receives a corresponding pin located on the side 5 or edge of the door, said pin(s) being adapted to move reciprocally within said track(s) when opening and closing the door while link arms attached between said tracks and said door are arranged to pivot said door about the axes of the pin(s) when the pins move reciprocally within said track(s), said mechanism comprising a first drive means for moving said pin(s) reciprocally within said tracks and a second drive means for 10 pivoting the door out of its rest plane at the commencement of the opening operation to assist in opening of the door. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of opening and closing a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door which is 15 supported by at least one track which receives a corresponding pin located on the side or top edge of the door, and said pin(s) being adapted to move reciprocally within said track(s) when opening and closing the door while link arms attached between said track(s) and said door are arranged to pivot said door about the axes of the pin(s) when the pin(s) move reciprocally within said tracks, said method comprising the 20 steps of providing a first drive means for moving said pin(s) reciprocally within said tracks and providing a second drive means for tilting the door out of its rest plane at the commencement of the opening operation to assist in opening of the door. In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is disclosed a pivoted rigid or 25 folding door opening and closing mechanism comprising a first drive means configured to move said door along a supporting track, and a second drive means configured to pivot said door out of a rest plane at the commencement of opening said door from a closed position. 30 Brief Description of the Drawings The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bi-fold door looking from the rear of the door and illustrating the opening and closing mechanism according to the first preferred 35 embodiment; 3159C-AU 4 Fig. 2 is a side view of the door of Fig. 1 showing the door partially open or closed; Fig. 3 is a side view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the door fully open; Fig. 4 is a perspective view from the rear of the opening and closing 5 mechanism of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a perspective view from the front of the door of the opening and closing mechanism of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the opening and closing mechanism of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is another perspective view of the opening and closing mechanism of 10 Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a further perspective view of the opening and closing mechanism of Fig. 1; Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the plates 34 and 36 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but of a rigid pivoted door; 15 Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but of a still further door; and Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a door with horizontal tracks and panels which pivot about a vertical axis according to another preferred embodiment. Detailed Description 20 A large pivotal door 10 as illustrated in Figs. 1-9 is of such dimensions and weight that an opening and closing mechanism I1 requires to be robust enough to raise and lower the substantial weight of the pivotal door 10. Such pivotal doors 10 are used in large industrial or commercial arrangements such as fire stations, airplane hangars, large warehouse installations etc. 25 As seen in the Fig. 1, the door 10 has a rectangular grid frame 12 to which glass panels 13 are installed. This means that the door 10 has a substantial weight which is usually distributed at the front of the door 10 as the glass panels 13 are located on that side of the frame 12. 30 The door 10 is hung between a pair of spaced apart support columns 14 by means of pins on the side edges of the door 10 being received within slotted tracks 16 on the inside surface of the support columns 14. 3159C-AU 5 A pair of link arms 18 are pivotally connected to the frame 12 of the door 10 and to the support columns 14. The link arms 18 actually pivot the door as the pins move reciprocally within the slotted track 16. 5 At best seen in Fig. 4, the opening and closing mechanism 11 is provided with a first drive motor 21 and a second drive motor 22 which are respectively responsible for raising and lowering the door, and tilting the door during the initial opening and final closing phase. The first drive motor 21 is mounted on a plate 25 and operates a gear train 26 which terminates in a pulley 27 having teeth on one side which mesh with the 10 gear train 26. Two similar pulleys 28 and 29 are provided. The latter is mounted on a counter weight 30. A drive cord 31 passes over the pulleys 27-29 and is connected to the pins on the side edges of the door of the lower section (or lowermost section in the event of a multiple fold door). Thus once the door 10 is kinked, the first drive motor 21 can be operated in either direction so as to raise or lower the door. 15 The second drive motor 22 is mounted on the smaller one 33 of two substantially parallel plates 33, 34. As best seen in Fig. 4, the lower end of the link arm 18 associated with the mechanism 11 is pivoted to the frame 12 of the door 10 whilst as best seen in Fig. 9 the upper end of the link arm 18 associated with the mechanism 11 20 is pivoted to the plate 34. As best seen in Figs. 8 and 9, a sector-shaped plate 36 is positioned between the plates 33 and 34, and is pivoted adjacent its apex on the plate 34. The other end of the sector shaped plate 36 is arcuate and provided with teeth which mesh with a gear train 25 38 (Fig. 8) driven by the second drive motor 22. The link arm 18 is provided with an L-shaped slot 19. A pin 20 carried by the sector-shaped plate 36 extends through an arcuate slot 35 in the plate 33. Thus the second drive motor 22 can pivot the plate 36 through an are and thereby pivot the pin 20 through a corresponding arc. In the right hand position of the sector plate 36 illustrated in Fig. 9, the pin 20 is initially located 30 in the lowermost right hand corner of the L-shaped slot 19. As the link arm 18 moves to the left in Fig. 9 the slot 19 moves downwardly relative to the pin 20. Thereafter the movement of the plate 36 and thus pin 20 drives the link arm 18 fully into the left hand position illustrated in Fig. 9. 3159C-AU 6 This enables the door 10 to be pushed into a fully closed position. This movement drives the pin 20 towards the blind end of the L-shaped slot 19. As a consequence, when the door 10 is in the fully closed position, reversing the movement of the sector shaped plate 36 drives the pin 20 to the other elongate side of the blind end of the L 5 shaped slot 19 to commence movement of the link arm 18 towards the right and thus commence opening the door 10. It will therefore be apparent that the second drive motor 22 is only energised at the initial opening phase of the door opening procedure, or the final closing phase of the 10 door closing procedure. Between these two phases the pin 20 is dis-engaged with the L-shaped slot 19 in the link arm 18 (which moves even further to the right than is illustrated in Fig. 9). Thus, during the main movement of the door between open and closed positions, the second motor 22 is not energised. 15 It will be seen from Figs. 10 and II respectively that the mechanism can be employed with a rigid pivoted door 100 or a single fold door 200 having unequal panels. Turning now to Fig.12, a curtain wall concertina door of the type disclosed in the present applicant's Australian Patent No. 2002 302 076 is illustrated. There the door 20 50 has a number of panels 51 each of which is suspended from a dual track 56 by means of pins (not illustrated), which extend between the track 56 and the top edge 57 of the panels 51. A difficulty in opening such doors is that the leading panel 5 IA must be pushed sideways, or kinked, to initiate the opening movement and start the concertina action. Naturally this panel (like all the other panels 51) is heavy. Once 25 this kinking action takes place, drawing all the panels along the track 56 is not too difficult. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, two relatively small motors are again provided, a first one to provide the necessary initial kinking of the 30 lead panel 51A and a second to draw all the panels 51 along the track 56. Similarly, when it comes to closing the door 50, the first motor is used in reverse to close the leading panel 5 1A after the second motor has pulled all the panels 51 out of the concertina configuration and into the closed configuration. 35 3159C-AU 7 The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the door fabrication arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the mechanism 11 is adapted to work on multi-panel doors having more than two panels. 5 Also limit switches or software control can be used to turn off the motors when the door panels have reached their desired position. The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of 10 "consisting only of". 3159C-AU

Claims (23)

1. An opening and closing mechanism for a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door, the door being supported by at least one track which receives a corresponding pin located on the side or edge of the door, said pin(s) being adapted to move reciprocally within said track(s) when opening and closing the door while link arms attached between said tracks and said door are arranged to pivot said door about the axes of the pin(s) when the pins move reciprocally within said track(s), said mechanism comprising a first drive means for moving said pin(s) reciprocally within said tracks and a second drive means for pivoting the door out of its rest plane at the commencement of the opening operation to assist in opening of the door.

2. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second drive means is activated prior to the end of the closing operation to pivot the door into a substantially closed position.

3. The mechanism as claimed in claim I or 2 wherein said track(s) is/are substantially horizontal, said pin(s) extend from the top edge of said door, and said door includes panels which pivot about a substantially horizontal axis.

4. The mechanism as claimed in claim 3 wherein said pin(s) suspend said door panels from said tracks.

5. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said track(s) are located in or on corresponding support column(s), said pin(s) extend from the side(s) of said door, and said door, or door panels thereof, pivot about a substantially horizontal axis.

6. The mechanism as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second drive means drives a link arm only during the opening and closing operation.

7. The mechanism as claimed in claim 6, wherein said link arm is moved by driving a pin engaged with said link arm within an arcuate slot in a guide plate associated with said second drive means.

8. The mechanism as claimed in any one of claims 5-7, wherein the first drive means drives a counterweighted cable which is arranged on a pulley means, the cable being fixedly attached to said door pin(s) to move them within the track(s) of the support column(s). -8- 3159C-AU

9. A method of opening and closing a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door which is supported by at least one track which receives a corresponding pin located on the side or top edge of the door, and said pin(s) being adapted to move reciprocally within said track(s) when opening and closing the door while link arms attached between said track(s) and said door are arranged to pivot said door about the axes of the pin(s) when the pin(s) move reciprocally within said tracks, said method comprising the steps of providing a first drive means for moving said pin(s) reciprocally within said tracks and providing a second drive means for tilting the door out of its rest plane at the commencement of the opening operation to assist in opening of the door.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second drive means is activated prior to the end of the closing operation to pivot the door into a substantially closed position.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 or 10 wherein said track(s) is/are substantially horizontal, said pin(s) extend for the top edge of said door, and said door includes panels which pivot about a substantially vertical axis.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 wherein said pin(s) suspend said door panels from said tracks.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9 or 10 wherein said track(s) are located in or on corresponding support column(s), said pin(s) extend from the side(s) of said door, and said door, or door panels thereof, pivot about a substantially horizontal axis.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the second drive means drives a link arm only during the opening and closing operation.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein said link arm is moved by driving a pin engaged with said link arm within an arcuate slot in a guide plate associated with the second drive means.

16. The method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 15 wherein the first drive means drives a counterweighted cable which is arranged on a pulley means, the cable being fixedly attached to said door pin(s) to move them within the track(s) of the support column(s).

17. A pivoted rigid or folding door opening and closing mechanism comprising a first drive means configured to move said door along a supporting track, and a -9- 3159C-AU second drive means configured to pivot said door out of a rest plane at the commencement of opening said door from a closed position.

18. A pivoted rigid or folding door opening and closing mechanism according to claim 17 for use with a vertically or horizontally pivoted or rigid folding door being supported by at least one track configured for receiving and allowing movement therealong of at least one guide pin located on a side or edge of said door, said mechanism comprising at least one link arm disposed between said track and said door and configured to pivot said door about the axis of said pin when moving along said tracks, said mechanism comprising a first drive means for moving said pin along said track, and a second drive means configured for pivoting said door out of a rest plane at the commencement of the opening of said door from a closed position.

19. A mechanism as claimed in claim 18 wherein said guide pin includes one or more running wheels, bearing surfaces or other running support surfaces disposed intermediate said pin and said track for facilitating movement of said pin therealong.

20. A mechanism as claimed in any one of claims 17-19 wherein said first drive means and/ or second drive means include an electric motor.

21. A mechanism according to any one of claims 17-20 and according to any one of claims 1-8.

22. An opening and closing mechanism for a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door, said mechanism being substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1-11 of the drawings.

23. A method of opening and closing a pivoted rigid or pivoted folding door, said method being substantially as herein described with reference to of the drawings. Dated this 12th day of November 2008 MONARCH GROUP PTY LIMITED By FRASER OLD & SOHN Patent Attorneys for the Applicants -10-