AU2013206381A1 - Removable door stop - Google Patents

Abstract

REMOVABLE DOOR STOP A removable door stop assembly comprises an elongate stop member; a flexible ligament connected at one end to a door frame and at the other to the elongate member; and a pair of retaining elements, one on the elongate member the other adapted to be secured to the architrave, the elements being mutually engageable thereby to retain the door member upon the architrave and being releasable thereby to permit removal of the member from the architrave. - lo zc'z U] -- 40 Figure i Figure 2 4

Description

REMOVABLE DOOR STOP The present invention relates to a doorstop that is removable. Door furniture and fixtures which are found in Mental Health and Psychiatric establishments typically are subject to a number of design constraints in order to help reduce or prevent patient self harm. In most in-patient mental health and similar establishments the doors to patient bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, communal toilets and communal bathrooms are 'double action' doors. That is to say that they are hung on double action hinges or pivot sets such that the door can open both inwards and outwards. Under normal day to day conditions, in order that the patient is afforded privacy and dignity, these doors open inwards only. However, in instances where the patient will attempt to prevent staff access to these rooms either by use of barricades or force applied to the door or its locking mechanism, it is necessary to gain access to the interior of the room by opening the door outwards. One way in which this is possible is by the use of a door stop which is removable. Such a removable door stop is fixed and locked in position such that the door is single action door, opening inwards only under normal day to day conditions. In an emergency/barricade situation, it is designed to be unlocked and removed thus allowing staff to pull the door outwards to open. To prevent any removable door stop from then being up and used as a weapon it is necessary that it remains securely stowed. Removable door stops are known per se, one example being that provided by Intastop Limited, under the trade mark "Double Swing Hinge Package", details of which can be found at the URL http://www.intasto.com/produc/double-swing-hinge-aackane. This design of removable door stop is subject to a number of constraints. First, it is manufactured in advance to bespoke size specifications. Secondly, because the removable door stop pivots out of its normal operating position, the stops are 'handed'left or right, depending upon which side of the door the stop is to be located. The present invention provides an alternative which enables the door stop quickly to be unlocked and removed in the case of an emergency. The invention is set out in the claims. Preferably, the removable door stop is also designed to be universal in that it can be fitted to any door frame width, height and handing i.e. whether left or right hand opening. Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a door, architrave and door stop according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view from above in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are sections through Fig. 1, showing the different positions of the door stop in normal and emergency modes; Fig. 5 is a rear view of the door stop; Fig. 6 is a section on through Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a side view of a detail of Figs. 5 and 6; Fig. 8 is an elevation of a face plate on the door frame; Figs 9 and 10 are sections through the door stop and door frame showing secure fastening onto and release of the door from the door frame; and Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a detail of Figs. 8 and 9. Referring now to Figs. I and 2, a door 10 is hung in a conventional manner from a door frame 12. As viewed in Fig. 1, the door hinges (not shown) permit both inward and outward opening of the door in a manner known in the art and are mounted on the left hand side of the door frame 12, so that the door 10 pivots from the left to open anticlockwise, i.e. inwardly. In normal operation, outward opening of the door is prevented by a door stop 20, attached to the right hand inward-facing surface of the jamb of the door frame. In the event that it becomes necessary to open the door 10 in an outward direction, the door stop 20 may be removed from, its position of normal operation. The door stop 20 is typically made from wood but may be made from any suitable material. Where 'working' of the door stop 20 is required on site, the material will preferably of a kind that enables such working, hence wood being one preferred material. Suitable plastics materials may also suffice. Referring now additionally to Figs 3 and 4, the door stop 20 is connected to the door frame 12 by a pair of ligaments. In use the ligaments enable the door stop 20 to be removed from its normal operating position so that the door 10 may be opened outwards and, at the same time, the ligaments retain the door stop 20 in connection with the door frame thereby to prevent it from being wielded freely as a weapon. In the present example, the ligaments are provided by flexible steel tapes 30. The tapes 30 are connected to the door stop 20 by means of steel fastenings 32 embedded within the door stop 20. When the stop 20 is in its normal operational position, the tapes are each wound around a respective bobbin 34. The bobbins 34 are biased by a suitable spring mechanism (for example, of the kind that is frequently employed in an expanding rule) in a sense that acts continuously to wind the tape 30 around the bobbin 34. When the door stop 20 is released from its normal position the tapes 30 are then able to unwind from the respective bobbins 34 against the action of the biasing mechanism to allow removal of the door stop 20. The tapes 30 thus prevent the door stop from being entirely free upon removal, which may otherwise permit the door stop 20 to be used as a weapon. Referring to Fig. 4, as a further precaution, and also to facilitate easier access into the room, once the door stop 20 has been released and then removed from its normal operating position, it is preferably relocated on the outer front face of a door frame, here provided by a door architrave. To this end, pairs of mutually cooperable parking elements (space apart vertically) are provided on the door stop 20 and the front face of the architrave 40. In the present example, one of the parking elements is provided by magnets 41 embedded within the front outer face of the architrave 40 and interacts with the parking element on the door stop, in this embodiment provided by top and bottom brackets 62 to locate or 'park' the door stop on the architrave in a manner which permits outward opening of the door 10. The magnetic force of attraction must therefore be sufficiently large to counteract the biasing force applied to the tape to ensure a secure parking of the door stop 20. (In a modification, magnets may also be provided on the door stop 20 to increase the attractive force). In a preferred embodiment, suitable detents on the door stop 20 and the architrave 40 mutually engage to facilitate easy relative location of the stop in the parked position. The locking mechanism, by means of which the door stop is connected to and released from the door frame will now be described with reference to Figs. 5 to 11. Referring initially to Figs 5 to 7, the door stop 20 has (as can be seen from Fig. 6), a substantially U-shaped cross section. The channel 50 within the door stop defined by the U-shaped cross-section houses an elongate support plate 60, shown in plan view in Fig. 5. The support plate 60 is adapted to carry a plurality (in this example four) of first retaining elements which are fixed to the support plate 60. The first retaining elements are provided in the present embodiment by the upwardly extending feet 68 of brackets 62 which have a substantially L-shaped cross section. When the door stop 20 is retained securely on the door architrave, it is via the feet 68 of the brackets 62 that this takes place. Referring now to Fig. 8 a face plate 70 is fixedly connected to the door frame. The face plate 70 has second retaining elements which cooperate with the first locking elements. In the present example, the second retaining elements are provided by apertures 72 into which the brackets 62 may project, The door stop 20 is securely held on the architrave by the engagement of the feet 68 of brackets 62 with the rear face of the face plate 70 adjacent the apertures 72. Notably, the combined depth of the support plate 60 and face plate 70 is approximately equal to the depth of the channel 50, whereas the feet 68 of the brackets 62, which must project through the apertures 72 in order to engage the face plate 70 to retain the door stop on the architrave, therefore project beyond the interior of the channel 68. Additionally, the face plate 70 includes apertures 73 through which the tapes 30 project to enable connection to the door stop 20. Referring now additionally to Figs 9 to 11 a lever locking mechanism 80 is carried within the door stop 20 (typically a suitable aperture will be routed from the door stop 20 to carry this locking mechanism). The mechanism 80 includes an L-shaped lever 82, having an upper elongate limb which serves as a handle 84. The lever 82 pivots about a fulcrum bearing 86 to cause the other limb of the L-shaped cross section, which server as the lever toe 88, to rotate about the fulcrum bearing 86. The lever handle 82 is retained in its upright, closed position, by means of a lock 90, which is rotatable about an axis A (see Fig. 10) by means of a suitable key 92. Referring specifically to Fig. 9, when the locking mechanism 80 is actuated to lock the door stop 20 onto the architrave, i.e. when the lever 82 is in its upright, closed position, the base of the lever toe 88 bears against the inner edge 74 of an aperture 76 in the face plate which is adapted to accommodate pivoting of the lever (and therefore lies in register with it). This forces the support plate 60 and (thus the door stop 20 to which it is connected) upward with respect to the face plate 70 which, in turn, urges the feet 68 of the brackets up behind the inner face of the corresponding apertures 72. While the lever 82 remains in this upright position, it is not possible to pull the door stop downwardly with respect to the architrave (and therefore the face plate 70) and thus, the brackets 62 cannot be released from the apertures 72 and the door stop is securely retained in position. Referring now to Fig. 10, once the lever is lowered, the supporting plate connected to the door stop 20 can move downwardly relative to the face plate, whereupon the feet 68 of the brackets will then move clear of the rear surface of the apertures 72 and the door stop may be removed from the architrave. Reconnection of the door stop is simply the reverse of removal, that is to say the feet 68 of the brackets 62 are inserted into the apertures 72, whereupon the lever handle 82 is lifted which urges the lever toe against the edge 74 and consequently pushes the door stop upwardly with respect to the door frame. This in turn forces the feet 68 up behind the inner surface of the apertures 72 and retains the door stop 20 in position on the door frame.

A

Claims (9)

1. A removable door stop assembly comprising an elongate stop member; a flexible ligament connected at one end to a door frame and at the other to the elongate member; and a pair of retaining elements, one on the elongate member the other adapted to be secured to the door frame, the elements being mutually engageable thereby to retain the door member upon the door frame and being releasable thereby to permit removal of the member from the door frame, the assembly further comprising a locking member, moveable between secured and released positions, wherein movement of the locking member between the secured and released positions causes relative movement of the elements between engaged and disengaged positions.

2. An assembly according to claim I wherein movement of the locking member causes relative movement of the stop member and door frame.

3. An assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 having a pair of ligaments connected to the stop member and door frame.

4. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein each ligament is connected at one end to a retracting mechanism.

5. An assembly according to claim 4 wherein the retracting mechanism comprises a bobbin and a bias which acts to wind the ligament onto the bobbin.

6. An assembly according any one of the preceding claims further comprising mutually co operable parking elements, one on the stop member and another adapted to be located on the door frame, which are adapted to interact to retain the stop member on the architrave when the stop member is in a released position.

7. An assembly according to claim 6 wherein one of the parking elements is a magnet and the other is of ferromagnetic material.

8. An assembly according to claim 7 wherein both of the parking elements are magnets.

9. An assembly substantially as described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.