CA1294476C - Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus comprising two gate segments, one segment of which is laterally slidable of the other or hinged gate half segment, and the gate half segments having tongues and grooves and held in lateral sliding position by means of double headed pins extending through slots in top and bottom bar sections and spring section latch means of stiffly flexible plastic material to lock the gates in adjusted width and the gate is mounted on hinges of downward pointing hinge pin fitting in hinge pin socket and the hinge pin sockets attached to a face plate assembled of two sections one having slits and the other section having offset fingers and the fingers fitting in the slits and side wings on face plate with adjusting screws in the side wings of the face plate to attach the face plate to a doorway pillar.

Page 34 of 34 Pages

Description

--1 ¦ OBJECTS OF INYENTION

2 I An object of this invention is to disclose an adjustable 3 ¦ width safety gate comprised of two gate segments, one segment ¦ laterally slidable on the other, an.d fastened together by means ¦ of pins extending through matching slots of the gate segments 6 ¦ and matching tongues and grooves of the gate segments, and a 7 ¦ rack gear or saw tooth section of one gate segment which tooth 8 ¦ section meshes in part with a lock having a matching gear or g saw teeth section. .
o Another object of this invention is to disclose an adjust-11 able width safety gate locked in extended position by means of 12 meshing of rack gear teeth on a gate segment with a gate latch 13 lock having a matching gear or tooth section mounted on a spring 14 section, and a release lever attached to the spring section, to 15~ disengage meshing of the teeth to allow laterally movable gate 1~ segment to retract from the full width of a doorway to allow 17 passage through the doorway, 18 Another object of this invention is to disclose two gate 19 segments aligned and attached together for lateral sliding of one gate segment on the other and these t~o gate segments 21 ha~ing lateral slots in top bar sections and bottom bar sections 22 of each gate segment and cross pins extending through the ~3 lateral slots of aligned gate segments. The top bar sections, 24 center bar sections and bottom bar sections of the two gate segments fitting together in matching tongues and grooves for 26 lateral sliding and rack gear teeth mounted in the length of 27 slot of the top bar section o~ the gate segment mounted on 28 hinges compxised o~ downward projecting hinge pins mounted on ~9 outer vertical gate segment and the hinge pins mounting into Page 3 of 3~ Pages , ., ., . . . , ~.,.i........ . , : . ,., - ~ .

--hinge pin sockets and the hinge pin sockets attached -to a face 2 plate mounted on the door frame pillar.
3 Another object of this invention is to disclose adjustable 4 width doorway safety gate apparatus comprised of two gate seg-ments, one segment mounted on hinges and one segmen~ mounted for 6 lateral sliding on the segment mounted on hinges and the two 7 gate segments having matching lateral slots in top bar sections 8 and bottom bar sections and double headed cross pins extending g through the lateral slots of aligned gate segments and top bar o sections, center bar sections, and bottom bar sections of the two gate segments fitting together in matching tongues and 12 grooves for lateral sliding and rack gear teeth mounted in the 13 length of slot of top bar section of gate segment mounted on 14 hinges, and gate latch lock means to engage the rack gear teeth of hinge mounted gate segment to stop inward lateral movement 16 of sliding gate segment, the gate latch lock means comprising a 17 section of gear teeth to mesh with rack gear teeth and the 18 section of gear teeth mounted on spring means to mesh with the l9 rack gear tooth section and a release lever attached to the spring means to disengage gear teeth section from the rack gear 21 teeth to allo~ lateral inward movement of sliding ~ate segment 22 and door pillar straddle U sections attached to outer vertical 2~ edge of the lateral sliding gate segment to hold gate in closed 24 position, Another object of this invention is to disclose an adjust-~6 able width doorway safety gate apparatus comprising two gate 27 segments, one segment mounted on hinges and one segment mounted 28 for lateral sliding on the segment mounted on hinges and means 29 to engage rack gear teeth mounted in the length of slot o~

~2 Page a~ of 34 pa9e5 l top ar section to stop ~nw~rd later~l movement the me&ns con-2 ¦ sisting of gear teeth section meshing on inward lateral movement 3 ¦ with rack gear teeth of the gate segment mounted on hinges and 4 1 the gear teeth section attached to spring means and the spring ¦ means attached to lateral slot in top bar section of gate segment 6 ¦ mounted for lateral sliding and a release lever attached to the 7 ¦ spring means to manually release meshing of gear teeth section ¦ with rack gear teeth to allow lateral inward movement o~ the ¦ sliding gate segment and the gear teeth section sliding freely o ¦ over gear rack teeth when sliding gate segment moves laterally ¦ outward.
2 ¦ ~nother object of this invention is to disclose in adjust-13 ¦ able width doorway safety gate apparatus comprised of two gate 14 ¦ segments aligned and attached together for lateral slidi.ng of 16~ ¦ one gate segment on the other wherein the improvement comprises 16 ¦ doorway pillar straddle U frame sections extending horizontally 17 ¦ outwaxdly and attached to outer vertical frame section of a 18 ¦ latexal sliding gate segment, 19 ¦ ~nother object of this invention is to disclose a gate ~0 ¦ latch lock means comprised of stiffly flexible plas~ic material 21 ¦ such as nylon, polypropylene or polystyrene.
2 ¦ Another object of this invention is to disclose an adjust-23 ¦ able width safety gate mounted on hinges comprised of downward 24 ¦ pointing hinge pins and these hinge pins fitting in hinge pin ¦ socket sections which hinge pin sockets are mounted on a face 26 ¦ plate attached to the doorway pillar by means of L shaped legs ~7 ¦ stxaddling the doorway plllar and attached to the ~ace pl.~t~
28 ¦ Another object o~ this invention is to disclose hinge pin ~9 ~ount sockets attached to a hinge pin socket mount plate having ~ Page 5 of 34 Pag~s 12~476 1 slits in the mount plate and the mount plate is attached to the 2 doorway pillar by means of legs of L shape side wings with o~fset ~ finger section of the L shape legs fitting in the slits of the 4 mount plate and the legs of L shape side wing to contact the mount plate and L shape side wing sections attached to side o~
6 doorway pillar by means of a threaded bolt threaded into threaded nu~ on g of L shape side wing, I/

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~7 32 Page of.34 Pages ~; --Z~ 6 PRIOR ART PERTAINING ro THIS INVENTION

3 ¦ U.S. Patent #139,232 to Boughton for "Nursery Gates" -4 ¦ This patent discloses an expandable gate which locks on one end.
~ Patent #141,677 to Tuttle for "Nursery Gates", This 6 ¦patent discloses an adjustable width gate which is raised to open 7 ¦and lowered for closing - no hinges are inYolYed, ~ ¦ U.S. Patent #4,492,263 to Gebhard for "Infant Security Door g ¦Gate Assembly", This gate is an assembly of two segments, ¦expandable by sliding on telescoping rods, 11 ¦ Patent #942,502 to JablonoYsky for "Adjustable Window 12 ¦ Grate", This discloses two pairs of gate sections, with the 13 ¦ two pairs to be fitted together, 4 ¦ Other patents of interest are:
15- 1 U,S, Patent #2,662,242 to Hess 16 ¦ U,S, Patent #4,465,262 to Itri 17 ¦ U,S. Patent #4,566,222 to Hat~any 18 U,S, Patent #4, 607,455 to Bluem 19 U.S, Patent #2,896,277 to Halligan U, S . Patent #4,149,342 to Bowers 21 U, S . Patent #4,573,285 to Jokel 22 Foreign Patents are:
23 UK Patent #2,041,051 to ~dams for "Baby Gates". This 24 is for an adjustable width gate, hinged on one end and locking on the opposite end.
26 Patent (French) #1,236,542 to Perrier see Figs, 1-7.
27 This barrier does not suing ~ree.
28 None of the aboYe patents touch the disclosure of this 29 present invention as descxibed below, 31 .
32 .
Pag~ 7 of 34 Pa~es :

1 ¦ BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 - Gate half segment lateral sliding segmer 4 Fig. 2 - Gate half segment - hinged segment.
Fig. 3 - Assembled adjustable width doorway safety gate G apparatus, 7 Fig. 4 - Cross section view A-A of Fig. 1 top bar segment.
8 Fig, 5 - Cross section view C-C of Fig. 1, center bar 9 segment, o Fig, 6 - Cross section view E-E of Fig. 1 bottom bar segment, 11 Fig. 7 - Cross section view of top, center and bottom bar 12 sections of gate segments in exploded view showing ~3 fitting of tongues and grooYes.
1~ Fig. 8 - Enlarged elevation view of top bar section of 16 gate half segment which is the hinged gate segment.
1~ Fig. 9 - Enlarged plan view of gear rack tooth section.
17 Fig. 10 - Enlarged eleyation view of location of lateral 18 sliding gate latch lock.
19 Fig, 11 - Enlarged cross section vie~ F-F of Fig. 10, Fig. 12 - Enlarged plan ~iew of portion of assembled 21 adjustable gate, 22 Fig. 13 - Enlarged eleYation view of portion of assembled 23 adjustable gate, 24 Fig. 14 - Eleyation view of face of hinge mount plate.
Fig. 15 - Section ~-~I of Fig, 14, ~6 Fig. 16 - Side wing mount of hinge so~ket face plate (section view J-J of Fig, 15.) 28 Fig. 17 - Hinge pin socket plan Yiew.
29 Fig, 18 - Elevation view o~ assembled hinge pin in hinge pin ~ socket, Page_ of 34 Pagss I
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1 Fig. 19 - Side elevation view of hinge pin sockets attached 2 to moun-t face plate, and this assembly mounted on 8 door frame pillar, 4 Fig, ~0 - Plan view of U section fastened to outer vertical edge of lateral sliding gate segment (Section G-G
6 of Fig. 1~.
7 Fig, 21 - Elevation view of U section adjustable for width.
8 Fig. 22 - Isolated enlarged elevation view of relation of g gear latch tooth section and gear rack tooth lo section in oYer ride or ratcheting position.
11 ~ig, 23 - Isolated elevation view of gate latch release of 12 lateral sliding gate segment.
13 Fig, 24 - Enlarged elevation view of double headed pin 14 extending from one gate segment corner through slot of other gate segment to hold gate segments 16 in lateral sliding position, 17 Fig. 25 - ~ront elevation view of hinge pin socket mount 18 plate on doorway pillar.
19 Fig. 26 - Cross section K-K view of hinge pin socket mount plate, 21 Fig. 27 - Side wing attachment on hinge pin socket mount 22 plate, 23 Fig, 28 - L shape side wing segment section M_M ~iew, 24 Fig. 29 - L shape side wing segment section Yiew N-N, Fig. 30 - Plan view of hinge pin socket mount plate and L
26 shaped side wing segment, 27 Fig, 31 - Enlarged plan view of fitting of hinge pin socket 28 ~ount plate and side wing attachments for attaching 29 to doorway pillar, ~ Fig. 32 - Cross section view D-D of Fig. 2 center bar section 31 of hinged gate segment.

Page 9 of 3~ Pagas I
¦DESCRI PT I O~l OF D~AWI NGS

3 ¦ Fig. 1 - Gate half segment - lateral sliding segment.
¦ 1 - Sliding gate half segment of safety gate 5 ¦ 3 - Bottom bar section 6 ¦ 4 - Center bar section 7 ¦ 5 - Top bar section 8 ¦6 - Grill work in gate segment 9 ¦12 - Slot in top bar section lo ¦18 - Gate latch lock 11 ¦24 - Slot in bottom bar section 12 ¦41 - U section to straddle door pillar 13 ¦ Fig. 2 ~ Gate half segment - hinged segment, 14 ¦2 - Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 15 ¦3 ' - Bottom bar section 1~ ¦4' - Center bar section 17 ¦5' - Top bar section 186` - Grill ~ork in gate segment ~912' - Slot in top bar section 2013 - Gear rack teeth 2118 - Gate latch 2230 - Bottom foot on hinged gate half segment 2324' - Slot in bottom bar section 2429 - Gate latch lock location ~ig. 3 - ~ssembled adjustable width doorway safety gate 26apparatus comprising:
271 ~ Sliding gate half segment of saIety gate 282 _ Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 293, 3~ - Bottom bar segments of safety gate Page 10 of. 34Pages 4,4' - Center bar segments of s~:tety g~te 2 ¦ 5>5' - Top bar segments of safety gate 3 ¦ 6,6' - Grill work in segmen-ts of safety gate 4 ¦ 7 - Gate latch 5 ¦ S - Hinge pin sockets 6 ¦ 9 - Hinge pins 7 ¦ 10,10' - Doorway pillars 8 ¦ 11 - Hinge pin socket mount bracket 9 ¦ 12J12' - Slots in top bar sections of gate half segments 10 ¦ - tongue and groove sections in center bar sections 11 ¦ of gate half segmen-ts 12 ¦ 13 - Gear rack teeth ~3 ¦ 30 - Bottom foot on hinged gate half segment 14 ¦ 28 - Location of gate latch lock 15 ¦ 41 - U section to straddle doorway pillar 16 Fig. 4 - This is cross section view A-~ of Fig. 1, top bar 17 segment 5 wherein:

13 12 - Slot in top bar section of gate half segment 19 13 Flange web of top bar section 19 - Tongue sections of top bar section 21 Fig. 5 - Cross section Yiew C-C o-f Fig. 1, center bar 22 segment 4 wherein:
23 14 - Tongue of center bar segment 24 15 ~ GrooYe of center bar segment 20 - ~rms extending from center bar gate section to ~6 grill work of gate segments 27 Fig. 6 - Cross section view E-E of Fig, 1, bottom bar 28 segment 3, wherein:
29 16 - Recesses for fitting of tongues 19 ~ 17 - Slot in bottom bar section of gate half segment Page ~!1 of 34 Pages ~ ~Z9~76 -1 , Fig - Cross section view oP ~p, center and bottom bar 2 sections of ga-te segments in expanded view showing 3 fitting of tongues and grooves when one gate half 4 segment is inverted for fitting lateral sliding gate segment to hinged gate half segment.
6 1 - Lateral sliding gate half segment 7 2 - Gate half segment - hinged segment 83,3' - Bottom gate sections of gate half segments 94,4' - Center bar gate sections o5,5' - Top bar sections of gate half segments 1112,12' - Matching slots in top bar sections of gate half 12segments fitting together 1313 - Gear rack tooth section to mesh with tooth section 1416 - Recesses in top and bottom bar sections of gate 15half segments 1619 ~ Tongue sections fitting in grooYeS 16 of top and 17bottom bar sections 182Q,20~ - Arms extending from center bar gate section to 19grill work of gate segments 2024,24' - Matching slots in bottom bar sections of gate half 21segments fitting together 22 Fig. 8 - Enlarged elevation view of top bar section of 23gate half segment which is the hinged gate segment 24wherein:
252 - Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 265' - Top bar segment of hinged gate half segment 276 - Grill in gate segment ~88 - Hinge pin ~912 - Slot in top bar section of hinged gate half seg-ment Page 1 20f34 Pages .... .. .. .. ..... ...
.. .... . ..

--I ~ 13 - Gear rack teeth 2 28 - Double headed pin attached to top bar section of 3 hinge gate half segment 2 and extending through slot in gate half segment 1 top bar section.
Fig. 9 - Enlarged plan view of gear rack tooth section.
6 13 - Gear rack teeth 7 19 - Flat at top of gear rack teeth 21 ~ Flat land at base between gear rack teeth 9 H - Angle of ~5 degrees of gear rack teeth ratchet side ~ - Angle of 80 degrees of gear rack teeth catch side 11 Fig. 10 - Enlarged eleYation view of location of lateral 12 sliding gate latch lock.
13 1 - Lateral sliding gate half segment of safety gate ~4 12 - Slot in top bar section 13 - Gear rack teeth in top bar section of hinged gate 16 half segment 17 18 - Gate latch lock 13 22 - Oyerlapping flange of latch lateral sliding gate 19 latch 23 - ~nchor scre~ for gate latch and pin extending ~1 through slot of top bar section of hinged gate 22 half segment ~3 25 - Gate latch spring section 24 26 - Latch release leYer 27 - Gear teeth section of latch 26 Fig. 11 - Enlarged cross section view F-F of Fig. 10 wherein:
27 1 - Lateral slidi.ng gate half segment of safety gate 28 2 - Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 29 12,12' - Matching slots in top bar sections of safety gate Page 13 of 34 Pages :

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1 ¦ 13 - Gear rack teeth 2 ¦ 18 - Gate latch 3 ¦ 22 - OYerlapping flange o~ latch on lateral sliding gate 4 ¦ latch 5 ¦ 26 - Latch release leYer 6 ¦ 27 - Gear teeth section 7 ¦ Fig, 12 - Enlarged plan view of portion of assembled 8 ¦ adjustable gate showing enlarged portion of gate 9 ¦ latch wherein:
lo ¦ 1 - Lateral sliding gate half segmen-t of safety gate 11 ¦ 2 - Hinged gate half segmen-t of safety gate 12 ¦ 13 - Gear rack teeth 13 ~ 18 - Gate latch 14 23 - Screw for latch mount on lateral sliding gate 15 ~ segment 16 ¦ 26 - Latch release lever 17 ¦ 27 - Gear teeth section 18 ¦ Fig. 13 - Enlarged eleyation view of portion of assembled 19 ~ adjustable gate showing portion of gate release 20 ¦ lock ~herein:

21 ¦ . 1 - Lateral sliding gate half segment of safety gate ~2 ¦ 2 - Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 23 ¦ 6 - Grill work o~ safety gate 24 ¦ 13 - Gear rack teeth ~5 ¦ 18 - Gate latch 26 ¦ 23 - Screw ~or latch mount on lateral sliding gate 27 ¦ segment 28 ¦ 25 - Latch stiffly flexible arm section 29 ¦ 26 - Latch release lever 32 l ¦ Pa~e 14 of 3~Lpag0s .. .. . '7 .

11 ~2~3~7~:i I 1 27 - Gear teeth section 2 ¦28 - Double headed pin extending through matching slots 3 ¦ Fig. 14 - Elevation face of hinge mount plate wherein:
¦8 - Hinge pin sockets 5 ¦31 ~ Face plate section with slits 6 ¦32 - ~ace plate section with offset fingers 7 ¦33 - Slits ~or adjusting width 8 ¦34 - Offset fingers (mounted in slots) 9 ¦ Fig. 15 - Section H, H of Fig. 14.
0 ¦8 - Hinge pin socket mount ¦31 - Face plate section with slits 12 ¦32 - Face plate section with offset fingers 13 ¦33 - Slit for adjusting width 14 ¦34 - Offset finger (mounted in slit 33) 15 ¦ Fig. 16 - Side wing mount of hinge socket face plate 16 ¦tsection view J, J of Fig. 15).
17 ¦8 - Hinge pin socket 18 ¦31,32 - Location o~ ~ace plate l9 ¦35 - Side wing of face plate 20 ¦36 - Adjustable screws to tighten on door pillar 21 ¦ Fig. 17 - Hinge pin socket plan view 22 ¦8 - Hinge pin socket 23 ¦10' - Doorway pillar 24 ¦31 - Face plate section 25 ¦ Fig. 18 - Ele~ation ~iew of assembled hinge pin in hinge 26 ¦pin socket 27 ¦2 - Hinged gate half segment of safety gate 28 ¦8 ~ Hinge pin socket 29 ~9 - Hinge pin 32 l ¦Pag~l5 of34 Pages ll ~L2~ '6 l ¦ 10' - Doorway pillar 2 31 - Face plate section 3 ~ig. 19 - Side elevation view o~ hinge pin sockets attached 4 to mounting face plate, and this assembly mounted on door frame pillar:
6 8 - Hinge pin soc~ets 7 9 - Hinge pin 8 10' - Doorway pillar 9 31 - Face plate section ~0 36 - ~djustable screws to tighten against door pillar 37 - Door pillar 12 Fig. 20 - Plan view of U section fastened to outer vertical 13 edge of lateral sliding gate segment wherein (Section G-G of Fig. 1) 1 - Sliding gate half segment of safety gate 16 10 - D~orway pillar 17 41 - U section attached to outer vertical edge of lQ lateral sliding gate half segment to straddle 19 doorway pillar ~0 42 ~ Screws in slots of U section to allow adjustment 21 of width to straddle doorway pillar ?2 Fig. 21 - Elevation view of U section adjustable fox width 23 wherein:
24 1 - Vertical outer edge of lateral sliding gate half segment of safety gate 26 10-~ Doorway pillar 27 41 - U section attached to outer vertical edge of 28 lateral sliding gate half seg~ent to straddle 29 doorway pillar Page 1 6 of ~Pages ... . ... . ....... . . .. ......

~ 6 1 42 - Screws in holes of U section to allow adjustment 2 of width to straddle doorway pillar 3 60 - Holes in U section to allow width adjustmen-t 4 -to straddle doorway piilar Fig. 22 - An isolated enlarged elevation view of relation 6 o~ gear latch tooth section and gear rack tooth 7 section shown in over ride or ratcheting position 8 wherein:
9 13 ~ Gear rack teeth l9,l9' - Flat at top of gear rack teeth and gear tooth 11 section 12 26 - Latch release lever 3 27 - Gear teeth section 14 43,43' - Gear meshing side of gear tooth sections-!5 44'44' ~ Ratcheting side of gear tooth sections Fig. 23 - Isolated elevation yiew of gate latch release 7 of lateral sliding gate segment wherein:
18 18 - Gate latch 19 22 - OYerlapping flange of latch of lateral sliding ~o gate segment 21 23 - ~nchor screw for gate latch and pin extending 22 through slot OI top bar section of hinged gate 23 half segment 24 25 - Gate latch spring section 26 - Latch release lever 26 27 - Gear teeth section of latch 27 Fig. 24 ~ ~nlarged elevation view of double headed pin 28 extending from one gate segment corner through 29 slot of other gate segment to hold gate segments in lateral sliding position wherein:

Page l7 oF 34 Pages 1 - Lateral gate sliding segment 2 ¦28 - Double headed pin for lateral sliding gate 3 ¦ Fig. 25 - Front elevation view of hinge pin socket mount 4 ¦plate on doorway pillar whérein;
5 ¦50 - Hinge pin socket mount plate 6 ¦51 - Slits in mount plate 7 ¦52 - Cross channels in mount plate B ¦8 - Hinge pin sockets mounted on mount plate 9 ¦57 - Scre~ holes for attaching mount plate to doorway 10 ¦pillar ¦ Fig. 26 - Cross secti~n K-K Yiew of hinge pin socket mount 1~ ¦plate wherein:
13 ¦8 - Hinge pin sockets 1~ ¦50 - Section K-K eleYation Yiew of hinge mount plate 1~ ¦52 ~ Cross channels in mount plate 1~ ¦ ~ig. 27 - Side wing attachment on hinge pin socket mount 17 ¦plate to attach mount plate to doorway pillar 18 ¦wherein:
1~ ¦58 ~ L shape side wing ~:.
2053 - Leg of L shape side wing to contact side of door-~1way pillar 2254 - Threaded nut on leg of L shape side wing to contact 23side of doorway pillax 2456 - Leg of L shape side wing to contact mount plate 2555 - Offset finger section of leg of L shape side 26wing in contact with mount plate 2759 _ Threaded screw bolt section to turn into threaded 28 nut 54 Paga 1 8 of 34 Pages l l Fig 28 - L qhape side wing segment ~ec~ion M-~l view, wherein:
2 ¦ 53 - Leg o~ L shape side wing to contact side of doorway 3 ¦ pillar 4 ¦ 56 - Leg of L shape side wing to contact mount plate 5 ¦ 55 - Offset finger section of leg of L shape side wing 6 ¦ in contact with mount plate 7 ¦ 58 - L shape side wing segment 8 ¦ Fig, 29 - L shape side wing segment section view N-N wherein:
9 ¦ 58 ~ L shape side wing segment o ¦ 53 - Leg oi L shape side wing to contact side of doorway ¦ pillar 2 ¦ 55 - Offset finger section of leg of L shape side wing t3 ¦ in contact with mount plate 14 ¦ Fig. 30 - Plan view of hinge pin socket mount plate and 15 ¦ L shaped side wing segment wherein:
16 ¦ 50 - Hinge pin socket mount plate 17 ¦ 58 - L shape side wing segment 1~ ¦ 8 - Hinge pin socket 1~ ¦ 10' - Doorway pillar 2~ ¦ 59 - Threaded screw bolt 21 ¦ Fig. 31 - Enlarged plan view of fitting of hlnge pin socket 22 ¦ mount plate and side wing attachments for 23 ¦ attaching to doorway pillar wherein:
24 10' - Doorway pillar 50 - Hinge pin socket mount plate 26 51 ~ Slits in mount plate 27 53 - Leg of L shape side wing 28 55 ~ Offset finger section of leg of L shape side wing ~9 56 ~ Leg of L shape side wing to contact mount plate Page 1 9 of 34 Pages !

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18 - L shape slde wing .egment 2 ¦59 - Threaded screw bolt 3 ¦54 - Threaded nut ¦8 - Hinge mount socket - -s ¦lO' - Door frame pillar 6 ¦ Fig. 32 - Cross section view D-D of Fig. 2 center bar 7 ¦ section of hinged gate segment wherein:
8 ¦ 14' - Tongue of center bar segment of hinged gate g ¦ half segment to fit into groove 15 of Fig, 5 10 ¦ 15' - Groove of center bar segment of hinged gate 11 ¦ half segment to fit tongue 14 of Fig. 5 2 ¦ 20' - Arms extending from center bar gate section to 3 ¦ grill work of gate segments 14 ¦ The above description of the drawings includes identifica-¦ tion of component parts of the legends noted, to disclose the 16 ¦ parts and assembly of this invention.
17 ¦ In general, where numbers and their primes are used, this 18 ¦ indicates similar components in the gate segments, 19 ¦ The gear rack teeth in the lateral sliding gate segment ¦ bottom are of no function and merely indicates how the segment ~ is inve ted to match the sliding surfaces ~f the gate segments.

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Page ZDof 34 P~ges ¦ DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

3 In the description of this invention, teeth and tooth may 4 be used interchangeakly, but will have the same meaning. Gate half segments may be identified as gate segrnents or as a gate 6 segment, but having the same meaning.
The adjustable width doorway safety gate may be fabricated 8 of any type material but this disclosure is particularly amenable g to assembly of such a gate from a plastic molding wherein one 0 cavity can supply both the gate half segment mounted on hinges and a laterally sliding gate half segment fitting onto the 12 hinge mounted gate half segment and tongues and grooves are 13 meshed merely by inverting the lateral sliding gate half segment, 14 and attaching the gate half.segments together by means of double headed pins extending through aligned slots of the two gate half 16 segments.
17 Hinge pins are molded onto the hinge mounted gate half seg-18 ment and for molding the laterally sliding gate half segment, 19 the hinge pins are blocked off in the molding die or else the hinge pins molded onto the gate half segment can be removed 21 by cutting off of the hinge pin component, 22 Adjustable width doorway safety.gate apparatus of this 23 inYention comprises two gate half segments l and 2 aligned and 24 attached together for lateral sliding of gate half segment l on gate half segment 2, Gate half segment l, can be`otherwise 26 identified as lateral sliding gate segment and gate half segment 27 2 can be otherwise identified as hinge gate segment, The gate 28 half segments l and 2 have aligned lateral slots 12,12' in top 29 bar sections 5,5' and bottom bar sections 3,3' have allgned Page 2l of 3~ Pages 7~

~ ~1 eral slots 24,24~ and doub]~ ùeaded cross pins extending 2 through the aligned lateral slots 12,12' and 24,24' o~ aligned 3 gate segments 1 and 2, and top bar sections 5,5! ~ center bar sections 4,4' and bottom bar sections 3,~' o~ the gate half seg-ments 1, 2 fitting together in matching tongues 25,25', 27,27' 6 and groo~es 28,28', 26,26' for lateral sliding and rack gear 7 teeth 13 mounted in length of slot 12' of top bar section 5' of 8 gate half segment 2 mounted on hinges comprised of downward 9 projecting hinge pins 9 mounted on outer Yertical gate half o segment 2 and the hinge pins mounting into hinge pin sockets 8 and the hinge pin sockets 8 attached to ~ace plate 31,32 mounted 2 on door frame pillar 10'.
13 To pre~ent sagging of assembled gate segments, there is a 4 bottom ~oot on hinged gate half segment 2 , This bottom foot 30 is attached to the bottom of outer edge of hinged gate half 16 segment 2 as shown in Fig~ 3, 17 Further description of adjustable width doorway safety gate 18 comprises two gate hali segments 1 and 2, one segment 2 mounted 19 on hinges 8,9 and segment 1, ~ounted for lateral sllding on segment 2 mounted on hinges 8,9 and matching lateral slots 21 12,12' in the two gate segments 1 and 2 of top bar sections 5,5' 22 and slots 24,24' in bottom bar sections 3,3' and double headed 23 cross pins 28 extending through the lateral slots 12,12' and 24 24,24' of aligned gate segments 1 and 2, Top bar sections 5,5' center bar sections 4,4' and bottom bar sections 3,3' of the 26 two gate hal~ segments 1 and 2 fitting together in matching 27 tongues 14,14' and 16,16' and grooves 15,15' and l9,19' Fig. 7 28 for lateral sliding and gear rack teeth 13, mounted in length 29 of slot 12' o~ top bar section of gate half segment 2 mounted Pa~s22 of 34 Pa~s ~1 --1 ¦on hinges 8 and 9 and means to engage the gear rack teeth 13 2 ¦ of hinge mounted gate half segment to stop inward lateral move-3 ¦ ment of sliding gate half segment l the means comprising gear 4 ¦ tooth section 27 to mesh with the rack gear teeth 13 and the ¦ section of gear teeth 27 mounted on gate latch spring section 25 6 ¦ to mesh with the rack gear tooth section 13 and a latch release 7 ¦ lever 26 attached to the latch spring section 25 to disengage 8 ¦ the gear tooth section 27 from the rack gear teeth 13 to allow g ¦ lateral inward movement of sliding ~ate segment l and door pillar ¦ straddle U section 41 of ~ig. 20 attached to outer vertical edge ~1 ¦ 42 Fig. l of the lateral sliding gate half segment l to hold the 12 ¦ gate in closed position, (Fig. 3).
13 ¦ In the description of this invention, reference is made to 14 ¦ a doorway pillar straddle U frame section, This "U" form is used ¦ to represent a square based form the base of which is adjustable 1~ ¦ for fitting over doorway pillar lO. (See ~igs, 20 and 21).
17 ¦ The means to engage gear rack teeth 13 mounted in length of 18 ¦ slot 12 ' of top bar section 5 ~ of gate half segment 2 mounted on 19 ¦ hinges 8 and 9, to stop inward lateral movement of gate half ¦ segment l, consisting of gear teeth section 27 meshing with rack 21 ¦ gear teeth 13 of the gate segment 2 mounted on hinges 8 and 9 22 ¦ and the gear tooth section 13 attached to gate latch spring 23 ¦ section 25 and the spring section 25 attached to inner end of 24 ¦ slot in top bar section 12 in top bar section 5 of gate half ¦ segment l-mounted for lateral sliding on gate half segment 2 26 ¦ mounted on hinges 8 and 9 and a release lever 26 attached to 27 1 the spring section 25 for release o~ meshing of gear teeth 28 ¦ ~section 27 with rack gear teeth section 13 to allow lateral 29 inward movement of the lateral sliding gate half segment l and ! Page23of 34Pages 1 th gear teeth section 27 slldin, or ratcheting freely over gear 2 ¦ rack teeth 13 when sliding gate hal~ segment moves laterally 3 ¦ outward, to engage U lock sections to straddle door frame pillar 4 ¦ 10 to hold the assembled gate in closed position. (Fig. 3).
¦ The rack gear teeth 13 have a flat land 21, at the base 6 ¦ between gear rack teeth having a dimension to accommodate the 7 ¦ crQwn or top of teeth of gear teeth section 27, ¦ The gear teeth section 27 acts as a pawl ratchet in which ~ ¦ the teeth mesh with gear rack teeth 13, on lateral movement of 1~ ¦ ~ate segment 1 to prevent inward lateral movement, but on lateral 11 ¦ movement of gate segment 1 outward the teeth do not mesh but 2 ¦ allow for movement outward.
3 ¦ The pawl ratchet acting gear tooth section 27 is so ~4 ¦ identified that when the lateral sliding gate segment 1 is moved ¦ outward the pa~l ratchet gear tooth section 27 slides over gear-1~ ¦ rack teeth 13 in gate segment 2 without the necessity of lifting 17 ¦ latch release lever ~6, 18 ¦ Reference is made to ~ig. 9 to ~urther describe the rack 19 ¦ gear tooth section~ The face 43 of the gear rack teeth 13 which ~o ¦ mesh with the teeth of gear tooth section 27 ha~e an angle J of 21 ¦ less than 90 preferably about 80, and the teeth of gear teeth ~ ¦ section 27 have the same angle o~ less than 90 preferably about 23 ¦ 80 so that the teeth mesh to hold -the adjus-table width doorway 2~ ~ safety gate to its adjusted width and is retractable only on ¦ release of latch gear teeth section 27 from the gear rack teeth 26 ¦ by means of actiYatiOn of latch release leYer 26, 27 ¦ The above discussion mentions the hinges which are comprised ~8 ¦ of hinge pins 9 moun-ted in hinge pin sockets 8~ Referring to Fig. 19 which is a side elevation vie, of hinge pin sockets 8 Pa~e 2alof 34 Pages ~ . ~ , ..... . .. . . .. ... . . . . ... . . . . ..

7~ -~ ~ attache ~o mountin~ f~ce plate 31 and side wings 44 perpend-2 icular to the face pl~te 31 and threaded pin sections 36 mounted 3 in threaded section 46 of side wings 35.
4 The mounting face plate 31 is adjustable for various doorway pillar widths by fitting of offset fingers in slits of face 6 plate 31.
7 Reference is now made to Patent #4,702,036 to describe in 8 detail the hinge components for mounting of the gate.
g The lateral sliding gate latch mechanism is shown in Figs.
lo 10, 11, 12, 13 and 23 and is comprised of the mechanism as shown 11 and described in Fig. 23 description, and the teeth of the gear 12 tooth section are as described above and as shown in Fig. 22 to 13 mesh and ratchet with the tooth section of gear rack section 14 ~vhich section is shown in Fig. 9 and the teeth of the gear tooth section of the latch and the teeth of the rack gear section are 6 of approximately the same configuration, 17 The gate latch mechanism 18 as shown comprises a plastic 18 molding having sections of overlapping flange of latch 22 and 19 gate latch spring section 25 latch release lever 26, and gear tooth section 27 and this is latch mounted on the top bar section 21 5 of lateral sliding gate half segment 1 of safety gate by means 22 of a bolt or screw fastener 23 in such manner that gear tooth 23 section 27 of the latch mesh with the gear rack teeth 13, of gate 24 half segment of safety gate 2, which is the hinged ~ection, The gate latch 18 is located on lateral sliding gate half segment 1, 26 at 29 of Fig. 2, Spring section 25 amounts to stiffly flexible 27 plastic material such as nylon, polypropylene or polystyrene to 28 insure meshing of gear teeth 27 and gear rack teeth 13 until 29 released by actuation of leYer 26, Page 250f3~ Pages ll . --7~;

1 It is to be pointed out that the double headed cross pins 2 28 which hold the lateral sliding gate half segment 1, onto the 3 hinged gate half segment 2, comprises four double headed cross 4 pins, two of which cross pins 28,28 are rigidly attached to lateral sliding gate half segment 1, and these pins extend through 6 the slots in top bar section 12' and bottom bar section 24' of 7 hinged gate half segment 2, and two do.uble headed pins 28',28' 8 are rigidly attached to hinged gate half segment 2, and extend 9 through slots in top bar section 12, and lower bar section 24 of lo lateral sliding gate segment 1. The rigidly attached pins, 11 mentioned above are located in the top bar sections 5,5', and 12 bottom bar sections 3,3', and extend through respective slots 13 12,12' and 24,24' in top and bottom bar sections. Pins 28 are 4 located as shown in Fig. 2, As an alternative to mounting the adjustable width doorway 16 safety gate, the hinge pin mount sockets 8 are attached to hinge 17 pin socket mount plate 50 having slits 51 in the mount plate and 18 the mount plate 50 is attached to doorway pillar 10' by means 19 of legs 53 of L shape side wings 58, with offset finger section of legs of L shape 55 fitting in slits 51. The leg of L shape 21 side wing 56 to contact mount plate 50, and L shape side wing 22 sections 58, attached to side of doorway pillar 10' by means of 23 threaded bolt 59 threaded into threaded nut 54. The hinge mount 24 socke-ts 8 are attached to mount plate 50 by means of screws 57.
(See ~igs. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31), 26 The drawing legends identify and describe the components ~7 of this invention, and with the description, enables those 28 knowledgeable in the art to make the apparatus of this invention.

Pag~ 260f34 Pag~s .. .. ... . . . . . .

Claims (7)

1. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus wherein the improvement comprises:
a - two gate half segments aligned and attached together for lateral sliding of one gate half segment on the other, and b - said two gate half segments having aligned lateral slots in c - top bar sections and bottom bar sections in each gate segment and d - double headed cross pins extending through said lateral slots of aligned gate segments and e - top bar sections, center bar sections and bottom bar sections of said two gate segments fitting together in matching tongues and grooves, for lateral sliding, and f - rack gear teeth mounted in length of slot of top bar section, and g - one gate half segment mounted on hinges comprised of downward projecting hinge pins mounted on outer vertical gate half segment and h - said hinge pins mounting into hinge pin sockets and i - said hinge pin sockets attached to a face plate mounted on a door frame pillar, and j - a bottom foot on hinged gate half segment.

Page 27 of 34 Pages

2. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus wherein the improvement comprises:
a - two gate half segments, one segment mounted on hinges and one segment mounted for lateral sliding on said segment mounted on hinges and b - matching lateral slots in said two gate segments of c - top bar sections and bottom bar sections and d - double headed cross pins extending through said lateral slots of aligned gate segments and e - top bar sections, center bar sections and bottom bar sections of said two gate half segments fitting together in matching tongues and grooves, for lateral sliding, and f - rack gear teeth mounted in length of slot of top bar section of gate segment mounted on hinges g - and gate latch means to engage said rack gear teeth of hinge mounted gate segment to stop inward lateral movement of sliding gate segment, h - said means comprising a section of gear teeth to mesh with rack gear teeth and said section of gear teeth mounted on spring means to mesh with said rack gear tooth section and i - release lever attached to said spring means to dis-engage gear teeth section from said rack gear teeth to allow lateral inward movement of sliding gate segment, and j - door pillar straddle (U) sections attached to outer vertical edge of said lateral sliding gate segment to hold gate in closed position, and k - a bottom foot on hinged gate half segment, Page28 of 34Pages

3. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus of claim 2, comprising two gate segments, one segment mounted on hinges and one segment mounted for lateral sliding on said seg-ment mounted on hinges, wherein the improvement comprises:
a - gate latch lock means to engage rack gear teeth mounted in length of slot of top bar section of gate half section mounted on hinges to stop inward lateral movement of gate half segment, b - said gate latch lock means consisting of gear teeth section meshing with rack gear teeth of said gate segment mounted on hinges, and c - said gear teeth section attached to spring means and said spring means d - attached to inner end of lateral slot in top bar section of gate segment mounted for lateral sliding on gate half segment mounted on hinges and e - release lever attached to said gate latch lock spring means f - for release of meshing of gate latch lock gear teeth section with rack gear teeth to allow lateral inward movement of said sliding gate segment, g - and said gear teeth section sliding freely over gear rack teeth when sliding gate half segment moves laterally outward, Page29 of 34Pages

4. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus comprised of two gate segments aligned and attached together for lateral sliding of one gate segment on the other of claim 1, wherein the improvement comprises: .
a - doorway pillar straddle (U) frame sections extending outwardly and attached to outer vertical frame section of said lateral sliding gate segment, and b - gate hinge sockets attached to adjustable width face plate comprised of hinge pin sockets, and c - a face plate section with slits and d - a face plate section with offset fingers and e - said offset fingers fitting in said slits of said face plate section and f - side wings on said face plates and g - adjusting screws mounted on said side wings.

Page 30 of 34 Pages

5. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus of claims 2 or 3 wherein the improvement comprises a spring section gate latch lock means of stiffly flexible plastic material selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene or polystyrene.

Page 31 of 34 Pages

6. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus of claim 2, comprised of two gate segments aligned and attached together for lateral sliding of one gate segment on the other wherein the improvement comprises:
a - door frame pillar straddle (U) frame sections extending outwardly and attached to outer vertical frame section of said lateral sliding gate segment, and b - gate hinge sockets attached to adjustable width face plate comprised of hinge pin sockets and c - a face plate section with slits and d - a face plate section with offset fingers and e - said offset fingers fitting in said slits of said face plate section and f - side wings on said face plates and g - adjusting screws mounted on said side wings, Page 32 of 34 Pages

7. Adjustable width doorway safety gate apparatus of claim 1 wherein the improvement comprises:
a - hinge pin mount sockets attached to a hinge pin socket mount plate, and b - slits in said mount plate and c - said mount plate attached to doorway pillar by means of d - legs of (L) shape side wings with offset finger section of said (L) shape legs fitting in said slits and e - the leg of (L) shape side wing to be in contact with said mount plate and f - (L) shape side wing sections attached to side of said doorway pillar by means of a threaded bolt threaded into threaded nut attached to said side wing section, Page 33 of 34 Pages