EP0014147B1 - Door with reduced swing clearance - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a folding door of the kind having a primary panel pivoted about one axis on a frame, and a secondary panel articulated with respect to the primary panel and engaging a slide guide which is perpendicular to the pivotal axis of the primary panel. According to the invention, the two panels are articulated by links pivotally connected to each of the primary and secondary panels at second and third axes respectively, and the secondary panel engages the slide guide at a fourth axis located at an intermediate point along the panel, all the four axes being disposed centrally of the thickness of the panels; furthermore, the distance between the second and third axes is equal to the thickness of the panels, and the distance between the third and fourth axes is the same as between the first and second axes. With this construction, the door will open in a substantially smaller space than a conventional door and in addition it can be opened by a simple pushing action. The door is thus suitable for use by handicapped persons in e.g. hospitals and community homes.

Description

The present invention relates to a door with two articulated panels, comprising a fixed frame, a movable primary panel pivoted about a first axis on the frame, a movable secondary panel, a connecting rod for connecting the two panels, the rod being articulated. by a second axis on the primary panel and by a third axis on the secondary panel, means for holding the rod constantly perpendicular to the bisector plane of the two panels, and a fourth axis carried by the secondary panel at an intermediate point of that -this and guided in a fixed slide perpendicular to the first axis.

Such a door has reduced clearance. It is of a known type, for example from patent US-A-1,396,780 or from patent BE-A-380,156.

In general, known doors of this type only open in the direction of crossing in one direction. For example, the door of US-A-1 396780 gives access to a telephone booth by opening only towards the interior of this booth.

The present invention relates to a door with reduced clearance, of the above-mentioned type which opens in the direction of crossing, both in one direction and in the other.

The door, object of the present invention, is characterized in that the four axes are arranged in a median plane of the thickness of the panels, the distance between the second axis and the third axis being equal to the thickness of the panels, while that the distance between the third axis and the fourth axis is equal to the distance between the first axis and the second axis.

Thanks to this arrangement, the door which is the subject of the invention is not only of reduced clearance, but also of opening in both directions in the direction of crossing. The result is a remarkable ease of operation, the benefit of which is universal but more particularly appreciable for people with disabilities. In addition, the security conditions are excellent since the door can be opened backwards if an obstacle hinders its opening towards the front.

No doubt, it has already been proposed, for example in patent FR-A-467,979, to maneuver a multi-blade louver in one direction or the other, but the opening of the louver is carried out in both cases laterally and not in the direction of crossing. Other examples of accordion shutters are given by patent FR-A-1,196,319.

According to another characteristic of the present invention, the means for holding the link constantly perpendicular to the bisector plane of the two panels comprise two adjacent pulleys coaxial with the second axis and the third axis and integral with the two panels, respectively, and two interlocking connection means each of which has its ends fixed to the two pulleys.

In addition, preferably, the door includes a reminder means for automatic closing. This means is linked to a cable which is engaged in the slide and which is made integral with the fourth axis itself guided in this slide. Automatic closing is advantageously controlled by means of timing.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique en élévation d'une porte suivant l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue schématique en plan correspondante ;
• la figure 3 est une vue analogue à la figure 2 mais à plus grande échelle et montre la porte dans diverses positions ;
• la figure 4 est une vue en perspective éclatée du montage de la biellette du haut de la porte ;
• les figures 5 et 6 sont des vues en coupe respectivement suivant la ligne V-V et suivant la ligne VI-VI de la figure 4 ;
• la figure 7 est une vue en perspective d'un dispositif de fermeture temporisée associé à la porte ;
• la figure 8 est une vue à plus grande échelle d'une partie de ce dispositif ;
• la figure 9 est une vue en coupe à plus grande échelle encore d'un clapet de ce dispositif.

An embodiment of the invention is described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic elevational view of a door according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is a schematic corresponding plan view;
• Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but on a larger scale and shows the door in various positions;
• Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the mounting of the rod from the top of the door;
• Figures 5 and 6 are sectional views respectively along the line VV and along the line VI-VI of Figure 4;
• Figure 7 is a perspective view of a timed closure device associated with the door;
• Figure 8 is an enlarged view of part of this device;
• Figure 9 is a sectional view on a larger scale of a valve of this device.

We will first refer to Figures 1 to 6.

A door according to the invention comprises a fixed frame or frame 10 (FIG. 1) having a first upright 11, a second upright 12 and an upper cross member 13, while a threshold 14 can advantageously be provided.

The actual door consists of a primary panel 15 and a secondary panel 16 hinged to one another by two rods 17 arranged at the top and bottom of the door.

The primary panel 15 is articulated on the upright 11 around a first vertical axis A (Figure 3).

Each bieiiette 17 is articulated by two axes B and C, designated by second and third axes respectively on the primary panel 15 and on the secondary panel 16. The secondary panel has means of engagement in slides 19 and 21 perpendicular to the axis A and arranged at the top and bottom of the door. These engagement means comprise an axis D designated by the fourth axis, carried by the secondary panel 16 at an intermediate point thereof. The four said axes A, B, C, D, are arranged in the middle of the thickness E of the panels 15 and 16. The distance between the second axis B and the third axis C is equal to said thickness E of the panels, while the distance between the third axis C and the fourth axis D is equal to the distance between the first axis A and the second axis B.

More particularly, the axis D comprises pins 18 and 20 engaged respectively in the top and bottom slides 19 and 21, or top 19 only.

Reference will be made more particularly to FIG. 4 where the upper link 17 with its axes B and C is shown in more detail.

The common ends of the panels 15 and 16 by which these panels are adjacent are rounded in the form of half-cyclindres coaxial with the axes B and C so that during the movements of the door the semi-cylindrical ends 22 of the panels 15 and 16 remain substantially always in contact without significant play, which gives the door an excellent aesthetic in any position. We can also improve the contact conditions by forming the semi-cylindrical parts of the panels 15 and 16 of elastic material or the like which increases the sound insulation performance of the door.

On the upper end of the panels 15 and 16 are arranged in a housing 23 two pulleys 24 and 25 respectively coaxial with the axes B and C, and integral respectively with the panel 15 and with the panel 16.

Each pulley 24 and 25 has two superimposed grooves 26 and 27. In the groove 26 of the pulleys 24 and 25 is engaged a strand of cable 28 (Figure 5), one end 29 of which is fixed to the pulley 24 while the other end 30 is fixed to the pulley 25. The cable 28 passes from the pulley 24 to the pulley 25 in a first direction.

Similarly, a strand of cable 31 is engaged in the groove 27 of the pulleys 24 and 25 and has one end 32 fixed to the pulley 24 and one end 33 fixed to the pulley 25. This cable 31 passes from the pulley 24 to the pulley 25 in the opposite direction to that of the cable 28 so that the two cables 28 and 31 intersect (see FIGS. 5 and 6).

Thus the assembly of the two cables 28 and 31 makes it possible to give the assembly of the pulleys 24 and 25 a position that is always symmetrical with respect to the assembly of the panels 15 and 16. In other words, the plane BC always remains perpendicular to the bisector plane panels 15 and 16.

It will be appreciated that the door can have panels 15 and 16 of thickness E as large as desired. Each link 17 has a thickness equal to that of the door.

As seen more particularly in FIG. 3, the door can open as well in one direction as in the other and comes to store with an extremely reduced bulk in an open position of the door where the axes A, B, C, and D constitute a perfect rectangle.

It will be noted that the door opens in the direction of crossing in both directions with a reduced clearance and with a small footprint.

Such a door can receive all kinds of applications in particular in apartment buildings and communities and it will be appreciated that it can be operated very easily by disabled people since it opens in both directions by simple push.

This door can be automated both in the opening direction and for closing.

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 7 to 9 where an automatic closing control device with time delay is shown by way of example. This device can be located either on the pivot side or on the opposite side.

The pin 18 arranged at the top of the door is allowed to move in the slideway 19. The property of this movement is used to carry out an automatic closing command. To this end, a cable tray 40 (FIG. 7) is integral with the assembly displaceable in translation of the spindle 18 and passes between two pulleys 41 to then pass over a pair of pulleys 42 to then comprise a tension spring 43 and be secured d 'a counterweight 44 allowed to descend by gravity. Then the cable 40 passes over a pulley 45 and a pulley 46, thereby forming a closed loop circuit.

When the door is closed, the counterweight 44 is located at the bottom of its housing consisting of an elongated cylinder47. When the door is opened, the cable 40 brings up the counterweight 44 along its cylindrical housing 47 to the high position. Therefore, when, after opening the door, it is released, the counterweight 44 tends to descend by gravity into its housing and thus drives the cable 40 causing an automatic closing of the door.

As is understood, this automatic closure should be controlled in a manner compatible with the need for a correct passage of a person through a door. To this end, a timing device is provided and will now be described (Figures 8 and 9).

A tubular rod 50 is integral with the counterweight 44 and extends downward. This rod is integral with a piston 51 which is slidably engaged in a hydraulic cylinder 52 filled with oil. The piston 51 has at least one passage 53 parallel to the axis and arranged next to the hollow rod 50.

A disc 54 forming a valve is mounted on the piston 51 between a position applied under this piston and a position spaced apart by a predetermined distance H, as seen in FIG. 9. For this purpose, small screws 55 are mounted in the piston 51 and have heads which hold the disc 54 in abutment. The disc 54 has an orifice 56 which is offset with respect to the orifice 53.

A delay rod 57 is mounted in the cylinder 52 in a coaxial manner with the latter and is intended to penetrate into the hollow rod 50 of the piston 51, this so as to release a more or less large space for the passage of the oil between the two chambers 58, 59 defined in the cylinder 52 on either side of the piston 51.

As can be seen in FIG. 8, the rod 57 has a wide part 60 followed by a thinner part 61 and itself followed by a divergent part 62.

When the door is closed and you exercise on it, a push to open it brings up the counterweight 44 from the lower end to the upper end of the cylinder 47.

In doing so, the piston 51 is brought up from the lower end to the upper end of the cylinder 52. During this movement, the oil is allowed to pass from the chamber 58 to the chamber 59 by moving the disc 54 away from the piston 51, which allows a large flow of oil circulation through the passages 53 and 56 which are separated by the space H.

When the door has been brought into the open position and released, the counterweight 44 descends into the cylinder 47 and drives the cable 40 and causes the door to close automatically. But during the movement of the piston 51 in the cylinder 52, the oil passes from the chamber 59 to the chamber 58, which has the effect of applying the disc 54 against the piston 51 by canceling the space H and there has a very low oil flow through channel 56-53. At the start of the door closing movement, the piston 51 is threaded over the large section 60 of the rod 57 and consequently, the flow rate passing through the central bore of the piston is itself very reduced. This results in a delay in the closing movement of the door which allows precisely whoever crosses it to have ample time to pass. This circumstance is particularly useful in the case of a disabled person.

Once the piston 51 passes from the large section 60 of the rod 57 to the small section 61, a large flow of oil is allowed to pass through the central passage of the piston 51 and the door now closes quickly without unnecessary delay. Then when the piston 51 arrives on the divergent part 62 of the rod 57, the stroke of the piston is slowed down which allows the door to close gently.

It should be noted that the invention applies to doors having all kinds of controls, in particular with manual control, with control with spring return or counterweight or other, with automatic control of opening or closing, etc. .

Claims (4)

1. A door having two articulated panels, comprising a fixed frame (11, 12, 13), a main moveable panel (15) pivoted about a first pivot (A) on the frame (11, 12, 13), a secondary moveable panel (16), a link (17) for connecting the two panels (15 and 16), the link (17) being articulated by a second pivot (B) on the main panel (15) and by a third pivot (C) on the secondary panel (16), means for maintaining the link (17) constantly perpendicular to the bisecting plane of the two panels (15 and 16), and a fourth pivot (D) carried by the secondary panel (16) at a point intermediate thereof and guided in a fixed guide (19) perpendicular to the first axis (A), the door being characterised in that for opening the door for clearance in either of the directions the four pivots (A, B, C and D) are disposed in a median plane of the width (E) of the panels (15 and 16), the distance between the second pivot (B) and the third pivot (C) being equal to the width (E) of the panels (15 and 16) whereas the distance between the third pivot (C) and the fourth pivot (D) is equal to the distance between the first pivot (A) and the second pivot (B).

2. A door according to claim 1, characterised in that the means for maintaining the link (17) constantly perpendicular to the bisector plane of the two panels (15 and 16) comprises two adjacent pulleys (24 and 25) coaxial with the second pivot (B) and the third pivot (C) and fixed to the two panels (15 and 16) respectively and two intersecting connecting means (28 and 31) each of the ends of which is fixed to the two pulleys.

3. A door according to claim 1 or claim 2, comprising an automatic closure return means, characterised in that this means is connected to a cable (40) which is engaged in the said guide (19) and which is made integral with the fourth pivot (D) itself guided in this guide (19).

4. A door according to claim 3, characterised in that the automatic closure is controlled, as is known per se, by time-delay means (60).

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