EP0171797B1 - Overhead garage door - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Overhead garage door for a garage or garage box accommodating one or two passenger cars, with a lifting linkage for the door wing which enables the latter to be held in a vertical closed position and in a generally horizontal opened position, and which comprises, on each side of the door wing, a two-armed pivoting lever rotatably supported by the door frame, at least one weight compensating stretched tension spring unit, which is, at its lower portion, attached to the door frame, being connected with the arm of force of the respective lever, and each unit consisting of at least three individual tension springs (6) which, at each of their upper and lower ends, are hooked into a single carrier (5, 7), and in which the carrier is itself connected to the arm of force (2) of the lever arm (1) and the door frame (10), respectively, characterized in that the carrier (5, 7) is in the form of a dish, and that the tension springs (6) are hooked in along a circle concentric with its centre through which the line of force passes.

Description

The invention relates to a swing garage door for a garage or garage box for one or two cars with a lifting linkage for the gate wing according to the preamble of claim 1. Such swing garage doors are widely known.

Up-and-over garage doors with a sheet metal door leaf or a light wooden covering or the like for the width of a car have a single tension spring unit on both sides of the door opening between the end of the power arm and the bottom area of the door frame, while up-and-over garage doors with heavy door leaves , ie Those with a weight of more than about 75 to 100 kg, i.e. for single gates with heavy wood, metal or ceramic flooring or for double gates for the width of two cars, due to the size and / or weight of the gate wing on both sides as a rule two tension spring units are provided. Each tension spring unit usually consists of a strong spiral spring with a diameter of 60 to 90 mm and a spring wire diameter of 8 to 10 mm. Each tension spring unit often has to take loads of up to about 1,000 N (100 kg). Because the force arm is usually only a quarter to a sixth long compared to the load arm, the spring forces are correspondingly high. Such tension springs can usually only be hooked in under tension by a specialist and with special tools, unless the springs can be hooked in relaxed and tensioned after hooking in by axially adjusting the support to which they are attached (US-A- 3 741 558, DE-U-75 26 097, Fig. 1 and 2). With two tension spring units on each side of the door leaf, each with a tension spring, these two tension springs can also be arranged one inside the other (DE-U-75 26 097, FIGS. 3 and 4).

If the spring breaks on one side, the or each remaining tension spring unit can no longer apply the force that holds the gate leaf in the position near the ceiling. Due to the inherently unstable gate leaf guidance, the gate leaf strikes more or less without braking, depending on the number of tension spring units. If the door has two tension spring units or two tension springs on each side, the breakage of one spring often also leads to the breakage of the adjacent spring. To prevent the leaf from slamming in the event of spring breakage, up-and-over garage doors are equipped with safety devices that are triggered by spring fragments moving to the side (DE-C-30 26 660; DE-C-32 00 945, DE-A-32 00 982 ). In order to prevent spring fragments from flying away to the side, it is known to surround them with a telescopic cladding tube (US Pat. No. 3,402,922, DE-A-30 26 612) or to enclose them lengthwise with a bracket or wire rope ( DE-A-31 12 926), or at least in the case of double springs, to connect them to one another by chains on the hanging eye (CH-A-505 929). Safety gear complicate and make the overhead garage door or its lifting mechanism or lifting linkage more expensive.

The invention has for its object to provide a development for the above-mentioned single or double garage swing gate or its lifting mechanism, which prevents the gate from slamming in the event of spring breakage with simpler and cheaper means and with only a few different tension spring sizes to adapt to different sized and heavy gate leaves allowed.

A garage door that solves this problem is characterized in claim 1. Refinements of this overhead garage door result from the subclaims.

In the construction of the swinging garage door according to the invention, a total of at least six, but preferably eight tension springs are provided in a swinging garage door for a car or a swinging garage door with a light door leaf (weight less than 75 to 100 kg), so that if one spring breaks, only one sixth or one eighth of the total tractive force of all tension springs is eliminated. This is sufficient to keep the gate wing sufficiently stable in its respective position. Slamming the gate wing is excluded. The danger of breaking adjacent other tension springs is averted, since they are shorter and less prone to breakage due to the low normal load. You do not need to reach close to the garage floor. With an up-and-over garage door for double garages or with a heavy gate wing, at least 6, possibly 8 or more, tension springs are provided on each side.

The provision of 3 or 4 tension springs per tension spring unit in no way complicates the lifting mechanism. The invention has the surprising advantage that the new construction is also less expensive to manufacture because the costs of 3 or 4 tension springs each absorbing only a quarter of the usual load and their connection, by means of the force-symmetrical hooking, in which the resultant karst extends coaxially to the line connecting the force transmission points of the beams, causes a lower cost at both ends.

The weaker tension springs are cheaper than the stronger tension springs used so far in terms of the clamping force that can be generated, so that there are no additional costs compared to a conventional design without a safety gear and can also be shipped and replaced more easily and conveniently. They can also be removed and attached by hand without special tools. The tensile force of each tension spring unit can be precisely adjusted more easily. The gate wing is also smoother.

In the case of a wide door, all 6 or 8 tension springs can be attached to a single support on each side of the door leaf. This can be designed as a straight rod (US-A-3 741 558) or, which is preferable in any case, as a circular disk or plate-shaped. The tension springs can then open be attached to a circle concentric to its center, penetrated by the line of force. The design of the carrier as a plate, which is connected to rotate about its center, has the advantage that the plate can be rotated to replace the tension spring so that the spring can be easily removed and attached. Appropriately, some reserve holes are provided for hanging additional tension springs in the carrier. This makes it possible to replace the covering of the door leaf later with a heavier one, for example made of metal or thicker wooden boards, when a new one is to be applied. One or two springs can then be attached. There should be so many reserve bores that the existing tension springs can be implemented in such a way that all springs are arranged as evenly as possible symmetrically to the center, through which the connection to the power transmission or articulation points is established (e.g. using a screw spindle).

A (weaker) tension spring can generally also be hooked in under tension, since the force applied per tension spring is comparatively low and corresponds to only 200 to 400 N (20 to 40 kg).

The proportion of force to be applied by each tension spring is particularly small if each tension spring unit even has 5 or 6 tension springs.

To prevent spring parts from flying away when a spring breaks, the tension springs are connected to each other by means of steel cables on each side of the door. It is usually sufficient if they are connected at their two ends (CH-A-565 929) and approximately in the middle by a cable or chain looped through all the springs. However, it is also possible to enclose each tension spring individually or all tension springs together with a protective tube. The sheathing of the tension springs with a protective tube also has the advantage in normal use that children cannot reach into the tensioned tension springs.

Finally, it is useful if the spring eyes of the tension springs are bent in and out so far that the tension springs cannot unhook themselves.

The carrier or plate has a hole or thread in the center through which a screw spindle is guided in a manner known per se. The connection to a console provided on the bottom of the door frame and the connection to the outer end of the power arm can be established via the lower screw spindle. By using a screw spindle, possibly with a lock nut or lock nut, the tension spring unit can be tensioned overall and individually adjusted to the required tensile force. Naturally, each individual spring could of course also be connected to the carrier via a screw spindle, but such a complex connection is generally not necessary if it also allows each spring to be individually tensioned.

The design of the tension spring units according to the invention has the further advantage for production that all gate leaf weights can be compensated for with a very small assortment of different springs, usually comprising only two springs. Different spring strengths can be combined with each other. The required storage and thus the production is cheaper.

• Fig. 1 eine Schrägansicht auf einen Teil der Hubmechanik im Bereich einer Zugfedereinheit,
• Fig. 2 eine schematische Vorderansicht der Zugfedereinheit,
• Fig. 3 eine Draufsicht auf die Zugfedereinheit, und
• Fig. 4 den mittleren Teil einer Zugfedereinheit, in welchem die Federn durch ein Stahlseil miteinander verbunden sind.

An embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail with reference to a drawing, in which:

• 1 is an oblique view of part of the lifting mechanism in the area of a tension spring unit,
• 2 shows a schematic front view of the tension spring unit,
• Fig. 3 is a plan view of the tension spring unit, and
• Fig. 4 shows the middle part of a tension spring unit, in which the springs are connected to each other by a steel cable.

Up-and-over garage doors with a lifting mechanism with and without a top track for the gate leaf are generally known, which is why only the part is shown that is required for the spring force loading of the rear power arm 2 of a pivot lever 1. The pivot lever 1 is pivotally mounted approximately in the center of a door frame 10 in a console. At the rear end of the power arm 2, a tension spring unit is fastened via a bracket 3, which has four tension springs 6 between an upper plate-shaped carrier 5 and a lower plate-shaped carrier 7, which are supported by an upper screw spindle 4 and a lower screw spindle 8, which through a bore in a console 9 welded to the door frame 10 slightly above the garage floor extends into a nut resting on its underside. Each plate-shaped support 5 or 7 has 8 holes 14 concentric with the central bore through which the screw spindle 4 or 8 extends, into which the tension springs 6 are suspended. In the middle, which is penetrated by the line of force between the articulation points coaxially to the force resultant of all tension springs, a recess is formed in the plate in order to receive the screw head of the lower screw spindle 8 or a nut 12 screwed onto the upper screw spindle, which in turn is supported by a screwed lock nut 13 is secured against the other top of the plate-shaped support 5.

1 and 4, near the upper and lower ends and in the central region of the tension springs 6 are looped through all four springs steel cables or strong wires, the ends of which are connected to each other, and thereby spring parts spring off can prevent.

The tension spring unit shown on one side of a small garage door for a car offers more security than a single strong tension spring, prevents the door leaf from falling down if the spring breaks, and moreover allows a sensitive adjustment of the tension, makes only a few different feet the gate wing, which is required to balance the weight, allows the other tension springs to be hooked in when the tension is in a tensioned state, does not make the tension spring units more expensive, does not make the tension spring units more expensive, allows additional springs to be retrofitted if heavier door coverings are later applied, and makes assembly more difficult not, because if the carrier is in the form of a plate, it can be rotated into a favorable mounting position. In addition, a symmetrical arrangement of the springs can always be found, so that the force is introduced axially into the screw spindles screwed into the plate without a bending moment.

Claims (4)

1. Overhead garage door for a garage or garage box accommodating one or two passenger cars, with a lifting linkage for the door wing which enables the latter to be held in a vertical closed position and in a generally horizontal opened position, and which comprises, on each side of the door wing, a two-armed pivoting lever rotatably supported by the door frame, at least one weight compensating stretched tension spring unit, which is, at its lower portion, attached to the door frame, being connected with the arm of force of the respective lever, and each unit consisting of at least three individual tension springs (6) which, at each of their upper and lower ends, are hooked into a single carrier (5, 7), and in which the carrier is itself connected to the arm of force (2) of the lever arm (1) and the door frame (10), respectively, characterized in that the carrier (5, 7) is in the form of a dish, and that the tension springs (6) are hooked in along a circle concentric with its centre through which the line of force passes.

2. Overhead garage door according to claim 1, characterized in that the carrier (5, 6) is formed with spare bores (4) for hooking in additional tension springs (6).

3. Overhead garage door according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each tension spring unit consists of at least four individual tension springs (16).

4. Overhead garage door according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the tension springs (6) on each side of the door are connected with each other through steel cables (11), so that in case of spring fracture, the fragments could not separate from the assembly.

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