EP0427667A1 - Direction changing coupling sleeve for tubular suspended rails - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a deflecting coupling sleeve (6) for suspended tubular rails. The sleeve (6) has a zone located between two inner shoulders (75 and 76) formed from inclined guide faces (77, 67) allowing a roller-type or castor-type mounting to be displaced perpendicularly to the direction of linear displacement, the rolling faces (67a) likewise being inclined to allow the displacement of said mounting in another direction. The consequence of the resultant of these two displacements and of the linear displacement of the mounting is that the device suspended by means of said mounting executes a complex displacement allowing it to pass from a passive state to an active state and vice versa. Such sleeves can advantageously be used for the hermetic closing of the apertures of refrigeration rooms. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a connecting deviating sleeve for suspended tubular rails inside which moves at least one roller or roller mounting integral with the suspension means of a device, said means extending outside the rail through a passage provided along the tubular rail, to ensure the linear movement of said device.

It is known to use suspended tubular rails and roller or roller mounts to which is suspended a load or a device to be moved such as a folding, sliding door, etc.

In certain applications, the device suspended on a rail must pass from a passive state to an active state during its linear displacement and this passage is carried out by a complex displacement of the device which can be broken down into three components, two of which are perpendicular to each other. and perpendicular to the direction of the linear displacement which carries the third component.

Such an example of passing from the passive state to the active state or vice versa can be easily illustrated when closing a cold room by the lateral movement of a sliding door suspended from a rail. Indeed, to obtain the sealed closure of a sliding door, it is necessary, when the panel is facing the opening, that the latter is applied against the frame of said opening to come into close contact with the trim of sealing along said frame, or so that the lining re sealing applied against the panel comes into contact with said frame and seals the chamber. In this application, of course, the two components of the complex displacement are horizontal respectively vertical except for the component parallel to the direction of the linear displacement. Indeed the door when it is facing the opening is applied against the external wall, possibly internal if the panel is inside the chamber, and is also applied by a vertical movement against the floor in particular for the openings of cold rooms which do not have a bearing facilitating the passage of trolleys and other transport devices. If a bearing exists, the horizontal displacement would be sufficient

It has been proposed, to allow this sealed closure of a refrigerating chamber, the use of a tubular rail having a relatively complicated profile inside which at least one roller mount moves the axes of rotation of said rollers forming an angle . Said rail and in particular the rolling and guide surface of the rollers has a groove into which the roller penetrates, thus ensuring the movement of the door panel towards the frame and towards the ground. This device is, on the one hand, of a relatively expensive construction because the frame ensuring the movement of the door is of a complicated construction and, on the other hand, when the rail is put in place, the groove must be is positioned precisely with respect to the opening to ensure effective closing of the chamber. It should be noted that the door is in principle provided with two frames, so two grooves must be provided, one for each frame. If for some reason or another the spacing of said grooves where their position is not correct the rail is practically unusable and another custom rail must be prepared. In addition, the transition from the passive position to the active position of the panel takes place suddenly, which has the consequence of causing shocks, in particular at the level of the frame, which therefore undergoes wear which can cause its premature destruction or a malfunction.

The present invention aims to provide a device for overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks by allowing the use of conventional tubular rails with conventional roller or roller mounts allowing easy modification of the place where the complex movement, for the passage of passive state to active state and vice versa, must take place.

The invention therefore provides a connecting deviating sleeve, characterized in that in order to allow the device suspended from said mount to pass from a passive state to an active state and vice versa along its linear displacement by effecting a displacement complex broken down into three components one parallel to the linear direction and two perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to said linear direction, said sleeve comprises between its ends an area provided with means for guiding said frame and the suspension means as well as the device suspended in the complex displacement gradually.

The advantages of the proposed solution are as follows:
- Use of conventional frame therefore a low cost since produced in large series;
- installation of the device allowing complex movement with precision at the time of assembly any inaccuracies or modifications which can be easily done by shortening the connected rail sections or by replacing one of the sections with a longer section the replaced section which can be used for another construction therefore reduction in cost because any waste is non-existent or unimportant;
- gradual transition from passive to active state, which reduces maintenance costs.

According to a preferred embodiment, the means allowing the complex movement of the device are symmetrical with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the linear movement, thus allowing the passage from the active state to the passive state and vice versa, independently of the direction of movement. of said device. That is to say that it is possible by moving from left to right to pass from the passive state to the active state and by continuing this movement to return to the passive state without going back. The advantage of this variant is not only linked to the fact that the device can pass successively from the passive state to the active state and then to the passive state by moving in the same direction but in addition makes it possible to rationalize the construction of said sleeve because one does not have to provide a specific construction dependent on the direction of movement of the device.

According to another preferred embodiment, the section provided with means for complex displacement is located between two internal shoulders of said sleeve and the displa cement according to one of the components is obtained by the particular arrangement of the internal faces of the guide walls while the displacement according to the other component is provided by the also particular arrangement of the rolling surfaces.

According to another preferred embodiment, the sleeve makes it possible to ensure a complex movement, the two components of which are horizontal and vertical.

According to another preferred variant, one of the guide walls of the sleeve is thicker than the other wall because the inclination of the guide face is achieved by reducing the thickness of said wall.

The sleeve is preferably made by molding.

According to another variant, the sleeve is also arranged to also provide support for the connected rail sections.

The invention also relates to the use of the sleeve in an installation for closing a chamber opening.

• La figure 1 représente en perspective une porte à dé­placement droit supportée par un rail tubulaire muni de deux manchons dévoyeurs selon l'invention,
• La figure 1a est une section du rail,
• La figure 2 est une vue de dessous d'un manchon dévoyeur selon l'invention,
• La figure 3 est une vue en coupe horizontale de la figure 2,
• La figure 4 est une coupe de la figure 2 selon la ligne IV-IV,
• La figure 5 est une coupe de la figure 2 selon la ligne V-V,
• La figure 6 est une coupe selon la ligne VI-VI de la figure 2.

The invention will be described in more detail using the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

• FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a straight-moving door supported by a tubular rail provided with two deviating sleeves according to the invention,
• FIG. 1a is a section of the rail,
• FIG. 2 is a bottom view of a conveyor sleeve according to the invention,
• FIG. 3 is a view in horizontal section of FIG. 2,
• FIG. 4 is a section of FIG. 2 along the line IV-IV,
• FIG. 5 is a section of FIG. 2 along the line VV,
• Figure 6 is a section along line VI-VI of Figure 2.

In Figure 1 we have schematically shown a straight sliding door 1 supported by a tubular rail 2 provided with three supports 3, 4, 5 and two connecting deviating sleeves and incidentally support 6a and 6b forming the subject of the present invention. The sliding door 1 must close the opening 7 of a cold room. The rail 2, a section of which is shown in FIG. 1a, has an approximately rectangular shape comprising an upper surface 20 two lateral surfaces 21 and 22 having two slightly oblique sections 23 and 24 and ending in two horizontal edges 25 and 26 leaving between them a passage 27 for the mounts 8 and 9 ensuring the suspension and movement of the door 1. The door 1 is also provided with a lever 10 making it possible to ensure the opening of the door when it is in the closed position by pressing against a square-shaped part 11 which also serves as a limit stop when the door is closed. A second stopper 12 is on the other side limiting the displacement lateral cementing of the door in passive position, while a usual guide device 13 is fixed to the lower part of the door and collaborates with guides fixed to the ground which are not the subject of the present invention.

The sliding door 1 must be able to seal the opening 7 of the chamber tightly when it faces this opening by pressing against the frame surrounding said opening and also against the ground so that the seals fixed on the lower edge of the door and the periphery of the inner face of said door are pressed respectively against the ground and the frame of the opening 7.

This result is obtained when the two mounts 8 and 9, supporting the door 1, come inside two deviating sleeves 6b respectively. To obtain this complex displacement, that is to say a horizontal displacement towards the frame of the door and vertical towards the ground, the deviating sleeves 6a and 6b must have the means which are the subject of the present invention and which will be described using Figures 2 to 6 which follow.

The deviating sleeve 6 seen from below has, except in the area which is the subject of the present invention, a shape similar to that of FIG. 1 a since the deviating sleeve 6 is a deviating sleeve for connecting the rails of the type represented in the figure 1a. In FIG. 2, there can therefore be seen through the opening for the passage of the frame the inner face 60 of the upper surface of the sleeve, the inclined parts 61a and 62a of the two lateral faces 61 and 62 of the sleeve. the two lower flanges 65 and 66 whose inner faces serve as a raceway for the rollers or rollers of the frame as well as two bulges, seen from the outside, of triangular shape and which correspond to a recess of the inner rolling surface allowing precisely to move the frame and leaving the device, namely the door, vertically. The two bulges are designated 65a respectively 66a.

The passage of the deviating sleeve allowing the mount supporting the load, in this case the door, to pass through as well as its linear guide, presents near the parts 65a and 66a a lateral displacement corresponding in reality to the horizontal displacement that the suspended device by the mount must perform. The structure of this displacement is symmetrical compared to a plane which we will indicate by the letter " a " and which is perpendicular to the axis of linear displacement. Said laterally displaced part therefore has two parallel walls 67 and 68 oblique to the walls 69 and 70 of said passage allowing the frame to pass through. The walls 67 are interrupted and connected by a straight part 71 while the walls 68 intersect directly on the plane of symmetry a . As will be seen below, the walls 67 and 68 have a thickness which decreases as a function of their approximation towards the top of the bulges 66a and 65a thus contributing to the vertical displacement of the frame and consequently of the supported load. The inner wall of the upper face 60 has an area, as will be seen later, of a thickness greater than that of the ends of the deviating sleeve. We must note the presence of tapped holes 72 to block the sleeve on the ends of two sections of connected rails as well as a threaded hole 73 used for fixing a stud enabling the sleeve to also be used as a suspension support (fig. 1).

In FIG. 3, which is a horizontal section of the previous figure, we distinguish, in addition to tapped holes 72, the tapped holes 74 also making it possible to block the fixing of the ends of the sections of rails as well as the central zone of the sleeve having a greater interior thickness. This zone is limited by two internal shoulders 75 and 76 against which the ends of the connected rail sections bear and there are two walls 77 which are also symmetrical with respect to the plane a forming an internal bulge while corresponding walls on the other side 78 forming a hollow. The walls 77, 78 and the walls 67 and 68 of the passage guide the frame provided with rollers or rollers in the desired horizontal direction.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, we have presented the sections of FIG. 2 along the lines IV-IV and V-V and there are distinguished the various elements described there. We will insist more particularly on the inclined surfaces 77 which are bulging, while the surfaces 78 are hollowed out in the thickness of the sleeve in particular in the wall 62 having a thickness greater than that of the wall 61. Similarly, we will insist on the reduction in the thickness of the walls 67 and 68 near the bulges 65a and 66a making it possible to obtain the vertical displacement of the frame.

In FIG. 6, we have another view in section making it possible to distinguish the reduction in the thickness of the faces 67a and 68a on which the rollers or rollers roll.

It is understood that the deviating sleeve shown here is only an exemplary embodiment and corresponds to the tubular rail of the shape shown in Figure 1a and without departing from the spirit of the invention, it is possible to use the same method with rails of different profile.

The conveyor sleeve of the present invention can be made by molding or by any other means.

We have shown here a deviating sleeve having means for the displacement of the symmetrical mount relative to a plane a but this is not an obligation, one of the two symmetrical parts can be omitted in particular for use as shown in Figure 1 where the door moves in one direction to switch to the active state and in the opposite direction to switch to the passive state.

However, it is easier to make a symmetrical deviating sleeve rather than having to provide a sleeve for doors closing from left to right or from right to left.

Claims (8)

1. Deviating connection sleeve for suspended tubular rails inside which at least one roller or roller mounting moves secured to the suspension means of a device, said means extending outside the rails through a passage provided on along the tubular rails, to ensure the linear movement of said device, characterized in that in order to allow the device (1) suspended from said mount (8, 9) to pass from a passive state to an active state and vice versa along its linear displacement effecting a complex displacement decomposed into three components one parallel to the linear direction and two perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to said linear direction, said deviating sleeve (6, 6a, 6b) comprises between its ends a zone provided with means for guiding said frame and the suspension means (8, 9) as well as the suspended device (1) in the complex movement e gradually. 2. conveyor sleeve according to claim 1, characterized in that said zone is located between two internal shoulders (75, 76) and that the internal lateral guide surfaces (77, 78, 67, 68) of said zone have an inclination allowing the progressive displacement of the frame according to one of the components perpendicular to the direction of movement and that the rolling surfaces for the rollers or rollers of the frame (8, 9) have in said zone a slope (67a, 65a) for moving the frame in the direction of the second component of said complex movement. 3. conveyor sleeve according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that one of the guide walls (62) of said sleeve (6) is thicker than the other the inclination of said faces (78) by reducing the thickness of said wall (62). 4. Deviating sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sleeve comprises means (73) to be used also as a support for the suspended tubular rail. 5. Connection deviating sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the said means (77, 78; 67, 67a, 68, 68a) allowing the complex movement are symmetrical with respect to a plane (a ) perpendicular to the direction of the linear movement thus allowing the passage from the active state to the passive state and vice versa independently of the direction of movement of said device (1). 6. conveyor sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the components perpendicular to the direction of movement are respectively horizontal and vertical. 7. conveyor sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sleeve (6, 6a, 6b) is produced by molding or by any other means. 8. Use of the conveyor sleeve according to one of claims 1 to 7 in the installation of a door (1) for hermetically closing a chamber.

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