EP2345788A2

EP2345788A2 - Door closer kit for double swing door

Info

Publication number: EP2345788A2
Application number: EP10153069A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yuan-Cheng Ho
Original assignee: Taiwan Daedalus Door Control Co Ltd
Current assignee: Taiwan Daedalus Door Control Co Ltd
Priority date: 2010-01-19
Filing date: 2010-02-09
Publication date: 2011-07-20
Also published as: TW201126052A; EP2345788A3

Abstract

A door closer kit (40) for a double swing door includes a door closer (50) for concealedly mounting to a door leaf (71) and a mount (60) for concealedly mounting to a door frame (72). A shaft connector (64) of the mount (60) is connected with a turnable shaft (54) of the door closer (50) in such a way that the door leaf (71) is swung about an axis of the turnable shaft (54) upon receiving a push or pull force and the door leaf will return back to its initial position upon release of the force therefrom. The mount (60) includes a locating device (68) acting on the shaft connector (64) for adjusting and fixing the angular orientation of the shaft connector (64) relative to the door frame (72) such that the door leaf (71) can be conveniently adjusted to be in alignment with the door frame (72) in a coplanar manner when the door leaf (71) receives no external force.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to door closers for a double swing door and more particularly, to such a door closer kit including a door closer that can be concealedly mounted in a door leaf, and a mount that can be concealedly mounted in a door frame and connected with a turnable shaft of the door closer.

2. Description of the Related Art

A door closer is an apparatus for automatically closing the door leaf after the door leaf is opened. By means of the door closer, the door leaf can be automatically returned to its closed position smoothly. Usually, the door closer is used in cooperation with a mount in such a way that the door leaf is in alignment with the door frame in a coplanar manner when the door closer is in a normal, force free situation.
FIG 1 is a schematic drawing showing that a conventional door closer kit including a mount 10 mounted in a door leaf 30 and a door closer 20 mounted in a floor 31. Specifically speaking, the mount 10 is installed in a pocket 32 provided at a bottom side of the door leaf 30 and the door closer 20 is mounted in a mounting groove 34 of the floor 31 corresponding to the pocket 32 of the door leaf 30. The door closer 20 includes a fixation casing 22 mounted in the mounting groove 34 of the floor 31, a door closing device 24 disposed inside the casing 22, and a top cover 26 mounted on the door closing device 24 for sealing the fixation casing 22. The door closing device 24 has a pivot shaft 242 uprightly extending through the cover 26 and over the floor 31 at a predetermined height. The mount 10 has a connection hole 12 in which the pivot shaft 242 is inserted such that the pivot shaft 242 is connected with the mount 10.
The top side of the door leaf 30 is pivotally connected with a door frame (not shown in the drawing) such that the door leaf 30 is swingable in double ways about the axis of the pivot shaft 242. When an external force acts on the door leaf 30, the door leaf 30 will be swung about the axis of the pivot shaft 242 relative to the door frame. As soon as the external force is released from the door leaf 30, a rebound force provided by the door closer 20 will return the door leaf 30 back to its initial, force free position. In the process of assembling the door leaf 30, the connection work between the pivot shaft 242 and the mount 10 shall be carefully conducted in order to return the door leaf 30 to the completely closed position after the external force is released from the door leaf 30.
In fact, the non-coplanar alignment problem between the door leaf 30 and the door frame always exists in the process of assembling the door closer 20, the mount 10 and the door leaf 30 and/or after use of the door for a long time. To resolve this problem, the worker has to dismount the cover 26 from the door closing device 24 firstly, and then change and fix the posture of the door closing device 24 in the fixation casing 22 to further adjust the angular orientation of the pivot shaft 242 relative to the fixation casing 22. After the adjustment work is completed, the cover 26 needs to be mounted in position again. In order to precisely meet the coplanar requirement, the aforesaid adjustment works may have to be conducted repeatedly until the door leaf 30 is exactly stayed in the closed position when it receives no external force thereon.
It can be seen from the above description that the coplanar alignment adjustment for a conventional door closer kit is quite complicated, resulting in that the assembling work of the door leaf 30 and the door closer 20 becomes time- and cost-consuming. In addition, the fixation casing 22 of the door closer 20 has to pre-establish a sufficient inner space for the adjustment need of the angular orientation of the door closing device 24, such that the door closer 20 of the conventional door closer kit may occupy a large space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a door closer kit for a double swing door, which is convenient and time-saving to adjust the door leaf to be in alignment with the door frame in a coplanar manner.
To attain the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a door closer kit for a double swing door, which comprises a door closer for concealedly mounting to a door leaf and a mount for concealedly mounting to a door frame. The door closer comprises a fixation casing for mounting to the door leaf, and a turnable shaft, which is turnable relative to the fixation casing upon receiving an external torque and turnable back to its initial angular orientation after the external torque is released therefrom. The mount comprises a bracket for mounting to the door frame, a shaft connector, which is mounted to the bracket in such a way that the shaft connector is biasable about an axis thereof relative to the bracket and provided with a connection hole in which the turnable shaft of the door closer is detachably inserted, and a locating device acting on the shaft connector for adjusting and fixing an angular orientation of the shaft connector relative to the bracket. As a result, when the door leaf is not coplanar with the door frame in a normal, force free situation, the door leaf can be conveniently adjusted to be coplanar with the door frame by means of using the locating device to adjust the angular orientation of the shaft connector relative to the bracket to further calibrate the angular orientation of the door leaf relative to the door frame. In other words, the return-to-zero scheme for the double swing door that is equipped with the door closer kit of the present invention can be carried out conveniently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing that a conventional door closer kit including a mount installed in a door frame, and a door closer installed in the floor;
FIG 2 is an exploded view of a door closer kit in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the door closer of the door closer kit according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that a driven member of the door closer is in an initial position;
FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, but showing that the driven member of the door closer is in a driven position;
FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the mount of the door closer kit according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the mount of the door closer kit according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 ofFIG. 6; and
FIG. 8 is a schematic drawing showing the way of how the door closer kit is installed in the door frame and the door leaf.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 2, the door closer kit, denoted by reference numeral 40, mainly comprises a door closer 50 adapted for a double swing door, and a mount 60.
The door closer 50 has a fixation casing 52 and a turnable shaft 54 extending from an inside of the fixation casing 52 to an outside of the fixation casing 52 and having a rectangular connection portion 541. The fixation casing 52 is configured with a rectangular base plate 522 and a shell 524 fixedly mounted on the base plate 522. The base plate 522 has a through hole 526 in communication with the inside of the shell 524 for the passing through of the turnable shaft 54 such that the rectangular connection portion 541 is exposed outside the base plate 522. The door closer 50 is a linear gear driven type. Specifically speaking, as shown in FIG 3, the turnable shaft 54 is provided at its bottom end with a sector gear portion 542, which is suspended within an elongated slot 562 of a driven member 56 that is moveably disposed inside the shell 524. The driven member 56 is provided with two linear gear portions 564, which are formed face-to-face with respect to each other at two opposite lateral walls of the elongated slot 562 and each have a length about equal to the circumference of the sector gear portion 542 of the turnable shaft 54, and teeth matching the teeth of the sector gear portion 542. Upon receiving a torque caused by an external force, the turnable shaft 54 will be turned about its axis relative to the shell 524 of the fixation casing 52. Depending on the rotation direction of the turnable shaft 54, i.e. a clockwise or counterclockwise turn of the turnable shaft 54, the sector gear portion 542 will be selectively engaged with one of the linear gear portions 564 and will drive the driven member 56 to move form an initial position P1 as shown in FIG. 3 towards a driven position P2 as shown in FIG 4, such that a spring member 58 set between the driven member 56 and the shell 524 will be compressed. After the torque is released from the turnable shaft 54, the spring rebound force of the spring member 58 will drive the driven member 56 back to its initial position P1 and at the same time the turnable shaft 54 is reversely turned back to its initial angular position relative to the shell 524 of the fixation casing 52.
Referring to FIGS. 5-7, the mount 60 is configured with a bracket 62, a shaft connector 64, an adjustment device 66 and a locating device 68. The bracket 62 includes a base plate 621, a hollow column 622 mounted on the base plate 621 and a fulcrum post 623 mounted on the base plate 621 and spaced away from the hollow column 622. The hollow column 622 has a cylindrical accommodation 642 with an opening located at the bottom surface of the base plate 621. The hollow column 622 is further provided at a lateral wall thereof with an elongated through hole 625, which is in communication with the accommodation 642. The shaft connector 64 is a cylindrical block having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical accommodation 642. A rectangular connection hole 642 runs through centers of top and bottom surfaces of the shaft connector 64. On the outer periphery wall 643 of the shaft connector 64 a lateral through hole 644, which communicates with the rectangular connection hole 642, and two locating grooves 646, which spacedly extend along a direction parallel to the axis of the shaft connector 64, are provided. The shaft connector 64 is rotatably mounted in the accommodation 624 of the hollow column 622 in such a way that the lateral through hole 644 is communicated with the elongated through hole 625 of the hollow column 622 and the shaft connector 64 is clockwise and counterclockwise turnable about its axis in the accommodation 624.
The adjustment device 66 has a lever 662 and a threaded shank 664. The lever 662 is rockably supported on the fulcrum post 623 and has an end passing through the elongated through hole 625 of the hollow column 622 and the lateral through hole 644 of the shaft connector 64 and being located inside the connection hole 642 of the shaft connector 64. The threaded shank 644 has a ball head rotatably fitted with the lever 662 at a position in proximity of the other end of the lever 662, and a threaded portion screwingly inserted through the base plate 621.
The bracket 62 has two threaded through holes 626 respectively, inclinedly and upwardly extending from two opposite sides of the bottom surface of the base plate 621, which are adjacent to the opening of the accommodation 624, through the column 622, communicating with the accommodation 624, and corresponding in location to the two locating grooves 646 respectively, i.e. the extending directions of the two threaded holes 626 are offset from the axis of the shaft connector 64.
The locating device 68 includes two screws 682 and 684, which are screwingly and respectively threaded in the threaded through holes 626 and each have a tail aiming and being stoppable at one of the locating grooves 646. When the screws 682 and 684 are screwingly threaded deeply in the threaded through holes 626, the tails of the screws 682 and 684 will firmly abutted against the bottom walls of the locating grooves 646, as shown in FIG. 7, so as to fix the angular orientation of the shaft connector 64 in the accommodation 624 and to prevent the shaft connector 64 from rotation about its axis.
The above-mentioned adjustment device 66 of the mount 60 is adapted for adjusting the protruding length that the shaft connector 64 protrudes outside the accommodation 624, i.e. the length defined between the free end surface of the shaft connector 64 and the bottom surface of the base plate 621. More specifically speaking, changing the height of the ball head of the threaded shank 664 above the upper surface of the base plate 621 by screwing deeply or shallowly the threaded shank 664 into the base plate 621 will change the relative heights of two ends of the lever 662 such that the end of the lever 662, which is inserted into the lateral through hole 644 of the shaft connector 64, will drive the shaft connector 64 to move axially in the accommodation 624 within the range of the longitudinal length of the elongated through hole 625. That is to say, when the height of the ball head of the thread shank 664 is increased, the shaft connector 64 will, by means of the lever principle, be driven to move towards the opening of the accommodation 624 such that the protruding length of the shaft connector 64 will increase accordingly.
In addition to hold the shaft connector 64 in position, the above-mentioned locating device 68 of the mount 60 can fine adjust the angular orientation of the shaft connector 64 relative to the bracket 62. For example, if the user wants to rotate the shaft connector 64 in the accommodation in a clockwise direction when it is viewed from the bottom side thereof, the user can slightly loosen the screw 684, i.e. screwingly move backward the screw 684, to make its tail separate apart from the shaft connector 64 at a distance and then tighten another screw 682, i.e. screwingly move foreword the screw 682, to make its tail push on the shaft connector 64 so as to rotate the shaft connector 64 clockwise until the shaft connector 64 stops at the tail of the screw 684 again. By this way, the angular orientation of the shaft connector 64 relative to the bracket 62 can be adjusted without dissembling any parts of the mount 60.
The structures of and the relationships between the elements constructing the door closer kit 40 of the present invention have been described as above-mentioned. The way of how the door closer kit 40 works in cooperation with the door leaf and door frame will be illustrated hereunder.
Referring to FIGS. 2-8, in order to install the door closer kit 40 with a door leaf 71 and a door frame 72, the door closer 50 is mounted inside a pocket 712 recessed on a top side of the door leaf 71 by using screws to fix the fixation casing 52 of the door closer 50 and the door leaf 71 together, and the mount 60 is mounted inside a mounting groove 722 recessed on a top inner side of the door frame 72 by using screws to fix the bracket 62 of the mount 60 and the door frame 72 together. Thereafter, clockwise rotating the thread shank 664 of the adjustment device 66 to make the shaft connector 64 of the mount 60 protrude outside the base plate 621 at an appropriate distance to enable the rectangular connection portion 541 of the turnable shaft 54 of the door closer 50 to be inserted into the rectangular connection hole 642 of the shaft connector 64 so as to assemble the door leaf 71 with the door frame 72. As a result, the turnable shaft 54 is fixedly connected with the mount 60 which is fixedly mounted in the door frame 72, such that the turnable shaft 64 is stationary relative to the mount 60.
It can be seen from FIG. 8 that in addition to the door closer kit 40 of the present invention, a pivot kit 80 is also installed between the door leaf 71 and the door frame 72. The pivot kit 80 comprises a pivot mount 82 concealedly mounted in the bottom side of the door leaf 71, and a pivot 84 concealedly mounted in the bottom inner side of the door frame 72 and pivotally connected with the pivot mount 82. The axis of the pivot 84 is in alignment with the axis of the turnable shaft 54 of the door closer 50 in a line, such that the door leaf 72 is double-swingable about the axis of the turnable shaft 54 upon receiving an external pull or push force thereon.
When the door leaf 71 receives an external force for clockwise or counterclockwise swinging the door leaf 71, the fixation casing 52 will turn along with the door leaf 71 about the shaft 54 because the turnable shaft 54 is now motionless relative to the door frame 72, resulting in that the sector gear portion 542 of the turnable shaft 54 will be engaged with one of the linear gear portions 564 of the driven member 56 to drive the driven member 56 to move towards the driven position P2 and compress the spring member 58. As soon as the external force is released form the door leaf 71, the spring rebound force of the spring member 58 will forcedly move the driven member 56 back to the initial position P2, which means that the door leaf 71 will reversely swing about the shaft 54 back to its initial, force free position. Since the driven member 56 has two face-to-face linear gear portions 564, no matter the door leaf 71 is swung clockwise or counterclockwise the driving sector gear portion 542 of the shaft 54 will be definitely engaged with one of the linear gear portions 564 to make the door leaf 71 be double-swingable and then returnable back to its initial, force free position.
In case the door leaf 71, which is in the initial, force free position after installation or use for a long time, becomes noncoplanar with the door frame, showing that the door leaf 71 can not be fully closed, this problem can be solved by using the locating device 68 to adjust the angular orientation of the shaft connector 64 relative to the bracket 62 of the mount 60 so as to change the angular orientation of the shaft connector 64 relative to the door frame 72, which in turn will change the angular orientation of the door leaf 71 relative to the door frame 72. By this way, the coplanar alignment adjustment of the door leaf 71 with the door frame 72 can be conveniently and time-savingly done to make sure that the double swing door can be completely closed when the door leaf 71 is in the initial, force free position.
It will be appreciated that the door closer kit 40 of the present invention adopts the locating device 68 to adjust the angular orientation of the door leaf 71 relative to the door frame 72; therefore, the door closer is not limited to the linear gear driven type as the above embodiment described. In other words, the door closer can be of any kind as long as it can be concealedly mounted in the door frame and has a turnable shaft connectable with the shaft connector of the mount.

Claims

A door closer kit (40) for a double swing door, comprising a door closer (50) for concealedly mounting to a door leaf (71) and a mount (60) for concealedly mounting to a door frame (72), the door closer kit (40) being characterized in that:
the door closer (50) comprises a fixation casing (52) for mounting to the door leaf (71), and a turnable shaft (54), which is turnable relative to the fixation casing (52) upon receiving an external torque and turnable back to its initial angular orientation after the external torque is released therefrom; and

the mount (60) comprises a bracket (62) for mounting to the door frame (72), a shaft connector (64) mounted to the bracket (62) in such a way that the shaft connector (64) is biasable about an axis thereof relative to the bracket (62) and provided with a connection hole (642) in which the turnable shaft (54) of the door closer (50) is detachably inserted, and a locating device (68) acting on the shaft connector (64) for adjusting and fixing an angular orientation of the shaft connector (64) relative to the bracket (62).
The door closer kit of claim 1, characterized in that the bracket (62) of the mount (60) comprises an accommodation (624) in which the shaft connector (64) is biasably mounted, and a plurality of threaded through holes (626) communicating with the accommodation (624); the locating device (68) comprises a plurality of screws (682, 684) screwingly and respectively threaded in the threaded through holes (626) and each having a tail abutting against the shaft connector (64) for adjusting and fixing the angular orientation of the shaft connector relative to the bracket.
The door closer kit of claim 2, characterized in that the bracket (62) of the mount (60) comprises a base plate (621) and a column (622) mounted to the base plate (621) and provided with the accommodation (624), which has an opening at a bottom surface of the base plate (621).
The door closer kit of claim 3, characterized in that the threaded though holes (626) respectively, inclinedly and upwardly extend from the bottom surface of the base plate (621) through the column (622) and communicate with the accommodation.
The door closer kit of claim 4, characterized in that the shaft connector (64) is provided on an outer periphery thereof with two locating grooves (646), which respectively and spacedly extend along a direction parallel to the axis of the shaft connector; the threaded though holes (626) includes two threaded through holes respectively, inclinedly and upwardly extend from two opposite sides of the bottom surface of the base plate (621) through the column (622) and correspond to the two locating grooves (646) respectively.
The door closer kit of claim 5, characterized in that:
the door closer (50) comprises:
a driven member (56) mounted inside the fixation casing (52), moveable between an initial position (P1) and a driven position (P2), and provided with two linear gear portions (564) which are spacedly and face-to-face arranged; and

a spring member (58) exerting on the driven member (56) a spring rebound force tending to move the driven member (56) towards the initial position (P1); and

the turnable shaft (54) of the door closer (50) comprises a sector gear portion (542) which is selectively engaged with one of the linear gear portions (564) of the driven member (56), when the turnable shaft (54) receives the external torque, so as to drive the driven member (56) to move towards the driven position (P2).