GB2023712A

GB2023712A - Vehicle door actuating mechanism

Info

Publication number: GB2023712A
Application number: GB7921352A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: TEBEL MASCHF BV
Current assignee: TEBEL MASCHF BV
Priority date: 1978-06-21
Filing date: 1979-06-19
Publication date: 1980-01-03
Also published as: NL7806721A; ES481780A1; CH646653A5; IT7923767A0; FR2429891A1; GB2023712B; ATA433979A; IT1121595B; AT368086B; FR2429891B1; NL186567C; BE877137A; DE2924551A1; NL186567B; JPS559993A

Abstract

A door actuating mechanism for a vehicle, in particular a railway carriage, comprises a one-leaved or two-leaved door which through the intermediary of one or more brackets (not shown), secured to a rotatable, vertical shaft 2, can be opened or closed by rotating said shaft. A pneumatically operated drive means 7 is provided for rotating said rotatable shaft 2 and acts through the intermediary of a linkage 5 on a first arm 4 secured to said rotatable shaft 2 so that the door can be locked in the closed position. In the closed position of the door, the linkage 5 can be locked in a single point according to the over-centre closing principle. In the event of failure of the pneumatic supply the door(s) may be opened by a hand-operated mechanism 16, 15, 14, 13. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Vehicle door construction This invention relates to a door construction for a vehicle, in particular a railway carriage.

A prior door construction of this kind comprises a one-leaved or two-leaved door, which through the intermediary of one or more brackets, secured to a rotatable, vertical shaft, can be opened or closed by rotating the shaft, and a drive means for rotating said rotatable shaft, which drive means acts through the intermediary of a linkage on a first arm secured to said rotatable shaft, and by means of which the door can be locked in the closed position.

Such a door construction is described in Dutch patent specification no. 122,533. In it, the movement for opening and closing the door or doors is obtained by means of a pneumatic cylinder. The linkage comprises an intermediate rod pivoted at one end to the arm, and at the other to a guide rod having a fixed pivot at its other end. The object of this linkage is to lock the door in its closed position, for which purpose, among other things, the intermediate rod is made shorter than the guide rod and the relative positions thereof are such that, in the closed position, the intermediate rod and the guide rod overlap each other, and thereby occupy a dead-centre position relative to each other for locking purposes.

The prior door construction is also applicable to a two-leaved door. In the case of a two-leaved door, the intermediate rods are pivoted together at their ends by means of a single, rigid connecting rod, with the fixed pivots of the guide rods being arranged on opposite sides of the connecting rod, and the pneumatic cylinder acting on said connecting rod.

In the prior door construction, the number of pivots is considerable, namely 10 in the case of a two-leaved door. In addition, the prior door construction does not offer the possibility, for example, in the case of failure of the central pneumatic system which operates the pneumatic cylinder, of manually opening the doors both from the inside and from the outside, at least not in a structurally simple manner.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved door construction which has a considerably smaller number of pivots requiring maintenance, and if desired can be provided with a construction for manual emergency operation of the doors.

The invention is characterised in that, in the closed position of the one-leaved or twoleaved door, the linkage can be locked in a single point according to the over-centre closing principle.

In this connection the door construction according to the present invention, in which the drive means acts on the first arm in a first pivot thereof via a connecting rod forming part of the linkage, is arranged so that the drive means pivotally engages with the connecting rod in a second pivot thereof through the intermediary of a second arm having a fixed pivot.

Within the ambit of a compressed-air-operated cylinder as the means for imparting the opening and closing movement to the doors, in a preferred embodiment of the door construction according to the invention, the compressed-air-operated cylinder is a rotary cylinder, the turing shaft of which is fixedly connected to the second arm.

The invention will now be elucidated in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a diagrammatic, perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the door construction according to the invention by way of example.

In the drawing, which relates to a door construction comprising a two-leaved swing plug door, in the closed position, i.e. a left-hand leaf and a right-hand leaf symmetrical therewith, there is shown a bearing 1 journalling a vertical shaft 2, from which the door leaves are suspended by means of brackets not shown. Secured at the top end of shaft 2 is a first arm 4, the other end of which is pivoted in a first pivot 3 to a connecting rod member 5' and 5", respectively, forming a divided connecting rod 5.

Drive means 7 is a so-called rotary cylinder, by means of which the movement of a pneumatically reciprocating piston rod is converted by the rack-and-pinion principle into a rotary movement of a rotary shaft, designated in the drawing by 8. Fixedly connected to shaft 8 is a second arm 9, with the connecting rod members 5' and 5" of the divided connecting rod 5 respectively engaging with the second arm 9 in two second pivots 6. As the door is being closed, the closed position is reached when the connecting rod members 5' and 5" are in alignment with each other, and have a dead-centre position relative to each other.

The closing force of the door thus has reached a maximum too. The rotary movement which shaft 8 receives from the cylinder, however, has been adjusted so that the second pivots are forced some way beyond the dead-centre position, whereby there is obtained a fully safe locking of the closed position, i.e. one which offers security even when subject to vibrations or other, greatly varying loads acting on the door construction.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the connecting rod members 5' and 5" are themselves constituted by parts interconnected by means of screwthread connections 25, 26 and 27, 28, respectively. This offers the possibility for the linkage to be given an optimum adjustment for one thing with regard to the closing force of the doors when the connecting rod members 5' and 5" are in the dead-centre position, and the extent to which the second pivots 6 are forced beyond the dead-centre position.

The embodiment shown in the drawing, in which the drive means from which the move ment for opening and closing the doors is derived is a rotary cylinder, has the advantage of providing a readily accessible point of engagement for an emergency operation of the door construction for use in case, for example in the event of failure of the central com pressed-air system or for any other reason, a particular door must be capable of being opened or closed manually from within or without the vehicle. For this purpose the piston rod of the rotary cylinder has been extended to project from the cylinder housing, and the external piston rod portion 10 is fixedly connected via arm 1 2 to an axially movable rod 13.

Rod 1 3 is engaged by a linkage 14, which comprises a handle 1 5 and 16, respectively located on the inside and on the outside of the vehicle. By moving handles 15, 1 6 in the direction of arrows A and B the piston rod of cylinder 7 can manually be given a reciprocat ing movement from within and from without the vehicle, to open or close the door. In -order that the muscular power required for manually opening the door may be kept relatively smail, for example, less than 25 kg, there is provided an auxiliarly linkage 17, which is also engaged by rod 1 3.

A run-on surface 1 8 is provided on rod 13, which in collaboration with a roller 1 9 upon manual operation of linkage 14 for opening the door results in the thus caused axial displacement of rod 1 3 effecting a pivoting movement of iever 20 about shaft 22 to press against hold-down pin 21, which is in contact with the left-hand over-centre closing system, as viewed in the drawing. This facilitates release of the over-centre closing system dur ing the opening of the door.

As shown in the drawing, the door construction shown for a two-leaf swing plug door only comprises four pivots.

The alignment of the linkage in the door construction according to the invention is noncritical, so that ball-and-socket joints can be used for the various pivots.

Naturally, the door construction described above and shown in the accompanying draw ing can be modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The embodiment shown in the drawing, incorporating two separate second pivots 6, is preferred to a construction in which the con necting rod members 5' and 5" have one common second pivot 6, among other reasons for being lower in height, allowing for the connecting rod members to be of similar con struction (equal length) and, in particular, the construction being balanced as the reaction forces in the two connecting rod members neutralize each other.

Claims

1. A door construction for a vehicle, in particular a railway carriage, comprising a one-leaved or two-leaved door which through the intermediary of one or more brackets, secured to a rotatable, vertical shaft, can be opened or closed by rotating said shaft, and a drive means for rotating said rotatable shaft, which drive means acts through the intermediary of a linkage on a first arm secured to said rotatable shaft, and by means of which the door can be locked in the closed position of the one-leaved or two-leaved door, the linkage can be locked in a single point according to the over-centre closing principle.

2. A door construction according to claim 1, in which the drive means acts on the first arm in a first pivot thereof via a connecting rod forming part of the linkage, characterized in that the drive means pivotally engages with the connecting rod in a second pivot thereof through the intermediary of a second arm having a fixed pivot.

3. A door construction according to claims 1-2, wherein the drive means is a compressed-air operated rotary cylinder (7) having a turning shaft (8) fixedly connected to said second arm (9).

4. A door construction according to claim 3 comprising a two-leaved door and in which the two first arms are coupled together in the first pivots thereof by the connecting rod, characterized in that the connecting rod (5) is a divided rod whose ends remote from the ends pivoted to the first arms (4) in the first pivots (3) are pivoted to the second arm (9) in a common second pivot (6) or in two separate second pivots (6).

5. A door construction according to claim 4, wherein the divided connecting rod (5) is connected to the second arm (9) in two pivots (6).

6. A door construction according to claims 4-5, characterized in that the piston rod of the rotary cylinder (7) is extended at least at one end thereof by an external piston rod portion (10) located outside the cylinder housing, said external piston rod portion being acted upon by a linkage by means of which the axial displacement of the piston rod can be performed manually from within or without the vehicle.

7. A door construction according to claims 1-6, characterized in that the distance between the first pivot (3) and the second pivot (6) is adjustable within certain limits.