GB2082726A

GB2082726A - Helical or rubber tension spring with end-connectors: door closers

Info

Publication number: GB2082726A
Application number: GB8122852A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-07-25
Filing date: 1981-07-24
Publication date: 1982-03-10
Also published as: GB2082726B

Abstract

A return device for a door or window comprises a helical spring 71, Fig. 12, which is constrained between and located within two sleeves 72 and 73. Each sleeve 72, 73 is externally serrated at 78, 79 and is formed with an abutment surface 80, 81 at one end. To install the device on a door for example one sleeve is driven into the door and the other into the adjacent frame until the abutment surfaces contact the surface of the door or frame as the case may be. The spring may be replaced by a length of natural or synthetic rubber, Fig. 3, and the serrations by screwthreads. Various methods may be employed for fixing the spring or rubber to the sleeves. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A closing member The present invention relates to a device for closing or returning members such as doors and windows from an open to a closed position.

At the present time door closing or return devices are large, obtrusive, complex, inconvenient to install and remove and expensive both to buy and install. One such device is spring loaded. The spring is a spiral spring which is constrained to act between a fixed point and a rotatable arm. The fixed point is a housing for the spring connected to the door frame, for example, and the rotatable arm is pivotally connected to the door, for example. As the door is opened, the spiral spring is more tightly coiled by the rotation of the rotatable arm thus effectively storing the energy expended in opening the door in the spring. This stored energy is employed to return the door to the closed position when the door is released and the spring is allowed to uncoil again.In another known device, which is a development of the first mentioned device, the return force is also provided by a coiled spring but the return is damped by a piston and cylinder arrangement. As before, a rotatable member rotates the spring to store energy and is rotated by the spring when that energy is released. The piston is also connected to this rotatable member. The cylinder is oil filled and as the door to which the rotatable member is indirectly connected is opened the piston connected also to the rotatable member is drawn back to one end of the cylinder. Passages in the piston and in the cylinder permit oil to be transferred from one side of the piston to the other. As the door closes under the action of the spring, the piston moves back through the cylinder.A return valve in the passage through the piston closes to prevent oil passing through the piston and oil must therefore pass through the passages in the cylinder in order to be transferred from one side of the piston to the other as the piston moves through the cylinder. These passages in the cylinder are progressively obscured as the piston travels through the cylinder thus reducing the oil flow and slowing down the return of the piston and therefore the connected door.

According to the present invention, there is provided a device for closing or returning members from an open to a closed position comprising a resilient member and a pair of fixing members fixed at opposite ends respectively of the resilient member and each being capable and being adapted to be driven into a solid member to be retained therein.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hinged closure member provided with a return device comprising a resilient member extending between two fixing members, the two fixing members being driven respectively into the edge of the closure member to which the hinge is connected and the adjacent surface of the frame to which the hinge is also connected.

A preferred embodiment of the invention may comprise any one or more of the following advantageous features: (a) The resilient member comprises a length of resilient material, (b) The resilient material is a natural material, (c) The natural material is rubber, (d) The resilient material is a synthetic material, (e) The resilient member is a helical spring, (f) Each fixing member comprises a sleeve.

(g) Each fixing member comprises one or more external projections, (h) The or each external projection is a serration, (i) The external projection is a screwthread, (j) Each fixing member is connected to the resilient member by a transverse pin extending therethrough.

(k) The resilient member is moulded onto the fixing members.

(I) Each fixing member comprises a split sleeve and the resilient member is formed at opposite axial ends with larger diameter portions to retain the sleeves axially thereon.

(m) Each fixing member comprises a sleeve and the resilient member is moulded at opposite axial ends onto metal pieces in which respective retaining members are screwed to retain the sleeves axially on the resilient member.

(n) Each fixing member comprises a sleeve and each sleeve is provided with teeth which grip the resilient member to retain the sleeve thereon.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a hinged closure member in a frame with a return device for returning the closure member from the open to the closed position in the frame including the steps of opening the closure member to the open position, forming a bore in the edge surface of the closure member extending substantially at right angles to the plane of the member and a corresponding bore in the frame which is aligned with the first mentioned bore when the member is in the closed position, driving one end of the return device into the bore of the closure member or the frame to which it is connected, closing the closure member to the closed position so as partially to drive the other end of the return device into the frame or the closure member as the case may be, opening the closure member and completely driving the other end into the frame or closure member.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, several embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side elevational exploded view of a return device and part of a door, Figure 2 shows a partial view in section of a return device of Figure 1 fixed to a door with the door closed, Figure 3 shows a partial view of the door of Figure 2 but with the door open, Figure 4 shows the door of Figures 2 and 3 partially again with the door fully open, Figure 5 is a side elevational view in partial section of an alternative device to that shown in Figure 1, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the device of Figure 5 taken along the line VI--VI of that Figure, Figure 7 is a partial side elevational view of a further alternative to the device shown in Figure 1, Figure 8 is a perspective view of a tool which can be used to install the device of Figure 5, Figure 9 is a side elevational view of a still further alternative to the device shown in Figure 1, Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the device of Figure 9 taken along the line X-X of that figure, Figure 11 is a side elevational view in section of a further alternative to the device shown in Figure 1, and Figure 12 is a view similar to the view of Figure 2 but showing an alternative form of return device incorporating a helical spring.

Referring to Figure 1, the device comprises a length 1 of approximately two inches of high quality rubber cord of approximately 2tl diameter.

Two open-ended brass sleeves 2 and 3 are fixed on respective ends of the length 1 of cord by means of pins 4 and 5 which extend through respective bores formed in the sleeves 2 and 3 and the rubber cord. This may simply be done by pushing the sleeves 2 and 3 onto opposite ends of the rubber cord so that the cord extends right through both sleeves and then drilling straight through both sleeves and inserting and fixing the pins 4 and 5. Each sleeve 2, 3 is externally serrated at 6, 7 and has a diameter of approximately 8 inches.

To install the device, a hole 10 is bored into the edge of the door 11 and a corresponding hole 12 is bored in the door frame 13. The holes 10 and 12 are axially aligned when the door is in the closed position as shown in Figure 2. The diameter of these bores holes is slightly less than the external diameter of the sleeves 2 and 3 so that the sleeves may easily be driven therein but once so driven retained there. One end sleeve 2 or 3 of the device is then driven into the corresponding bore 12 or 10 of the frame 13 or door 1 1. For this purpose a hammer and a tool having a semiannular cross-section end may be used.

When the first sleeve is firmly in position in the corresponding bore, the second sleeve is driven into the bore in the frame or door as the case may be. If desired finishing annuli surrounding the cord 1 may be pushed into the visible open ends of the bores in the door and frame.

As can be seen from Figure 2 the bores for the device are formed as far as possible from the hinge 14. In this way the return force provided by the stretched cord in operation is given the greatest moment. Operation of the device is illustrated in Figure 3, the force returning the door to the closed position being the product of the tensile force T in the rubber cord 1 and the distance D of the cord from the hinge fulcrum. If the door 11 is opened wide beyond a certain point as shown in Figure 4 the force exerted on the door by cord 1 is insufficient to return the door to the closed position and the door remains open. The door remains in its fully open position and will only return to the closed position if the door 11 is closed past this critical point.

Three alternatives to the device shown in Figure 1 are respectively shown in Figures 5, 7 and 9. Figure 6 and 10 respectively show cross- sections through the devices of Figures 5 and 9 taken along the lines VI--VI and X-X. The device of Figures 5 and 6 comprises a length 20 of approximately two inches of high quality rubber cord of approximately +" diameter on opposite ends of which respective metal pieces 21 and 22 are moulded. Each piece 21,22 is provided with an internally threaded bore. Open-ended externally screwthreaded brass sleeves 23 and 24 are slipped over respective ends of the length 20 and retaining screws 25 and 26 screwed into respective internally screwthreaded bores in the pieces 21 and 22.The device is installed in a door/door frame by screwing the sleeves 23 and 24 into appropriately formed bores using the tool illustrated in Figure 8. This comprises a handle 30 fixed to an open arcuate member 31 whose two free ends are respectively connected to two bits 32, 33. These bits 32, 33 fit into slots 27, 28 formed in the exposed ends of both sleeves 23 and 24 (see Figure 6) so that a turning moment can be applied to the sleeves to screw them into the door/door frame.

Figure 7 shows a further alternative in which two sleeves 40 (one only shown) are slipped over a length 41 of high quality rubber. Each sleeve 40 is formed with teeth 42 which are pushed into the rubber of the length 41 to retain it thereon. The sleeves are externally serrated (as in the device of Figure 1) for fixing in the appropriately bored holes in a door/door frame.

In a still further alternative of Figures 9 and 10 a length 50 of high quality rubber is formed with larger diameter ends 51 and 52. Two sleeves 53 and 54 are provided with splits 55 enabling them to be pushed over the rubber length 50 but retained thereon axially by means of the ends 51 and 52. Again, the sleeves 53 and 54 may be externally serrated or screwthreaded and installation is, as with the other devices, appropriate to this external sleeve formation.

A still further embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 11. In general construction and appearance this embodiment resembles the embodiment of Figure 1. A length 61 of approximately two inches of high quality rubber cord of approximately 111 diameter extends through two approximately 9" internal diameter open-ended brass sleeves 62 and 63 which are fixed to the cord by respective pins 64 and 65 inserted through the sleeves and the cord. The cord 61 is held under tension by this fixing and urges the sleeves 62 and 63 together. Each sleeve 62, 63 is externally serrated at 66, 67 and adjacent ends of the sleeves are given a special curved construction 68, 69 to provide an abutment surface for the other The provision of these abutment surfaces facilitates the installation of the device.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figure 12 is similar to that shown in Figure 11 except that the length 61 of the rubber cord is replaced by a helical spring 71. This spring has an external diameter of 2'1 and extends through two approximately s internal diameter open ended spun or turned sleeves 72 and 73. The spring 71 is connected to respective sleeves 72 and 73 by means of respective pins 74 and 75 which extend through corresponding loops 76 and 77 formed at opposite ends respectively of the spring 71. Each sleeve 72, 73 is serrated at 78 and 79 and adjacent ends of the sleeves are given a special curved construction 80, 81 to provide an abutment surface for the other. The door and door frame, respectively referenced 82 and 83, are counterbored at 84 and 85 to accommodate the curved construction 80 and 81.The door 82 is connected to the door frame 83 by hinges 84 in the normal manner (only one hinge shown). To provide a force maintaining the door in the closed position, the spring may be tensioned when in that position. In addition a magnetic catch 85 is disposed at the edge of the door and a sponge sealing 86 is provided also at that edge.

To install the device of Figure 11 or Figure 12 a hole is bored into the edge of the door and a corresponding hole is bored in the door frame as in the installation of the device of Figure 1. These are axially aligned when the door is in the closed position and are slightly less in internal diameter than the external diameter of the sleeves so that the sleeves may easily be driven therein but, once so driven, retained therein. The door is opened and the sleeve at one end of the device driven into the hole in the door or frame by hammering on the other end of the device until the curved construction of that sleeve abuts the material surrounding the hole. Preferably, prior to hammering, the door may be closed to cause the sleeve to bite into the material surrounding the hole.After hammering the first sleeve in the door is again closed thus partially driving the other sleeve into the other hole. The door is then opened again and the second sleeve hammered in until the curved construction of that sleeve abuts the periphery of the corresponding hole. Installation, facilitated by the abutment surfaces, is therefore easier, and, once installed, any tendency of the sleeves or door opening to chaff the rubber cord or rub against the spring is reduced because of the curved construction.

It will be appreciated that the above devices have been described by way of example only and that many variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention claimed.

For example, synthetic material cords may be used instead of rubber. When fixing the device both sleeves 2 and 3 (Figure 1 embodiment) could be driven part way into the corresponding bore and the door then closed to complete the process.

In the embodiment of Figure 5, the screws 25 and 26 could be provided with a coaxial annular guide surrounding the screwthreaded portion, the rubber of the cord being squashed between this portion and the guard to provide a more positive connection between rubber and screw. In embodiments where the rubber cord is moulded onto end fixings the fixing can be provided with interstices into which the rubber can flow during moulding to provide for a more positive connection.

Many devices can be attached to a single door or window as required and each individual device may be altered as required thus giving great flexibility of return force. The device may be removed easily and then the holes plugged to remove virtually all trace of the fixing or the cord can be simply severed flush with the door and frame. Door locks on internal doors may be dispensed with and a good door seal (such as is described for the Figure 12 embodiment) used in conjunction with the device will provide a good thermal seal thus reducing heat loss. The device is invisible when the door is closed and little more obtrusive when the door is open. It is efficient, inexpensive and easy to install.

As described for the embodiment of Figure 12 any embodiment may be provided with a magnetic catch and its resilient member pretensioned in the door closed position.

Claims

1. A device for closing or returning members from an open to a closed position comprising a resilient member and a pair of fixing members fixed at opposite ends respectively of the resilient member and each being capable and being adapted to be driven into a solid member to be retained therein.

2. A device as claimed in Claim 1, in which the resilient member comprises a length of resilient material.

3. A device as claimed in Claim 2, in which the resilient material is a natural material.

4. A device as claimed in Claim 3, in which the natural material is rubber.

5. A device as claimed in Claim 2, in which the resilient material is a synthetic material.

6. A device as claimed in Claim 1, in which the resilient member is a helical spring.

7. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, in which each fixing member comprises a sleeve.

8. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, in which each fixing member comprises one or more external projections.

9. A device as claimed in Claim 8, in which the or each external projection is a serration.

10. A device as claimed in Claim 8, in which the external projection is a screwthread.

11. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, in which each fixing member is connected to the resilient member by a transverse pin extending therethrough.

12. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the resilient member is moulded onto the fixing members.

13. A device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5 or to any of Claims 8 to 12 when appendant to any of Claims 1 to 5, in which each fixing member comprises a split sleeve and the resilient member is formed at opposite axial ends with larger diameter portions to retain the sleeves axially thereon.

14. A device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5 or to any of Claims 8 to 12 when appendant to any of Claims 1 to 5, in which each fixing member comprises a sleeve and the resilient member is moulded at opposite axial ends onto metal pieces into which respective retaining members are screwed to retain the sleeves axially on the resilient member.

1 5. A device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5 or to any of Claims 8 to 12 when appendant to any of Claims 1 to 5, in which each fixing member comprises a sleeve and each sleeve is provided with teeth which grip the resilient member to retain the sleeve thereon.

1 6. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, in which adjacent edges of the two fixing members are formed with abutment surfaces which can be used to facilitate installation of the device.

17. A device for closing or returning members from an open to a closed position substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 or to Figures 5 and 6 or Figure 7 or Figures 9 and 10 or Figure 11 or Figure 12 of the accompanying drawings.

18. A hinged closure member provided with a device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 17, in which the two fixing members are driven respectively into the edge of the closure member to which the hinge is connected and the adjacent surface of the frame to which the hinge is also connected.

1 9. A method of providing a hinged closure member in a frame with a return device for returning the closure member from the open to the closed position in the frame including the steps of opening the closure member to the open position, forming a bore in the edge surface of the closure member extending substantially at right angles to the plane of the member and a corresponding bore in the frame which is aligned with the first mentioned bore when the member is in the closed position, driving one end of the return device into the bore of the closure member or the frame to which it is connected, closing the closure member to a partially closed position so as partially to drive the other end of the return device into the frame or the closure member as the case may be, opening the closure member and completely driving the other end into the frame or closure member.

20. A method as claimed in Claim 19, in which the closure member is closed on the return device with the said one end located in the corresponding bore to partially drive the device into the bore prior to opening the closure member again to enable the said one end to be fully driven into the bore.