GB2157351A

GB2157351A - A door for a T-shaped opening

Info

Publication number: GB2157351A
Application number: GB08507952A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lars-Birger Lundstrom
Original assignee: UTEC PORTEN AB
Current assignee: UTEC PORTEN AB
Priority date: 1984-04-03
Filing date: 1985-03-27
Publication date: 1985-10-23
Also published as: DE3512286A1; SE441290B; SE8401840D0; AU4080185A; FR2562142A1; FR2562142B1; FI851328L; DK149585D0; NL8500972A; FI76621B; JPS60226990A; FI851328A0; FI76621C; GB8507952D0; DK149585A; NO851344L; GB2157351B

Abstract

A door (1) for a T-shaped opening in a wall comprises two door leaves (2, 3) of a flexible material and a number of horizontal cross bars (7-9) guided at their ends by vertical guide rails (20, 21) mounted on the wall. The door leaf (2) is suspended from the top of the opening and has means (12, 17) for hoisting the cross bars (7-9) so that the door leaves (2, 3) fold up. The cross bar (7) is longer than the cross bars (8, 9). The sections (21') of the guide rails (21) guiding the ends of the cross bars (8, 9) are connected with the cross bar (7). Guiding means is provided to ensure that cross bars (8, 9) re- enter the guide rails 21 when the door is being closed. Locking means is also described. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Door intended for a T-shaped opening This invention relates to a door intended for a T-shaped opening in a wall, which door comprises one or more leaves of a flexible material and a number of interspaced, substantially horizontal cross bars connected with the flexible material, said cross bars being guided at their ends by rails arranged in one or more vertical planes and connected with the wall, one door leaf being suspended at the top of the opening, said door comprising means for hoisting up the cross bars at opening of the door so that the door leaf or leaves are folded up, and for lowering the cross bars at closing of the door so that the door leaf or leaves unfold.

Previously known doors of the kind mentioned above have so far been manufactured with all cross bars of the same length, and the width measure of the door leaf has been equal all over the height of the door. When a door is needed having a greater width measure at its top than at its bottom which is normally the case e.g. at so-called traversing crane doors, this problem has been solved by arranging close to each other several doors of different height and width, and the required guide rails have been arranged between the doors so that they can be moved occasionally the resulting opening at opened doors forming a common T-shaped opening without said guide rails preventing this.

It is the object of this invention to provide a door simple in construction for a T-shaped opening in a wall, and this object is achieved by the door having the characteristic features defined in the claims.

A door according to the invention is Tshaped in itself and, thus, fits T-shaped wall openings without it being necessary, as mentioned above, to arrange a number of separate doors close to each other to achieve this.

Illustrative examples of the invention will be described below more in detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of a door of the invention, the left half of the figure showing the door in a closed position and the right half of the figure showing the door in an opened position, Fig. 2 shows the door in a section taken on the line Il-Il in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 shows the door in a section taken on the line Ill-Ill in Fig. 1, Fig.

4 shows the door in a section taken on the line IV-IV in Fig. 1, Fig. 5 shows the door in a section taken on the line V-V in Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a front view of an upper bottom cross bar in an uncovered state, Fig. 7 shows the upper bottom cross bar according to Fig. 6 as seen from above, Figs. 8 and 9 are two different views of a guide pin, Fig. 10 shows a section of an upper locking device taken on the line X-X in fig. 6, Fig. 11 is a section of the upper locking device taken on the line Xl-Xl in Fig.

10, Fig. 12 shows the upper locking device in an uncovered state, Fig. 13 shows a lower locking device in a section taken on the line XIII-XIII in fig. 6, and Fig. 14 shows the lower locking device in a section taken on the line XIV-XIV in Fig. 13.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a T-shaped door 1 formed according to the invention, which door includes an upper door portion in the form of an upper door leaf 2 and a lower door portion in the form of a lower door leaf 3, the upper door leaf 2 having a greater width measure than the lower door leaf 3. In the case shown the door leaves 2, 3 are built of flexible cloths 4 and 5, respectively (see Fig. 2). The cloths 4 of the upper door leaf 2 are upwardly connected with a so-called machinery box 6 e.g. connected with a surrounding wall, and the cloths 4 are downwardly connected with an upper bottom cross bar 7 associated with the door leaf 2. The cloths 5 of the lower door leaf 3 are upwardly connected with the upper bottom cross bar 7 and the cloths 5 are downwardly connected with a lower bottom cross bar 9 associated with the door leaf 3.A suitable number of intermediate cross bars 8 are placed between the cloths 5 and connected with these. Of course the upper door leaf 2, when stiffening is necessary, can also include a number of intermediate cross bars.

As is apparent from the Figures the upper bottom cross bar 7 has thus a greater linear measure than the intermediate cross bars 8 and the lower bottom cross bar 9. At each end of the lower bottom cross bar 9 a band 12 is disposed, which runs over three guide rolls 13-15 and is arranged at a drum 17 driven by a motor 16 in such a way that both the bands 12 are wound into the drum 17 when the motor 16 is rotating in one direction and that both the bands 12 are unwound from the drum 17 when the motor 16 is rotating in the other direction. When the bands 12 are wound onto the drum 17 the door 1 is opened and when the bands 12 are unwound from the drum 17 the door 1 is closed.

Fig. 2 shows the door 1 in a closed position and Fig. 3 shows the door 1 in an opened position, and in the latter state the door leaves 2, 3 are folded together, which is apparent from the Figure.

In order that a door of the kind described above might withstand loads e.g. in the form of wind forces and in order that a good sealing might be obtained between the door and the wall surrounding the door guide rails 20, 21 are arranged at the wall along the vertical lateral edges of the door. It is apparent from Fig. 4 how the intermediate cross bar 8 and bottom cross bar 9 of the lower door leaf 3 cooperate with the guide rail 21 in that sliding members 18 connected with the cross bars 8, 9 slide at movement of the door along the outer surfaces of the guide rail 21.

The rails 20 arranged at the wall and guiding the upper door leaf 2 are embodied as appar ent from fig. 5, and the upper bottom cross bar 7 cooperates with the guide rail 20 in that guide rollers 19 connected with the end por tions of the bottom cross bar 7 roll against one of the inner surfaces of the guide rail 21.

The door clothes 4 and 5 are so wide that they will abut the outer surfaces of the corre sponding guide rails, a good sealing being obtained.

If it is assumed, now, that a door 1 de scribed above is hoisted to opened position the cross bars 8, 9 of the lower door portion 3 then folded up will hang freely in the air at opened door without any contact with their guide rails 21. When the door is then to be closed great difficulties will arise as the sliding members 18 of the then freely hanging cross bars 8, 9 of the lower door portion 3 must meet the guide rails 21 so that they will cooperate with these, as shown in Fig. 4, and, thus, can slide along their outer surfaces.

Moreover, it must be taken into account that the lower door portion 3 hanging freely in hoisted up position is a surface exposed to the wind and is thus exposed to wind forces tending to bend it away from its vertical hanging position, which further renders it di fficult to meet the guide rails 21, as described above, when the door is being closed.

According to the invention the problem de scribed in the preceding section is mastered in that the upper bottom cross bar 7 is so embodied that a section 21' of the guide rail 21 guiding the lower door portion 3 is con nected to the same. Furthermore, the upper bottom cross bar 7 has at each end two guide rollers 31 arranged in a spaced relationship from each other (see Figs. 5, 6 and 7) in order to ensure that the upper bottom cross bar 7 also in a hoisted up position is substan tially hanging in a vertical position despite the aforesaid wind forces. Guide means in the form of guide pins 25 are connected with the guide rails 21 arranged at the wall, which guide pins cooperate with means connected with the upper bottom cross bar 7 to receive the guide pins 25 in the form of guide sleeves 26.The guide sleeves 26 have at their lower ends a plate 27 with a centre opening 28, the size of which corresponds to the cross sec tional form of the guide pin 25 so that this is guided by the opening 28. Moreover, the plate 27 has a recess 29 so that shoulders 30 connected with the guide pin 25 can pass the same. Upper locking devices 40 and lower ones 50 are also arranged in connection with the upper bottom cross bar 7 and the guide rail portions 21' and guide sleeves 26 thereof (see Figs. 6, 10-14), the embodiment and function of which will be described below in greater detail.

When the door 1 is closed the guide pin 25 is located in the centre opening 28 of the guide sleeve 26 and the upper side 42 of the locking shoulders 41 of the locking device 40 abut the lowermost edge 31 of the shoulders 30 connected with the guide pin 25. The upper locking device 40 comprises two articulatedly suspended legs 43 supporting said locking shoulders 41 between which legs 43 a compression spring 44 is acting to press these in a direction away from each other (see Figs. 10, 11 and 12). When the door is closed the locking shoulders 41, will, thus, be in the position shown with full lines in Fig.

11. Moreover, when the door 1 is closed the locking shoulders 51 of the lower locking device 50 will be in the position shown with dash-dotted lines in Fig. 14 as they are held compressed by shoulders 23 arranged in the upper end of the guide rails 21 when the ends of the guide rails 21 and 21' bear against each other, which is the case when the door is closed. The lower looking device 50 also includes two articulatedly suspended legs 53 which support said locking shoulders 51 and between which a compression spring 54 is acting to press these in a direction away from each other.

When the door being opened is hoisted up the upper locking devices 40 are in an active position (full lines in Figs. 11 and 12), i.e.

they retain the upper bottom cross bar 7 at the guide pins 25 until the lower door portion 3 is fully hoisted up against the upper bottom cross bar 7, i.e. the lower door portion 3 is quite folded up, all intermediate cross bars 8 and the lower bottom cross bar 9 being located within the region of the guide rail portions 21' arranged at the upper bottom cross bar 7. At the last stage of the upward movement of the lower bottom cross bar 9 relative to the still stationary upper bottom cross bar 7 chamfered edges 10 of cams 11 arranged at the sliding member 18 of the lower bottom cross bar actuate tongues 45 connected with the legs 43 and projecting from these so that the tongues 45 and consequently the legs 43 with attached shoulders 41 enter the position shown in Figs. 11 and 12 with dash-dotted lines. The result of this is that the upper locking devices 40 are released from the shoulders 30 of the guide pins 25, which has the effect, in turn, that the upper bottom cross bar 7 is released to be hoisted up so that the upper door portion 2 can also be hoisted and opened. When at hoisting of the upper bottom cross bar 7 and the guide rails 21' connected to this leave their abut ment with the guide rails 21 lying below, the spring 54 of the lower locking devices 50 will press the legs 53 with attached locking shoulders 51 to the active position shown in Fig.

14 with full lines. The locking shoulders 51 act then against the undersides of the sliding member 18 of the lower bottom cross bar 9 and prevent in this way the lower bottom cross bar 9 and the intermediate cross bars 8 lying above from leaving the guide rail portions 21' when the upper bottom cross bar 7 is not in its lowermost position.

When the opened door is to be closed the upper bottom cross bar 7 is first lowered, the guide pins 25 entering the guiding opening 28 of the guide sleeves 26 connected with the upper bottom cross bar 7, after which the upper bottom cross bar 7 reaches its bottom position. The locking shoulders 41 of the upper locking device 40 will then pass between the shoulders 30 of the guide pins 25 at the last stage of the downward movement of the upper bottom cross bar 7, which is made possible by the fact that the locking shoulders 41 by contact with the shoulders 30 are compelled to move towards each other, after which the locking shoulders 41 are pressed by the spring 44 in a direction away from each other to their active locking position which is shown with continuous lines in Figs. 11 and 12.Moreover, at the last stage of the downward movement of the upper bottom cross bar 7 the locking shoulders 51 of the lower locking devices 50 are actuated by the chamfered shoulders 23 arranged on the inside of the guide rails 21 fixed to the wall, so that the locking shoulders 51 enter the position shown in Fig. 14 with dash-dotted lines when the ends of the guide rails 21' and 21 have come into contact with each other. Thus, the lower bottom cross bar 9 is not released until then from the guide rail portions 21' arranged at the upper bottom cross bar 7, whereby the lower portion 3 of the door can be closed by lowering the lower bottom cross bar 9 to its bottom position.

Thanks to the described cooperation between the guide pins 25 and the centre opening 28 of the guide sleeves 26 one will always obtain an accurate agreement between the guide rail portions 21' and the guide rails 21 so that the sliding members 18 can always pass the region between the guide rail portions 21' and the guide rails 21 without problems even when the door 1 is subjected to e.g. great wind forces.

As is apparent from the above the locking devices 40 and 50 ensure that the movement sequence of the door portions 2 and 3 will always be that intended for a reliable function at opening and closing of the door.

It will be recognized that the very door can of course be embodied within the scope of the very inventive idea in a plurality of various manners beyond what has been described here. The door can e.g. be built of one single door leaf which is then arranged in the form of a T.

Thus, the invention is not restricted to what has been shown and described, but amendments and modifications thereof are possible within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A door for a T-shaped opening in a wall, which door (1) comprises one or more door leaves (2, 3) of a flexible material and a number of interspaced, substantially horizontal cross bars (7-9) connected with the flexible material, said cross bars being guided at their ends by guide rails (20, 21) arranged in one or more vertical planes and connected with the wall, one door leaf (2) being suspended at the top of the opening, said door (1) comprising means (12, 1 7) for hoisting up the cross bars (7-9) at opening of the door (1) so that the door leaf or leaves (2, 3) are folded up, and for lowering the cross bars (7-9) at closing of the door (1) so that the door leaf or leaves (2, 3) unfold, characterized in that the cross bar or bars (7) located in an upper portion (2) of the door has a greater linear measure than the cross bar or bars (8, 9) located in a lower portion (3) of the door, and that sections (21') of the guide rails (21) guiding the ends of the cross bars (8, 9) of the lower door portion (3) are connected with a cross bar (7) arranged at the lower edge of the upper door portion (2).

2. The door as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the door (1) comprises two interspaced pairs of guide means (25, 26) cooperating reciprocally each by themselves, that the distance between the two pairs of guide means (25, 26) is greater than or equal to the distance between the guide rails (21) attached to the wall and guiding the ends of the cross bars (8, 9) of the lower door portion (3), that a portion (26) of each pair of guide means (25, 26) is connected with the cross bar (7) arranged at the lower edge of the upper door portion (2) and that another portion (25) of each pair of guide means (25, 26) is connected with the wall.

3. The door as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the door (1) comprises a locking device (40) acting between the cooperating portions (25, 26) of each pair of guide means and that the locking device (40) is connected with one portion of the pair of guide means and acts as locking against the other portion of the pair of guide means.

4. The door as claimed in any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the door (1) comprises two locking devices (50) acting between one cross bar (9), which is arranged at the lower edge of the lower door portion (3), and the cross bar (7), which is arranged at the lower edge of the upper door portion (2), and that the two locking devices (50) are connected with the latter cross bar (7) and act as locking against the first-mentioned cross bar (9).

5. The door as claimed in claim 3 or 4, characterized in that a cross bar (9) arranged at the lower edge of the lower door portion (3) comprises means (11) to eliminate locking between the portions (25, 26) of each pair of guide means when the last-mentioned cross bar (9) is in its maximally hoisted position relative to the cross bar (7) arranged at the lower edge of the upper door portion (7).

6. The door as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the guide rails (21) attached to the wall and guiding the ends of the cross bars (8, 9) of the lower door portion (3) comprise means (23) to eliminate locking between the cross bar (9) arranged at the lower edge of the lower door portion (3) and the cross bar (7) arranged at the lower edge of the upper door portion (2) when the guide rail sections (21') connected with the last-mentioned cross bar (7) make contact with the aforesaid guide rails (21) attached to the wall.

7. A door for a T-shaped opening substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.