GB2263935A

GB2263935A - Door having an emergency opening device

Info

Publication number: GB2263935A
Application number: GB9302034A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Helmut Beuster; Volker Hanke; Wolfgang Freese; Guenter Naumann; Rudolf Greiff
Original assignee: Draegerwerk AG and Co KGaA
Current assignee: Draegerwerk AG and Co KGaA
Priority date: 1992-02-05
Filing date: 1993-02-02
Publication date: 1993-08-11
Anticipated expiration: 2013-02-02
Also published as: DE4203214C1; FR2688256B1; FR2688256A1; GB9302034D0; GB2263935B

Description

2263935 DOOR RAVING AN EMERGENCY OPENING DEVICE This invention relates to

a door having an emergency opening device.

A door having an energency opening device is disclosed in US-A-4023874. The door serves to close a container for an emergency oxygen supply unit in an aeroplane. It has an emergency opening device which is such that, when there is interference to the respiratory air supply in the passenger cabin of the aeroplane, the door is unlocked by means of an electrical switching signal and the breathing masks of the emergency oxygen supply unit located in the container are accessible. As well as electrical unlocking of the door, it is also possible to open it by means of an inserted tool.

It is a disadvantage of this known door that when there is malfunction of the emergency opening device, the contents of the container are not accessible and the user has no possibility of opening the door without the tool.

It also known that emergency doors of buildings are normally locked with a lock, and the associated key is located in a box covered with glass in the immediate vicinity of the emergency door. In the event of an emergency the glass is broken and the lock is opened with the key. The breaking of the glass indicates that the emergency door has been used.

It is a disadvantage of this known emergency door that firstly the glass pane must be broken in order to reach the key with which the emergency door can then be opened. Direct opening of the emergency door is not possible in this case.

Emergency doors with electrically actuatable locks are known, in which the locking is nullified by interrupting an electrical circuit. Such systems are technically complex and require a current supply source.

The underlying object of the present invention is to improve a door having an emergency opening device so that the locking of the door is able to be nullified without delay and without the need of manipulation or of switching functions. I According to the present invention, there is provided a door having an emergency opening device comprising an insert held in the door in a friction- locking or positive-locking manner and forming a unit with a lock for locking the door to a frame encompassing the door, wherein the insert and/or the door has hand operable means by means of which the friction- locking and/or positive-locking between the insert and the door is able to be nullified.

The advantage of the inventon is that, by location of the lock in an insert able to be released from the door, the door can be opened without the locking mechanism of the lock having to be unlocked.

The insert is held in the door in a friction-locking or positive-locking manner, wherein the friction-locking or positive-locking can be nullified by a hand operable means on the insert or on the door. The release of the insert from the door can be effected, for example, in that a door handle located on the door as a hand operable means is pulled and the insert is thereby released. Such emergency opening devices can be used in container doors for emergency apparatus, in emergency doors, or in doors of switch boxes.

It is advantageous to provide on the door a snap in locking device and an opening in which the insert is accommodated. By using a snap-in locking device, the result is that a fixed minimum force must be overcome before the insert is released from the snap-in locking device. A special tool for activating the emergency opening device is no longer required.

In an advantageous embodiment, the hand operable means is formed as an impact surface on the insert, wherein the insert is able to be released from the snap-in locking device by striking the impact surface.

In this way, the lock is released from locking with the frame surrounding the door. The impact surface can be such that the insert has a discshaped body and the lock is arranged inside the insert. The visible surface of the insert can be coloured with a signal colour and manipulating symbols can be applied to or impressed on the insert, which symbols indicate to the user in which manner the door is to be opened in the case of an emergency. The snap-in locking device is normally located on the rear side of the door, so that the impact surface of the insert closes in a substantially flush manner with the door surface. An alternative embodiment of the hand operable means is, for example, a recessed grip of a bayonet catch connecting the insert to the door.

Advantageously the snap-in locking device is such that the insert can be reinserted into the snap-in locking device. In particular cases, it may be necessary, however, for the snap-in locking device or a part of it to be such that it is destroyed when the insert is knocked out. Re-closing of the door is, therefore, not possible until the snap-in locking device has been repaired by maintenance personnel. In this way a third party can check whether and when a door has been opened.

It is advantageous to provide the insert with a projection which, in a fixed preferred position of the insert, engages an associated recess in the door and/or the snap-in locking device. In an alternative embodiment the insert can have a surface contour, e.g.

a surface contour in the form of an isosceles triangle, such that it is only able to be introduced in a preferred position into a correspondingly shaped opening in the door.

In an advantageous embodiment, the snap-in looking device in the door consists of individual tongue-like spring elements encircling the opening and having a rotation groove, and the insert is formed, corresponding to the tongue-like spring elements, in a cup shape and has a rotation bead which is surrounded, in the fitted position of the insert, by the groove in the spring elements.

Advantageously, the lock is such that is it able to be locked and unlocked with a withdrawable key.

Preferably, in the closed position of the lock, the insert engages a door striker secured to the frame via the catch of the lock such that, once the connection between the insert and door is cleared, the catch in the closed position is able to be removed from the door striker. For this purpose, the catch is shaped, for example, like a bar and, in the looking position of the door, is inserted in a corresponding notch in the door striker. If the insert, together with the lock, is now released from the door, the catch slides from the door striker, the insert falls to the ground and the door can be opened. If the insert is reinserted into the door with the catch in the closed position, flush closing of the door in the frame is prevented by virtue of the fact that the catch strikes the door striker.

The lock in the insert can have a catch which, in the locked position of the lock, grips behind a fixed bracket as the door striker secured to the-frame encompassing the door. When the insert is knocked out from the snap-in locking device, the lock remains in the locked position so that, once the insert has been reinserted into the snap-in locking device, the catch, still. in the locking position, prevents flush closing of the door in the frame by virtue of the fact that the catch strikes the bracket or the frame. In this way, it can always be determined afterwards whether the door was opened, and re-locking is only possible if the lock 5 is previously unlocked with the associated key.

The present invention also provides a door having an emergency opening device comprising a lock having a catch in the form of a springy catch which, in the closed position of the lock and the door, grips behind a frame for the door and which, when the door is pulled, jumps out of the frame and releases the door, and which, when located in the closed position, prevents flush closing of the door in the frame.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of an insert for use according to the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional representation along line A-B of Figure 1; Figure 3 is partial section of a door having an opening for the insert according to Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a snap-in locking device in the opening in the door, being a sectional representation taken along line E-F of Figure 3; Figure 5 shows the door in a frame, the door containing the insert according to Figure 1; Figure 6 is a sectional representation taken along line C-D of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a sectional representation taken along line C-D of Figure 6, with however the insert knocked out and then inserted again; Figure 8 shows an alternative embodiment of an emergency opening device, being a sectional representation taken along line C-D of Figure 5; _Figure 9 shows the emergency opening device according to Figure 8, after the door has been pulled; and Figure 10 shows the emergency opening device according to Figure 9, after the door has been opened.

Figure 1 is a the plan view of an insert 1, provided with a hole 2 for a lock 15 (Figure 5). The surface 12 of the insert 1 is an impact surface having thereon symbols 3 in the form of self-explanatory instructions for use.

Figure 2 is a sectional representation of the insert 1, taken along line A-B of Figure 1. The insert 1 is substantially cup shaped and has on its edge a rotation bead 4 and a projection 5.

Figure 3 is a partially cutaway section of a door 6 having an opening 7 for accommodating the insert 1. On the opening 7 there is provided a recess 11 through which the projection 5 of the insert 1 is able to be introduced into the door 6.

Figure 4 is a sectional representation along line E-F of Figure 3, and shows a snap-in locking device 8 in the opening 7. The snap-in locking device 8 has individual tongue-like spring elements encircling the opening 7, which elements have a rotation groove 10. In the fitted state, the bead 4 of the insert 1 fits in the groove 10 of the spring elements 9.

Figure 5 illustrates the door 6, able to swivel about a hinge 13 in a frame 14. The door 6 is in the locked position. The insert 1 is secured in the opening 7 of the door 6 and is provided with a lock 15.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the door 6, taken along the line C-D of Figure 5. The lock 15 inserted into the insert 1 has a catch 16 as part of its locking mechanism, which catch grips the back of a bracket 17 as a locking plate on the frame 15 and thus locks the door 6. The door 6 is opened in the case of an emergency by striking the impact surface 12 of the insert 1 whereby the insert 1 jumps out of the locking device 8 and whereby the door 6 is no longer locked.

If the knocked-out insert 1 is now inserted again into the snap-in locking device 8 of the door 6 with the lock 15 in its locking position, then the catch 16 prevents closure of the door in the frame 14, as is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 8 shows an alternative embodiment of an emergency opening device, equivalent to a sectional representation along line C-D of Figure 5. The sectional representation shown in Figure 8 thus corresponds to the sectional representations shown in Figures 6 and 7. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals in Figures 5 to 10.

Compared with Figure 6, in the emergency opening device according to Figure 8, the lock 15 is fastened, without an insert 1, directly in the door 6 and the catch 16 is in the form of a springy catch 18. The door 6 is able to be opened by a pull on a handle. The catch 18, in the closed position of the door 6, grips the back of a bracket 17 on the frame 14. Figure 9 shows the deformation of the catch 18 when a grip 19 is pulled. When a predetermined pulling force is exceeded, the catch 18 jumps from the frame 14 and the door 6 is no longer locked. When the door 6 is slammed, the catch spring 18 in its closed position, prevents flush closing of the door 6 in the frame 14, as is shown in Figure 10. If the lock 15 is now unlocked with the associated key, and if the door 6 is closed and the lock 15 locked again, the starting position of the emergency opening device, as shown in Figure 8, is attained again.

Claims

1. A door having an emergency opening device comprising an insert held in the door in a frictionlocking or positive-looking manner and forming a unit with a lock for locking the door to a frame encompassing the door, wherein the insert and/or the door has hand operable means by means of which the friction-locking and/or positive-locking between the insert and the door is able to be nullified.

2. A door according to claim 1, wherein the insert is held in a snap-in locking device and in an opening in the door.

3. A door according to claim 2, wherein the hand operable means comprises an impact surface on the insert, and wherein the insert is able to be released from the snap-in locking device by striking the impact surface.

4. A door according to claim 3, wherein the released insert is able to be reinserted into the snap- in locking device.

5. A door according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the insert is provided with a projection, which, in a preferred or desired position of the insert, engages an associated recess in the door and/or in the snap-in locking device.

6. A door according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the snap-in locking device in the door comprises individual tongue-like spring elements having a rotation groove encircling the opening, and wherein the insert is formed, corresponding to the tongue-like spring elements, in a cup shape and has a rotation bead which is surrounded, in the fitted position of the insert, by the groove of the spring elements.

7. A door according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein in the lock is able to be locked and unlocked with a withdrawable key.

S. A door according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein, in the closed position of the lock, the insert engages a door striker secured to the frame via a catch of the lock such that, once the connection between the insert and the door is cleared, the catch in the closed position is able to be removed from the door striker, and wherein, once the insert has been reinserted into the door, the catch prevents flush closing of the door in the frame.

9. A door according to claim 8, wherein the lock has a catch which, in the locked state of the lock, grips behind a fixed bracket as the door striker secured to the frame, and wherein, when the insert is knocked out, the lock remains in the locking position so that once the insert has been reinserted into the snap-in locking device the catch prevents flush closing of the door in the frame.

10. A door according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, Figures I to 7.

11. A door having an emergency opening device comprising a lock having a catch in the form of a springy catch which, in the closed position of the lock and the door, grips behind a frame for the door and which, when the door is pulled, jumps out of the frame and releases the door, and which, when located in the closed position, prevents flush closing of the door in the frame.

12. A door according to claim 11, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, Figures 8 to 10.