GB2509172A

GB2509172A - Geared door hinge for thermally insulating curtain

Info

Publication number: GB2509172A
Application number: GB1223350.8A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Harrison; Ian Harrison
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-12-24
Filing date: 2012-12-24
Publication date: 2014-06-25
Also published as: GB201223350D0

Abstract

The hinge 50 comprises a swinging portion 2b and a fixed portion 2a attachable to a door opening. Both portions have inter-engageable gear teeth arranged about respective teeth axis and may be held together in the form of a planet gear by at least one carrier. The swinging portion may include a swinging arm 15 extending away from the fixed portion for supporting a hanging door member. The axis of the gear teeth of the swinging portion in use may be inclined away from the vertical towards the arm, to form a self centring hinge. The carrier may be engageable with a resilient feature mounted to the fixed portion for providing resistance to movement of the swinging portion. The arm may comprise a magnet to hold the arm in a closed position. The hinge may be used in conjunction with a door system comprising flexible material hanging from the arm.

Description

I

Door HinQe suitable for atherrnally insulating curtain This invention relates to a hinge suitable for a flexible material thermafly nsulating curtain door, typically used to divide a cokl area such as 50k] store from a warmer area.

Curtains in the form of strips oi material are known for use in cold stores and the hke where frequent access to the cod store is required. Wide sections of strip curtain for example up to 500mm and typicafly 300mm are used to reduce the number of places in the curtain where air can escape. These strips are each suspended across their width to inhibit twisting and the resultant b passage of air through the curtain. The suspension area is often a weak point because workers and forklift trucks tend to simply push through the strip curtain and consequently pull on the strip. Thus an obvious answer would be to reinforce that area to in. ease its strength, However such reinforced strips woula he awkward to use because the strips would then he more difficult for users to move aside and so would further inhibit passage through the curtain.

Additionably. some curtains are manufactured from heavy materials for strength and so the wide and heavy strips are often removed by workers, because they are inconvenient and heavy to move. Another problem encountered is the need for a simple self closing system which returns curtains t''their closed positions and holds them there.

GE32458183 describes a self dosing hinge suitable for thermaHy insulating curtains. However the hinge shown therein cannot open with a 180 degree movement in each direction and that is problematic where easy access is required. The inventor has now improved on this design. :2

The inventor has realised there is a need for a wide strip, curtain which workers can pass through more easily and has substantiaHy 180 degree opening in each direction, and in embodiments has devised a hinge and curtain door system which address at east this problem.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a door hinge comprising a fixed portion attachable to a door opening or the ike and for supporting a swinging portion, both the fixed portion and the swinging port{on having interengagable gear teeth arranged or arrangeable in an operable position about a respective teeth a.xes, co*operable such that the teeth of the swinging portion mesh with and roll over the teeth of the fixed poruon for example in the manner of a planet gear.

In an embodiment, the fixed and swinging portions are held in an operable teeth engaging position by at east one carrier mooveahie relative to both the tixed and swnging portions.

Conveniently, the or each carrier is pivotably connected to the fixed portion at said axis oft'n teeth of the fixed portion, and pivotahiy connected to the swinging portion at said axis of the teeth of the swinging portion.

Optionally, the swinging portion includes a swinging arm extending away from the fixed portion for supporting a hanging curtain door member, Suitably. the axis of the gear teeth of the swinging member in use is inclined away from the vertical toward the swinging arm, for example to form a self-centring hinge.

In an embodiment, the carrier is engageable with a resilient feature mounted to the fixed portion for providing resistance to movement of the carrier, a and thereby resistance to movement of the swinging portion relative to the fixed portion in ue ConvenIently, said resistance occurs where the swinging portion Is in a centred position.

Preferably, the fixed portion Includes a mounting bracket for attaching the hinge to the door opening or the like.

The swinging arm may include a magnet or magnetic portion, cooperabIe with: a complementary magnet or magnetic element positionable to hold the swinging arm in a dosed centred position. said complementary element being 1 Q mounted or mountable to or adjacent said door opening or the like.

The invention extends to an insulating curtain door system comprising at a dccc hinge according to the first aspect and at least one curtain door formed from a flexible insulating material, which is arranged for hanging from a hinged swinging arm.

Preferably the insulating door system includes two opposed curtains hinged on opposite sides of a door opening to provide a pair cit swinging curtains which come together in a closed rest position.

The invention extends to any SIfl9le novel feature or novel combination of the features mentIoned herein or the features Ulustrated in the drawings.

The invention may be put into effect in vatious ways, embodiments of whiob is described below with reference to the drawings wherein: Figure 1 shows a door hinge according to the invention; Figure 2 shows a partial view of the hinge shown in FIgure 1: Figure a shows a further view of the hinge components shown in Figures I and 2; Figure 4 shows a schematic plan drawing of the hinge in its open con ditlon; Figure 5 shows a pair of thermally insulating surtain doors supported by a pair of the hinges shown in the previous figures; Figure 6 shows an enlarged view of one of the hinges and curtains shown i Figure 5; Figure 7 shows a view of an uncompressed gaiter suitable for fitting around the hinges shown in the previous figures, and shown compressed in ID figure 6; and Figure 8 shows. a horizontal section through the gaiter shown in Figure 7, Referring to Figure 1, there is shown generally a hinge. 50. The. hinge 50 includes a mounting bracket 1, lnterrneshing toothed portions 2a and 2b, held in engagement by top and bottom carriers in the form of pivot plates 3, and a 1$ flexible swinging arm 15, In addition, the hinge 50 Includes a top mounting plate 6 which includes a magnet 17, a joinIng piece 14 which holds the swinging arm 15 to. the toothed portjon 2b. Also, a self-centring mechanism, which will be described in more detaH below, inclUdes a retaining nut 4 and a support bracket 8.

24) In use the support bracket I holds a toothed portion 2a rigidly In place to form a fixed portion, This flxed toothed portion 2a is formed from a block, of material. for example extruded aluminium whith has gear teeth forIned around an axis coincident with one of two pivot pins St The complimentary tooth portion 2b is formed also from a bloth of material, far example extruded aluminium and, has gear teeth complimentary to the teeth formed on the fixed tooth portion Za Thus, the complimentary teeth on the toothed portions can roil around each other and engage such that the toothed portion 2b can swing and acts as a planet gear orbiting the fixed, toothed portion 2a.

S The swinging toothed gear portion 2b is prevented from falling out of engagement with the teeth of the fixed portion 2a by means of two pivot plates S which hold the gear teeth' in engagement but allow the swinging portion 2b to orbit. The toothed portion b can thus awing around the fixed portion 2a The swinging portion 2b is dgidiy connected to the swinging arm 15. In turn, the swThging arm 15 provides a large surface area for attaching a flexibLe thermal curtain or the like.

Complimentary magnets or magnetic formations 17 hold the swinging arm in place in a centred position to prevent a curtain attached to the swinging arm 15 from inadvertently opening in a drugh Figures 2 and 3 show enlarged views of' the hinge $0 shown, in Figure 1.

In particular, Figure 2 shows the fixed toothed portion 2a and the swinging toothed portion 2b In more detail, held in engagement between the upper and lower pivot plates 3. It will also be noted that the rotational axis of the toothed portion 2b is not vertical, but is inclined toward the swinging ann 15, which aids the self-centring movement of the hInge 60.

The lower bracket 8 has a complimentary upper bracket 9, visible in FIgure 2. These' two brackets' fit' within a slot, in the fixed toothed portion 2a, and can slid,e within the slot, so that retaining heads 7 fanned on the brackets 8' and 9 are held within slots in the fixing biBaket 1. Thereby,. the' weight of the curtain supported by the swinging arm 15 can be reacted by the hratket 1. The brackets S and 8 are held together to keep the retaining pin 7 in place by way of a retaining nut 4 which can be tightened easily from underneath the hinge for speedy assembly of the. hinge in its working position, or speedy repair of a S broken hinge.

Referring to Figure 3, the self-centring ability of the hinge is improved by means of the camming mechanism thown. In this drawing, the upper pivot plate 3 Is acted upon by a sprung follower 10. The follower 10 is biased towards the edge of the pivot plate 3 by means of a resilient torsion spring 1 S acting in the direction of arrow A. The follower 10 Is held in place on a pivot pin 11 by means of a retaining element 18. In use, once the pivot plate 3 has attained a centjBl position It is urged to remain in that position by means at the sprung follower 10, Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of the hinge in its fully opened position shown In plan view. It can be seen that, the pivot plate 3 has trayefled with the swinging toothed portion 2b, which in turn carries the swinging arm 15 in a path which is substantially an arc of 180 degrees from its initial centred position. In this embodiment) only the corner of the door frame prevents the swinging arm 15 from attaining a full 180 degree swinging arc. However, in this embodiment the swinging arm 15 Is manufactured from a flexible reinforced plastics material, for example a composite of glass fibres and a thermoset resin such a polyester resin and is shown also in a bowed position which could be attained if the arm 1$ is fotced open.

Figure 5 shows a typical arrangement of a thermally insulting curtain door atrangernent, whereby a pair of opposed hinges 50 support a pair of flexible thermally insulating curtain doors 60 to swing In opposing directions in order to provide an easily openable door which will swing back fully away from the users of the door, and yet will fall back:10 a centred position whith can be maintained, even though there may be difMrentiaF air pressure on each side of the doot Figure 6 shows an enlarged view of the hinge arrangement, p this case covered by a elastomeriegaiter 70 which reduces the risk of finger injuries in the hinge mechanism.

Figure 7 stiows a enlarged view of the gaiter 70 prior to assembly on the hinge 50, and FIgure 8 shows a sectional view of the gaiter 70 in a generally horizontal plane about the centre of the gaiter 70. If can be seen thatorte end of the gaiter 17 inoludes a slot 72 which fIts around the swinging arm support 14 illustrated in Figure 1. The opposite end of the gaiter fl) is attached to the mounting bracket 1.

One embodiment only of the tnyention has been described and iQustratd, iS but it will be apparent that various modifications, variants, additions and omissions ace, possible within tile scope of the invention. For example, the toothed portions 2a and 2b are said to be manufactured from extruded aluminium, although other materials and other manufacturing techniques could be employed. For example, the portions 2a and 2b could be moulded from fibre reinforced plastics. The hinge is said to be self-centring and employs three mechanisms to achieve this: the inclined pivot axis of the toothed portions; the sprung cam follower 10 engagable with the upper pivot plate 3; and the magnetic formation on the swinging arm 15. However, it Is envisaged: that only one or two of' these mechanisms. may be required to provide sufficient self-centnng abibty. Other modificahoris wifi be apparent to the skUed addressee.

Claims

Claims 1. A door hinge comprising a fixed portion attachable to a door opening or the like and for supporting a swinging portion, both the fixed portion and the swinging portion having interengagable gear teeth arranged r arrangeabk3 in an operable position about a respective teeth axes, co-operable such that the teeth of the swirl9ing portion mesh with and roll over the teeth ci the fixed porfion, for example in the manner of a planetgear.
2. A door hinge according to claim 1 Wherein the fixed and swinging pcrtiQns are held in an operable teeth engaging position by at least one carder moveable relative to both the fixed and swinging portions.
3. A door hinge according to claim 2, wherein the or each carrier is pivotably connected to the fixed portion at said axis of the teeth of the fixed portion, and pivotabty connected to the swinging portion at said. axis of the teeth, of the swinging portion.
4. A door hinge according to any preceding claim, wherein the swinging portion includes a swinging arm extending away from the fixed portion for supporting a hanging curtain door member.
6, A, door hinge according to any preceding claim, wherein the axis of the gear teeth of' the swinging member in use is inclined away from the vertical toward the swinging arm, to form a self-centring hinge.
6. A door hinge according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the carrier is engageabie with a resdient feature mounted to the fixed portion for providing resistance to movement of the carrier, and thereby resistance, to movement of the swinging portion relative to the fixed portion in use.
7. A door hinge According to claim 6, wherein said resistance occurs where the swinging portion is in a centred position.
8. A door hinge according to and preceding claim, wherein the fixed portion Includes a mounting bracket for attaching the hinge to the door opening or the like.
9; A door hinge according to any preceding qEaim, wherein the swinging arm comprises a magnet or magnetic portion, co-operable with a. complementary magnet or magnetic element positionable to hold the swinging arm in a closed centred position, said complementary element being mounted or mountable to or JO adjacent said door opening or the like.
10. An insulating curtain door system comprising a doer hinge according to any preceding claim, and at least one curtain door formed from a flexible insulating material which is arranged for hanging from a hinged swinging arm.
11. An insulating curtain door system according to claim 10, comprising two 15. opposed curtains hinged on opposite sides of a door opening to provide a pair of swinging curtains which tome together in a closed rest position.