US1032702A - Sliding doors for show-cases. - Google Patents

Description

R. L. PRICE 8a G. A. DELAPLAIN. SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW GASES.

APPLICATION FILED APR14, 1911.

1,032,702. Patented July'16, 1912.

I a SHEETSSHEET 1.

I I I 14/ m 7/ m j g 15 G-A .Dal /aZam T mini- 72 w I gmvewtcvos R.L.Pmce amz R. L. PRICE & G. A. DELAPLAIN. SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW GASES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, 1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Elwwmtozs R. L; PRICE 5; G. A. DBLAPLAIN SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW GASES. APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1911.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

Patented July 16, 1912.

barren s'ra'rns rarnn'r orrien ROBERT L. PRICE AND GUY A. DELAYPLAIN, or COLLEGEPOR'I, TEXAS SLIDING DOORS FOR SHOW CASES. 4

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application 'filed April 4,-1911. Serial No. 618,861.

. Cases, OfwVVhlCh the following is a specification, reference being had to the accom panying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in sliding doors for show cases, vehicles and other structures the object of the invention being "to provide sliding doors and guides and operating devices therefor, whereby the doors may be operated in either direction,

and .whereby when either of the doors.

opened it passes to the inner side of the other door; and when closed moves out;

wardly so as to lie in a common plane with the other door. 7 P p The invention consists 111 the construction, combination and arrangement of de vlces hereinafter described and claimed."

In the accompanying drawings Figured is a vertidal transverse sectional view of a' show case provided with shding'doors, and guid ng and OPESI'It-IHg'ClGVICQS therefor, in

. of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the switch bars; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on the plane indicated by the line cc'of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of one of the handles; Fig; 8 is a detail sectional view showing a modified construction of our invention; andltigl 9 is a similar view showing another modification. i V

WVhile we herein show and describe our improved sliding doors as in use in a show case, we would have it understood that our improved doors and operating devices therefor may be employed as vehicle doors or as doors for other structures, and hence we do not limit ourselves in this particular or as to the structure in connection with which our improved doors are used.

1 For the purposes of this specification, the show case 1 is-shown as provided in its top with a pair, oflongitudinal bars 2, 3 which are provided in their opposing sides with guide grooves 4, there being a flange at the upper side of each guide groove, and a flange 6 at the lower side thereof. These bars 2, 3 are connected together at their ends, by bars 7, and at their centers by a cross bar 8. A pair of sliding doors 9, 10 operate and are .slidably mounted in-the guide grooves 4. The thickness of each sliding door about equal to one half the width of each guide groove so that the said slid- 1 Patented July 16 1912."

ing doors may he one upon the other, when they are both at the same end of the guide grooves, and the doors when both of them are closed, may lie in the same plane, and bearagainst the upper flanges 5 of the guide .--grooves.

In the bottoms of the guide grooves are switch bars 11, 12, which incline in opposite ."directions, and are disposed in opposite ends of the show case. These switch, bars operate llr-COHDGCtlOD with the doors-9, 10, respectively, each switch bar having a pivot 13 spaced, 10111 one end, and being adapted to bear at its opposite end on the base flange 6 ot the guide groove in which it is disposed. These switch bars may be disposed either at an angle tothe guide grooves or parallel therewith, according to the position of the doors. The door 9 is provided atopposite sides and near its ends with outwardly projecting tappets 14, to operate in connection with the switch bars 11. The door 10 has similar tappets 15 to operate in connection with the switch barslil. Above each switch bar 11 is a stop pin 16, and above each switch bar 12 is a similar stop pin 17. v These stop pins limit the upward movement of the free ends of they switch bars and serve in connection with the doors and their tappets to hold the switch bars in horizontal position, parallel with the guide grooves 4,, when the doors are in closed position, and both disposed in the same plane. The tappets of the doors when the doors are in closed position, bear upon the switch bars at a point to one side of the pivots thereof, so that the weight of the doors turns the switch bars to a position parallel with the guide grooves and holds them in engagement with the stop pins 16. and hence it will be understood that the switch bars serve to support the doors and to close them against the upper or outer flanges 5 o f the guide grooves, the doors being thus disposed end for end, slightly spaced.

apart, with the space between them covered by the cross bar 8,and both of the doors being in the same plane. Each of-the doors is beveled on its under side at its inner end as at l8. vBy thus providing" the doors with the beveled inner ends, each door may be moved the bottom flanges 6 thereof, thus forming.

I inclined planesto direct-the door downward to the bot-tom ofthe guide grooves, the supporting tappets of the moving door when they have cleared and descended the inclined switch bars, bearing directly on the bottom flanges of the guide grooves, and permitting fee vtransversely under the bar 3, and is provided inner end, a seriesof-teeth 24 any one of the moving'door to lie parallel with and under the other door.v To illustrate and referring particularly to Fig. 2, when the door 10 is in opened position its right hand tappet 15 will be under the left hand switch 12 so'that the latter will be held elevated, parallel with the flange 6. Hence when the door 10 is moved to the right to-close it its right hand tappet will merely move from under the left hand switch 12.,and let the latter drop to inclined position, and as the said door nears the limit ofits closing movement its right hand tappet 15 will slide up the right hand switch'l2 at the same time that its left hand tappet will slide up. the left hand. switch and hence the door will-be directed upwardly and also to the right and caused to bear against the upper and outer flanges 5 of the guide groove and to lie in a common plane with the other door.

Each door is provided onits under side near one end with an arm19, which extends with an up-turned end-20, In connection with each door we provide an endless operating cord 21 which passes around guide "pulleys 22,, with which-the frame of the topof the case is provided. These endless guide cords are sufiiciently slack to compensate for the vertical movement of the doors between the upper and lower sides of the guide grooves, and each cord has on its outer lead,

which extends on the rear side of the show case, a handle 23. by which it may be pulled in the required direction to open or close the door to which the cord is connected. Each handle 23 has on the inner side of its base or which may beengaged with a locking tooth 25 with which theshow case is provided and which projects from the rear side thereof.

In practice, a suitable stop is provided to limit the movement of the doors when the '19 connected to' the doors.

.in these guide grooves 26.

.near the outer ends of the doors from slipping beyond the extreme free ends of the switch bars near the center of the case and, hence, rendering the doors inoperative. Such a stop is shown'at 19 in Fig. '1 arranged medially of the bar 3, on the front. side of saidbar and in the path of the arms When either door is opened its arm 19 comes in-engagement with the stop 19 and limits such movementof the door. l

The rear side or frame of the show case is here shown as'provided-in the opposingsides of its bars with guide grooves 26, each of which has a flange 27 at its inner side and a flange 28 at its outer side. A pair of vertically disposed sliding doors 29,-operate groove is provided in its bottorn at a: point midway betweenv the sides thereof, with a guide flange 30 so that'guide- ways 31, 32 are'provided intheLguide grooves at oppositesides. thereof -The doors 29 are provided near their-.ends with tappets 33, to operate in the said guide ways. I switch bars 3e are disposed in the bottoms of the guide grooves near the ends, .and also near the centers thereof, at suitable points, and opposite the said fixed .switchbars'are movable switch. bars 35, each of which is Each guide pivoted as at 36, and is'provided-with a spring 37 to normally hold it in open position away from the companion fixed switch bar so that the fixed and pivoted springpressed switch bars" form inclined guideways near the ends and also nearthe centers of the guide grooves -26.- *When .the'doors 29' are-in closed position-,- their tappets 33.are in contact with the outer ends ofthe pivoted spring pressedswitch bars 35, so that the doors are held thereby against the flanges '27 ofthe guide grooves; 26, hence the doors 29 when in closed position are both in the same plane, and in lineawith each lother. When either of the doors. is opened, its tappets run between certain of the fixed switch bars 34, and pivoted spring-pressed bars 35 so that the door is moved laterally aswell as longitudinally, to first clear theother ,door,

become disposed on the outer side thereof, and to then move longitudinally thereon,

Hence when each door is started to be moved to open position, the coacting fixed switch bars 34 first cause the said door to moveto the fact that when each door is in closed position, its tappets by coaction with the outer ends of the pivoted switch bars, keep vthe latter parallel with the guide grooves,

the doors are free to move in either direction.

The stops to limit the inward movement of the doors 29, when they are opened, are formed by the handles 29* which, in Fig. 3, are shown. on the rear sides of the doors. These handles, when the doors are opened to the required extent strike the cross bar 29 which forms. a portion of the rear side of the case. Any suitable form of stop may be provided to limit the opening movement of the doors and we'would have it understood that we are not'limited as to this particular.

In Fig. 8 we show'another modified structure of our invention inwhich each of the switch bars 35 is'normally moved by a spring 37 against a stop pin 36*, the switch bar having its lower end spacedlfrom thebottom of the groove 32*: The spring 37 fixed at one end in a recess 34 and its free end engages a notch 35 with which .the switch bar is provided..' The-tappets 33 of the doors 29 are substantially elliptical in shape and their axes are in line with the guide grooves 26, L Y

ln Fig. 9 we show another modified form of our invention in which the switch elements 35 are bars which are pivotally mounted at their lower ends as at 35 and provided, each at its free end, with a notch 35 Each of these bars or switch elements operates in a recess 34 the curved edge 3 of which is concentric with the pivot 35 and -is spaced a slight distance from the free end 35' of the switch element and normally the "switch element is maintained in a slightly inclinedposition withrespect to the bottom of the grooves 32 by means of an inclined face 33 The tappets 38 of the doors 29*, .when the doors are moved vin one direction, engage the notches 35 of the switch elements 35 and the movement of the doors turns said switch elements on their pivots so that the switch elements coeact with the tappets of the doors to move the latter out- ,wardly and dispose them both in the same lane.

\Vhile we have herein shown and describedseveral modifications of our inventlOllWQ would have it understood that other are spaced from the ends of the switches,

and tappets projecting from opposite sides of the door, spaced from the ends thereof and so disposed with reference to the switches that when the door is opened and at one side of the guides the tappets near the front end thereof will lie under and hold the corresponding switches in parallel position with respect to the sides of the guides, so that when the door is moved to closed. position the last named switches will befirst cleared by the last named tappets and permitted to move to inclined position, 'and the tappets of thedoor' as it nears the limit of its closing movement will simultaneously ride up 011 the switches and move the door laterally and against the opposite side of the guides.

2. In combination with a sliding door and guides in which the door is longitudinally and laterally movable, pivotally mounted switches in the guides, said doors and switches having coacting means to cause the switches to be turned at the initial move ment of the door when the latter is opened and near the final movement of the door when the latter is closed, to cause said switches, owing to the longitudinal movement of the door, to also move the latter laterally toward one side or the other of the guides, according to the direction in which the door is moved.

Intestimony whereof .we hereunto aflix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT L. PRICE. GUY A. DELAPLAIN. WVitnesses d J. H. ADAMS, W. H. BAUUR.

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