US1169755A - Automatic closing device for sliding doors. - Google Patents

Description

L.- A. ABBOTT.

AUTOMATIC CLOSING DEVICE FOR S LlDlNG DOORS. APPLICATION F|LED AUG-19,1912.

1,16,755, Patented Feb 1, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH CO WASHINGTON, D--( L. A. ABBOTT.

AUTOMATIC CLOSING DEVICE FOR SLIDING DOORS.

APPLICATION man AUG. 19, m2.

1 169355. Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

AUTOMAT C cnosrive-nnvrcn FOR SLIDING noons.

I To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAwnENcn A. ABBOTT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have in vented certain. new and useful Improvements in Automatic Closing Devices for Sliding Doors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the numbers of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification. 7

Thisinvention is adapted for use for insuring the closure of ha-tchway or elevator doors or sliding doors of any kind.

Although it is the usual; requirement of the underwriters in the various cities, that hatchway doors should be fully closed before the elevator leaves the floor, to which the door opens, in practice, the operator, if he attempts to close the door'at all, usually starts the closing movement at about the same time that he starts the cage or plat form. In consequence, where such doors are closed manually, it frequently occurs that the door is not wholly closed, leaving the hatchway unguarded and inviting accident.

Although automatically closing devices have been introduced to some extent, such devices, as a rule, close the doors with considerable violence, usually the velocity of the door in closing, increasing as, it approaches a fully closed position, so that should a person attempting to leave or enter the car be struck or caught between the door sections, he would be likely to be firmly held and almost certainly severely injured.

The object of this invention is to afford an automatic closing device for sliding doors so constructed and installed that the door afford a construction in which energy is stored in a spring during the opening of the door, said spring acting torsionally to 1m? Specification of Letters Paten't.

Patented net; L am.

p ueatioafiieanugu t '19, ieia s ri nd. 715,760. l

pe'l' the. doors to closed position'when released and to produce quick, though gentle, closure.

The invention embraces many novel fea-' tures and consists in the matters hereinafter described and more fully pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation, showing two oppositely slidable doors equipped with automatic closing means embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing one of the doors with the closing means therefor broken away. F ig;

3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, with the door omitted. Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on line 4l of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlargedsectional detail of one of the outer or end bearings for the spiral shaft. Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view'of the centerbearing for the actuating shaft.

As shown in thedrawings: 1,'indicates a wall having an opening therethrough, at which isslidably supported a door comprising sections 2 and 3, adapted to close said opening and operated to close automatically.

As shown, ways or guides for said door are secured horizontally on the wall above the same. For this purpose, if preferred, a fiat plate or bar a, may be rigidly secured to the wall by riveting or bolting, and se cured thereto are upper and lower ways 5 and 6,;whichextend horizontally above and on each side the door at equal distances apart, and for a length sufiicient to permit the requiredtravel of the door sections to full opening. Said guide bars 5 and 6, are concaved in their adjacent edges, as shown in Fig. 3,, andslidably engaged therebetween on anti-friction balls 7, are the sliding bars 8, one for each door, and the doors gage in the sliding bar. V

Secured onthe plate 4, above the way5,

and above the middle of each door, is a bracket 11, in which is journaled a shaft 12, having an integral peripheral collar near each end thereof, which is grooved .on the outer side to receive therein balls 13, which operate in a groove in the face of the bracket, as shown 1n Fig. 6, to afl'ord'a ball bearing for said shaft at each end.

Rigidly connected at each end of said I shaft are oppositely directed right and left vexed bearing faceon the screw shaft.

' with the projection, is provided with a seat 20, in which'is contained a ball 21. which bears against a plate 22. and anadjustinp; screw 93. extends a'xiallv throueh the head of'said bearing" and carries a plate 21, which bears agai st said ball to take the thrust at all times of the screw'shaft.

Secured on each of the sliding bars 8, above the midd e of each door. is a bracket 25," having rollers '26 and 27, journaled therein, one above another, the axes of which are paral el and on opp site sides of the screw s aft, as shown in Fig. 3. As shown, said rollers are reduced sli htlv in circumferenceat the ends to afford a slightly con- A strong spiral spring 28. is secured at one end on the collar 12, on the shaft 12. and is wound about said shaft 12. and at the other end enaa es in the back plate 4,'as

' sh wn in Figs. 1 and 2.

"Atth'e moment the'door is released..how-

The operationisas follows: The spring; is set at. neutral or to exert very slight torsi nal'stress when the doors are closed.

, lV en eit er do r is im elled to open position by sliding the same laterally. such lateral mo ement rotates the shaft bv the eneaseme t of the rollers on said spiral shafts 14 and'15. and both'doors m ve outwardly and oppositely, and may be held in open nosition by any suitable means or manually.

ever. fr m open po ition. thetorsion of the spring 28. reverses the rotati n of the shaft,-

whereby the doors areimpelled inwardly toward clo ed. position, t e speed of such movement be inning to decrease when the do rs are nearly closed. and decreasing until fully clo ed. owi g to the decreasing torsicnal action of the surina'.

Wh che er door is actuated in opening, the ball ro er bearings receive all the thrust thereof. The constr ction is suchas to permit, the d ors to yield verv readily in openine and in winding up the spring, which reed not'be of great strength owing to the fact that the shafts are journaled upon ball patent issued on this application for patent otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claimas my invention:

1. In a device of the class described a pair of oppositely disposed right and left handed thread worm shafts, an intermediate member rigidly connected to the adjacent ends of said worm shafts, bearings supporting said intermediate member and worm shafts, integral flanges on said intermediate member affording together with said bearing a ball race for a thrust bearing, and a spring wound about said intermediate member and attached thereto andto a fixed support to resist rotation of said intermediate member and worm shafts.

2. In a device of the class described a pair of right and left handed threaded worm shafts, an intermediate member rigidly connected to each, grooved flanqes integrally formed on said. intermediate member, grooved supporting brackets for said member and cooperating; with said flanges t0 afford a thrust ball bearin therefor, a spring wound around said member and connected to one'of said flanges and to a fixed support to resist rotation of said member, and roller ball-bearing mechanism engaging said worm shafts adapted to progress therealong with rotation of said shafts.

3. In a device of the class described a plurality of worm shafts arranged in axial alinement. a spring, controlled intermediate member rigidly connected to each of said shafts to resist movement thereof in a certain direction. door supportina brackets onagino aroundsaid worm shafts. and rollers journaled in said brackets adapted to contact opposite faces of said worm shafts to cause progression of said brackctslonoitudinally of said worm shafts with rotation of said shafts.

4. In a device of the class described grooved brackets rigidly secured upon a wall, a shaft iournaled in said brackets havingan integral peripheral grooved collar near each end thereof. ball bearings, said brackets and said collars arranged to all'ord a race for said ball bearin s. a worm shaft rigidlv connected at each end of said shaft in ax al alinement therewith. an integral pro ection on the outer end of said worm shafts. a spacin member thereon. a pair of apertured brackets rigidly secured on said wall. r llers therein adapted to receive said projecti ns journaled therchetwecn. adjustable ball bearing means mounted in said. apertured brackets to take the thrust of said worm shafts, roller door supporting memhers movably engaged with said worm In testimony whereof I have hereunto shafts, and a spring Wound around said first subscribed my name in the presence of two 10 mentioned shaft having one end thereof se subscribing Witnesses.

cured in one of said grooved collars and the T 4 1 other end thereof rigidly fastened to the LAWRELCD ABBOTT wall, said spring acting to automatically Witnesses: close the doors when the same have been LAWRENCE REIBSTEIN, opened. SHELEY R. MEYER.

Copies. of this patent maj be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

Images