US1376076A - Automatic fire-shutter - Google Patents

Description

MPUCA'QK)?! FILED DEC. 81 1919.

Pam u Apr. 26,1921

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pairs err PATENT CHARLES H. BUELII; OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TO VARIETY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-SHUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

Application filed December 8, 1919. Serial No. 343,319.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES II. BU'ELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatic Fire- Shutters, ofwhich the following is a full,

clear, concise, and exact description, refer ence being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatic fire doors, more particularly of the rolling shutter type. In this class of fire doors, it is a frequent practice to provide a manual operating device,-which is most frequently an operating chain,for raising or lower ing the fire shutter independently of the automatic trip or release mechanism. This is to permit of convenient use of the shutter as an ordinary door, and to facilitate the restoring of the shutter to normal position after the same has been automatically tripped by the operation of the thermal release. Extensive use of this type of fire shutter has demonstrated that this operating chain is liable to interfere with the automatic operation of the shutter, if the chain is maintained in operative connection with the shutter after automatic tripping of the latter. This interference with the operation of the shutter arise from jamming of the chain in the rapid descent of the shutter; from thechain becoming caught or entangled on an. obstruction or the like; or from objects being hung across the chain or being placed in contact therewith in such a manner as to interfere with the normal running of the chain. To secure the reliability which is essential to a fire door, it is therefore imperative that the manual opcrating means be disconnected from operapartly in section of an automatic fire shutter to which my invention has been applied;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same illustrating an exemplary form of automatic tripping mechanism;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the other end of the shutter illustrating the operating chain and release mechanism therefor; and

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of the same.

The invention may be applied to various types of fire shutters operating by various forms of automatic trip or release mechanisms, employing either springs, weights or any other means for causing the descent of the shutter in the event of fire. For the purpose of a specific illustration of the ap plication of my invention, I shall, however, describe the same as being embodied in an automatic fire shutter of the general type disclosed in Patent No. 1,290,514 issued to Thomas E. Collins.

The fire shutter l is adapted to be guided in vertical guide rails 2' defining an opening 3 in the wall 4. The shutter 1 comprises a plurality of metal slats or the like connected together so as to form a flexible curtain, as is well understood by those skilled in the art. In the normal raised position the curtain 1 is rolled upon a drum 5, which is inclosed' in a cylindrical housing 6 mounted above the door opening 3. The right hand end of the drum 5 is supported on a filler block 7, which is rigidly mounted on a stub sleeve 8. This sleeve has bearing support in the end plate 9 of the casing, and at its outer end supports a large gear 11. Extending centrally through the drum 5 and through the sleeve 8 is a shaft 12, the left hand end of which has bearing support in a filler block 13. A strong counterbalancing spring 14:, which is normally under tension, has one end connected to the shaft 12, through the collar 15, and has the other end connected to the drum 5 through the filler block 13. The left hand end of the drum 5 is supported on a filler block 16, in which is rigidly mounted a stub shaft 17 having bearing support in the end plate 9 of the housing.

The right hand end of the shaft 12 pro iects out beyond the sleeve 8 and gear 11 and has rigidly mounted thereon a pinion 18 which meshes with a large gear 19 on a short countershaft 21. fUpon the back side of the large gear 19 and formed integral therewith is a small mutilated pinion 22 which is adapted to mesh with the large gear 11 on the sleeve 8. The large gear 19 is formed with a lug 23, which is adapted to limit the rotation of the gear 19 by engagement with a stationary stop 24. The gear 19 is normally held against rotation by the dog 25 on the end of the weighted lever 26 engaging in the teeth thereof. The weighted lever 26 is normally held in the raised position by a bell crank 27, which in turn is held by a cable 28 having one or more fusible links or fusible portions 29, included therein, as is well understood by those skilled in the art. Upon fusing of the links 29 the dropping of the weighted lever 26 results in the releasing of the large gear 19. The tension of the spring 14 immediately acts through the pinion 18 upon the gear 9, and the gear 19 being integral with the back pinion 22 causes the same to advance and mesh with the teeth of the gear 11, which is connected to the drum 5. The result is a movement of the drum in the direction indicated by the arrow such as to unwind the curtain 1 from the drum. The lug 23 and stop 24 prevent excessive release of the spring tension, because after the curtain is once started down it will continue by its own weight since the tension of. the spring 14 has been decreased. The lug 23 engages the lower side of the stop 24 so that the gear 19 makes substantially a complete revolution. hen the gear 1.9 stops with the lug 23 on the lower side of the stop 24,

the mutilated portion of the gear 22 is again presented to the large gear 11 so that the curtain is free to descend, but further movement of the pinion 22 and gear 19 is prevented.

Referring now to the manual cue-rating device, to which the present invention has particular reference, it will be noted that at the left hand end of the shutter there is provided an operating chain 31, which is suspended from the shutter mechanism in the form of a closed chain loop. As shown in Fig. 3, this operating chain is trained over a large sprocket wheel 32, which is provided with a small back pinion 33, preferably formed integral therewith. The pinion is adapted to mesh with a large gear 34, which is rigidly mounted on the projecting end of thestub shaft 17, which rotates with the drum 5. The sprocket 32 and pinion 33 are jOurnaled-oIl an eccentric hub 35 which is rigidly mounted on a pivot shaft 36. A

, suitable bushing 37 is interposed between the eccentric hub 35 and the hub of the sprocket 32 and pinion 33. The eccentric hub 35 is illustrated as being pinned to the shaft 36 by a transverse pin 38, although it will be obvious that this eccentric hub may be formed integral with the shaft 36.

The inner end of this pivot shaft has bearof the frame member to strengthen the hub 41 and the frame member.

0n the outer projecting end of the pivot shaft 36 is rigidly mounted a lever 45 having a weighted end 46. This lever is normally supported in a substantially horizontal position by a transversely disposed bell crank lever 47 which is pivoted on a bracket extension 48 formed integral with the menr ber 42. The bell crank lever 47 is held in its restraining position by the cable 28 being fastened thereto. The upper position of the weighted lever 45 is determined by an adjustment screw 49 which threads down tirough the bracket extension 48 and acts as an abutment stop engaging the lever 45. The adjusting screw 49 permits of adjustment of the mesh between the teeth on the pinion 33 and the teeth on the large gear 34, and relieves these teeth of any strain which might be imposed by tension in the cable 28. Asshown in Fig. 1, a centrifugal brake 51 is supported on the upper portion of the casing 6. This brake is driven from the large gear 34 through a pinion h2, which gears up the speed of the brake shaft 53. This centrifugal brake is of the type which does not apply the brake shoes until an e:-; cessive speed is attained, this speed being such that it is normally unattained by the manual raising and lowering of the shutter. The gear 34 and socket 321133 be inclose'd by an outer casing if desired.

In the manual operation of the shutter, the curtain is either raised or lowered by simply pulling down on either side of the chain hoist, and thus rotating the large gear 34 through the sprocket 32 and pinion 33.

The counter balancing function of the spring 14 retains the curtain in any position to which it is raised or lowered. Upon the fusing of the link 29 by fire temperatures, the automatic trip mechanism, comprising the gears 11 and'18 and the back gears '19 and 22, is released so as to reverse the action of the spring 14 and utilize the tension thereof to start the descent of the curtain, as previously described. Simultaneously with the severance of the cable 28, the bell crank 47 swings down, permitting the weighted lever 45 to drop to the position be apparent that the resulting rotation of the shaft 36 and eccentric hub 85 will oscillate the sprocket wheel 32 and pinion 33 down into the position illustrated by the dotted circles. In this position the teeth of the pinion 33 are cleared of the teeth of the large gear 34, so as to permit free and independent rotation of the large gear 34 without any possibility of interference from the chain hoist. It should be noted that the axis of the shaft 36 is disposed forward of the vertical axial plane of the stub shaft 17, so that in the automatic descent of the curtain the counter clockwise rotation of the large gear at, as denoted by the arrow 60, will tend to cam the pinion 38 out of mesh and down into the dotted line position. It will therefore be apparent that upon operation of the thermal release the rotation of the gear 3 1- will forcibly cam the pinion 38 down and out of mesh, even in the event that the weighted arm d5 should fail to drop and gyrate the pinion out of mesh.

As I have previously remarked, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular construction of fire door, nor to the present form of trip mechanism, but may be extended to various types of fire doors operating by various types of trip mechanism, such as weights, auxiliary springs, etc.

I do not intend to be limited to the specific details herein shown and described.

I claim:

1. In combination, a fire shutter, 'thermally controlled means for automatically closing said shutter, a chain hoist for manually operating said shutter through eccentrically mounted gears, and thermally controlled means for releasing said eccentrically mounted gears from engagement with said shutter simultaneously with the automatic closure of said shutter.

2. In combination, a rolling fire shutter, thermally controlled means for effecting the automatic closure of said rolling shutter, an

controlled means for releasing said automatic trip mechanism, achain hoist for manually operating said shutter, a gear connecting said chain hoist with said rolling shutter, an eccentric bearing for said gear, and means operated by the release of said thermally controlled means for rotating said eccentric bearing.

4:. In combination, a drum, a curtain connected to said drum, means for automatically moving said curtain to closed position, thermal means controlling said automatic means, an operating chain for manually operating said curtain, a sprocket rotated by said operating chain, a gear connected to said drum, a second gear connecting said sprocket with said first gear, an eccentric bearing for said second gear, a lever for rotating said eccentric bearing, said lever normally tending to rotate said eccentric bearing to unmesh said gears, and means controlled by said thermal means for restraining said lever against rotation.

5. In combination, a drum, a curtain on said drum, balancing means normally balancing the curtain, thermally controlled means for reversing the operation of the balancing means to thrust the curtain downward, manual operating means for operating said curtain, and means controlled by said thermally controlled means for disconnecting said manual operating means from said curtain.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 4th day of December, 1919.

CHARLES H. BUELL.

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