US1616755A - Door operator - Google Patents

Description

J. F. OCONNOR DooR OPERATOR Feb. 8, 1927. 1,6165755 Original Filed March 20, 1922 s s s W i J Eg Y Patented Feb. s, 1927.

'UNITED STATES' PATENT oFFIcE.

JOHN IF. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, IIIJINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,` TO W. BI. MINER, INC., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

DOOR OPERATOR.

Application iled March 26, 1922, Serial No. 545,029. Renewed .Tune 3, 1926.

This invention relates to improvements in door operators.

On certain railroads., the-practice has been adopted of employing what are known as f) containers for the transporting .of vinail and high-grade freight, the shippers loading said containers and the containers then being trucked to a special car and a number of such containers placed on each car, .the mail l or goods being delivered to the proper consignee in the said containers. Such contamers, in order to avoid excessive weight, are preferably made of sheet steel to resist the service conditions and each'container is .15 provided -with a relatively ,large door to permit loading and unloadingv ofl comparatively large packages. Obviously, such containers which are exposed to the weather on the special flat bottom car, must be weatherproof around the doori joints as well as elsewhere and to accomplish this result, it is 'necessary to employ insulation at the joints, such as used for instance in refrigerator cars for a similar purpose. To obtain an el'ecl tive vinsulated joint, considerable pressure must be exerted in forcing the door to fully closed position tQ overcome the resistance offered bythe insulation to the closing movement. The doors of the containers referred v to, being of sheet metal and of comparatively large size, are necessarily subject to considerable bending strains tending warp them' while -being moved to fully closed posi* tionand also while being opened, on acv 35 count of the resistance afforded by lthe insulation around the joints, above referred to. -An "object of my invention is to prcffide an arrangement which. is especially adapted for the closing vof the doors of such containers or other relatively large doors of light construction, requiring considerable pressure in forcing the door to fully closed position and in opening the same, my improvements being designed to eliminate warping or buckling of the doors during the closing and. opening movements thereof.

n 4In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevational view `of a portion of a container such as herein referred to, and showing my improvements in connection withthe dbor thereof. Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view,cor responding substantially to the section line vertical, sectional' view, correnonding sub- 2-2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlarged,

stantially to the section line 3-3 of Figure 2. And Figure 4 is a detail horizontal, sectional view, corresponding .to the Section line 4-.4 of Figure 1.

In said drawing, the main body of the container is indicated at 10, the same having a door 'opening defined by lintel 11, jambs 12 and `13 and threshold 14. The door opening isadapted to be closed by a relatively large preferably sheet metal door 15 pivoted along one vertical edge as indicated at 16--16. As will be lunderstood by those skilled. in the art, the joints around the door are insulated, details of such insulation being illustrated in Figure 2, whereit will be noted that the door jamb 13 has secured'tothe inner side thereof a Z-bar 17 on whichis secured a longitudinally extending block of wood 18. The 'latter is provided with a longitudinally eX- tending recess 19 lon kits free face within which is mounted a backing strip 20 yieldingly forced outwardly by a `plurality of longitudinally spaced coil springs 21. The backing' strip 20 is covered by felt 22 and over the latter is placed a strip of canvas 23. v'llhe free edge of the door has secured on the inner side thereof an angle bar 24 forming a backing for a longitudinally extending vblock of wood 25 having a beveled edge on the free edge of the door againstthe weather, the free edge of the sheet metal o f thev door is extended over the joint as indicated at 15a.

For operating the door 15, Ivpreferably employ the following arrangement. Secured to the door jamb 13 and suitably vertically spaced are two keepers AA. Each of said the door jamb. To protect the joint at keepers has a main liange 26 riveted orvotherwise rigidly secured to the doorvjamb, an outwardly extended flange'27and a narrow flange 28 at the outer endi'ofj-llthe flange .27, said'ange 28 being 'spaced /fr'm the wall of .j the container and lproviding an. inwardly.' facing shoulder.A 28a for .the purpose hereinafter described,A and ,also an outer shoulder or fulcrum 28", for Ithe purpose hereinafter described. i Mounted on the door s the operatin shaft proper, the same co isting prefera 1y o f two end castings'B- B, an intermediate 'bar' les?? section C, and a lever or handle D pivoted to the bar section-C. v

Each of theend castings B, as shown, preferably consists of a hollow rectangular section 29 within which is received and riveted thereto a corresponding end of the bar section C as by the rivets 30-30. Each end casting B is formed also with .a journal section 31 laterally offset from the rectangular securing'section, as Well as being offset endwise. The journal bearings 31 are ro.- tatably mounted in bearing bracketsh 32-32 secured to the door 15. Beneath -the journal section 31 of the upper casting land above the journal section 31 of the lower casting B, each casting B is formed with a radially extended flange 33 approximately diametrically opposite the rectangular section 29. Said flanges 33 provide radial shoulders 34adapted .to engage under the corresponding shoulders 28HL of the keepers A. The flanges 33 are preferably suitably braced as by integral arcuate ribs 35-35 of such radius that they will not interfere with the turning of.

the shaft on the door. f

The handle D is adapted to be locked, as

shown in Figure 1, by any suitablelatching device, as indicated at 36'and sealed in any suitable manner as customary on railroad cars.'

In the drawings, the full lines indicate the position of the parts lwhen the door is fully. closed. To open the door, the lever D is released from the latch 36 and is then pulled outwardly or away from .the door so as ,to-rotate the operating shaft in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure'. '2. While the shaft is liotating through an are of somewhat less than 1800; it is evident that the flanges 33 of the castings Bjwill b'e moved a 'sufficient distance as to clear the` edgesf the keepers 'A when the door is opened, During this portion of the rOta-.

lines inFigure 2v and thereafter, as the operating shaft is rotated, the keepers A act as fulcrums and the door is 'forcibly pulled `outwardly against the'resistance a'orded by the dotted the insulation. As indicated b lines in Figure 2, thereis amp e space left, after the rivets engage the keepers A, to permit the continued swinging of the lever D sufficient to disengage the door from the insulation and after which the door may, of

course, be. freely opened to its fullest extent. p In closlng the door, the latter is moved towards closed position as far as possible I and the shaft is then rotated in a clockwise dlrectlon', as viewed in Figure 2, with the flanges 33 and shoulders 34 thereof engaging under the shoulders 28, As the rotayshoulder on the shaft is adapted to engage tion continues, it is evident that the keepers A again act as fulcrums, and the door may be forcibly moved to fully closed position.

Byemploying an intermediate section of bar material, as shown, it is evident that the length of the operating shaft may be varied as desired without increase of expense for different castings or tools. Furthermore, by locating the keepers and cooperating parts of the operating shaft as shown 76 in Figure 1, I am enabled to apply the pressure for closing and opening in such a way as to substantially eliminate any tendency of the door to warp or. buckle while at thesame time leaving the operating handle v80 D sufliciently low to be convenient to the operator.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, but the same is 85 merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes andmodificationsthat come Within tle scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim: c

1'. In a member having a door opening 90 and a door to `close said opening the combination with an operating shaft arranged parallel to an edge of the door` and provided with va shoulder extending approximately radially; of bearing' brackets within which/U5 the ends ofsaid shaft are rotatably mounted; and a keeper having arr opposed shoulderproviding an abutment to hold the keeper engaging theend of the shoulder onl door vand rotatably mounted thereon, said shaft having an operating handle and a shoulder projecting substantially radially therefrom; of a coo eratingkeeper mounted on the correspon( ing door jamb between theJ top and bottom ledges "of the door, said keeper having a shoulder outwardly spaced from the door jamb and beneath which said and be held against swinging movement in moving the door to closed position.

3.111- a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door to close the opening, the combination with a vshaft rotatably journaled a't its top and bottom ends 0f said. door, remote from the top and bottom edges of the latter and extending parallel to and adjacent the free edge thereof, o said shaft having inwardly of said journaled ends, longitudinally spaced shoulders substantially radially extending therefrom on one side of the axis of the shaft; and cooperating keepers secured to lthe corresponding adjacent door jamb, said keepersfhavlmoved to closed position.

4. In a member lhaving a door opening and a pivotally mounted door to close said opening, the combination with an operating shaft rotatably mounted on said door, said shaft extending arallel to and adjacent the free edge thereof, said shaft comprising two end castingsand an intermediate connecting bar section, each of said end castings being/frmed with a substantially radially projecting shoulder and a journal projecting beyond said shoulder, said journal being coaxial with said bar; of keepers secured to the corresponding adjacent door jamb, each of said keepers having an inwardly facing shoulder'cooperable With the corresponding shoulder of the operating shaft to arrest theY movement of the outer ends of said shoulders on said shaft and provide a fulcrum therefor.,

5. In a'member having a door opening and a door to close said opening, the combination with an operating shaft arranged parallel to an edge of the door, said shaft being provided with shoulders extending from the opposite sides of the axis of rotation thereof; and a cooperating keeper havin inner and outer shoulders, said inner shou derof the keeper cooperating with one of the shoulders of the operating shaft to provide a stationary fnlcrum in forcing the door to closed position, and the outer shoulder of the keeper cooperating with the other shouldered portion of the shaft when opening the door.

6. In combination with a member having a door opening and a pivotally mount-ed door, an yoperating mechanism for the door comprising: an operating shaft extending parallel to and adjacent the vfree edge of the door and rotatably mounted on the door, said operating shaft having shouldered portions extending from opposite sides of the axis of rotation1 of the shaft; and a keeper secured to t@ corresponding adjacent door jamb, said keeper `having an inwardly facing shoulder spaced from the door j amb and an outwardly facing shoulder cooperable respectively 'with the shoulders of the shaft.

7. In a; container having a pivotally mounted door, the combination with a pair of keepers mounted on the door jamb ad-v tending parallel to and adjacent the free edge of the door, said shaft comprising end castings and an intermediate connecting sec-Z tion, each of said .end castings having a substantially radially extending shoulder on one side of the axis of the shaft and a shouldered portion on the opposite side of 'said axis, the former being adapted to engagebeneath the inwardly facing shoulder of the corresponding keeper, and the-latter to engage with the outwardly facing shoulder on the corresponding keeper, when the shaft is rotated to close and open the door, respectively.

8. In a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door to close said opening, `the combination with a rotary shaft mounted on said door adjacent the free edge thereof, said shafthaving its opposite ends' disposed inwardly of the top and bottom edges of said door; of operating means for said shaft; a plurality of keepers supported independently of said door and disposed between the top and bottom boundaries of said door opening; and means on said shaft also disposed between the top and bottom edges of said door adapted to engage said. keepers, said keepers and said means being arranged in co-acting relation to eect' movement of said door upon said shaft being rotated.

9. In an operating mechainsm having a pivoted door member adapted to close against another door member, the combil nation with a rotary shaft mounted on one of said members; of a plurality of keepers fixed to the other member; a lever for operating said sha-ft; and means on said shaft, rotatable therewith, adapted to engage said keepers said means and said keepers having c-acting parts arranged to forcibly eect movements of said doors, said shaft, keepers and means being disposed entirely above the bottom margin of the door and door opening.

10. In a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door, the combination with a rotary shaft mounted on said door adjacent the free edge thereof, said shaft having opposite end portions, one of which is disposed inwardly of the top and bottom edges of lsaid door; of operating means for said shaft; a plurality of spaced keepers supported independently of said door," one of said keepers being arranged between the top and bottom boundaries of said door opening; and spaced means en said shaft, one of which is disposed between the top and bottom edges of said door, .said means being adapted to engage said keepers to effect movement of said door upon rotation of said shaft. j

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10th day of March, 1922.

JOHN F. OCONNOR.

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