US1771637A - Door-operating mechanism - Google Patents

Description

July 29, 1930. M. JO-HNSEN ET AL DOOR OPERATING MECHANI SM F1198 Oct. 29, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Y -INVENTORS (10]2128012 & C Hal/Liza Mal-Lin July 29, 1930.

M. JOHNSEN ET AL 1,771,637

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 29, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 5 I:--. -':::::::I I 5 t?" 4 V 6 I l 31 7 a a o 17 J2 INVENTORS Mari/12 dam el; & .FICZHoLlin A Patented July 29, 1930 e UNI-FEW sfT-A T PATJE NT omen MARTIN .ronnsnn, or'ANrrocrn-Ann FREDERICK c," HOLLING, on SAN Francisco; r 7 CALIFORNIA Y r noon-ornneirrne MECHANISM Application filed October 25, 1928. Serial lto. 315,872.

This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for opening and closing garage doors by means of the vehicle moving to and fromthegarage, and particularly represents improvements over our previousfpatent, No.

1,646,025,dated October 18th, 1927, l

The principal objectsof'the pr esentinvention are to simplifythe construction of the apparatusover what was shown in'the patented device, without interfering with the eliiciency and positiveness of operationyand to arrange the operating mechanism so that the use of springs, with their tendency to stick or weaken through long use, is avoided. These objects we accomplish by means of suchstruicture and relative arrangement of parts aswill fully appearby a pernsalo't' the following specification and claims f H In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views: V f h Fig. 1 isa top plan view foreshortenedof the operating structure,

Fig. 2 is a sectionalelevation' of similar character showing the parts'in theposjitionsoccupied after the doors are closed and ready to beacted on by the; front wheel'of a car to cause the door'sto open; a p U Fig. 3 1s an enlarged side elevation of the main control structure in the position indie catejdinFig;2. 'j 4 is asimilar view but showing. the parts as positioned after the doors have been caused to open by the engagement'of a front wheel of the car with the controlrnernber. Fig. 5 isa similar view showing the position of the parts after the front wheel has passed'ov'erthestructure; j j,

Fig 6 is an interior end elevation of the garage c Referringnow gmo'rfe particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the

- numeral 1 denotes a' a'ir ofiltransverfsely alincd rectangular frames ofstiitable di1nen- 3 sions and sunk in'the'runWa'ysQ leading to thegarage id' a certain'dis tance' froln thelat ter. The asings-a e disposedfin thepath of the wheels of the carmoving to or from" hefeelae ime; Wh dr s ifli i il ithe runway covered by" two ilongitiidinally V pression of the plate 4; the flat surface Aof alined plates4 and 5 hinged at their adjacent ends asat 6,.the forward plate being secured to the casing by a shaft 7 which connects the corresponding plates of both casings.

. The plates can buckle down between the sides of the casing but a'relimited insuch movement by a stop 8 thereunder. V The front end of the forward plate A: only is fizied, the rear end'of the rear plate'be'ing horizontally slidable on a supporting ledge 9 therebelo'w. One only of thefraines'has" a pit 1Q of considerable. depthnnder thecover plates; and in: this pitthe operating nieeha nism is mountedh l h N Projecting forwardly (or toward the Q garage) ifroin and rigidly securedto the shaft Tend dis osed in the pitji's an er-In 11 on which is fixed a weight 12,1[Thearnifand weight are so arrangedthatthe weight exerts an" upwardpressure on the plateand the mechanism connected therewith sufiicient to necessitate theweight o'f the forward portion of anautomohile to overcome.

Mounted in the pit under theforgwardpla'te l isfljaverticalj supporting plate-er frame 13 forthe operating mechanism, I Adjacent the top of said plate afcalnifdis'o 14 is" mounted on a horizontal transverse, axis, the disc bein circular, except for a flat surfaceor side disposed inwardly of'the' circular periphery; Pins 15 spaced 90 apart project fromone face of the disc parallel to the axisthereof,

said pinsibeing concentriowith the axis of the cam 'lhe'se pins are adapted to be sue; joessively engaged by a weight.pressed'pawlm pivoted on depending from the plate 4; i saidpins and pawl being so arranged asto I causethe disc to be rotatedlon'e quarter, turn in'arearw'ard direction with each full de- 1 he C m e ed pe djre e e t t e P so as tobe'always positioned eitlier'lin a hori- V .zont'al or a vertical plane.

vA weight aetuated roller 17 is mounted in connection with the plate '13to yieIdably pro 5 i je'ct between adjacentpin'sto positively hold 7 the disc at quarteriturn position. Projectlllg flfgn l thedisc adjacent the rear end ofitherflat' surface A relative ,tothe: direction Ofl'otat-lOIi of thediseis another transversely is of the doors toward the adjacent side of the garage when said doors are closed is a rigid arm 21' having a. horizontalhook 22'on its inner end. A rigid link or connecting rod 23 is pivoted onto the other door and onto the arm 21 in such a manner that the opening and closing of both doors will take place simultaneously, as in said previous patent. The armand rod are of course adjacent'the top ofthe doors so as not to interfere with thepassage of the car thereunder. Mounted in the garage in horizontal alinement with the hook 22 and disposed in a plane, lengthwise of the garage is a rod 24 having a forwardly facing cat'ch 25 on one end normally engaging the hook 22. A weight 26 acts on said rod. to normally hold the catch and hook in engagement. "A cable 27 or the like is connected to the arm 21 adjacent the hook end thereof and extends thence over a pulley 28 to a Weight 29 in such amanner that when the, catch 25 is released from the hook,said

weight acts on the arm to swing'th e same to a door opening position.

t The catch is thus released by a flexible 61a ment 3O connected-to the rear end ofthe rod 24 and extending thence downwardly and rearwardly to a connection with the lower end of the arm 19. When the lower end of said arm is pulled rearwardly,'as pre-.

viously'described, the catch 25 is disengaged from' the arm hook, allowing the weight 29 to function to op'enthe doors.

The doors when once opened are closed by the fourthsubsequent quarter rotation of the cam disc and the subsequent depression and release of'the plate 4 by thefollowing means. Projecting upwardly alongside the plate 13 is a substantially vertical bar 31'provided with a rearwardly facinghook 32 on so that when thebar is raised from. a prede-' termined position, said element will be pulled rearwardly. This element extends to an adjustable connection with a verticalflever 36 which is pivoted intermediate its'endsin the garage adjacent one side thereof; (See Figs. 1 and 2). Theupper' end ofthis lever is connected byia flexible element- '37 tonne of the doors 20'adjacen t its hinge, passing the door.

7 Connected to the bar intermedi ate its ends and passing thence aboutand under a-pulley 34 mounted on theplate 131s a forwardly extending flexible element 35,]

over a segmental guide member 38 fixed on The hook 32 of the bar 31 is adapted to be engaged by a transversely extending pin 39 mounted on an arm 40 pivoted on and depending from the plate 4 rearwardly of the pawl 16. The pin is positioned intermediate the ends'of the arm and the latter normally tends to swing forwardly so that the pin will engage the hook by a suitably arranged weight 41.

Interposed between the arm and disc is a vertical release arm 42, engaged on its rear side by the lower end of the arm 40 and pivoted at its lower end in connection with the plate 13. This arm 42 carries a roller-43 on its upper forward end which constantly engages the periphery of the cam disc. The

above parts, are so arranged that when the roller is riding on the circular portion of the cam, the arm 40 will be swung rearwardly so that the pin 39 is positioned rearwardly of the hook 32 so as not to engage the same, regardless of the movement of the plate 4. \Vhen the flat portion A of the cam is engaged by said roller the arm 40 is free to swing forward by reason of the weight 41 sufliciently to cause the pin 39 to be engaged with the hook '32. i i

VVhenthe doors are opened the lower end of'thelever 36 is swung forwardly, which pulls forwardly on'the element 37 and causes the bar 31 to drop to its lowermost position. The raising of said bar due to the raising of the plate 4 from a fullydepressed positionis sufiicient to cause the-doors to be fully closed, the connected parts being so proportioned as to cause this to be accomplished.

In operation with the doors closed and the caroutside the garage the parts occupy the pos tions shown in Fig. 3, in whichthe pin 18 is about to engage the lever 19', the flat surface A of the disc is engaged with the arm 32, and

the pin 39 on the arm 40 isstill engaged with the bar-hook, the bar being in its raised position. As soon as the front wheel W of a car approaching the garage engages and depresses the surface'plates, the disc 14 will turn through a quarter revolution, the arm 19 will be shifted by thepin 18, and the doors opened as previously described. Almost as soon as the disc starts to turn, the arm 40 is swung rearwardly from the bar 31 the rotative movement of the circular portion of the v disc to engage the roller 43 of the interposed arm 42, and the arm pin 39 will then be 'disengaged from the bar-hook.

' This allows the arm 40 to move upwardly, with the subsequent upward movement of the plate 4 when the weight of the wheel WV leaves the plates, the disc will be again rotated witho'ut'any other action being had, since the ice pin 18 is then beyond the arm 19 and the roller i3 is still riding on the circular surface of the disc. When the car is in the garage the doors are closed by hand or by means of a wheel actuated plate arrangement 44 such as was fully shown and described in the patent previously mentioned. .VVhen it is desired to leave the garage the doors are opened by hand and with both the last named door movements no movement of the disc and the connected mechanisms is had owing to the use of flexible elements which connect such mechanism with the garage parts. The rear wheel of the car upon backing out of the garage again depresses the plates and rotates the disc another quarter turn, still not causing any action. When, however, the forward wheel passes over the plates and the disc is again rotated a quarter turn, the flat surface A again engages the roller 43 so that the arm a0 is free to swing forwardly to cause the pinto engage the hook 32. Upon the wheel being removed from the plates, the upward movement of the plates raises the arm 40 and bar 31 together, 7

and causes the doors to be closed as was previously described. The parts are then in their original positions as shown in Fig. 8, ready for the next door opening operationupon the return of a car toward the garage.

The use of the twohinged plates 4.- and 5 eliminates any sudden drop or abrupt bumps being received when the wheel depresses the plates and movesalong the same. This, as will be evident is an improvement over the construction of the previous device inthis respect.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

\Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction, of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Door operating mechanism including a.

plate to be depressed by the weight of a vehicle wheel passing thereover, a rotatable member under the plate, means between the plate and said member for causing the latter to be rotated a predetermined extent with every depression of the plate, means between said member and the door and actuated by such rotation for causing the door to be opened, means between the plate and door for causing the latter to be closed, and means controlled by a subsequent rotation of the member for enabling said door closing means 7 to function; said member rotating means comprising transverse pins projecting from said member and spaced 90 apart concentric with the axis of the member, the latter being dis posed in a vertical plane with its axis explate and said member for causing the latter.

to be rotated a predeterminedextent with every depression of the plate, means between said member and the door and actuated'by such rotation for causing the door to be opened, means between the plate and door for causing the latter to be closed with the up-. ward movement of the plate, said means including normally disengaged ele1nents,and means c-ontrolled bya subsequent rotative movement of the member .for causing said elements to become engaged,

3. Door operating mechanism including. a plate to be depressed by the weight of a vehicle wheel passing thereover, avertica-lly disposed disc under theplate havinga flat side onits periphery, means between the plate and disc for rotating the latter a quartereturn with each depression of the plate whereby said fiat side will ,occupythe same position only with ever-y fourth depression of the plate, a vertical bar movably mount ed under the plate arranged-forvertical movement, connecting means between said bar and the door to cause the latter to be closed with a movement of the bar in an up ward direction, means on said plate for engaging and moving the bar in a door closing directionwith the upward movement'of the plate, and means permitting such engagement only when the flat side of the disc occupies the plate, a vertical bar movably mounted underthe plate arranged for vertical movement, connecting means between said bar and the door to cause the latter to beclosed with a movement of the bar in an upward direction, means on said plate for engaging and moving the bar in a door closing direction with the upward movement, of the plate, said last named means comprising an arm depending from and pivotedon the plate for movement longitudinally of the plate, a transverse pin projecting from the arm, a hook on the bar for releasable engagement with the pin, yieldable means acting on the arm tendto maintain the pin engaged with the hook, and means permitting such engagement only when thefiat side of the disc-occupies a predetermined position relative to the arm.

5. A structure as in claim 4, in which said last named means comprises a movable member interposed between and engaged both by said arm below the pin and by the periphery of the disc; the flat side of the later being disposed inwardly of the circular periphery of the disc I 6. Door operating mechanism including a plate to be depressed by the weight of a vehicle wheel passing thereover, a vertical barmovably mounted under the plate and arran ed for vertical movement, connecting means between said bar and the door to cause the latter to be closed with the upward move- 3H3 ment of the bar, an arm member depending from the plate to releasably engage the bar and pull the same upwardly when the plate moves upwardly from a depressed position, and means controlled by the depression of U- the plate for permitting the arm to thus engage the bar only with each fourth depression of the plate.

7. A structure as in claim 6, with means likewisecontrolled by the depression of the m: plate for causing the door to be opened with a depression of the plate immediately subsequent to the one causing the door to be closed. -r

In testimony whereof we affix our signa- 3 tures. r r MARTIN JOI-INSEN.

FREDERICK C. -HOLLING.

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