US1773124A

US1773124A - Automatic door opener

Info

Publication number: US1773124A
Application number: US321822A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sykes William
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1928-11-26
Filing date: 1928-11-26
Publication date: 1930-08-19
Anticipated expiration: 1947-08-19

Description

, Aug. 19, 1930. w. SYKES 1,773,124'

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 26, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug 9,1930. w. SYKE v 1,773,124

" AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 26, 1928 Z'SheetS-Sheet 2 1 l I 25 l f1 l Patented Aug. 19, 1930 UNITED STATES WILLIAM SYKES, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOTS AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Application filed November 26, 1928. Serial No. 321,822.

My invention relates to mechanical door openers for garages and the like. While it is applicable to the larger doors of commercial garages as well as small ones connected with the residences, it is particularly applicable to the latter because of its small initial cost and negligble maintenance cost. Although satisfactory devices operated by compressed air or electricity have been perfected and used to a considerable extent upon doors of commercial garages, they have been too high in initial cost and in cost of operation to become available generally to the small car owner for his private garage. In addition these are, in most cases, rather complicated devices the repair and operation of which requires skill beyond that possessed by the average car owner and involves, in connection with a single car, labor and inconvenience greater than does manual operation of the doors. V

Yet the utility of a simple device for this purpose is indisputable. The motorist returning to his garage on cold winter nights would not be compelled to approach to within a short distance of the garage doors and then get out of his car, wade through snow, perhaps, then fumble withthe latch, and finally, after getting the doors open, wade 0 back to the car throughthe snow. Again,

in rainy weather he would not be required to expose himself in opening the doors nor in going to and from them for the purpose.

-Therefore, the general object of my inv'ention' is to produce a mechanical door opener for garages which may be operated bythe driver of a car without leaving hisseat behind the wheel.

Other objects are opener of simple and sturdy construction, which iseasily and cheaply constructed, and which may be operated practically without cost once the initial installation is made.

Still further objects and advantages of my construction will be evident to those skilled in the art from the description and claims together with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation of double doors to the provision of a door the inside of which my invention has been applied;

Fig. 2 is a section substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the latch and latch lifting mechanism Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing a top view of the latch and door stop;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the latch;

Fig. 5 is a top view of a door with'the opening mechanism attached theretoshowing the closed position in dotted lines;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5 showing the guide rod collar, and

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7? showing the manner in which the swinging arm is attached to the guide rod collar.

Referring more particularly to the latch releasing mechanism shown in Figs. 1,2, 3

and 4, a releasing bar 9 is attached to the inside of a door 10 by means of two bolts 11 as shownin Fig. 1. The door in this instance swings outwardly and is hinged at 40, Fig. 5. lVhile the exact location of the bar is not important I have found it advantageous to have it near the center of the doors for reasons which will become apparent. The bar hangs loosely from the bolts 11 to permit it to swing to and from the door. A bumper plate 12 ontheoutside of the door is attached to the releasing bar through a rod 13 which passes through a small opening in the door. This rod is givena slight curvature corresponding to the are upon which it moves in order that it may pass through the opening in the door without striking the sides. The length of the rod is such as to permit the bar 9 to move between a position shown in Fig. 2 and that shown in Fig. 4 as will presently be set out. The elevation of the bump er plate is such that it will correspond with the I elevation of the front bumper of the automobile used. It may, on the other hand, be made sufiiciently large to accommodate all makes of cars withoutchange. An eyelet or slot 14 is placed in the lower endof the bar and is adapted to receivetherein a latch or pawl 15. y The latch 15 isattachedto the door near its bottom edge, directly below the releasing bar m taolied to the floor of the e s m. a

' and in a position to cooperate therewith as shown, by means of a bracket 16 and a pin 17. A stop 18 is provided to prevent the latch fr m droppin down and dragging. The latch is provided with an inclined edge 20 alon which the eyelet 14 of the releasing bar isaajdtdslidcr amllchlflintowhich 1 it is a ted to rest lifting the nodeh 21 the latch free from a projecting ledge 22 at-- U age by means of I lag screws 23. A bracket g is attached to the floor in a position to stop the inward movement of the door. "It will be seen thatin orderv to releasethe position to cooperate with the angle 35 in a manner shown in Fig. 6 to prevent the door from being blown shut by wind while in the open position. The ends 37 of the bar are headed to prevent them from slipping from the supporting openings in the angles. Aroundthe guide bar, and bearing between the guide bar collar 3i and the supporting angle 86, is a spiral spring 39.

The door swinging mechanism is assembled as shown in solid lines in Fig. with the angle 35 near the end of the guide rod and in a position to cooperate with the return stop 38* The angle 36 is then attached to the door 15 hid; the operator of an automobile need only the lip tothcgarege door until its bum er strikesthe bumper plate. The plate fill moved-inward fiorcing the release bar @M AS t bar moves in dotted lines the spring will be brought an it s e elet @F the low! end 9? p under considerable compression which will be i f i and M the sufiicient to cause the door to swing about eeeeaaas mehvneoaslyh g the latch and its hin 'es 40 when the latch 15 is released. be r m t latching ledge h While ii 5 shows but a single door, it will 2- P 51 "91 the blrirom be apparent from Fig. 1 the manner in which as fi f' h thus held P the swinging mechanism is mounted on p 'ilfle The bumper double doors. The same parts are used in the assembly for each door.

rpd is adjusted in? h to limit the move- The manner of operation of doors embodyn'len't er the ar eyelet to the notch i h h when the latch ing my invention is very simple. The 0 erator drives his automobile up to the our and forces the bumper plate inward raising 10 at a point whereby the spring 39 is placed under suliicient compression to actuate the door. It will be seen that when the door is then brought to the closed position shown theflecr swinging mechanism showifbestlniig; 5 causes the doors to swing 111 the latch and releasing e doors. When the doors'are thus released the door swinging assemblies, the springs of which are unuer compression when closed, cause the doors to 1 swing open. In the meantime the o erator has reversed his automobile far enough to permit the doors to 0 en. As the doors reach their open position t e inner angles 35 come under the return stops 38 which actto hold foe them open against moderate forces such as the wind.

It will be observed by those skilled in the mechanism may be attached to the doors any desired elevation at Riit'has round convenient to attach ascr be to is out (with way in 1 Referring now articutogs. f has swingi arm isats t'o the-{face a! each di'fir sill 26 by a}, i 4" Q'fliaving an end 28 bent qxlghtangles to the bodyportion and a aapassm gh rethrou n. The arm as "It In r "ifitwigte g right art that the cost of constructin my im h p y proyeh p 1 9. 5. 2 g t gt gfgment 1S Ve1?y50W. Noflexpensii' e or hardened m a, p parts are use except esprings most of the I 91 the bar parts being capable of manufacture from j egs. 4 band or strap iron. The operation of my in a i p h l gm 9 vention is. exceedingly simple requiring no H t-. gg h fi l fine ad ustments or complicated mechanism 3 ye en 0 t swmging and, therefore, results in a sturdy construci i r 31 fonsists of a P tion. Although I-have described it as ape p a g bar 33 plied to gtaraggiiocrs and operapllebby means i i ng l with, rim 34 at each and 0 an au omo 1e umper it we e evident that the invention is applicable to swinging doors applied to other structures such as barn doors, furnace doors, and the like where the latch may be operated by the feet or. hands of the operator.

While I have described in detail for purposes of illustration a particular embodiment of my invention I am aware that numerous changes may be made in my construction without departing essentially from 1:9

pthssidntp receive the end The central de resigsa hl txwifib ft n the i e58 m an snwfias l' movement A geeiswithinfgthe, depression as the door gfluide bar 33 is a gauna"ssmogh baigsslijgablyangounted 01p thg a a, 15 an 6 at one en plate 38 having a 65. epressed center. spttahed to the arm in a the spirit of the invention-or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: v

1. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasing bar attached to the inside of the door and hanging loosely therefrom, a bumper plate outside of the door attached to said bar by means of a rod passing through the door whereby horizontal movement of the bumper plate results in corresponding movement of the releasing bar, a latch lover pivotally attached to the door near the'bottom edge thereof adapted to be lifted by inward movement of said releasing bar, a projecting ledge attached to the sill beneath the door adapted to cooperate with said latch in maintaining the door in a closed position, and means attached to the floor for stopping the inward movement of the door.

2. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasing bar slotted near one end and at the other end attached to the inside of the door through a plurality of bolts which permit movement of the bar to v and from the door but do not permit substantial movement parallel thereto, a bumper plate and rod attached to said bar, said rod passing through the door, a latch supporting bracket attached to the door near the lower edge thereof in a position to cooperate with said releasing bar, a latch pivoted on said supporting bracket and resting in the slotted end of said releasing bar having an under edge tapered toward each end with two notches interposed between said tapered portions, the tapered portion and notch at the pivotal end of said latch being adapted to cooperate with the releasing bar in lifting the latch and supporting the same in an open position, a ledge attached to the door sill beneath the latch to cooperate with the tapered portion and notch at the free end of the latch in raising the latter and locking the same when the door is closed, and a bracketattached to the floor for limiting the inward movement of the door.

3. In a door opener, means for unlatching door comprising a releasable means for normally holding the door in a closed position, a releasing bar attached to one sideof the door and hanging loosely therefrom arranged to engage said releasable means, and means positioned at the opposite side of said door adapted to be acted upon by a vehicle for causing said releasing bar to release said releasable means whereby said door may be moved to an open position.

4. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasing bar attached to the inside of the door and hanging loosely therefrom, means outside the door for actuating said releasing bar by an automobile, a latch having a portion attached to the door and a portion attached to the floor near the door, the portions of said latch being arranged to be drawn from contact by said releasing bar to permit the door to be opened, and means for stopping the inward movement of the door.

5. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a bumper plate on said door adapted to be actuated through contact with the bumper of an automobile, a latch having a portion attached to the door and a portion attached to a stationary body near the door, said portions being arranged to engage each other in holding said door in its closed position, means for preventing the inward movement of said door When said bumper is brought into contact with said bumper'plate and means actuated by said bumper plate for drawing the portions of said latch from contact to permit said door to be opened.

In witness of the foregoing I aflix my sig-' nature.

WILLIAM sYKEs.