US2043472A - Closure - Google Patents

Description

ET AL June 9, 1936. w. w. EAGER CLOSURE Filed July 5, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 .ZHVVENTUEE WMEBEEE ETTUENEY June 9, 1936. w. w. EAGER ET AL 2,043,472

CLOSURE Filed July 5, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTUES 2 June 9, 1936. w. w. EAGER ET. AL

CLOSURE Filed July 5, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .JNVENTUES M NEBEEE I. 521" .Z'EENEY ETIUENEY Patented June 9, 1936 CLOSURE Wesley W. Eager and Columbus A. Tierney,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Application July 1932, Serial No. 620,884 5 Claims. (Cl. 20- 16) This invention relates to closures and operating making it possible to employ a closure which devices therefor, and has for an object the prowould otherwise be of excessive length, inasmuch vision of a closure and an operating and supportas it would be subjected to too severe bending ing device therefor of novel and highly efficient stresses on account of the distance between its 5 design, which is particularly well adapted for points of support. 5. though notnecessarily limited to use in conjunc A further object in this connection is to protion with closures for relativelylarge openings, vide a novel design of closur having reinforcing such as the doorway of a garage, market, or the means for preventing the closure from flexing like. i 7 either by sagging at those portions of the closure 10 A more detailed object is to provide a novel type which are between the points oisupport thereof, 10 of mechanism for so supporting a closure that it or by twisting as a result of the application oi? can be moved optionally to open or closed positorsional stresses thereto as in opening or closing tion byswinging it about an axis extending lonthe door. gitudinally of the closure, the entire weight of Another object is to provide a closure and sup the closure being carried at all times solely by porting and operating means therefor, having 15 the supporting mechanism. r the characteristics above set forth, which is oi? A more detailed object is to provide a closure simple and rugged design, capable of highly efiisupporting and operating device of the general .cient and facile operation, and in the design of character indicated whereby the closure may be which particular attention has been paid to posiheld releasably in either open or closed position tiveness of operation in respect to moving the 20 and which is also adapted to move the closure to closure to either its open or its closed position open position by raising it bodily to an overhead and also in respect to the retention of the closure position so as to leave the entire doorway unobin selected position. i

struoted for passage therethrough and/or ob- The invention possesses other objects and valservation of or access to articles which are enuable features, some of which, with the foregoing, 25 closed by the closure when in closed position. wil be set forth in the following description of It is a further object of the present invention the preferred form of our invention. lit is to be to so arrange the supporting and operating deunderstood that we do not limit ourselves to the vice that when the closure is in open position, it specific disclosure made by the said description, is disposed horizontally and extendsthrough the as we may adopt variations of the preferred form 30 uppermost portion of the doorway with aportlon within the scope of our invention, as set forth of the closure extending outwards therefrom so in the claims. ast'o dispense with the necessity of an awning Referring to the drawings: to protect goods displayedinside the doorway Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a from the direct rays of the sun. i building provided with a closure incorporating 35 Another object of our inventionls to provide an the principles of the present invention. efficll'it operating mechanism for the closure Figure 2 is a transverse, vertical sectional view whereby it may be moved easily to open and to which may be considered to have been tairen upon closed positions, fromaconvenient location which the line 2-2 of Figure l with the direction of 40 may be remote from the closure when desired. view as indicated by the arrows. 40 A further object is to provide the operating Figure 3 is a detail view in horizontal section mechanism with a suitable lock whereby maniputaken upon the line 3--i of Figure 2, with the lation of the operating mechanism by anyone direction or view as indicated by the arrows. other than authorized'persons is prevented. Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view A still further object is to provide a novel desimilar to Figure 2, but showing a slightly modivice for counterbalancing the weight of the 010- fied form of counterbalancing mechanism. In sure whereby the movement oi. the closure in this figure the closure is'shown in its closed posieither direction is greatly facilitated and which is tion.

adapted to holdthe closure stationary in any po- Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, but sition between its two' extremes of movement showing the closure in its open position. 50 without its having to be fastened. "Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view, the

A further object of the present invention is to plane of section being taken upon the line 6--6 provide means for supporting the closure through-. of Figure 4 with the direction of view as indiout its entire range of movement and at least cated. Portions of the figure are broken away one point intermediatethe ends thereof, thereby toreduce its size.

Figure '7 is a view in elevation showing the inside face of the closure itself and showing the novel type of reinforcing used in the construction thereof.

Figure 3 is a detail view in transverse vertical section taken substantially upon the line 8-8 of Figure 7 with the direction of view as indicated.

Figure 9 is a detail view in transverse vertical section, the plane of section being taken adjacent the center supporting bracket for the closure. This plane may be assumed to have been taken upon the line 9-9 of Figure 7 with the direction of view as indicated but with the closure swung to horizontal position.

In terms of broad inclusion, the device of the present invention comprises means for supporting a closure such as a garage or store door of relatively large proportions, optionally in closed relationship to an opening or doorway, or in open position wherein the closure is elevated and lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to its closed position and closely adjacent the periphcry of the opening, thereby leaving substantially the entire opening unobstructed. The closure itself is provided with reinforcing means resisting the flexing stresses to which it may be subjected, and the supporting means for the closure are of such design that as many additional supports may be provided intermediate the ends thereof as may be desired or necessary to meet the requirements of any particular installation, which feature also goes to the suiiiciency of the invention in making it possible successfully and practically to employ doors and other closures of relatively great length. Means are provided for moving the closure to and from closed position;

and a novel design of counterbalancing mechanism is provided, whereby movement of the closure in either direction is greatly facilitated. This counterbalancing mechanism also is of novel design and is adapted to retain the closure in any position, i. e. at either of its two extremes of movement or in any intermediate position,

without its having to be fastened. The operating device is of the self-locking type; that is to say, after the closure has been moved to either fully opened or closed position by means of the opcrating device, the closure cannot be removed from this position by any means other than the operating device itself. Moreover, the operating device may be provided with a suitable lock, making it impossible for access to be had to the enclosed space controlled by the closure, by anyone other than authorized persons.

Specifically describing one of the preferred embodimentsof our invention, it is illustrated upon Figure l as having been adapted to a store or market building indicated in its entirety at H, having an opening or doorway |2 in the front wall I3 thereof. It will be observed that the doorway I2 is of relatively large proportions, inasmuch as it occupies substantially the entire area of the front wall 3 of the building Our invention makes it possible to employ a door I for this large doorway i2, which is a rigid member adapted to be moved bodily and without altering the shape of the door itself, when opening or closing the door.

Although we do not wish to be so limited, we

prefer to employ a plurality of units or panels l6, which may be assembled into planer alinement and rigidly fastened in such arrangement so as to provide the door ll of thenecessary width. The construction of the door is best illustrated aoiasva upon Figure 'l, which shows all the panels it rigidly secured as by rivets ii. to a longitudinally extending truss I8. This truss it comprises ion gitudinal members I9 and 2|, which preferably are angle irons and which constitute the members to which the panels l6 are secured by the rivets H. The longitudinal members l9 and 2| are interconnected by transverse members 22 which extend vertically when the door is in vertical position, and transverse members 23, which extend diagonally between the longitudinal members l9 and 2|. The arrangement of members l9, 2|, 22 and 23, which is illustrated upon Figure 7 is merely exemplary, it being understood that the particular design of truss |8 to be employed depends upon the dimensions of the door M in any particular installation. In any event, however, the longitudinal member I9 which is uppermost when the door is disposed in a vertical plane constitutes the compression member of the truss |8, whereas the lowermost longitudinal member 2| will be in tension. Thus it may be seen that the truss l8, whatever its specific design, supports those portions of the door I 4 which are disposed between the points of support of the door, from sagging, even though those points of support are relatively remote from each other.

As will be explained herein below, the door l4 lies in a horizontal plane when open, and accordingly we have provided means for supporting those portions of the door which are intermediate the points of support thereof when the door is in open or horizontal position also. This is accomplished by designing the truss |8 as a two-way truss, for which purpose rods 26 are associated with the longitudinal members l9 and 2|. Each of these rods 26 extends between the transverse vertical members 22 which are adjacent the supporting brackets 21, it being understood, therefore, that the transverse members 22 to which the ends of the rods 26 are secured are disclosed at or closely adjacent to the points of support of the door I4. Where the ends of the rods 26 are anchored to these transverse .members 22 they are disposed closely adjacent the plane of the inner face of the panels I6; but from these points of anchorage of the rods 26 they incline outwards from that plane, as clearly shown upon Figure 8 to the central portions 28 thereof, which are retained spaced from the panels l6 by saddles 29. Thus it may be seen that each of the rods 26 co-- operates with the particular portion of the longitudinal member l9 or 2|, as the case might be, with which it is associated, the rod 26 operating as the tension member of the truss and the associated portion of the longitudinal member L9 or 2|, 'as the case might be, operating as the compression member. In other words, the rods 26 .serve as the tension members of the truss and the longitudinal members I9 and 2| serve as the compression members of the truss when the door I4 is in horizontal or open position, whereas the longitudinal member I!) serves as the compression member and the longitudinal member 2| serves as the tension member when the door I4 is in vertical or closed position.

Means are provided for mounting the door for pivotal movement about an axis which extends longitudinally of the door. The position for this axis is so chosen that whereas the door occupies a vertical plane between the jambs 3| at opposite ends of the doorway 2, when closed, the door opens by swinging upwards to its open position wherein it lies in a horizontal plane closely ad iacent the upper peripheral edge, 1. e. the lintel this by disposing the axis about which the door swings, in parallelism with the plane of the door and lying] within a plane which inclines at substantially forty-five degrees with respect to the .plane of the door and from the neutral axis of the door, 1. e. from the horizontal line within the door which includes the center of gravity of the door. is indicated at 33, and from this line 33 a plurality of arms 34 rigid with the inner face of the door, incline, the direction of inclination being toward that edge 36 of the door which is uppermost when the door is closed, and the angle of their inclination with respect to the door being substantially 45. These alined arms 34 are provided with means for bracing them to hold their outer ends perfectly rigid with respect to the door I4, the preferred bracing means being a horizontal arm 31 extending from the outer end of each inclined arm 34 and perpendicularly to the inner face of thedoor, where it is rigidly secured preferably by being riveted or otherwise permanently attached to one of the transverse members 22', it being preferred also that the associated brackets will beprovided adjacent each end of inclined arm 34 is also rigidly attached to the same transverse member 22. Thus it may be'seen that each inclined arm 34 co-operates with the associated arm 31 and the associated transverse member 22 of the truss l3 todefine a bracket on the inner faceof the door l4. One of these the door; and as many additional brackets interbuilding I i.

mediate theends thereof will be provided as are found to be necessary as determined by the particular details ofinstallation, these details including such factors as the weight of the door, its overall length, and the like. i Brackets 33 thus defined are provided with alined hubs33, which may be merely blocks 4| of metal secured to the brackets 33 and having holes 42 therethrough for the reception of a shaft or other suitable pivot means. As-pointed out hereinabove, the common axis of all these holes 42 lies in the plane which inclines at 45 with respect to the plane at the door and which includes the neutral axis 33 of the door.

Supporting means are provided to which the alined hubs 33 are pivotally connected, these supporting means being in the form of stationary brackets 46 rigid with any suitable portion of the For example, the stationary brackets 46 associated with the door bracket 33 which are proximal the ends of'the door may be mounted rigidly upon the jams I3, although they, would operate equally efiicientlyif they were secured to any other supporting structure within or forming a portion of the building ii. For each of the intermediate door brackets 33 a stationary bracket 41 is mounted upon any suitable supporting structure, but inasmuch as it is desired usually 3 to leave the doorway I2 unobstructed when the door is open, we prefer thatnthese intermediate stationary brackets 41 extend downwards from above. To fulfill these requirements it or they,

. as the case might he, should be rigidly secured This horizontal line, i. e. the neutral axis,

each of the intermediate stationarybrackets 41,, this slot 43 extending downwards'within the door from the upper edge '33 thereof, so -as topermit the upper edge 33 of the door topasstthe vertical member 3| of the associated intermediate stationary bracket 41, as clearly shown upon Figure '7. For the sake of convenience throughout the remainder of the specification, both the end brackets 43 and the intermediate brackets 41 will'be indicated by the reference numeral 21, these sta- 1o tionary brackets being the supporting members for the door [4. c I

Whereas the axis about which the door turns when opening or closing lies within a plane which inclines at 45 with respect to the plane of the door and from the center of gravity of the door, the distance of the pivotal axis from the door measured in a line perpendicular to the door may bevaried without departing from the spirit of the present invention. We prefenhoweventhat the distance of this axis from the door be such that it lies within a plane perpendicular to the plane of the door and approximately one-half the distance from the neutral axis 33pto the upper edge 33. This will causethe door l4 to assume 23 a position as it swin'gsupwards into ,a horizontal plane, wherein it extends through the doorway l2 and closely adjacent the lintel 32. Moreover. approximately the lower one-third of the door will extend outside the door, whereas the upper twothirds will be disposed within the building II,

as clearly shown upon Figure 9. Hence, when in open position, thelowerthird of the door which extends outwards beyond the plane of the from. wall l3 of the building ll serves as an awning, inasmuch as it will protect from the direct rays of the sun articles which are displayed within the building and closely adiacentthe doorway l2. Furthermore; this particular arrangement of parts, wherein the axis about which the door rotates isdisposed substantially as hereinabove describedywill cause the door to lie ina horizontal plane when opened fully, which is closely adjacent to the lintel 32, thereby disposing the door in an overhead position, leaving substantially the entireopening of the doorway l2 unobstructed.

Means are provided for counterbalancing the door so that it will remain in any position to which it may be moved without having any meansincorporated therewith.

Figure 2 shows it onemodiflcation of counterfastening 50 balancing device wherein a weight 331s pivotally secured to and suspends from an arm 31 which is an extension of the inclined arm34 of one of 5 the door brackets 31. The axis 33 of the pivot 33 whereby the weight 33 is connected to thearm 31 lies in the same inclined plane which includes the axes of the hubs 4| and the center of gravity of the door. Accordingly, the center of gravity 6 of the door and the axis. of the pivotal connection 33 of the weight 33 to the arm 31 are disposed upon diametrically opposite sides of the axis about which the door turns, and inasmuch as the counterweight 33 is of sufflcient mass .effectually to counterbalancethe door l4, it will be seen that the turning moment of the counterweight 33 if only one be employed, or of the the door applies its force, but in the opposite 73 front wall. I3.

ly connected as by a crank pin 82.

direction of rotation, increase. Accordingly, even without being fastened, the door ll will remain in any position to which it is moved, regardless of whether that position be either fully opened or fully closed, or in any position between these two extremes of movement.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show a modified form of counterbalancing mechanism wherein the counterbalancing effect is identical with that of the mechanism just described, butwherein an added convenience is afforded, 'Here, instead of being pivoted directly to an extension of the inclined arm of the door bracket, thccounterweight 6| is pivotally suspended from a lever 82, adjacent the forward end thereof, and the after end of the lever 62 is pivoted to an idler link 63, which in turn is pivoted to a stationary member such as an extension-64 of the associated stationary bracket 66. An arm 61, which is an extension of the inclined member 68 of the associated door bracket 69 is pivoted as by a pin 1| to the lever 62 intermediate the ends thereof, so that the weight imposed by the counterweight 6| upon the lever 62 is thus applied in a downward direction to the after end of the arm 61, which is upon the opposite side of the axis about which the door turns,.from the center of gravity of the door. The link provides a moving fulcrum for the lever 62, permitting the entire lever 62 to move away from the front wall l3 of the building, while the door swings from'fully open position or from fully closed position to a position intermediate these two extremes of movement. This shifting of the lever 62 compensates for the arcuate movement of the weight 6|, the result being that the weight 6|. moves in a more nearly vertical line and thereby requiring the provision of materially less space for its accommodation. Moreover, this arrangement of parts disposes thecounterweight 6| for movement in a line which lies-between the axis about which the door turns and the front wall l3, whereas inthe'first described modification the weight 56 is at all times upon the opposite side of the axis of rotation from the front wall l3.

As may readily be understood, one or more of the counterbalancing mechanisms and of either modification thereof may be employed, the number and type of counterbalancing devices depending upon the circumstances of any particular installation. It is believed, however, that most installations will operate most efliciently-if one of the counterbalancing devices be associated with each end of the door.

Means are provided for operating the door, i. e., for moving it from open to closed position, orfrom closed to open position. This operating means is of such a nature that the door may efliciently be operated from a location remote from the doorway, if desired. Preferably, however, the parts are so arranged that the door may be opened and closed from outside the building For this purpose a rod 16 is journalled in and extends through one of the jambs |3 in perpendicularity with the plane of the The'outer end of the rod 16 carries'amanually operable crank 11 whereby the rod may be turned by persons standing outside the building H. To the inner end of therod 16, which preferably issupported by means of a bracket 18 rigid with the associated stationary bracket 27, a crank 19 is rigidly secured and to the outer end of this crank 19 a link 8| is pivotal- The other end of the link 8| is pivotally connected to the proximal door bracket 38 at a point between the axis about which the door turns and the door itself. Accordingly, when the rod 16 is turned from the position indicated upon the Figure 2 the crank 19 will be swung upwards, pushing the 5 link 8| upwards and thereby causing the door I also to be swung upwards about the axis of the hubs 39. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that movement of the door M from fully opened to fully closed position requires ro- 1o tation of the crank .19 and rod 16 through substantially 180". However, after arrival of the door M at either fully opened or fully closed position, the rod 16 and crank 19 can be rotated through a few more degrees, thereby causing the i5 crank 19 to pass the dead center position before engaging the stop means which are provided to prevent further movement thereof. This prevents movement of the door M from either its fully opened or fully closed position without first turning the rod 16, preferably by means of the handle 11, and thus prevents inadvertant dropping of the door fromits overhead position, to the possible injury of persons standing therebeneath. Moreover, by providing the rod 16 or the handle 11 with any suitable type of lock 80, adequate means are provided for preventing opening of the door H by any one other than properly authorized persons. Whereas any suitable stop means may be provided, we have found it convenient to so arrange the parts that the crank 19 or the link 8| comes into engagement with one of the members of the associated stationary bracket 2'! after having moved a few degrees past its top dead center position, and with a lug 84 carried by the link 8! after having moved a few degrees past the bottom dead center position. Or, if desired, the lug 84 may be carried by the crank itself and come into engagement with the link 8| after the crank has passed its bottom dead center position.

Whereas it has been stated hereinabove that the counterweight 56 or 6| as the case might be is connected to the associated door bracket 38 through the expedient of an arm 5! or 61 respectively, which arm is an extension of the inclined member. of the associated door bracket, it is not necessary that this extension be perfectly straight, the only requirement being that the axis of the pivotal connection of the weight to that arm lie in the plane which also includes the axis about which the door turns and the center of gravity of the door. Preferably the arm 51 is disposed upon the opposite side of the journal 86, which is carried by the associated 55 stationary bracket, from the door bracket 38 to which'it is connected by means of a pin 81, extending rotatably through the journal 86, both the arm 51 and the bracket 38 being rigidly connected to the pin 81. Accordingly, the turning moments of thecounterweight and of the door respectively will be applied to the journal 85 from opposite sides thereof, thus preventing the development of any torque tending to twist the associated stationary bracket 21, such as that which would be developed if both the arm 51 and the bracket 38 were disposed at one end of the journal. The same effect is gained by connecting the link 8| to the arm 51, but upon the opposite side of the pivot pin 81 from the counterweight 56, so that rotational eifort applied to the door from thecrank 19 also will be upon the opposite end of the journal 88 from the bracket 38. Preferably the arm 51 and the bracket 38, in addition to being rigidly secured to the pin 81 are rigidly interconnected by means of a strip 88, one end of which is rigid with the arm 51 and the other end of which is rigid with the bracket 88 with the intermediate portion 89 of the strip 88, extending through the associated stationary bracket 21, as clearly shown upon Figure 3. This bracket consists of upper and lower arms 8| and 82 respectively, each of which is provided with a block 93 of suitable cushioning material such as rubber, in position to be engaged by the intermediate portion 89 of the strip 88, just prior to the time at which the door arrives at fully opened 'or fully closed position. Hence, these cushioning blocks 93 provide the stop means for the door, holding the door against moving beyond its extreme positions and without permitting the door to come into engagement with any structure on the lintel 82, jambs l8, or the sill 88.

Inasmuch as the force applied to the door in moving it toward or away from open position is applied adjacent only one end of the door, it may be desirable under certain circumstances of installation to substitute a continuous shaft 98 (see Figure 6) for the several pins 81 whereby the door brackets 38 are pivotally connected to the associated stationary brackets 21. This shaft 98 is keyed or otherwise rigidly connected to all of the door brackets 21 and to all of the arms 51 or 81, as the case might be, to which the counter weights 58 or 8] respectively are connected, and is journalled in all of the stationary brackets 21, the result being that when rotational effort is applied at but one point of the shaft 88, this rotational effort is applied to the door at several points by the several door brackets 38. Accordingly this detail of construction co-operates with the truss l8 in distributing stresses imposed upon the door throughout the entire door. Toward this same end the truss i8 is provided with means for preventing racking of. the door from a perfectly flat plane. This is conveniently accomplished by means of gusset plates |8| provided wherever transverse members 22 and/or 23 of the truss I8 are connected to the longitudinal members is or 2|. These gusset plates assist the transverse members 22 and 28 in acting as cantilever beams when a force is applied to the door which would tend to make one end of one of these transverse members 22 or 28 as the case might be, to move away from the plane of the door without there being applied a force of equal magnitude and in the same direction at the other end of that same transverse member. Accordingly, this detail of construction of the door and the means effort to several points within the door when the door is being opened or closed, co-operate with the provision of the intermediate stationary brackets 41 by permitting the use of a door which otherwise would be excessively long, due to its not being reinforced against sagging, bending and torsional stresses.

Whereas any suitable type of weight may be employed for the counterweight 56 or (H, as the case might be, it should be pointed out that the preferred form consists of a hollow container, as best illustrated upon Figures i and 6, which may be shipped empty, and into which any suitable material, such as sand, water, bricks, or the like may be placed after installation. This perpcsed angularly with respect to for distributing rotational mits of accurate adiustment of the counterweights, so that they are capable of exerting just the desired amount of turning movement against the pins 82 or the shaft 88, as the case might be, to counterbalance the door I.

It should further be pointed out that whereas the fully opened position of the door ll has 7 been described throughout the specification and claims as being in a substantially horizontal plane, this and similar terms are intended to be construed broadly enough to include closure construction wherein the door in its open position is at sufficient inclination from the horizontal to insure adequate drainage therefrom.

We claim:

l. A frame for a movable panel comprising a plurality of members amxed to said panel, said members comprising spaced longitudinal members and transverse members interconnecting said longitudinal members at spaced intervals to define a truss, one of said longitudinal members being in compression and another in tension when said panel is in one position and both of said longitudinal members being in compression when said panel is in another position, and additlonal longitudinal members cooperating with said first mentioned longitudinal members to define a second truss the plane of which is disposed angularly with respect to the plane of said first mentioned truss, said additional longitudinal members being in tension when said panel is in said other position.

2. In a panel frame of the character described, a truss comprising spaced chords and web members interconnecting said chords, and means reinforcing said chords against flexure out of the plane of said truss, said reinforcing means comprising another truss the plane of which is disthat of said first mentioned truss.

3. In a panel frame of the character described, a truss comprising spaced chords and web members interconnecting said chords, and means reinforcing said chords against flexure out of the plane of said truss, said reinforcing means com-' prising means cooperating with each of said chords to define another truss the plane of which is disposed angularly with respect to that of said first mentioned truss.

4. In a panel frame of the character described, a truss comprising spaced chords and web members interconnecting said chords, and means. reinforcing said chords against flexure out or the plane of said truss, said reinforcing means comprising another chord rigid with and spaced from each of said first mentioned chords and lying outside the plane of said truss.

5. In a movable panel frame of the character described, a truss comprising spaced chords and web members interconnecting said chords, said chords being subjected to stresses of opposite type in one position of said panel, and an additional chord associated with each of said first mentioned chords, all of said first mentioned chords being subjected to the same type of stress and all of said additional chords being subjected to the opposite type of stress in another position of said panel.

. WESLEY W. EAGER.

COLUMBUS A. TIERN'EY.

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