US2206599A - Sliding vehicle door - Google Patents

Description

' y 2, 1940- P. L. o. DENISON El AL 2,206,599

SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR Filed Dec. 114, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet J 3 r m V N W .6 R

July 2, 1940.. P. L. '0. DENISON El" AL} 2,205,599

SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR Filed Dec.'l4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 P.L.0. DEN/JON fi- E G.O.6uJT

Patented July 2, 1940 UNITED STATES SLIDING VEHICLE DOOR I Percival LewisO. Denison and George 0. Guest,

Winnipeg, Manitoba,

Canada, assignors to The National Cartage and Storage Limited, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Application December l l, 1937, Serial No. 179,772

3 Claims.

Our invention relates to improvements in sliding vehicle doors, an object of this invention being to provide a sliding door especially adaptable to trucks, box cars and the like, and especially refrigerator trucks and refrigerator box cars.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door which at notime during the opening and closing thereof will project beyond the vertical sides or ends of a vehicle upon which it is mounted. Y

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door of the character herewithin described which renders unnecessary the use of a false part, a false wall or false floor for its reception when inopen position.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door of the character herewithin described designed to open downwardly and capable of being closed by a simple lifting movementapplied adjacent the top edge of the door.

A further object of our invention is to provide a sliding door having counter-balance mechanism to facilitate the closing and opening movement.

A further object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is of eminent simplicity of structure, economical to install and which cannot easily become out of order.

With the above more important objects in view and such other minor objects as may appear as the specification proceeds, our invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a closed-in truck fitted with our improved sliding door.

Fig. 2 isa side view, partly in section, of the rear portion of the closed-in truck fitted with our sliding door, shown open.

Fig. 3 is a perspective illustration of our guide bracket.

Fig. 4 is a seotionupon the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section upon the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a section upon the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

One of the inconveniences when opening the rear doors of a closed-in truck which has been backed up against the platform of a warehouse, for instance, is the fact that the swinging type of door constitutes an obstruction, and it may,

for instance, make necessary the removal of material upon the platform in order that the said doors may be swung open, or on the other hand, the doors may sometimes have to be opened before the truck is backed against the platform, and in the case of refrigerator trucks especially, this is a serious inconvenience. On the other hand the doors may have to be opened before the truck is backed against the platform because the lower edge of the doors is below the surface of the platform. Horizontally slidable doors also present difiiculties, one of these difficulties residing in the fact that such doors cannot generally be made sufficiently wide for practical purposes.

Furthermore, they are expensive to install, as are also such types of sliding doors as are designed to disappear within a false top or beneath a false floor. In addition to this, sliding doors of this type generally project in the act of being closed or opened.

The opening or closing of the doors of box 7 cars and especially refrigerator box cars also presents difficulties where the car is standing parallel to and close to the wall of an adjacent warehouse. In such cases it is very often impossible to open the usual hinged door to anything like its full extent, which seriously impairs the ability to move freight into and from the said car. In such cases the usual practice is to open the doors before the car is moved alongside the warehouse, but in some cases this course is not possible. I We have accordingly devised a vertically slidable door, which at no time during the act of closing and opening the same will project be: yond the adjacent surfaces and which will not require the use of a false top or a false floor. Moreover, in the case of closed-in trucks, the door may occupy practically the whole of the width of the truck, which is, in many cases, of considerable convenience for the rapid stowage and removal of freight.

Accordingly, our invention consists of a slidable door I, divided into upper and lower panels 2 and 3, the two panels being connected by means of hinges 4. Hand grips 5 may be provided adjacent the upper edge of the lower panel to facilitate closing if desired, and the panels are designed to slide in a vertical recess 6 formed within the width of the adjacent walls I, flanges 8 being provided along the vertical edges of the two panels to extend into the recesses.

At the top of the recesses 8, we provide upon each side, a stationary pulley 9, over which extends a chain or cord I 0, and at the end of each cord is a counter-weight I I to facilitate the opening and closing of the panels forming the sliding door. The counter-weights may conveniently be maintained against lateral movement by being positioned within a longitudinal square aperture I2, if desired. It should be understood, however, that the foregoing description as to the means whereby our panels are maintained in position between the side walls is illustrative only and many variations may be effected within the scope of this patent. I

Extending along the lower edge of the panel 3, is a reinforcing bar I3 and upon the lower edge of the panel, in substantially vertical alignment with the outer vertical surfaces of each of the longitudinal body supporting members I4 we secure a pair of angle brackets, I5, and angulated guide bar I6 most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings accompanying this specification being pivotally attached by means of the lock nut assembly I'! to each of the angle brackets I5.

To the outer vertical surface of each of the 1ongitudinal body supporting members It is secured a guide bracket I 8, of the configuration clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings accompanying this specification, this bracket being preferably mounted at a slight angle, also as clearly illustrated. This element, it will be seen is provided with a longitudinally extending slot I9, at the rear end of which is small recess 20, the upper end of each of. the angulated guide bars I 6 being provided with an inwardly projecting stud H designed to travel within the slot I9, this stud being maintained within the track by a lock-nut and washer assembly 22 secured to the free end of the stud.

When the door is in closed position the angulated guide bar I6 will be occupying the posi tion shown in phantom lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings accompanying this specification, but when it is desired to open the door after unlocking in the well-known manner, the panels will be pulled downwardly by the use of the hand-grip 5, and as they move downwardly, the guide bars I6 will rotate about the angle bracket I5 at one end and within the track I9 at the other end. When the lower panel has reached the end of its downward travel, the guide bars I6 will have travelled the full length of the slots I9, so that the portion 2| will be resting in the recess 20. At this point continued downward pressure upon the lower panel by the upper panel will cause the former to travel rearwardly through a curved path, while the links I6 rotate in the recess 20 until the lower panel assumes a horizontal position as clearly shown in full lines in Figure, 2 of the drawings accompanying this specification. The upper panel will not change its direction but will be in a vertical plane throughout its entire sliding movement.

When the door is to be closed, it is lifted upwardly by means of the hand grip and as the panel 2 rises vertically the angle between the panel 2 and the panel 3 will become greater as the guide bars rotate on their studs H, which at this time are resting in the recesses 20. When the lower panel has travelled through its curved path and is again in the vertical position, the member 2| will thereafter move out of the recess 20 and travel along the slot I9.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have devised an extremely simplified form of sliding door for use on closed truck bodies, box cars and the like, which can be easily and economically installed upon existing trucks and freight car bodies and which cannot easily become out of order.

It will be understood that our invention is susceptible to many modifications, one of which might consist in the elimination of the herewithin described guide bracket and in such case the angulated link would itself be slotted and a suitably positioned stud would then be secured within the slot. The stud in this case would be stationary. On the other hand, the link might be secured for pivotal movement about a stud fastened to the longitudinal body supports and in this case the link would be slotted, but at the rear end thereof, and possibly about two-thirds of its length. Studs would then be fastened to the lower edge of the panel 3 to ride in the slots when the panel is raised and lowered. In addition, we would mention that by slight modification in structure, our door may be caused to slide sideways or be made to open by a lifting movement, in which case the link would be secured to the top edge of the upper panel 2.

It should also be noted that by further modification of this invention a pair of links may be employed in substitution of the single angulated link described herewithin, such links being freely connected toeach other at adjacent ends. The outer end of one of the links would then be secured adjacent the lower edge of the lower panel, the outer end of the other link being pivotally secured at a suitable point to the rear of the door, such as upon the longitudinal body supports of a truck. In this case a lug or other suitable stop would be provided adjacent the point where the links are connected one to the other to limit the amount of rotative movement between the two.

A further modification would consist of the provision of a pair of tracks below and in end alignment with the tracks herewithin described which extend vertically upon either side of the panels when in closed position. These auxiliary tracks would be hinged at the'upper ends, the point of hinging being somewhat offset to the rear of the tracks. Thus the lower panel would proceed downwardly upon the opening of the door along the auxiliary tracks until the entire Vertical edges of the panel had been received thereinto after which, by continued downward pressure upon the panels, the auxiliary tracks would hinge rearwardly upon the offset hinges.

A further modification might consist of the provision of one of the pair of guide brackets somewhat similar to that herewithin described and illustrated, but placed vertically upon the rear surface of the panel. In this case we would make use of a link, but the said link would simply be rotatably secured at a point adjacent to the rear of the door while the other end thereof would slide within the guide bracket upon the panel.

Since various modifications can be made in the above invention, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same, made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense and We desire only suchlimitations placed thereon as are specifically expressed in the accompanying claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. Ina commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidable, panels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges and positioned in vertical tracks upon either side thereof, means for guiding said lower panel, upon the opening of said closure, towards or into the horizontal beneath said vehicle and to the rear of the plane of said closure when closed, said upper panel remaining in a substantially vertical plane during the guided movement of said lower panel towards or into the horizontal.

2. In a commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidable panels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges and positioned in vertical tracks upon either side thereof, means for guiding one of said panels, upon the opening of said closure, towards or into the horizontal and to the rear of the plane of said closure when closed, the movement of the remaining panel being confined substantially to the vertical.

3. In a commercial vehicle closure, upper and lower vertically slidable panels hinged each to the other along adjacent horizontal edges and positioned in vertical tracks along either side thereof, means for guiding said lower panel, upon the opening of said closure, towards or into the horizontal beneath said vehicle and to the rear of the plane of the closure when closed, the movement of said upper panel being confined substantially to the vertical and. consisting of a downwardly sliding movement terminated when the upper edge thereof is substantially in alignment with the floor of said vehicle.

PERCIVAL LEWIS O. DENISON. GEORGE C. GUEST.

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