US2290063A - Cell door operating and locking system - Google Patents

Description

y 1942- F. A. MONTGOMERY ETAL 2 CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 21, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 2- F; A. MONTGOMERY ETAL CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 21,- 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 2,

- 99 zlwue/wto'ld FfiifonZom (I air/Dorm ED. Gerber July 14, 1942.

F. A. MONTGOMERY ETAL CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 21, I941 July 14, 1942. F. A. MONTGOMERY arm. 2,

CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 21, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 azm ffig' y F. A. MONTGOMERY ETAL 2,290,063

CELL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 21, 1-941 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 JZIV arm JiD. garb r 41 a j Patented July 14, 1942 UNITED STATES PATT OFFICE CELL DOOR OPERATING AND' LOCKING SYSTEM corporation of Ohio Application February 21, 1941, Serial No. 380,038

12 Claims.

This invention relates to door locking and operating mechanism for jails and other institutions and, among other objects, aims to provide a greatly improved system wherein a plurality or series or gang of sliding cell doors are arranged to be operated, to either or both unlocked and open and closed and locked relation either individually and manually or collectively by a single actuating means. The main object is to provide improved auxiliary locking means both for locking the cell doors in their closed position and their opened position, said auxiliary locks coacting with the respective door hangers. Another object is to provide a novel combination of auxiliary locks and combination spring bumper and door starters so constructed and arranged that when the doors are unlocked by the usual locking members, the bumpers will hold the locking members in their unlocked positions and the parts will remain in such position until the doors are again closed, when the auxiliary locks will be automatically tripped and the doors will be.

again locked. Still another purpose is to provide in a system of this type novel latch members which serve to connect the door hangers to a pull bar. A still further object is to provide resiliently mounted latch bolts on the door hangers to permit any jammed door to be disengaged from the operating mechanism, said resilient mounting permitting pull bar actuation of all the doors fully to close them even when the pull bar has expanded or contracted or the parts have become worn. A still further object is to provide novel means simultaneously to disconnect any latch bolts from the pull bar and lock the associated door carriage in open position. Also, an

important object is to provide for over-travel of' the doors when they are opened by pull bar actuation to permit them to kick back slightly toward closed position and there be locked open and, at the same time, be free for manual and individual closing. Another important object is to provide a jail system wherein the locking and operating mechanism over the doors is mounted entirely on the bottom and rear walls of the track box, so that the front and top walls of the track box may be removed as a unit, thereby providing greater accessibility to the-mechanism.

This application embodies certain improvements over a copending application Ser. No. 366,- 478, filed November 20, 1940.

With the above and other objects in View, some of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art and others of which are inherent in parts, this invention includes certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view, partly in elevation and partly in section, showing one embodiment of this invention applied to a single sliding door with the door in closed and locked position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale showing the door unlocked and partially opened;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the door locked in opened'position;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational View, partly in section, showing details of the mechanism for locking the door opened;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the parts in another position;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. '7;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational View similar to Fig. 5 showing details of the mechanism for locking the door closed;

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line |0Hl of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail view showing parts as illustrated in Fig. 9 in another position; and

Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line I2l2 of Fig. 11.

The adaptation of the present invention illustrated in the drawings is suitable for embodithe construction and association and use of the 55 ment in a system and for use with a longitudinal row of cells each having a sliding door 20, only one such door and means for actuating it being here shown for convenience of illustration. This door can be mounted in the same manner as is disclosed for example in said copending application and also in the patent to Garber 1,908,234, having a hanger 2| carried by rollers 22 in a track box 23 above the row of doors. The rollers are guided on a track 24 shown as being secured to the back wall of the track box. In this instance, the doors are adapted to be operated either manually or selectively and collectively by means of a pull rod 25 extending substantially the full length of the track box and connected at one end to a screw extension 26 adapted to be operated by a screw threaded sleeve or nut memher 21 which projects into a cover box or hous-' ing 28 at the end of the group of cells. The sleeve is shown as being journaled in a bearing 29 at the back of the cover box 28 and it is operated by a sprocket chain 39 connected through gears 3| and 32 to a hand crank 33 in much the same manner as is diclosed in the aforesaid copending application.

Each hanger 2| is shown as carrying a resiliently mounted latch bolt 34 slidably mounted in a U-shaped guide bracket 35 which, in turn, is pivoted at 36 to the hanger, the upper end of the guide bracket having an expansion coil spring 31 connected normally to hold it in its vertical or upright position with the lower left hand edge, viewed in Figs. and 7, engaging the pin 38. The latch bolt is adapted to engage an ordinary gap nut 39 on the pull bar having a notch or gap 40 between upstanding cam projections 4| and 42, the forward projection 4| being lower than 1 the rear projection 42. The lower end of the latch bolt 34 carries a rearwardly projecting trunnion 43 on which is journaled a roller 44. The roller rides on a latch bolt bar 45 shaped at its forward end to provide a lifting cam surface 46 designed to raise the latch bolt to an interme diate position when the door is looked, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the gap nut may be free to move to the left. The ends of the latch bolt bar 45 are pivoted to crank arms 41 and 48, the forward arm 4'! being a part of the bell crank 49 having a pin and slot connection to a pull rod 50 connected to be actuated when a selector knife blade or lever 5! pivoted at 52 in the housing 28 is operated to unlock the door as will be hereinafter explained. Herein, the knife blade 5| carries a flexible pull element 53 trained over sheaves 54 and connected by a rod 55 to one arm of a bell crank lever 55. The other arm is connected through a link 51 to one arm 58 of a U-shaped lever 59, the other arm 60 of which has a pin and slot connection 6| to a vertically movable locking bar 62.

The bell crank 55 and lever 59, as perhaps best illustrated in Figs. 9, l0 and 11, are shown as being pivoted on a vertical metal bar 63 secured by means of brackets 64 and 65 to the back wall of the track box and extending downwardly through a pilaster 65. The pull elements 53 leading from the housing 28 to the successive bell cranks 56 for the different doors are arranged at different heights in vertical formation behind the bars 63. For this purpose, each bar 63 is provided with a series of openings or perforations 6'! to receive the pivot bolts or pins 68 of the respective bell cranks 55. The arms 58 and 5|) of the lever 59 are mounted on opposite sides of the bar 63, being secured on a shaft 69 journaled in the bar 63 and in a vertical bracket 10 spaced from the bar 6-3 but secured thereto at its opposite ends. The arm 58 is in vertical alignment with the bell crank 56 and the arm SD is between the bar 63 and bracket 10. It will be understood that each lever 59, one for each door, is arranged in a pilaster below the track box at the same height as that shown in Fig. 9. Thus, in any installation, regardless of the number of cells, the mechanism will be substantially standardized except for the length of the links 5'! connecting the bell cranks 55 and the levers 59. It will be noted that the bell crank 56 is arranged substantially centrally between the bar 63 and the back wall of the track box, the idea being to mount the bell cranks for two successive doors at the same elevation. Then the pull element 53 for Gil one of such doors can be connected to the rear face of one bell crank, while the pull element 530. for the next bell crank may pass in front of the first bell crank, as indicated in Figs. 9 and 10. The bell crank 56 is shown as being mounted in the top openings 61, but it is to be understood that the bell cranks for the first two doors nearest the control housing 28 will be mounted in the lowermost or number openings 61 of the bars 63, the next two bell cranks in the next higher or number 2 openings, and so on. Thus for the fifteen openings 67 indicated in bar 63 there could be a cell block containing thirty doors.

The locking bar 82 is shown as extending downwardly through the pilaster E6 and carries the usual spring-urged bolt H at its lower end coacting with a notched tongue 72 on the door 2|]. To prevent any of the mechanism in the track box from being released should a prisoner in some manner raise the bolt ll, the locking bar 62 is shown as being made in sections, the upper section 13 being formed of two sections of strap metal secured together and bent to form a clevis mounted for vertical sliding movement in guides secured to the bracket H1 and a wall of the pilaster 66 respectively. A block 14 is secured between the lower side portions of the clevis and the lever arm 69 extends between and has its pin and slot connection 6| to the side portions above the block, The other section of the locking bar 62 is shown as comprising a rod 15 slidably mounted in the block 14 and carrying a nut at its upper end normally resting on the top of the block M. The lower end of the rod is connected to the bolt 1|. Thus, when the clevis is raised, the bolt will be raised but should the bolt be raised the clevis will remain stationary.

When the locking bar 62 is raised it also actuates an auxiliary hanger lock in the form of a pivoted hook 16 having a bill l1 adapted to engage a laterally extending pin 18 on the hanger, as best disclosed in Figs. 1 and 9 in which the door is shown as being locked closed. The clevis portion 13 of the locking bar 62 has upper and lower laterally extending fingers or plates 19 and 80, straddling the hook 76. When the parts are in their normal locked closed position, the upper fingers l9 rests on the upper edge 8| of the hook and the lower finger Bil is spaced beneath the lower edge of the hook which is cut away to provide a curved shoulder 82 in vertical alignment with the finger 8B. When the locking bar 62 is raised, the finger 8|] will engage the shoulder 82 and the hook will also be raised or swung up. The hook 16 is shown as having a forwardly offset ear 83 adjacent to the upper edge 8| to which is pivotally connected the forward end of the pull rod 50. The upper edge of the hook is shown as having an upstanding locking shoulder 84 with a vertical face adjacent to the finger so that it will bind or strike against the rear face of the finger 19 if any attempt is made to raise the hook without operating the locking bolt 62 when the door is locked closed, as will be apparent from the position of the parts in Fig. 9. When the locking bar is raised slightly, the shoulder 84 is free to swing clockwise to permit the hook to be disengaged from the pin 18 on the hanger 2|.

The arrangement of the parts thus far described is such that when the knife blade lever 5| is pulled downwardly it will impart clockwise movement to the bell crank 56 to raise the locking bar 62 and consequently the bolt H to unlock it from the tongue I2. At the same time, the finger I9 is clear of the shoulder and continued upward movement of the locking bar 62 will cause the finger 89 to raise the hook I6 and disengage it from the pin I8, at which time the rear pin 85 of the rod 50 will be in the forward end of the slot in the bell crank 49. Further upward movement of the bar 62 will raise the latch bolt bar 45 and thus lift the latch bolt 34 clear of the notch in the gap nut 39. When this happens, the knife blade has been pulled down as far as possible and the door is free to be opened.

In this example, each door is adapted to be initially kicked open by a pivoted spring bumper or starter 86 having a finger 81 engaging the front of the pin I8 when the door is locked closed. Starter 86 is pivoted to be swung counter-clockwise by a coil spring 88 (Figs. 9 and 12) and is stopped in substantially a vertical position as shown in Fig. 11 by a toe 89 which is shown as engaging the bottom of the track box. When the bumper or starter reaches this position, the upper end of its finger 8! lies directly in the downward swinging path of the bill 17 on the hook IS. The attendant or operator then releases the knife blade lever 5| and the spring of the locking bolt II pulls the locking bar 62 to the position shown in Fig. 2 with the bill I! of the hook supported on the finger 81 of the bumper, as shown in Figs. 2 and 11. In this position, the finger 19 rests on the upper edge of the shoulder 84 on the hook and holds the locking bolt in raised position shown in Figs. 2 and 11. Also, the knife blade lever is automatically moved to the intermediate position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 so that the lever indicates the unlocked and partially opened condition of the corresponding door.

All of the foregoing operations take place while the gap nut is in the position shown in Figs, 1 and 2. It will be noted that, when the knifeblade or lever 5| was released, the latch bolt bar was also lowered to its lowest position by virtue of the pin and slot connection of the bell crank arm 49. As the door was kicked open, the latch bolt 34 moved beyond or to the left of the notch in the gap nut and the roller 44 on the latch bolt rolled down and be yond the cam surface 45 of the latch bolt bar. The latch bolt thus has dropped approximately to the level of the bottom of the notch 40 and,

if the doors are to be mechanically opened, the

bottom of the bolt may ride up on the upper face of the cam projection 42 and drop into the notch again when the gap nut is moved to the left. Thus, all gap nuts may be actuated to pick up all kicked open doors to carry them to their fully opened position or return them to closed position. It is only necessary to turn the crank 33 to move the pull bar to the left so that all of the freed latch bolts will fall into the corresponding or correlated gap nut notches.

Assuming that all of the unlocked doors are mechanically opened, continued movement of the the pull rod 25 to the left will move the doors slightly beyond their locked open position as best shown in Fig. 7. Each door hanger strikes a rear spring bumper or door starter Bl), moving the starter to a position to exert force to kick the door toward closed position. The latch bolt 34 remains in the notch 48 of the gap nut. If it is desired to leave all selected opened doors in this position without operating other doors mechanically, the latch bolts and the gap nuts can remain in this engaged postion and serve as locks for the doors. However, it is desirable to release the latch bolts from the gap nuts so that selected doors may be either opened or closed mechanically. To that end, each hanger has a gravity locking bolt 9| which cooperates with separate locking means in the track box. This locking means is shown as including a locking plate 92 pivotally mounted at its rear end of the back face of an angle bracket 93 secured to the bottom of the track box near the rear edge of open door. Incidentally, the rear spring bumper is also mounted on the bracket 93. The plate 92 has a notch 94 in its upper edge and this edge is curved downwardly on either side of the notch to provide cam portions 95 and 96. Incidentally, the front edge of the notch is higher than the rear edge. The plate 92 is mounted in vertical alignment with the rear crank arm 43 of the latch bolt bar 45 and the pivot 91 of the plate is to the rear of the arm 48. The lower edge of the plate 92 is cut away to provide a cam surface 98 which is engaged by the curved upper, rear edge of the crank arm to cause the plate to be swung counterclockwise when the latch bolt bar is raised. The lower forward end of the arm 48 is carried by a stub shaft 99 journaled in a bracket I50, and this shaft also carries a supporting arm IOI having its forward upper edge cam shaped to engage a lateral pin I92 at the front end of the plate 92 as it reaches its raised position and hold the rear upper edge of the plate against a lateral stop pin I93 rigidly to hold the plate in locked position. As the plate is raised, its rear cam portion 95 strikes the lower edge of the gravity bolt 9| and partially raises it. It will be noted that the bolt 9i is slidably mounted for vertical movement only in a guide I94 on the carriage 2| and has upper and lower stop shoulders I05 and I96. It is normally suspended with the upper shoulder I05 restirn on the top of the guide I94.

As soon as the doors have reached the overtraveled position corresponding with that shown in Fig. 5, the knife blade levers 5I are lowered to raise the latch bolts to their uppermost positions, free from the notches in the gap nuts and, at the same time, to operate the mechanism to lock the door open as best shown in Figs. 3 and 7. When the latch bolts reach an intermediate raised position to clear the projections 4| of the gap nuts, the door hangers are free to be kicked toward closed position b the starter 99 Continued lifting movement of the latch bolt bar will cause the locking plate 92 to be raised to its locking position shown in Fig. 7. As the door is also being kicked toward closed position, the lock 9I strikes the forward edge of the notch 94 and arrests the door movement, at the same time the bolt drops downwardly until the shoulder I 85 strikes the top of the guide I94, the parts assuming the final position shown in Fig. 3. Thus, each opened door is kicked to the right to its locked open position and the starters still remain slightly tensioned or sprung to kick the doors toward closed position when they are again unlocked.

To hold the locking plates 92 in their uppermost or raised positions, as shown in Figs. 3 and '7, it is necessary to hold down or look the knife blade levers in their lowermost positions, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Any suitable latch means in the control housing, such as ordinary latch hooks (not shown), can be used for this purpose. These latch hooks, disposed inside of the housing, may be operated by buttons ID! to engage and latch upon the upper edges of the levers and to be disengaged or unlamhed therefrom.

When all open doors are locked open and the latch bolts are free of the gap nuts, the gap nuts and associated parts may be used to pick up and open other doors or the gap nuts may remain in their inactive position shown in Fig. 3. In this position, it will be noted that the latch bolt 34 has been moved forwardly out of alignment with the gap nut notch 38, so that when the latch belt bar 55 is lowered to unlock the door, the bottom of the latch bolt will strike the top of the cam projection ii and ride down its forward surface as the door is pushed forward by the bumper 9E.

If a selected door is to be opened manually, the associated knife blade is pulled down to unlock the closed door and permit it to be kicked initially toward open position, as has already been explained. Instead of releasing the knife blade, it is locked down by operating the button Hi1, thus holding the locking plate 92 elevated in the position shown in Figs. 3 and '7. The door is then manually pushed toward open position and, as it approaches fully open position, the lower edge of the bolt 91 rides up the cam portion 96 and drops into the notch, thus locking the door open.

At the same time, the carriage 2! causes the bumper 99 to swing counterclockwise and places its spring under tension to kick the door toward closed position.

To release the latch bolts and thus unlock the locked-open doors, it is only necessary to release the respective knife blades thus permitting the springs of the lock-bolts H to pull down the lock bars 62 and thereby lower the latch bolt bars 45. This permits the locking plates 92 to swing clockwise so that the forward edge of the notch 94 clears the lower edge of the bolt. At the same time, the latch bolts fall until they strike the cam portions 4|, if the gap nuts are in their extreme rear positions, and the spring bumpers 99 will kick the doors toward closed position, as has just been explained. When this happens, the released door can be closed either manually or mechanically. When the doors reach their closed position, the spring bumpers t8 are tripped or sprung to the right by the pins i8 and the bills of the hooks 16 will drop into locking engagement with the pins. At the same time, the looking bars 52 are released so that the locking bolts H engage the notched tongues 12 of the doors and the knife blades are automatically raised to their uppermost positions, as indicated by full lines in Fig. 1. This position of the knife blades indicates that the respective doors are locked closed.

If the doors are to be closed mechanically after they are initially kicked or started toward their closed positions, it is only necessary to operate the crank 33 to move the pull bar to the right, if the gap nuts have been left in their extreme gear position or, to the left if they have been returned to their forward position, and-bring the gap nuts into registry with the latch bolts, which latch bolts through camming force on their lever ends, will rise over the cam projections 4| or 42 as the case may be, and fall into the notches 40. When all of the doors are thus picked up by their respective gap nuts, the pull bar is operated to close and lock the doors, as previously described.

As all of the mechanism is mounted on the back wall or bottom of the track box, the front and top wall of the track box may be removed as a unit to provide greater accessibility to the mechanism. Referring to Fig. 10, the front vertical wall I03 is made integral with an inclined top wall [09, said top wall being bent downwardly at its back edge to provide a flange H0 adapted to hook over the top edge of the back wall Ill. The front edge of the bottom wall is bent upwardly to form a flange H2 and the lower portion of the front wall carries a plate H3 spaced therefrom adapted to engage behind the flange H2 while the front wall abuts the front face of the flange. To remove the cover |68i09 it is only necessary to raise it vertically. To hold the cover assembled on the track box, the walls I08 and IE9 are shown as having vertical reinforcing ribs connecting them, one such rib H4 being shown in Fig. 10 and indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 9. Each rib has a horizontal shoulder H5 near its rear upper edge over which is adapted to be projected a locking lug H6 carried by a rod ll! slidably mounted in brackets H8. The lug I It has a vertical rear face abutting the rear wall H0 so that it is guided to move horizontally. The rod H1 extends into the track control cabinet 28 as shown in Fig. 1, from which it can be reciprocated in any convenient manner. Thus, the cover IDs-I09 cannot be removed until the rod is moved to release the lugs from their engagement with the shoulders H5. Then the cover may be lifted and removed to expose the mechanism in the track box.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that we have provided door locking and operating mechanism particularly suitable and adaptable for use in jails, prisons, asylums and other institutional installations, which mechanism is simple in its construction and dependable in operation; and that all of the doors or selected doors can be operated either manually or mechanically. Moreover, each door is automatically locked in closed position and the auxiliary locks for the carriage can not be unlocked until the knife blades are operated by the keeper. The springs for the main locks also operate the knife blades so that they indicate that the doors are locked closed. When the doors are actuated mechanically the operating mechanism serves to prevent them from being actuated by the prisoners. If any door becomes jammed, it is automatically released from the gap nut to permit the rest of the doors to be closed. The mechanism is standardized for locking systems embodying any number of doors up to the maximum.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly, since they may be employed advantageously in various combinations and subcombinations.

What is claimed is:

1. In operating and locking mechanism for jails and the like having a plurality of sliding doors, a main locking member and an auxiliary lock connected to lock each door in closed position; lock operating means connected to actuate both locks, said auxiliary lock coacting directly with the door carriage and the main locking member; a separate gravity latch carried by the door; a movable locking member coacting with said latch to lock the door open; and a single actuating member connected to operate the main lock, the auxiliary lock and the movable locking member.

2. In a master operating and locking system for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a track box; hangers for the doors in the track box; a main vertical locking bar for each door; an auxiliary hook shaped locking member coacting with the hanger of each door and connected to beoperated simultaneously with the locking bar; a plunger latch member carried by each door hanger; a gravity operated latch carried by each door hanger; a pivoted locking plate mounted in the bottom of the track box and coacting with the gravity latch to lock the door open; a lever connected to operate the locking bar, the locking plate and plunger for each door; a pull bar carrying a series of gap nuts, one for each door, adapted to be engaged by the respective plunger latches; and means on the plunger latches to hold them out of engagement with the respective gap nuts so that the pull bar is free to operate other doors.

3. In a jail door locking system of the class described having sliding cell doors and a track box above the doors, a main lock and an auxiliary lock for locking each door closed; a lock operating lever connected to release said main and auxiliary locks simultaneously; a latch bolt bar in the bottom portion of the track box also connected to be operated by said lever; a pivoted locking member in the track box for locking the door open connected to be actuated by said latch bolt bar; and a latch member carried by the door to engage said locking member.

4. In a jail door locking system of the class described having sliding cell doors and a track box above the doors, a main lock and an auxiliary lock for locking each door closed; a door carriage in the track box; a lock operating lever connected to release said main and auxiliary locks simultaneously; a latch bolt bar in the bottom portion of the track box also connected to be operated by said lever; a pivoted locking member in the track box for locking the door open connected to be actuated by said latch bolt bar; and a gravity operated plunger latch mounted on the door carriage coacting with said pivoted locking member.

5. In a jail door locking system of the class described having sliding cell doors and a track r box above the doors, a main lock and an auxiliary lock for locking each door closed; a lock operating lever connected to release said main and auxiliary locks simultaneously; a latch bolt bar in the bottom portion of the track box also connected to be operated by said lever; a pivoted locking member in the track box for looking the door open connected to be actuated by said latch bolt bar; a gravity locking bolt carried by the door coacting with said pivoted locking member; a pull bar having a gap nut; and a coupling member on the door, also actuated by said latch bolt bar to connect the door to be opened or closed by said pull bar.

6. In a jail door locking system of the class described having sliding cell doors and a track box above the doors, a main lock and an auxiliary lock for locking each door closed; a lock operating lever connected to release said main and auxiliary locks simultaneously; a latch bolt bar in the bottom portion of the track box also connected to be operated by said lever; a pivoted locking member in the track box for locking the door open connected to be actuated by said latch bolt bar; a gravity locking bolt carried by the door coacting with said pivoted locking member; a pull bar having a gap nut; a coupling member on the door, also actuated by said latch bolt bar to connect the door to be opened or closed by said pull bar; and a removable front cover plate for the track box extending upwardly and then rearwardly from the bottom Wall to the back wall of the track box to expose all of the operating parts therein for adjustment and repairs.

'7. In combination with a sliding door, a main vertical locking bar for said door; an auxiliary hook-shaped locking member co-acting with the carriage of said door; means connecting said main locking bar and said auxiliary locking member to be manually actuated simultaneously, including a loose connection whereby the locking bar can be forced to released position Without releasing the auxiliary locking member; and a spring urged member engageable with said auxiliary locking member when unlocked to hold both the auxiliary locking member and the main vertical locking bar in their unlocked positions until the door is reclosed.

8. In combination with a sliding door and a track box above said door and in which the door is slidably mounted, a hollow pilaster at the closing side of the door; a main vertical locking bar carried in said pilaster; an auxiliary hookshaped pivoted locking member in said track box engageable with a portion movable with the door for locking said door in closed position; means connecting said main locking bar and said auxiliary locking member to be manually actuated simultaneously including a loose connection whereby the locking bar can be forced to released position Without releasing the auxiliary locking member; and a spring urged pivoted door starter connected to hold the auxiliary locking member and the main vertical locking bar in their unlocked positions until the door is reclosed.

9. In a master operating and locking mechanism for jails and other installations having a plurality of sliding doors, a latch bolt carried by each door; a main lock and an auxiliary lock to lock each door in closed position; means including a separate gravity latch carried by the door and a pivoted locking member coacting therewith for locking each door in normal open position; a spring urged starter coacting with the hanger of each door and biased to move the door toward closed position; a single member for operating all of the locks for each door; and a pull bar having gap nuts adapted to be engaged with the latch bolts mechanically to open and close the doors, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by its gap nut whereby the door will be returned automatically to its normal locked open position by the spring starter with the gravity latch and the pivoted locking member engaged when the latch bolt and its gap nut are disengaged.

10. In combination with a sliding door; a mechanism including mechanically operated door opening and closing means; latch means by which said door is connected to and disconnected from said operating means; a separate gravity latch carried by the door; a swingable locking plate engageable by said separate gravity latch when the door is in normal open position to lock the door in said position, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travelof the door beyond its normal open position by the operating means; and means connected automatically to return the door from said over-travel position to said normal locked open position with the 'swingable locking plate engaged by the gravity latch after said latch means is disconnected from said operating means.

11. In combination with a sliding door, a mechanism including mechanically operated door opening and closing means, latch means by which said door is connected to and disconnected from said operating means; a separate gravity latch carried by the door; a swingable locking plate engageable by said separate gravity latch when the door is in normal open position to lock the door in said position; a lever connected to disconnect the latch means from the door operating means and simultaneously move said locking plate to its locking position, said mechanism constructed to permit over-travel of the door beyond its normal open position by the operating means; and means connected automatically to return the door from said over-travel position to said normal locked open position with the swingable locking plate engaged by the gravity latch after said latch means is disconnected from said operating means.

12. In combination with a sliding door, a mechanism including mechanically operated door opening and closing means; latch means by which said door is connected to and disconnected from said operating means; a locking member carried by the door and separate from said latch means; a pivoted member engageable by said locking member when the door is in normal open position; manually operable means to actuate said latch means to the connected and disconnected position; means also connecting said manually operable means to actuate said pivoted member, said mechanism constructed to permit overtravel of the door beyond its normal open position by the operating means; and means connected automatically to return the door from said over-travel position to said normal locked open position with the pivoted member engaged by the locking member after said latch means is disconnected from said operating means.

FREDERICK A. MONTGOMERY. JAMES T. VAN DORN. HARRY D. GARBER.

Images