US2547089A - Foot pedal operated hopper door - Google Patents

Description

NVENTOR RD E OBERST 2 Sheets-Sheet l l RICHA R. E. OBERST FOOT PEDAL OPERATED HOPPER DOOR April 3, 1951 Filed Dec.

ATTORNEYS April 3, 1951 R. E. OBERST FOOT PEDAL OPERATED HOPPER DOOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1948 INVENTOR RICHARD E.OBERST Illll.

ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOOT PEDAL OPERATED HOPPER DOOR Richard E. Oberst, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application December 11, 1948, Serial No. 64,836

This invention appertains to incinerator chutes and more particularly to a novel device for opening and closing a hopper door for such chutes.

One of the primary objects of my invention is to provide an improved foot pedal actuated device for quickly opening a flush type hopper door and means operating in conjunction therewith for silently closing the door upon release of pressure on the foot pedal.

Another salient object of my invention is to provide a novel and simple means for opening a normally disposed vertical hopper door by the use of a foot pedal which can be operated by a straight downward thrust of the foot.

A further important-object of my invention is to provide a swinging two-armed lever having the foot pedal connected with one end thereof and the door operating link and an air check operatively connected to the opposite end thereof.

A still further object of my invention is to pro vide a novel door check connected with the operating lever of a door opening mechanism, which will permit the quick opening of the door and which will automatically close the door at a desired rate of speed.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a door opening and closing mechanism for incinerator chutes, which can be conveniently mounted within the wall space below the hopper door.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line l-l of Figure 2,,looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating m novel door opening and closing mechanism arranged within a wall below the door.

Figure .2 is a fragmentary frontelevational View of a wall havinga, flush'type hopper, door with my novel mechanism incorporated therewith; parts of the figure being shown in section and the section being taken on the line Z2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 4, looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the novel door closing mechanism.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken at right angles to Figure 3 and on the line @4 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5--5 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating the mounting of the foot pedal and the bracket for the door closing mechanism.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail 1 Claim. (Cl. 268-76) horizontal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure '3, looking in the' direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter D generally indicates my improved opening and closing device for a flush type-hopper door ID, of an incinerator chute H. The chute l l is of common construction and leads to the incinerator (not shown). This chute is in rear of a building wall l2.

Communicating with the chute or flue I I is the hopper buck or box It, which is set in the wall, in any desired way. Fastened to the outer face of the box or buck i3 is a door frame I4 and pivotally secured to the frame [4 by means of pivot pins [5 is the door 16. This door is of the flush type and is substantially in the same vertical plane with the frame l4. Fastened to the door 46 for swinging movement therewith is the sheet metal hopper l'l. When the door It is in its closed position, the hopper I0 is in its dumping position so that any materialtherein will fall into the flue or chute ll. When the door is in its open position "the hopper is raised for receiving the material to be disposed of. So much of this construction is common to incinerators now generally found in apartment houses "and like buildings.

In accordance with my invention, I build in the wall l2, below the buck or box 13, :a sheet metal enclosure box 18 for the door opening and closing device D. This enclosure box is can extend down-ward from the bottom of the buck 13 to the floor and for the purpose of installation and re pair the enclosure box 18 can be provided at'its lower end with a front removable closure plate I9. This plate also forms a guide for certain operating mechanism, as will be later set forth. It is to be noted that all of the parts of the enclosure box 8 with the exception of-the removable plate [9 are plastered -over,-so as to give the wall 12 a somewhat finished appearance. The improved door opening and closing mechanism D comprises a T-shaped base plate 20 which is rigidly fastened in any desired way to the bottom of the enclosure box 18. Rising from the base plate 20 is a vertically disposed standard 2] the upper end of which has pivotally mounted thereto, as at 22, alever 23. The lever is rockably mounted intermediate its ends on the standard and hence the lever is provided with a front arm and a rear arm. A foot pedal 24 is provided for operating the lever '23, and this foot pedal .includes a foot plate 25 and a substantially vertically extending arm 26. The arm is arranged directly within the enclosure box and the lower end of the arm is angled and protrudes through a guide slot 21 in the front plate IQ of the en- 3 closure box. The foot plate 25 of the foot pedal is disposed directly in front of the plate is and is carried by the angled lower end of the arm 26. Theextreme upper end of the arm 26 is connected by means of a pin 28 with the'forward end of the front arm of the lever 23. The foot pedal is movable downward and upward in a substantially vertically plane and a slot can be provided for the pin 23 in order that this movement can be had Pivotally connected, as at 29 to the rear arm of the lever 24 is a connecting link or rod 30 and the upper end of this link is pivotally connected by means of a pin 3| to ears 32 carried by the lower wall of the hopper H). It is to be noted that these ears 32 are in rear of the pivot point l of the hopper door. Obviously, by stepping down on the foot pedal plate the lever g3 will be swun on its pivot and the link or rod will be raised with a direct thrust for opening the door I6. Hence the door can be conveniently opened by the foot, and without using the hands to open the door.

In conjunction with the door opening foot pedal, I utilize novel means for automatically closing the door in a silent manner and at a desired rate of speed. This includes a cylinder 33 havin its upper end closed by a head 34, which forms a guide for a piston rod 35. The lower end of the piston rod 35 has connected thereto any preferred type of piston 36. The lower end of the cylinder carries a cylinder head 31 having an axial port 38 therein. The walls of the port can carry cage :fingers 39 for a ball valve-4ll. Rigidly fastened to the head 31 is a substantially U-shaped bracket 4|. The bracket 4| includes an upper leg 42, a lower leg 43 and a connecting wall portion 44. The upper leg is in tight engagement with the lower face of the cylinder head 31 and this leg has formed therein a valve seat for the ball valve 49. It is to be noted that the valve seat 45 is in direct communication with the inlet port 38. Fastened securely to the connecting wall portion 44 of the bracket 4| is a leaf spring 46 and the outer end of this leaf spring extends under the valve seat 45 and supports the ball valve 40. An adjusting screw 41 is threaded into the lower leg 43 of the bracket 4| and by adjusting this screw the spring 46 can be raised in order to hold the ball valve a desired distance off of its seat. Normally, the valve is held by the spring just a slight distance off of its seat so that upon downward movement of the piston 36 air will escape at a slow rate of speed between the valve and its seat, thus cushiom'ng the downward descent of the piston. A relatively heavy spring 48 is coiled about the piston'rod 35 and one end of the spring bears against the piston 36 and the other end against the cylinder head 34. Consequently, this spring normally functions to lower the piston. Formed on the opposite sides of the leg 42 of the bracket 4| are depending pivot ears 48 and these ears are rockably mounted upon a pivot pin 49 carried by upstanding lugs 50 formed on the base plate 20. Hence the cylinder and its parts are free to rock on the base plate.

The extreme outer end of the rear arm of the lever 23 is pivotally connected by means of a pivot pin 5| to the upper end of the piston rod 35. .Particular attention is invited to the a t 4 that the piston rod 35 and the operating link 3| are both pivotally connected to the rear arm of the lever 23 and hence the link 30 and the piston rod 35 operate simultaneously.

Upon the opening of the door l6 by the foot pedal, the piston rod 35 is moved upwardly and the in-rush of air through the port 38 will cause the lifting of the valve 40. Hence the door can be quickly opened and the opening movement is cushioned by the spring 48. As the door H5 is opened, the spring 48 is placed under greater tension and as soon as pressure is released from ofi of the foot pedal, the spring will function to lower the piston 36 and to swing the lever 23 so as to close the door l6. Upon downward movement of the piston 36 the air will act on the valve 43 and tend to seat this valve and as this valve is only slightly held off its seat by the leaf spring 44, the escape of air from the cylinder 33 will be at a slow rate of speed and consequently the door will be slowly closed and. the closing movement will be effectively cushioned by the air. By lowering or raising the spring 46, the valve 4!] can be held at different distances from its seat so that the escape of air can be controlled at a preferred rate of speed.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen that I have provided an exceptionally simple, durable and compact mechanism for bringing about the effective opening and closing of a hopper door by means of a foot pedal. Attention is called to the fact that due to the compact structure, the mechanism can be conveniently placed within a limited space in a wall.

Changes in details may be made without de-' parting from the spirit or the scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

A spring closer and .check for an incinerator hopper door comprising a base plate, a cylinder, means pivotally connecting the lower end of the cylinder to the base plate, a piston slidably mounted in the cylinder, a piston rod connected to the piston and extending outwardly through the upper end of the cylinder, said piston rod being adapted to be connected to the hopper door, spring means engaging said piston normally tending to lower the piston in said cylinder, said cylinder having an inlet port in its lower end, a bracket secured to the lower end of the cylinder extending under the port having a valve seat communicating with the port, a ball valve for said seat functioning to control the flow of air from said cylinder below the piston, a leaf spring secured to said bracket having an arm disposed under the seat and inlet port supporting said ball valve, and adjustable means for raising and lowering the arm of the leaf spring.

RICHARD E. OBERST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are ,of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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