US2604677A

US2604677A - Doorsill seal

Info

Publication number: US2604677A
Application number: US171322A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Boyd E Hornor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1950-06-30
Filing date: 1950-06-30
Publication date: 1952-07-29
Anticipated expiration: 1969-07-29

Description

July 29, 1952 B. E. HoRNoR, JR

DOORSILL SEAL Filed June 50, 1950 l, ..-ll

INVENTOR lyd'rmaz; J1:

ATTORNEYS lPatented July 29, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE `2,604,677 nooRslLL sEAr. Boyd E. Horner, Jr., Fort Lauderdale, AFla. Application June 30,1950, Serial No. 171,322 4 Claims. (Cl. 207-68) This invention relates to door sill seals of the type which are carried by the door and auto.- matically lift responsive to the initial opening movement of the door, and automatically lower at the iinal closing movement of the door to `engage the door sill or floor in an air or moisture tight manner, and to exclude dust, insects and vermin.

In known devices of this charac-ter, the immediate sealing means is usually aexiblestrip extending across the .bottom ,of the door, lifted by a spring which reacts against the seal at one end, and lowered by means located at the opposite end, which opposes the spring. Due to the length of the device, it is` thus subjected lto a twisting torque so that unless made sturdy, the edge of the sealing strip becomes longitudinally distorted and will not lie against the threshold with uniform pressure throughout, resulting in an imperfect seal. The making of the known device -suiciently inherently rigid to withstand this torque distortion increases the expensiveness `offthe device.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a door sillseal of the type described, in which the torque between the spring and the lowering means which acts. against the spring are at the same end of the device, so that the torque effect upon .the seal is confined within a short portion of its length, avoiding thedistortion above referred to.

,Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which vaccompanies and forms a part of the following specication, and throughout the iigures of which the same reference characters have been used to denote identical parts:

Figure l is a front view in elevation showing the lower part of a door and its jambs with the door sill seal of the present invention applied thereto, an intermediate portion of the device being broken away;

Figure 2` is a horizontal section taken 4along the line 2--2 of Figure 1 Figure 3- is a verticalsection taken along the line. 3 3 of Figure l Figure 4 is 4a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1 Figure 4a is a section taken along the line dar-4a of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3, but showing the actuating pin above the axis of the springoperated member, the arrangement being 5s ing a ,lug 29 `-at one point which keys 'into' acorfQr, a door that @1058 with the door Sill Seal trailing;

Figure 8 is a vertical Section italien @199g Us? is .hinged to the amb a; and that iherire ledge' 4' of the door closesagainst a rabbet 45 0n h? fol?? In general aaClOl Sill Seal .i5 RISC@ in @Ime-@HPB with the outsidedoors of a house. These 'may open either into the room-as in most residences, or open toward the street, as in most public build-'- in gs `to satisfy fire regulations. In either ease, the door sill seal is mounted on the outsideof the door, that is, the side exposed to theweather. Consequently, in the closing movement of are#- sidence door the door sill seal lea-ds, while in the oase ci a door which opens to .the street, the door sill seal trails. TheV group o fFigures to 4 represent the door of a residence in'which', in closing, .the door sill seal leads. The doorfsllseal is equally Vadapted to inside doors for`teinpera. turey controlled -rooms or where dust exclusion is of 'prime importance, etc. The door sill [seal comprises a casing 6 which extends substantiany the full width of the space betweejnthe door jambs, .being just sumciently shorter `than said space to clear the jambs in the arcuate move ment of the door. VThe casing comprises a. hol.- low cylindrical portion 'l .and l a ilat f llnge integral therewith yand tangent `thereto, lh ving facilities such as the screws 9 for attaching the door sill seal to the lower part of the doorflie cylindrical portion serves as a'seat vor bearing for a tube I0, which viits rotatably jwithin said casing. The cylindrical portion 1 is provided `.with

Ia slot Il, extending t'l'iereacross,` the width fam?- plitude of said slot beingabout `f` off the' inner circumference of said cylindrical member, said Slot beine Qn the forward :Side 1Q fSail :mmblr beginning substantially at' its horizontal aigial plane and extending. d'ownwardlyQ`W f` 'The tube'l has a relatively narrow slot liet-- tending its full llength and-in registry with Q the slot Il throughout `the range of arcuate move,- ment of said` tube,` as Will be explained Referring @Figure itis ASeen that the endrof the tube I0 which is adiacentthe hinge ,end of the doorfthat is, adjacent the lamb 3, isclosel by means of a cap 13, which .may ;befli-xedin place by yany suitable means. It .isshown have 'responding slot 30 formed in the tube I0. The opposite end of the tube I is closed by a cap I4, secured in the same manner as the cap I3, and the adjacent end of the casing is closed by a cap I5. The cap I has a peripheral lug 3| which projects into the slot II tting the width thereof. A flexible strip I6 of any suitable material, such as rubber, neoprene, etc., has one edge I1 inserted in the slot I2. Said inserted edge extends the full length of the tube IU, the caps I3 and I4 being slotted as at 28 to receive said edge, but the strip I6 extends laterally beyond said edge as at I8 and I9, so as to be coextensive with the overall length of the casing 6. The width of the iiexible strip I6 is such that when it is in sealing relation to the floor or threshold, it is bent out or its normal position of repose and assumes a deformed shape, as shown particularly in Figure 4, pressing the floor or threshold with a uniform pressure from end to end.

A pin 20 is xed within the tube IU adjacent one end thereof, extending outwardly beyond the casing 6 through the cap I4 near its periphery. This pin is designed to engage the stop plate 2|, in the nal closing movement of the door, which is attached to the back Wall of a recess 22 formed in the rabbet of the jamb. The pin 2i! is cut with the rabbets as shown in Figure 6, forming a shoulder 33 that lies adjacent the inner side of the cap I4, a shoulder 34 which bears against the end Wall of the tube I0, and a shoulder 35 which lies adjacent the outer side of the cap I5. The pin so constructed provides stops t0 prevent end movements of the parts which lie contiguous to its several shoulders, and the outer end of said pin is at the maximum radial distance from the axis of the tube ID. giving it optimum mechanical advantage in opposing the bias of the spring A post 23 is xed to the center of the cap I5 and projects inward axially of the tube I0, passing freely through a central aperture in the cap I4. A spring support 24 extends diametrically across the tube I0, having its ends set in apertures in said tube. A spiral spring 25 has its ends respectively anchored to the post 23 and spring support 24, the direction of twist of said spring being such as to cause it to react between the fixed post andthe movable spring support to rotate the tube Ill in such a direction as to tilt the flexible sealing strip I6 in an upward direction, its uppermost position being indicated in broken lines in Figures 3, 4 and 5.

The cap I5 has the arcuate slot 26 through which the pin 20 passes, providing play for the movement ofsaid pin as the tube I0 rotates within the casing.

Figure 3 shows the pin and slot located in the lower arc of the path of oscillation of the tube I0 and adapted to be moved from a low to a high position in said arc when the door is moved in the direction of the arrow t0 close it. Obviously, as the pin 20 moves up, the tube I0 rotates in a clockwise direction, lowering the sealing stripY from the broken line to full line position shown inFigure 3.

AYrieure 5 shows the pm zo andv Slot ze in the upperarc of the end of the casing B. This figure depicts a door which opens outwardly to the street. The arrow indicates its closing direction. It is obvious that, starting with the pin Il in the lower end` of the slot, it will collide with the stop plate 2| as the door closes, and be raised upwardly as it traverses the arcuate 4 wise direction and brings the sealing strip I1 into close engagement with the floor. In this case the stop plate 2| is set out from the door engaging surface of the jamb on a block 21, in-

stead of being at the back of a recess as in Figures 1 to 4.

Due to the fact that the operating pin 20 is at the same end of the tube I0 as the spring 25, only a very small portion of the length of said tube will be subjected to tortional stress, and consequently, the tube I0 may be counted upon to maintain its untwisted cylindrical condition, keeping the lower edge of the sealing strip I6 rectilinear and causing it to press uniformly against the floor or threshold from end to end.

It will be understood that the pin 20 rotates the tube I0 in a contra direction with respect to the bias of the spring 25, so that it is not the spring which presses the flexible sealing strip against the oor or threshold, but the inherent resiliency in the sealing strip, urged by the pressure of the pin 2B.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specic details of construction and arrangement of parts, as described, are by way of illustration and not to be construed as limiting the spirit or scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Door sill seal comprising a casing having means for securing it widthwise against a door, said casing having a cylindrical bore and a longitudinal slot opening into said bore, a tube rotatably tting within said bore having a longitudinal flexible sealing strip secured thereto eX- tending through the slot in said casing, a pin projecting longitudinally from one end of said i0 tube. rotatable therewith and extending beyond slot. This rotates the tube I0 in a counterclock- 75 the adjacent end of said casing, a closure for said end of the tube having a central aperture and a slot at its periphery forming a passage for said pin, a closure for the adjacent end of said casing nonrotatably secured to said casing by a. lug on one interdigitating with a slot in the other, said last named closure having an arcuate slot through which said pin extends and in which it plays, a post iixed to said casing closure at the center extending through the aperture in said tube closure and axially within said tube, a spring support fixed within said tube at a distance from said closures, a helical spring about said post anchored at its respective ends to said post and said spring support under axial tension, normally biased to react against said post to rotate said tube in a direction to tilt said sealing strip upward, said pin and slot being so angularly displaced with respect to the circumference of said tube as to rotate the latter in a direction contra to the bias of said spring when said pin is moved through said slot in contacting the door jamb as the door is closed, for tilting the fiexible strip downward.

2. Door sill seal as claimed in claim 1, the jamb contacting portion of said pin being offset in a radial direction away from the axis of rotation of said tube, thereby increasing the mechanical advantage of said pin in opposing the bias of said spring.

3. Door sill seal comprising a casing having means for securing it widthwise against a door, said casing having a cylindrical bore and a longitudinal slot opening into said bore, a tube rotatably fitting within said bore having a longitudinal ilexible sealing strip secured thereto extending through the slot in said casing, a pin projecting longitudinally from one end of said tube rotatable therewith and extending beyond the adjacent end of said casing, a closure for said adjacent end of said casing nonrotatably secured to said casing by a lug on one engaging with a slot inthe other, said closure having a fixed post at its center coaxial with said tube and extending thereinto, a support for a spring fixed within said tube longitudinally spaced from the inner end of said post, a helical spring within said tube anchored at its respective ends to said post and support under axial tension, normally biased to react against said post to rotate said tube in a direction to tilt said sealing strip upward, said closure having an arcuate slot concentric to said post through which said pin extends and within which it plays, said slot being so positioned as t0 present said pin in position to rotate said tube contra to the bias of said spring when said pin contacts the door jamb as the door is closed, for tilting the flexible strip downward.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 578,616 White Mar. 9, 1897 1,145,196 Higgin July 6, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 756,756 France Sept. 25, 1933