US2632925A

US2632925A - Sliding door

Info

Publication number: US2632925A
Application number: US43375A
Authority: US
Inventors: John B Long; Frank D Downie
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1948-08-10
Filing date: 1948-08-10
Publication date: 1953-03-31
Anticipated expiration: 1970-03-31

Description

March 31, 1953 J. B. LONG ET AL SLIDING DOOR Filed Aug. 10, 1948 m E n T M N m w R WWO m 00 T .D A 5 MM HA mm? 4 4 .2 4 a L Patented Mar. 31, 1953 SLIDING DOOR.

John B. Long and Frank D. Downie,

Alameda, Calif.

Application August 10, 1948, Serial No. 43,375

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sliding doors.-

The apparent advantages of sliding doors are often outweighed by the expense of installation, difficulty of adjustment or repair after installation, and by other disadvantages. For example, doors which slide on a horizontal trackway above or below the door cannot be moved except bysubstantial force, unless the suspension arrangement includes expensive and delicately adjusted ball bearing arrangements or their equivalent.

To avoid these disadvantages, doors have been designed to hang on a cantilever at one side of the door. However, these doors have heretofore fai ed to solve several problems. For one thing, the bars from which the door is hung tend to sag as the door moves out, and either the door scrapes when it is being opened and closed or else it hangs at an angle. Various complicated and expensive structures have been proposed to remedy this difliculty. One of these is shown in the patent to Coe, No. 1,410,167. The remedies heretofore applied have either proved too expensive to bepractical or else have failed to solve the problem.

When cantilevered doors are installed and are adjusted by such expensive methods as those shown in the patents to Clarke, No. 375,260 and Balderson, No. 509,643, the wall is closed up around the cantilevers. Subsequent adjustment can be made only by ripping out the wall to get at the machinery, and if the door sags soon after installation, the cost of repair or replacement is almost prohibitive. If the roller jumps the track, as has happened with some doors, the same thing is true, and the door cannot be moved until the wall is torn out. V

One object of the invention is to solve the above problems.

Another object of the invention is to provide 1 a sliding door which does not require the use of overhead supports or any horizontal tracks.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sliding door of simple and inexpensive construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sliding door which is easy to install.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sliding... door which can be adjusted or repaired; after. it has been installed and the wall completed around its pocket;

Another" object of the invention is to provide a 'sliding 'ddo'r which can be moved by finger-tip action.

Another object of the invention is to provide ,a sliding door which will remain stationary in any desired position, without rolling on across the doorway.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cantilevered sliding door which is inexpensive to produce and simple to install, and which will not sag as it moves across the opening,

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment. In accordance with U. S. Revised Statutes 4888, this embodiment is described in detail, but it is not intended thereby to narrowly limit the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a door embodying the principles of my invention, most of the wall aroundone side of the pocket being removed to show the cantilever with more clarity; the removable jamb is removed, and the door is shown in its adjusting position; the dotted lines at the left of the figure show the cantilever and the edge of the door in its fully retracted position; I

Fig. 2 is a view in section along the line II-II of Fig. l; the removable jamb is shown in place, and the door is shown in its closed or extended position;

Fig. 3 is a view in section along the line IlI-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a. view in plan of a different type of roller and track combination which may be used;

and

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective ofthe adjustment mechanism at the top of the door, the parts being shown partly disassembled in order to show them more clearly.

The invention is an improved cantilevered door. Its cantilever or hanger comprises two crossed bars, the upper end of one bar being pivoted adjacent and supported by the door, while the upper end of the other bar is similarly pivoted and secured at a post in the rear of the pocket known as the cripple. At the lower ends of the bars are rollers which slide on vertical trackways secured to the door and the cripple.

Figs. 1 and 2 show a door It adapted to close an opening H or to retract into a pocket l2 between two walls l3 and M, the walls being completed after the installation of the door. The door frame comprises a cripple 15 at the rear of the pocket i2, a lamb 16 across the opening H from the pocket 12, and a header I! supported over the cripple l5 and jamb l6.

The jamb 16 should be particularly noticed.

It includes a channel 20 covered over in the finished doorway by the removable stop member 2| (see Fig. 2). When the door is being installed or adjusted, however, the element 2| is left ofi or removed so that part of the door l3 can be slid over into the channel 20 (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, dotted lines). In this position the rear edge 22 of the door-l is out ofthe pocket vI2andis accessible for adjustment or removal. When thestop'il is in place again the door cannot be moved out far enough for the mechanism to show. This removable jamb thus makes possible adjustment of the door l0 after installation.

Preferably guides 25 are installed alongthe pated arshort-distance' inside these studs and prevent the door from rubbing against the studs.

"Runners or'tracks are secured adjacent "the lower ends of the cripple l5 and the rear edge 22 of the door 10. These runners or tracksmay either-comprise grooved channels and 3|, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, or projecting ridges 32, as shown'in Fig. '4.

The 'cantilevercompri'ses two crossed arms andg36 pivoted at their center point on a bolt or 'stud 31. The arm' 35 runs from the'upper end of the cripple-i5 to the lower'end of the door l0, and. the arm '36 runs from the lower end of the cripple to the upper end of the door. At its upper end,

the arm 35 is pivoted on a bolt 38, which is held by a bracket 39, fixed to the .cripple l5 about 3 or 4 inches below the header IT.

A somewhat similarbracket 40 is preferably secured at a similarlocation nearthetop of the "door J0 i('see the enlargedyiew 'in Fig. 5). This bracket '40 difiers from the bracket 39 in thatits :upstan'ding'portion 4| "is perforated by two-vertical slots 42. 'A plate 43' has horizontal slots 43 corresponding in position approximately to the slots 42. 'The plate '43"is adjustably secured to :the bracket '40 by bolts 44, the vertical and horizontal position of the plate depending on the position ofthe bolts 44 in the vertical slots 42 and in the horizontal slots '48 inthe plate. The plate 43 is perforatedat 45 to receive a stud or bolt 43 about which the upperend of the arm 33 rotates.

At the lower end ofeach of the

arms

35 and 35 arerollers. 5,3 and 5|, which are adapted to roll 'alongthe'tracks 130 and 3 I. The roller '50 and its track '30 should: be pr por i n so that roller is confined horizontally for a distance somewhat .greaterthan the maximum vertical clearance of thedoon so that it cannot jump thetrack. 'Once the angle ofswing about thepivot point '46 isdetermined, the depth of groove 33 is determined 'by'the proportionsoi the door. For example, the track-3fl shouldbe twice as deep as the possible vertical swingabout thepivot point 46, where the :distancefrom the roller to the pivot point '45 is twice as great as the distance from the pivot point 43' to the upper right hand .corner of the door. Thus, if the track 33 is grooved '(as in Figs. 2 and 3), the groove must be at least as deep as the maximum vertical clearance of the door. If the roller 52 is grooved as in Fig. 4, its groove should be correspondingly deep. Theroller 5| and-runner 3 l -may bethe same as the-roller 50 and runner 30pbut the grooves could be shallower.

-An "important feature of this door is that the ..inch. With a heavy hardwood dooror over-size door, the offset should be about'% of an inch. The effect of this ofiset is to make the door run "up hill as it closes, its uphill path being exactly balaneed by the sag.

To provide exact balance, so that the door will remain stationary in any position to which it is 'moved, there may be a hook 60 on the arm 35, ralhook Simon the. door edge 22, and a spring 62 betweenthem. By having a chain 63 on one end of'thespring 62, the tension of the spring 62 may be adjusted simply by inserting the proper link of the chain around.'the hook 5|.

A door of this type can be moved'withfinger tip pressure. In order to prevent "the rear edge of the doorfrom banging against the cripple when the door :is opened by too'much force, a .shock spring 651may be placed adjacent the upper end ofthe cripple.

It will be evident from :the above. description that even after: the door is :in place it may be readjusted simply by removing the element 2| from. the jamb and sliding the door 10 over into the channel 23. Then the bracket 40'will move 'out'into .the opening. Thedoor :13 may be removed completely; or the pivot point of the arm '33 may be resetpor adjustedhorizontally or vertically. .Also, thev tension of :the spring 52 :may be adjusted "by movinga difierentlink; of .the chain 63 around thehook-S-l.

We claim:

.1. A bracket :for' pivotally supporting one end of acantilever bar: and. for: "enabling the pivot point to. be positioned with respect to a member :to "which said bracket is attached; including :in combination, a plate'.;having .a: pivot pin :transfixingiit and alsohaving'iaiplurality of parallel slots therethrough; an L-channel, :one leg of which is adapted to be secured to :said member, its other leg having a'plurality of parallel slots corresponding in number to the slots on said plate, the slots on said channel running in .a direction perpendicular to the slots in said plate; anda plurality of bolt members, each. of which passes through a slot in said channel .andJa .slot insaid. plate..whereby the location of said pivot pin with. respect .to the member. .to which said bracket is attached can be varied by varyingthe points of intersection of-said-slots.

2. A sliding door construction having provision :for adjustment-thereof after installation in a wall having a door receiving pocket" and a door-closable opening adjacent .oneedge of the pocket, comprising in combination a. door adapted to close said-opening and to slide back into said pocket .for :clearing the opening, a cantilever support including a pairv of 'pivotally connected crossed arms having upper and lower ends, said upper ends of the arms being respectively pivotally connected to a fixed/bracket at the rear of said pocket and an adjustable bracket at .the rear edge of the door adjacent the upper end thereof, said lower ends of the arms being each provided with a roller engageable with a vertical track respectively secured to the rear: of said pocket "andthe rear edge of 'said door adjacent the lower end thereof, an elongatedmoil spring having one end thereof secured to the arm whose upper end is pivotally connected to said fixed bracket intermediate its roller provided end and the pivotal connection between the arms, a spring tension adjusting chain having one end thereof connected to the opposite end of said spring, anchoring means on the rear edge of said door intermediate said adjustable bracket and said second track for selectively receiving any link of the chain in the adjustment of the tension of the spring, and a normally closed recess in said wall at the edge of said opening opposite said pocket for receiving a front portion of the door and with the rear edge of the door together with said adjustable bracket, second named track and said spring tensioning chain exposed in said opening for ready repair or adjustment thereof.

3. The structure according to claim 2, wherein said rollers and said tracks respectively overlap horizontally to an extent greater than the vertical clearance of said door in said opening, so that movement of said door in said opening can not cause said rollers to become disengaged from said tracks, the path of the roller on said track at the rear of said pocket lying closer to the door than the pivot point on said fixed bracket, whereby the door will tend to run uphill at an angle sufficient to balance the amount of sag caused by its extended position.

4. A cantilevered door adapted to move in and thereby; a bracket supported on said door for pivotally supporting the other one end of said cantilever bar and for enabling the pivot point to be positioned with respect to said door, said bracket including a plate having a pivot pin transfixing it and also having a plurality of parallel slots therethrough; an L-channel, one leg of which is adapted to be secured to said door, its other leg having a plurality of parallel slots corresponding in number to the slots on said plate, the slots on said channel running in a direction perpendicular to the slots in said plate; and a plurality of bolt members, each of which passes through a slot in said channel and a slot in said plate, whereby the location of said pivot pin with respect to said door can be varied by varying the points of intersection of said slots; and rollers on the lower ends of said bars adapted to roll up and down on said rails.

JOHN B. LONG. FRANK D. DOWNIE.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 375,260 Clarke Dec. 20, 1887 511,208 Nilson Dec. 19, 1893 606,659 Hartman July 5, 1898 1,267,415 Huckestein May 28, 1918 1,612,934 Miller Jan. 4, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,675 Great Britain May 6, 188'? OTHER REFERENCES Building Reporter, Architect Forum, February 1949, p. 158,