US2709612A

US2709612A - Safety means to prevent edgewise separation of door and jamb

Info

Publication number: US2709612A
Authority: US
Inventors: George G Fox
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1950-02-23
Filing date: 1950-02-23
Publication date: 1955-05-31
Anticipated expiration: 1972-05-31

Description

May 31, 1955 G. G. FOX 2,709,612

SAFETY MEANS TO PREVENT EDGEWISE SEPARATION OF DOOR AND JAMB Filed Feb. 25. 1950 INVENTOR George GtFwc.

BY E

ATTORNEY nite 1 States atent 0 SAFETY MEANS TO PREVENT EDGEWISE SEP- ARATION OF DOOR AND JAMB George G. For, Meriden, Conn.

Application February 23, 1950, Serial No. 145,691

7 Claims. (Cl. 292-300) This invention relates to safety provisions for door constructions; and more particularly it relates to closure securing or coupling means for use in automobile door constructions, whereby the accidental opening of the door due to frame distortion may be effectively prevented.

in certain specific modifications, practical applications of the invention may incorporate the aforesaid closure securing features as Well as providing an anti-rattle device, whereby a single device may serve to perform both functions.

The invention has particularly useful application 1n automobile door constructions as a safety provision against injury to passengers resulting from accidental opening of the door by distortion of the car frame occurring in a collision. in a considerable number of the accidents resulting in injury to a passenger, it has been observed that the injury was incurred because the passenger was thrown out of a door which was forced open at the time of the accident, as distinguished from injuries which are incurred within the automobile itself.

Investigations of such accidents have disclosed that in many cases the failure permitting an automobile door to swing open under the impact of a collision is due not to the forcing of the latch but to a flexure of the automobile frame resulting in a longitudinal or edgewise separation of the adjacent edge faces of the door and frame in their common plane. This separation causes a momentary inability of the latch to maintain locking engagement with its cooperating striker plate, a reaction apparently not appreciated heretofore, and the door under such circumstances is accordingly free to swing open. Confirmation of the probability of such an explanation is found in the fact that not infrequently an occupant of the car involved in a collision has been thrown out of the car and yet, when examination of the wreck was made, it was found that all of the doors were still latched or closed and still in operable condition.

It is a purpose of the present invention, therefore, to provide a door construction of greatly increased structural rigidity over that possessed by present, conventional types in respect to preventing the aforesaid longitudinal separation of the door from its cooperating frame. In order to accomplish this purpose, the present invention cornprises the provision of closure securing safety means including a door member which projects beyond a free or unhinged edge of the door, and cooperating socket means in the door jamb for reception therein of the door member when the door is closed. In order to provide the desired interlocking engagement, the outer free or projecting end of the door member is off-set from its root portion in a direction vertically and/or inwardly with respect to the cooperating door jamb to provide an overhang, and the socket means is correspondingly formed in the jarnb to receive the off-set door member.

In a typical embodiment of the inventive concept, such means may consist of an in-turned flange running along at least the vertical free edge of the door and preferably along the upper and lower edges also, the in-turned leg ICC of the flange being received, when the door is closed, in a cooperating slot or groove marginally spaced from the edges of the frame or casing.

In a presently preferred form, however, the closure securing means comprises a lug or dovetail member secured to a free edge of the door so as to project outwardly beyond and away from such edge a short distance, this member being adapted and arranged for reception in a cooperating socket member in the frame. Preferably the lug and its cooperating socket are placed as close to the door latch members as is conveniently possible to effect maximum resistance to edgewise separation at that point.

It will be appreciated that in order to be capable of providing any really practically effective resistance to this longitudinal or edgewise separation, the securing means provided must have considerable structural strength both in itself and in the manner by which it is attached or built into the door construction, since a very considerable strain can be placed upon the means by the heavy impact which may be sustained in a collision. It is a further feature of the invention therefore to provide closure securing means which, while economical to produce and mechanically simple to incorporate into door con struction, will effectively transmit any impact load to the door structure itself, so that the purpose of the invention will not be defeated by mechanical failure caused by the separation of the closure securing means from the door and frame respectively.

In order to illustrate more explicitly several specific embodiments of which the present invention is capable, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that such drawings are purely illustrative and are not intended to restrict the scope of the present invention except as required by the accompanying claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a door and door frame, the door being in partly open position, showing therelative positioning of the closure securing means;

Fig. 2 is aside elevational view of the securing members of Fig. 1, parts being broken away to show them in the engaged position which they assume when the door is fully closed;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the door member of the closure securing means;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view in plan of securing means within the scope of the invention incorporated in a typical automobile door construction;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the door member of the closure securing means shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a side View of the socket member within which the door member of Fig. 6 is received;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view transversely of the plane of a door showing a modified form of door and frame construction built specially to provide interlockim engagement between the two; and

Figs. 9A, 9B and 9C illustrate specific modifications of the door member of the closure securing; means embodying the invention.

One embodiment of the invention, illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 more particularly, is adapted for use in doors and. frames of sufficiently heavy construction at the vertical unhinged edge of the door to permit the attachment of the interlocking members directly to the door and? frame edge faces, respectively. In this instance, a door 10 is built up, in a conventional manner, of an outer panel 11 and a peripheral flange 12 secured thereto at substantially right angles to form an edge face of substantial width to which the door member of the interlocking closure means can be secured. This door member is in the form of a lug member 13 having a mounting base 14 and an integrally connected head portion 15 projecting outwardly therefrom. A rectangular aperture 16 is cut into flange 12, and the base plate of lug member 13 is secured by means of machine screws 17 to the inner face of flange 12 so that its head 15 projects outwardly through the aperture. In the present instance, the head 15 of lug member 13 is of generally trapezoidal cross section in the plane of the door, with the longer base of the trapezoid at the outer end of the lug. This produces an overhang having upper and lower faces 18 on the head which flare outwardly to the outer face 15a of head 15 from a relatively narrow neck portion 19 adjacent base 14 of the lug. The length of head 15 transversely of the plane of the door is preferably as great as the width of flange 12 will permit in order that the flared or divergent surfaces 1% present substantial areas transversely of the plane of the door.

The socket member 20 into the mating cavity of which the head of lug 13 passes when the door is closed is recessed into the door frame or casing 21 at a point back from the edge face 26 of the frame a short distance so as to leave a marginal portion of the frame between the socket member 20 and the edge face 26. The socket member is then retained in its recess by

screws

22 and 23. Socket member 20 is provided with a socket 24 which opens both upon the outer face 25 of frame 21 as well as toward the edge face 26, and a slot 26a, in registry with the adjacent opening in socket member 20, is cut into the edge face and margin of the frame. The upper and lower surfaces 27 of socket 24 flare inwardly toward edge face 26 at substantially the same angles as the corresponding faces 18 of lug 13 with which they are adapted to mate in close, transverse, sliding engagement with opening and closing of the door. It is apparent, therefore, that once head 15 of the door lug has passed into socket 20, the latter acts as a positive restraint against movement of the head edgewise of casing 21 and this in turn, of course, prevents the edgewise separation of the door and the casing.

In order to facilitate entry of lug 13 into socket 24 as the door is closed, the leading edges 15b of head 15 are tapered towards each other to give it a slight Wedge shape. In order, also, that the lug and cooperating socket member may serve as an anti-rattle device, the socket is provided at its rear with spring bearing plate 28 against which face 15a of the lug presses to hold the

mating surfaces

18 and 27 of the lug and socket, respectively, in close abutment.

It will be noted that the design of the closure members is such that substantial areas of the interlocking members are in close contact when the door is closed, with the result that any force tending to separate the door and casing edgewise will be distributed over these areas. Where the door and frame are of relatively heavy metal construction, as has been assumed in the foregoing discussion, the use of machine screws or bolts for attaching the closure members to their respective edge faces of the door and frame will provide a sufficiently strong connection for most purposes. Where, however, such method of attachment does not provide the necessary strength, backing or bracing members along the adjacent edges of the door and frame can be employed, and the closure members secured to such backing members in order to dis tribute the load over relatively large areas at the edges of the door and frame, respectively.

In any event, it will be apparent that where either of the component members (lug or socket) of the novel closure securing means is of such conformation and, is so arranged as to have a portion thereof engaged behind at least a part of the relatively heavy structural frame member by which is it carried, as is true of both said members in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, instead of being merely secured by screws or likefastening means to an outer or front face thereof, an applied force'tending to produce the described undesirable edgewise separation of the door from the door jamb does not act in a manner tending to pull out or shear olf such fastening means. On the contrary, application of such force automatically has the opposite result because the tensional stress under which such closure securing member is thereby placed produces a corresponding thrust against its structural support in a direction tending to maintain the desired normal relation of the parts wherein the regular door latch functions properly, while at the same time no strain is put upon said fastening means by such applied separating force. Thus, the lug member 13 has its base plate 14 engaged behind flange 12 of the door frame on which said plate is held by screws 17, while its head portion 15, integrally connected to said base plate by the reduced neck portion 19 extending through aperture 16 in said plate, projects forwardly from the edge face of the door sutficiently far to enter the mating cavity of socket member 20 in the door jamb, upon closing the door. Thus the lug member is interlocked with said socket member 20 which, similarly, is set into the door jamb 21 behind the edge face 26 thereof to which it is secured by screws 23. In this construction and arrangement of parts, and with the door closed to interlock the closure securing members, part of the door flange 12 by which the lug member is supported, and also part of the door jamb 21 by which the socket member 2t) is supported, are interposed or included between extremities of the coupling means considered as a whole; and, more specifically both are, in addition, included between the enlarged extremities of said lug member, considered by itself, as is best shown in Fig. 2. By reason of this construction and arrangement of the parts, an accidentally applied force acting in the plane of the door and door jamb and tending to separate them edge- Wise, obviously produces compressive reaction thrusts of the said closure securing members against the door flange door jamb, respectively. These thrusts oppose such separating tendency, and they are exerted upon said flange and jamb directly, not through the securing

screws

17 and 23. The relatively great structural strength of the frame members of the door and door jamb or casing, in conjunction with that of the interlocking closure securing members or coupling means which, as shown, are themselves of sturdy construction, is thus utilized to especially good advantage in that embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4. But the advantages attending utilization of this important principle of the invention are realized in substantial though less degree even where only one of said closure members has a portion thereof engaged behind a part of the structural member by which it is carried, so that said structural member is included between the coupling means extremities. And this also holds true where, in the case of a lug member having enlarged extremities, a part of only that structural member which supports such lug member is interposed or included between those extremities.

In automobiles, the body is constructed of pressed panels of relatively light gage sheet metal, these panels being supported at necessary points upon rigid frame members of much heavier construction. It is usually not practical, therefore, to secure the closure members only to the light sheet metal panels since these may be easily bent and distorted, if not actually ruptured, at the point of attachment when the closure members are subjected to stresses such as those here contemplated. Fig. 5 illustrates one manner by which the closure members may be installed in a typical automobile door construction consisting of a door 30 and a frame 31 whereby the foregoing difrlculties may be avoided. Door 30 is of conventional, composite, box-like construction consisting of an outer panel 32 reinforced by a flanged annular member 33 of pressed sheet metal secured to the inner face of panel 32 by crimping and welding the edges 32a of the latter about an outwardly directed flare 33a of member 33. As viewed in cross section, the flanged portion of member 33 is relatively wide or deep trans versely of the plane of the door and is angularly bent to provide a series of connected vertical faces 33b, 33c, 33d and 33e. The purpose of this is, of course, to increase the columnar strength of the member. The portion of frame 31 also shown in cross section in Fig. 5 is typical of a conventional upright or center post of a car. This consists of an outer, light gage, pressed, sheet metal skin 34 used primarily for fairing purposes to give a desired external appearance to the car. This skin, however, is backed up by a channel member 35 of very heavy construction which, of course, carries most of the load. One leg of the channel 35 is stepped to provide flanges 35a, 35b, and skin 34 is also stepped to pro vide a series of connected,

vertical faces

34a, 34b, 34c, and 34d, which mate with the stepped surfaces 33b, 33c, 33d, and 33a, respectively, of door 3% Space is left between legs 35a, 35b, of channel 35 and the respectively adjacent faces 34b, 340 of the skin 34 in order to provide a rabbet strip for accommodating the various antirattle, dovetail and latch striker plate fittings commonly employed.

The closure securing members of this invention which are particularly suitable for use in this type of installation are generally similar to those previously described. As before, a door lug 36 is installed from the inside of the door so that its head 37 projects through an aper ture cut in edge face 330! of flange 33. As shown in Fig. 6, lug 36 is provided with a somewhat heavier base 38 than that of the lug shown in Figs. 1 to 4, so as to provide greater stiffness in the member. In this instance too, the base 38 extends for a greater distance above and below the horizontal edges of the aperture in face 33d, parallel to said face, and the vertical extent of the aperture itself is kept to a minimum. Machine screws passing through face 33d into threaded holes 38a in base 38 serve to hold the lug in position and to permit slight vertical adjustment for alignment purposes. The combination of the long, heavy base 33 of lug 36 and the flanging of member 33 produces a structure having great strength transversely of the face 330'. The cooperating socket member 39 into which the head 37 of lug 36 passes as the door is closed is inserted, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of frame 31, into an aperture cut in face 341). The socket member thus nests in the pocket formed by flanges 35a, 35b of channel 35 and face 340 of skin 34. Socket member 39 is provided with a socket it having a restricted entryway 41 (Fig. 7) opening edgewise of the socket member similar to that of a socket member 2t? shown in Figs. 1 to 4, so that head 37 of lug 36 can enter and leave the socket transversely of the plane of the door, but is prevented from any motion longitudinally thereof within the socket other than that allowed by the spring pressure plate 40a at the rear of the socket which presses against the end face of door lug head 37. Flange 340 is slotted to provide an aperture in registry with entryway 41 of socket member 39 for receiving the restricted neck portion 37a of lug 36. Holes 42 are bored through socket member 39 above and below the socket 4t) and registering holes 43, 44, are provided in vertical face 340 and flange 35a, respectively. Holes 44 are tapped and screws 45 pass through face 34c, holes 42, and into threaded engagement with holes i lto secure the socket member directly to the heavy channel In this manner the longitudinal stresses imposed on the socket member are transmitted to the channel and very little if any stress is placed on the comparatively weak skin 3 At the upper and lower ends of socket member 39 there are provided projecting ears or tabs 46 which lie in receesses in vertical face 3412 made for that purpose. Screws pass through holes 4-7 in these tabs and thread into registering holes in the face Mb to hold the outer face of socket member 39 flush with face 341;. Since there is little stress on the socket member transversely of the car,

6 the strength of the skin panel is suflicient for this purpose, although these screws could, if desired be extended all the way to and into engagement with threaded holes in flange 35!) of channel 35.

In order to facilitate alignment during assembly or replacement of the socket member 39, it may be desirable in some instances to employ a standard type of nut plate carrying a threaded nut member capable of limited translational movement for screws 45 to engage, instead of tapping directly into channel 35. In such case, the nut plate is mounted on the inner face of flange 35a and oversize holes are cut through the flange at points adjacent the nuts to permit screws t? to pass freely through the flange and into engagement with the nuts held against the inner side of channel 35 by the nut supporting plates.

The foregoing description has all pertained to a type of interlocking securing means which may be easily substituted for the conventional type of non-interlocking, anti-rattle, door dovetails employed on present-day automobiles. A modified form of the invention, however, contemplates the incorporation of interlocking securing means into the original design and construction of the automobile itself. Such construction is illustrated in Fig. 8 in which door St is provided with an outer panel 5i. whose periphery is flanged inwardly along its vertical, upper and lower edges to provide a curved overhang 52 around the greater part of three sides of the door. The door frame 53, in turn, has a slot or indentation 54 running around and marginally spaced from the edge of the frame for the reception of the in-turned flange 52 of the door. By running the flange along the full extent of the vertical. edge of the door and at least a substantial part of the upper and lower edges, a channel construction is obtained which adds to the strength of the flange in preventing edgewise separation of the door and frame.

From the foregoing typical illustrations it can be seen that various other specific modifications of the general construction herein proposed may be readily devised. As shown for example in Figs. 9A, 9B and 9C, the door lug may assume any one of a large variety of configurations which, in cross section, take the form of an L or a T, or the lug may have a cylindrical head, in which case it will have a circular cross section. The aperture in the cooperating socket member will, of course, assume the profile of the particular lug employed. Quite apparently also the relative positions of the lug and socket members can be interchanged from that specifically shown in the drawings so that the socket is secured to the door while the lug is secured to the frame.

Similarly, several modifications of the in -turned door flange construction in which one or more relatively short lengths of flange spaced at various points along the edge of the door may be employed in place of the hereinabove described extension of the continuous flange around three sides of the door. Each of such relatively short lengths of flange should, however, be reinforced by suitable webs or fillets to resist the tendency of the flange to straighten out when subjected to stress.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle door construction including a metal door and door frame each having a structural member of substantial strength adjacent the Unhinged vertical edge of said door, closure securing safety means for preventing temporary, accidental edgewise separation of said door and frame along said vertical edge by relative movement between the two when disposed in their common plane, which comprises a lug member and a cooperating socket member respectively carried by such structural members, adapted for interlocking engagement upon closing said door; said lug member having a base plate, a head and a neck connecting said head to said plate, and being secured by said plate to one of said structural members at the unhinged edge of said door, with said plate disposed parallel to the edge face of the door and with said neck and head projecting outwardly edgewise of the door, said socket member being carried by the other structural member in position to receive said projecting head when the door is closed, at least one of said structural members having a portion disposed intermediate the head and base plate of said lug member when said door is closed and being apertured to permit the neck of said lug member to pass therethrough; the head of said lug having a portion which overhangs the neck and said socket member being correspondingly formed to provide mating surfaces of substantial area disposed transversely of the plane of the door which permit sliding contact with each other in the direction of relative motion during normal opening and closing of the door but which resist edgewise separation of said door and frame in their common plane.

2. Safety means for vehicle doors as defined in claim 1, wherein the base plate of said lug member is positioned behind its structural member and secured thereto, and said structural member is apertured to provide an opening of sufiicient size to permit the neck and head of said lug to project therethrough but of insutficient size to permit said base plate to pass therethrough.

3. Safety means for vehicle doors as defined in claim 2, wherein said socket member is positioned behind the structural member by which it is carried, and has overhanging portions defining a restricted entryway into said socket member from an edge face thereof, and said structural member having a slot which opens on the outer face of the door and is in registry with the restricted entryway to said socket member.

4. Safety means for vehicle doors as defined in claim 1, wherein said socket member is positioned behind the structural member by which it is carried, and has overhanging portions defining a restricted entryway into said socket member from an edge face thereof, and said structural member having a slot which opens on the outer face of the door and is in registry with the restricted entryway to said socket member.

5. Safety securing means adapted for use in a vehicle door construction in conjunction with manually releasable latch mechanism normally holding the door closed, in order to prevent accidental disengagement of the latch by forcible edgewise separation of the door from its frame at the locality of latch engagement, which securing means comprises a pair of members having securing provision adapting them to be secured to a structural member of a door adjacent its free edge and to the adjacent cooperating portion of a structural member of the door frame, respectively, and having complementarily formed surfaces which, when the pair are so secured and the door is closed, interlock to resist such separation; the dimensioning of said pair of members and the arrangement of said securing provision being such that, when the door is closed, both said structural members have a substantial portion thereof interposed between said points of securement.

6. Safety securing means adapted for use in a vehicle door construction in conjunction with manually releasable latch mechanism normally holding the door closed, in order to prevent accidental disengagement of the latch by forcible edgewise separation of the door from its frame at the locality of latch engagement, which securing means comprises a pair of members having securing provision adapting them to be secured to a structural member of a door adjacent its free edge and to the adjacent cooperating portion of a structural member of the door frame, respectively, and having complementarily formed surfaces which, when the pair are so secured and the door is closed, interlock to resist such separation; one of said pair of members being a lug member having an overhanging head and a base plate integrally united therewith by a neck portion, said base plate being adapted to be secured behind an edge face of one of said structural members with said neck and head projecting through an aperture in said edge face, at least one of said structural members having a portion disposed intermediate the head and base plate of said lug member when said door is closed; while the second member of said pair is a socket member adapted to be secured to the other of said structural members and is formed with a cavity adapted and arranged, when the socket member is so secured, to be entered by the head of said lug member for interlocking the pair of members.

7. Safety securing means as defined in claim 6, wherein said socket member is adapted to be secured behind an edge face of said other structural member, and has its cavity wall adjacent said edge face slotted for registry, when the socket member is so secured, with corresponding slotting of said edge face to permit the lug member head to enter said cavity.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 915,873 Mosher Mar. 23, 1909 1,192,733 Bennett July 25, 1916 1,654,163 Evans Dec. 27, 1927 2,100,591 Haberstump Nov. 30, 1937 2,105,216 Evulich Ian. 11, 1938 2,321,409 Moore June 8, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 294,334 Great Britain -2 July 26, 1928 380,660 France Oct. 14, 1907 573,689 France Mar. 16, 1924