US2755500A

US2755500A - Spring bracket

Info

Publication number: US2755500A
Application number: US158129A
Authority: US
Inventors: Warren K Floehr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1950-04-26
Filing date: 1950-04-26
Publication date: 1956-07-24
Anticipated expiration: 1973-07-24

Description

W. K. FLOEHR SPRING BRACKET July 24, 1956 Filed April 26, 1950 Affomey SPG BRACKET Warren K. Floehr, Coopersville, Mich. Application April 26, 1950, Serial No. 158,129

2 Claims. (Cl. 16-76) The present invention provides a biasing system for hinged doors. The principal field of utility of this device is in connection with furnaces. It has been found that explosions in the interior of the furnace of sufficient strength to blow a furnace door open leave the furnace in a condition such as to generate considerable danger to the surrounding building and to the occupants thereof. To avoid flooding the surrounding room with fuel gas, and also to avoid the creation of improper draft conditions if the heating unit again begins to operate normally, it has been found advisable to apply a biasing action to return the door to the closed position after it has once been blown open. It has been the usual practice to provide a helical spring having extended ends and an inside diameter sufficient to surround a pin of the size of the door hinge pintle. If a continuous hinge pin is not present, a rod is provided of sufficient length to extend between the hinge points of the body of the furnace and replace the short pins with which the furnace was originally equipped. The installation of the spring arrangement then involves the insertion of the rod through one of the hinge points on the body of the furnace and then through the corresponding one on the furnace door. Before continuing the insertion of the rod through the next set of remaining hinge elements, the helical spring is placed in position on the rod and given an initial bias sufficient to apply at least some force to the door in the fully closed position. The extended ends of the spring are of suflicient length so that one of them bears against the door and the other against the body of the furnace.

The type of installation outlined above has been generally restricted to that type of furnace having exteriorly available hinge points. There are a great many furnaces in which the hinges are concealed from the outside and which are consequently very difiicult to equip with the hinge rod as outlined above. The present invention is intended to permit this same general type of biasing action while making it unnecessary to replace the hinge elements of the concealed-hinge type of equipments. A bracket is attached preferably to the exterior of the furnace, and the bracket is provided with an extension adapted to operate as an abutment for one of the extended ends of the same type of helical spring as noted above. With the axis and one of the extended ends thus controlled, the opposite extended end of the spring is brought to bear upon the furnace door to create the same biasing action as is generated if the helical spring were to be mounted upon the hinge axis of the door. Some degree of sliding action occurs between the extended end of the spring and the furnace door; but the application of suflicient torque is still possible, and a small amount of such sliding action does not appear to be objectionable.

The various features of the present invention will be discussed in detail by an analysis of the particular embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a furnace door in conjunction with a furnace and showing the various 2,755,500 Patented July 24, 1956 ice components of the biasing system attached in operating position.

Figure 2 is a section taken on the plane 22 of Figure 1, with the door shown in dotted lines.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the body portion of a furnace is generally referred to at 10. The door 11 is hinged to the body portion by concealed hinge means not shown. The bracket 12 is secured to the furnace 10 by the

screws

13 and 14. The bracket has the horizontally extending

legs

15 and 16 having axially aligned holes providing support for the spring-carrying rod 17. The helical spring 18 is formed so that its inside diameter will fit loosely over the outside diameter of the rod 17, and has the

extended ends

19 and 20. The end 19 of the spring bears against the edge of the furnace door 11. The bracket 12 is also provided with the abutment extension 21 having the function of providing a fixed base for the extended end 20 of the spring 18. In the assembly of the device, an initial torsion is applied to the spring such that a continuous force is applied by the end 19 to the door 11 with the door in the closed position.

It is preferred to provide the assembly discussed above with the spring-retaining plate 22. The details and construction of the plate 22 are discussed in the application of Glenn B. Morse, Serial Number 122,300, filed on October 19, 1949, now Patent No. 2,670,197, dated February 23, 1954. The features of the plate 22 are claimed in that application. In summary, the function of the plate 22 is to retain the spring 18 in a deflected condition to facilitate the assembly of the spring to the rod if the bracket 12 has already been attached. If the entire assembly as shown in Figure 1 is applied to the body of the furnace, the plate 22 permits the attachment to be made before the extended end 19 is freed to permit it to apply force to the door 11. The operation of the plate 22 involves a vertical movement sufficient for the hooked end 23 to engage the extended end 19. The hooked end 23 and the slot 24 are located on tangential portions 22a and 22b, respectively, of the plate 22. The cylindrical portions 22c and 22d are formed integrally with the tangential portions 22a and 22b, respectively, and extend around the spring 18 approximately ninety degrees from the point of tangency of the portions 22a and 22b in order to provide an abutment against the spring for resisting the forces generated by the

spring ends

19 and 20. With the lower end of the spring 20 retained by the slot 24, the angular relationship of the

ends

19 and 20 about the axis of the spring are then fixed and the assembly of the spring and the plate 22 can be handled as a separate entity. To disengage the plate 22, the door can be swung open a millcient amount to disengage the hooked end 23, and the plate may then be permitted to drop to the position shown in Figure l in which the spring is left free to apply its biasing force to the door. It is preferable to form the extension 21 of sufiicient length parallel to the axis of the spring to permit considerable variation in the vertical position of the spring 18 in order to adapt the device for various types of furnaces in which clearance for the operation of the device may be somewhat restricted.

The particular embodiment which has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing and discussed herein is for illustrative purposes only, and is not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the appended claims. In these claims it is the intent of the inventor to claim the entire invention to which he is entitled in view of the prior art.

I claim:

1. Biasing means for a hinged door comprising a rod; bracket means adapted to support said rod; helical spring means including a plate having a hook on its upper end and a vertical slot adjacent its lower end and a torsion spring having extended ends respectively releasably and slidably engaging said hook and slot and surrounding said rod, said spring means having freedom to move axially along said rod to a plurality of positions thereon; and support means for one of said ends preventing rotation thereof around said rod in at least one direction, said support means including abutment means secured to said bracket and disposed to engage said end only over a fractional part of the said freedom of axial movement.

2. Biasing means for a'hinged door comprising a rod; U-shaped bracket means adapted to support said rod adjacent the ends thereof; helical spring means including a plate having a hook on its upper end and a vertical slot adjacent its lower end and a torsion spring having extended ends respectively releasably and slidably engaging said received between the legs of said bracket means with freedom to move axially along said rod to a plurality of positions thereon; and support means for one of said ends preventing rotation thereof around said rod in at least one direction, said support means including abutment means secured to said bracket and disposed to engage said end only over a fractional part of the said freedom of axial movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,015,209 Richardson Jan. 6, 1912 1,384,260 Kanter July 12,1921 1,602,729 Walters Oct. 12, 1926 2,493,019 Olvis Jan. 3, 1950 2,670,197 Morse Feb. 23, 1954