US2921782A - Garage door operating mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 19, 1960 H. H. CAMPBELL GARAGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 21, 1956 2 .4. wk: W E 1- Q F w 7 "U V p N 7 v/ w 2 ZSnnentor H. CA PEEL Gttornegs United States Patent O GARAGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Henry H. Campbell, East Cleveland, Ohio Application December 21, 1956, Serial No. 629,844

1 Claim. (Cl. 268-58) i This invention relates to garage door operating mechanism, and primarily to mechanism for operating overhead doors, although not necessarily limited thereto.

More specifically the invention provides for controlling or effecting a movement of the door by manipulating a flexible means, without requiring the operator to alight from the car.

While the arrangement is generally limited to effecting the. closing movement of a garage door from the drivers seat in an automobile, it is of such simple'compact construction as will enable it to be installedfor operation of existing doors, or at the time of initial construction of the garage and installation of the doors therefor.

In view of the foregoing it is a principal object of this invention to provide a mechanism which may be simply constructed and installed to enable a person to close a garage door without leaving the vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide garage door closing means which may be operated during movement of the vehicle, by the operator, direct operation being effected by flexible means grasped by the operator.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide mechanism of the class described which avails of flexible means, which are connected to the door, do not interfere with normal opening movement of the doorand etfect closing movement as stated, from a position in the vehicle, said flexible means being retrieved by the mechanism and able to be availed of for repeated manipulation for the closing of the door.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which may as readily be availed of to effect closing of double width garage doors as doors of single width, primarily of the over head type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel arrangement to position the flexible operating means for manipulation, and by reason of the manipulation and the manner of effecting the same, cause the flexible means to be released and retrieved by suitable instrumentalities provided.

Other 'and further objects of the invention, as well as the advantages, together with the constructional features thereof are set forth in the specification appended hereto and disclosed in the drawing wherein: I

Figure 1 is a sectional, somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating a conventional garage, the arrangement of the usual over head door therein and the location of the mechanism of which this specification is the subject.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, likewise being somewhat diagrammatic showing different positions of automobile from which the garage door may be manipulated by the means thereof.

Figure 3 is a perspective view, somewhat fragmentary in nature of one form of. operating mechanism, which is primarily availed of for manipulating doors of the double width, over head type;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view in section illustrating the garage door in closed position, andethe various fea- Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken about 2,921,782 Patented Jan. 19, 1960 2' on the line 55 of Figure 4 looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating further in detail, somewhat enlarged, certain parts of the operating mechanism.

Referring to Figure 1, the invention is shown as having been installed in a conventional garage generally indicated at A, which garage has mounted for up and down movement therein an over head door generally designated 1 comprised of the usual four sections, the ends of the sections being provided with suitable rollers for operating in tracks designated 2' at opposite sides of the garage so that the door may assume the position shown in Figure 1 wherein the same is in open condition. The automobile which enters into the operation of this invention is designated at B as being located, in Figure 1, within the garage and preliminaryto backing the same out of the garage.

Referring now to Figure 4, the operating mechanism hereof, is shown in one position, in enlarged condition and will be related to Figure l by corresponding numerals as usual.

The door as initially indicated being generally indicated at 1 includes the sections 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d, the section denoted 1a being at the uppermost portion of the door and'as seen in Figure 1 provided on its rearward side with a suitable bracket designated 3 which may be fastened as by means of any suitable screws such as 4 to the door itself and is in turn aligned with a corresponding bracket, somewhat after the manner of the disclosure of Figure 3, the bracket in this case being designated 5 as contrasted with the initially designatedv bracket 3.

Between the brackets 3 and 5 is a suitable reel 6, which reel 6 is pivotally mounted on the brackets at 7 for rotation therebetween. The reel 6 is provided with a coil spring 8 dead ended at 9 andsuitably connected to the bracket 3 at 10 whereby the unwinding tendency of the spring 8 is in a clockwise direction.

Suitably reeved about the reel 6 is a flexible means 11 which may be a cable or its equivalent, the flexible means 11 passing through an opening 12 formed in the upper portion of the door section 1a.

Suitably mounted adjacent the jamb designated 13 of the garage illustrated in Figure l, and supported beneath the header designated 14-, is a device which is designated 15 and may be called a positioning means for purposes as will subsequently appear.

The cable or flexible means 11 as illustrated in Figure 4 passes into and through the positioning means 15 previ ously mentioned, and is manipulated as will be described in view of the construction of such positioning means which is nowset forth.

The positioning means 15 includes a housing which forms a passage way 16, the housing in plan being generally rectangular and likewise in elevation, including a side wall 17, an oppositely disposed side wall 18, and an end wall 19, the side walls 17 and 18 terminating in their upper extremities in the flanges 21 and 22 respectively, the flanges 21 and 22 affording means for connecting the entire device as by the screws 23 to the header 14.

Parallel to the end wall 19 previously mentioned is a pair of flanges 25 and 26 formed with the respective side walls 17 and 18 as seen in Figure 5, a U-shaped plate 27 spanning the distance between such flanges and being fastened thereto as by means of suitable bolts 28.

The U-shaped plate 27 is provided with a lip 29, Seen in both Figures 4 and 5 over which the cable or flexible means. 11 is trained.

Likewise the U-shaped plate 27 is provided with a dog 30,.pivota1ly mounted at 31 and adapted to extend into and adjacent the side wall 17 as illustrated in Figure 5 in order to engage with and grip the flexible means 11, when the said flexible means is in the generally vertical position illustrated in Figure 4, with the handle 11a of the said flexible means about in the position in that figure. A suitable spring 32 is provided to tend to maintain the dog 38 in the position shown in Figure 5, the dog 30 being of relatively narrow width, sufiicient to grip the flexible means 11 but only when the said flexible means 11 is in the position with the handle 11a thereof as shown in Figure 4.

Also mounted within the housing 15 is a suitable pulley 34, which is engaged by the flexible means 11 when the same assumes the dotted line position indicated in Figure 4 at a substantial angle to the vertical. The manipulation of the handle 711a into the dotted line position shown in Figure 4 also causes the flexible means 11 to be withdrawn from the position whereby the same may be gripped as shown in Figure 5 by'the dog 30, thus actually atfording release of the flexible means 11 in accordance with the desired operation of the device as will be subsequently set forth. It should be pointed out that a suitable stop 11b isprovided on the flexible means 11, the stop 11b abutting the lower edge of the housing 15 as will be readily understood.

The operation of the device will now be described in relation to the sequential manipulations resorted to, the constructional details of the various parts having been described as to one modification.

Assuming that the door 1 is in the position of Figure 4 with the section 1a adjacent the header 14 as shown in that figure, the door is grasped by a suitable handle provided in any conventional door, although not shown in this drawing, and raised into the position shown in Figure 1 whereby the door as a whole overlies car or automobile B and is in the upper portion of the garage 7 adjacent the roof thereof as guided there by the tracks 2 provided.

It will be understood that during the raising movement of the door 1 to the position shown in Figure 1, the flexible'means 11 as to the handle 11a will have remained'in about the position of Figure 4 and a spring 8 will have been Wound up by extension or unrolling action of the reel 6.

Thereafter-the person who is going to back the car out of the garage grasps the handle 11a and positions the same about as shown in Figure 1 so that the handle 11a may be grasped in the left hand as the car is backed out of the garage.

As the car is backed out of the garage, the person grasps the handle 11a and retains a grip thereon, whilst maneuvering the car rearwardly.

As the car reaches the full line position shown in Figure 2, the door will have commenced to move downwardly by reason of the fact that the flexible means 11 will have been fully extended or unrolled from the reel 6 and since it is fastened ,at that end to the reel, will act as a dead end for the initial purposes hereof.

As the car reaches the position shown in Figure 2 in dotted lines, it will be assumed that the .door 1 has likewise reached the dotted line position shown in such figure with the flexible means 11 extended as shown in the dotted lines. Thereafter the flexible means is re -leased, and by reason of the fact that the spring 8 will tend to. Wind the means up in the clockwise direction the said 'flexiblemeans will beretrieved and wound on thereel 6. 1

It will be understood that as the car "B backed outwardly from the position shown in Figure l and the apparent that release of the handle 11a in the dotted line position of Figure 2 will permit-the flexible means 11 to be. retrieved by the reel .6 under the action of the spring .8. 7

It will be of course readily understood that the closing movement of the garage door 1 has thereby been effected from the seat of the-automobile from which the operator has manipulated the flexible means 11 and the said flexible means has returned to its initial position for subsequent operation in the manner specified.

In the Figure 3 disclosure 2. suitable arrangement is provided foroperating of doors of greater widths or if the person desires it of course may be arranged for operating narrower doors.

In this instance the reel 6 is shown as being mounted on the header 14 of the garage opening as contrasted with the former position wherein the'said reel was carried by the door throughout the various movement cycles described.

' In the disclosure of Figure 3 the flexible means will be designated 40 as'be'ing suitably engaged with the reel 6 the reel 6 of course being provided with'a spring such as 8 illustrated in Figure 4.? The flexible means 40 passes over a pair of rollers 41 and 42 mounted on the upper edge 43 of the garage door generally designated 44, the purpose of these rollers 41 and 42 being apparent as desirable to prevent the undue wear on the flexible means 4-!) as the garage door moves through the positions customarily assumed and illustrated specifically in Figures 1 and 2 for example. 7

After the flexible means 40 has passed over the rollers 41 and 42 for example ,it may be reeved'over a pulley 45 carried on a bracket 46 fastened. to the inner surface or face of the door 44. The flexible means may thereupon be extended toward the other end of the door and over a further pulley 47 carried .by a bracket 48 and thereafter the flexible means will go through an opening 49 provided in the door and the opening 49 being like that of the opening 12 in Figure 4,;the flexible means 40 being trained through the unit including the means generally designated 15, all the other parts and arrangements being the same, as previously described.

It will be apparent that manipulation of thehandle40a may be resorted to to cause the flexible means 40 to move in the same manner as was true of the flexible means 11, and the flexible means 40 may thereafter be released when the garage door 44 has been moved to closed condition.

I claim:

In door operating mechanism of the class described, in combination, bodily movable retrieving means, a flexible element connected therewith so as to be retrieved thereby, said element .being reeved with respect to a garage door where by pulling of the element will cause the door to move to closed position, positioning means in fixed position relative the opening at which such door is mounted, said means being operable to maintain the element extended substantially vertically downwardly against the retrieving action and release said element when it is positioned for movement at a substantial angle with respect to the vertical, release of said element thereafter causing the same to be retrieved by the retrieving means aforesaid, said retrieving means including a reel and a spring connected thereto to cause the element to be wound thereon, the positioning means includes a dog for engaging and gripping the element in the vertical position aforesaid, and the reel is mounted on a door for movement therewith, and the flexible element extends outwardly of the door opening whereby to be gripped externally thereof. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,291,029 Lamont Jan. 14, 1919 2,074,347, Steiner Mar. 23, 1937 2,119,335 LeTourneau May 31, 1938 2,166,746 Bartel July 18. 1939

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