US2939527A - Swinging doors - Google Patents

Description

E. CANN SWINGING DOORS June 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 18. 1958 INVENTOR. EDWARD CANN AGENT.

E. CA N N SWINGING DOORS June 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1958 IN VEN TOR.

AGEN 11 United States 1 SWINGING DOORS Edward Canu, Summit, NJ.; Joan Calm and The Summit Trust Company, both of Summit, NJL, as trustees Filed Sept. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 761,885

4 Claims. (Cl. 160-87) My invention relates to double/acting doors i.e. doors which swing in two directions, and more particularly to doors which have a thin panel and a. frame which extends along the top and atleast a part of one side.

Double-acting doors are generally mounted within a wall opening with the hinges or pivots located within the opening and spaced back from the edges thereof. As a result the effective or usable width o-f'the opening is reduced by at least twice the greatest overall thickness of the door which, of course, limits the size 'of the trucks which can use the same. In addition when the hinges or pivots are so located they not only occupy space but also are very vulnerable positioned to damage by the trucks using the opening.

The above-mentioned difliculties are particularly severe with doors which have flexible panels and a pivoted supporting side member such as flexible doors of the general type described in my US. Patent 2,279,572. While the panels of such doors are thin and thus do not themselves greatly reduce the effective width of the opening, the pivoted supporting side member, which usually contains a spring mechanism, is of considerable size and restricts the opening. As the supporting side member is pivotally supported at only the top and bottom and is not strengthened by the flexible panel, it is subject to being bent in a direction parallel to the side of the opening when struck by a truck. It has been proposed to eliminate this difliculty by limiting the supporting side member to only the upper part of the door, but such a construction has the serious disadvantage that the lower part of the flexible panel is not properly supported and may be displaced from the closed position by drafts, air pressure, etc. In addition when the trucks are heavily loaded the top of the load may damage the side portion of the frame.

The above difiiculties are particularly prevalent when the doors are used in an opening toa cold storage room or freezer as in such cases it is necessary to keep the opening as small as possible and to keep it tightly closed for as much of the time as possible in order to reduce heat leakage as much as possible. Thus, when the opening is in use it must be utilizedas efficiently as possible by using trucks which are as wide as possible and are loaded as high as possible, and using doors with flexible panels which, by their flexing-swinging action keep as much as possible of the opening closed while the trucks are passing through.

The main object of my invention is to overcome the above difficulties.

A further object is to provide a door, particularly double-doors of the double-acting type, which reduce the eifective width of the opening as little as possible.

Another object is to provide a hinge or pivot construction for such doors which is not subject to damage by trucks using the doors.

A still further object is to so locate the hinge or pivot construction that it can be readily supported over its entire length. r

ice

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the descriptions of the invention progress.

In accordance with the invention I provide the door with pivoting means which are spaced from the adjacent surface of the door. I so shape the side portion of the frame that these means are pivoted at a point spaced back from the side of the wall opening a distance substantially equal to the distance the pivot means is spaced from the adjacent surface of the door. The location of the pivot point of the door and the shape of the side portion are so selected that the door will swing through an angle of at least In one embodiment of my invention I join the flexible panel to the side frame portion at a point which lies between the edge of the wall opening and the pivot so that this joint will lieoutside of the opening and the effective width of the lower portion of opening will be the actual width of the opening minus twice the thickness of the relativelythin flexible panel.

As my invention has particular advantages in connection with double-doors of the double-acting type which have a relative thin flexible panel secured at its top and one side to an inverted L- shaped pivoted frame of considerable thickne'ss,'I shall describe the same in that connection. However, my invention is not limited thereto but is also applicable to single double-acting doors and to doors of other construction.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect I shall describe the same in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing inwhich:

,Figure 1 is a front view of a set of double-acting double-doors according 'to the invention shownmounted infront of 'a wall opening,

Fig. 2 is' a top view on an enlarged scale of a portion ofFig. 1, with certain parts removed,

Fig. 3 isa'sectional view'along line 33 of Figurc 1,

Fig. 4is a sectional view on an enlarged scale along line 4-4 of Figure 1, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional [view of a portion of a door and Wall and illustrates a pivot construction according to another embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, the reference numeral 11 indicates a wall provided with an opening which is closed by two double-acting swinging doors 12 and 13 which are of similar design except that one is a right hand 15 which is provided at its lower and upper ends with pivots 16 and 17 respectively. The pivots rotate in metal plates 19, oneof which issecured to the floor and the other of which is secured to a wooden member 18. Member 18 is secured to the wall 11 by suitable metal brackets 9 and extends the width of the doors and also out from the wall to thereby close the space between the top edges of the doors and the wall.

A wooden member 20 secured to the wall fills the space between the wall and the frame member 15. It should be noted that the member 20 also serves to prevent any blending of frame member 15 when it is hit by trucks.

The doors are provided with suitable double-acting spring means 25 which serve to return the doors to the closed position, but as such means are well known in the art, for instance in my above-mentioned patent, they have not been shown in detail.

Supported from frame member 14 by means of metal strips 21 and flat-head machine screws 22 is a thin flexible panel 23 of a suitable material, such as rubber or plastic, provided with a window 8.

It will be noted that the top part of the frame member 14 does not extend to the edge of panel 23 and this is done so that the frames of the doors will not strike when the doors, which are pivoted off center, are moved into the opening. As'shown in Figure, 3 the flexible panels 23 are allowed to overlap a small amount. 1 1 1 The location of the pivots 16 and 17 and the shape of the end portion of the frame member 14 are so selected that the door can swing through at least 180 as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 2, the distance a between the pivots 16 and 17 and the highest point on the adjacent surface of the door, in this case the frame member-14, is made about equal to the distance b between pivots 16 and 17 and the side of the wall opening. V

In the construction shown in Figure 3 the'connection between the panel 23 and frame member 14 extends slightly into an extension of the opening and is in a position in which it is subject to damage by trucks. This can be avoided by a construction such as shown in Fig-' ure S in which. the connection is made'at a point spaced backfrom the side of the opening and closer to thewall.

While I have described my inventi'oninrconnection with specific examples and certain applications, I do not desire to be limited thereto because obvious modifications will readily present themselves to one skilled in this art.

What I claim is: e

1. A double-acting door swingable on a support spaced from one side surface of a wall forming an opening and spaced back a predetermined distance from the side of the opening, comprising a flexible panel portion, a frame having a side portion extending out from said panel portion, and pivoting means located near the edge of said side portion and rotatably mounted on said support, the distance between said pivoting means and the adjacent surface of said panel portion being at'least as large as said predetermined distance.

2. A double-acting door swingable on a support spaced from one side surface of a wall forming an opening and spaced back a predetermined distance from the side of the opening comprising a frame having a top portion and a bent side portion, a thin panel of flexible material side secured to said side portion, and pivoting means located near the edge of said side portion and rotatably mounted on said support, the distance between said pivoting means and the adjacent surface of said panel being at least as large as said predetermined distance.

3. A pair of double-acting double-doors each swingable on a support spaced from one side surface of a wall forming an opening and spaced back a predetermined distance from the side'of the opening, each door comprising a frame having a top portion and a bent side portioma panel of flexible material substantially thinner than said top portion and being secured at its top and one side to said frame, and pivoting means located near the edge of said bent side portion and rotatably mounted on said support, the distance between said pivoting means and the adjacent surface of said panel being at least as large as said predetermined distance.

4. A double-acting door swingable on a support spaced from one side surface of a wall forming an opening and spaced back a predetermined distance from the side of the opening comprising an L-shaped frame having a top portion and a bent side portion, a thin flexible panel secured at its top and one side to said frame, at least the bottom half of said side portion having a width substantially less than said predetermined distance, and pivoting means located near the outer edge of said portion and rotatably mounted on said support, the distance between said pivoting means and the adjacent surface of said panel being at least as large as said predetermined distance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 115,851 Hawley June 13, 1871 2,041,998 Finley May 26, 1936 2,279,572 Kann Apr. 14, 1942 2,827,117 Bateman Mar. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS,

526,642 France July 6, 1921 1,079,154 France May 19, 1954

Images