US3000062A

US3000062A - Removable mullion

Info

Publication number: US3000062A
Application number: US701197A
Authority: US
Inventors: George T Mccandless
Original assignee: American Hardware Corp
Current assignee: Emhart Industries Inc
Priority date: 1957-12-06
Filing date: 1957-12-06
Publication date: 1961-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 1978-09-19

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 680F613 7." Ne (HA/.042

Sept. 19, 1961 G. T. MOCANDLESS REMOVABLE MULLION Filed Dec. 6, 1957 Sept. 19, 1961 s. 'r. MCCANDLESS 3,000,052

REMOVABLE MULLION Filed Dec. 6, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r u HUI 1N VEN TOR. GEORGE 7' Na Camp/.533

United States Patent 3,000,062 REMOVABLE MULLION George T. McCandless, New Britain, Conn., assignor to The American Hardware Corporation, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Dec. 6, 1957, Ser. No. 701,197 4 Claims. (Cl. 20-11) This invention relates to a mullion of the type used to adapt a double door opening for the use of two single doors carrying rim-type emergency exit locks, and more specifically to such a mullion which may be removed when a full double door opening is desired.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a mullion having novel mounting means to which the mullion may be attached without the use of screws or similar fastening elements, thus permitting quick and easy removal of the mullion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mullion having mounting means which will hold the mullion tightly in position and prevent any movement thereof which might cause rattling or malfunctioning of the door locks.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mullion having mounting means which telescopically receive the top and bottom ends of the mullion and thus eliminate the necessity of using screws or other fastening elements for securing the mullion thereto.

A still further object of the invention is to provide mounting means which are particularly adapted for use with tubular mullions that are produced by an extrusion process.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following descrip- FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional side view illustrating the upper end of the mullion and the upper mounting plate.

FIG. 5 is a similar view illustrating the lower mounting plate.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view illustrating the bottom face of the upper mounting plate.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which the mullion is attached to the lower mounting plate.

The mullion disclosed herein is preferably made of aluminum and is produced in long lengths having the crosssectional configuration shown in FIG. 1 by any well known extrusion process. A mullion for a particular door opening is cut to the specified length from an extruded section and is mounted in the door opening by the mounting means herein described.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the mullion is in the form of an elongated, one-piece, tubular member 5 having a substantially square body portion 6 with a centrally located flange 7 of reduced width projecting from the front thereof. The exterior surfaces of the side walls of said flange 7 contain serrations 8 which are formed in the extrusion process and thus extend for the entire length of the mullion. The interior surfaces of said side walls have ribs 9-9 formed thereon which also extend for the entire length of the mullion, and the center-lines of said ribs are indicated on the exterior surfaces of the side walls by enlarged grooves 10- 10 forming part of the serrations 8.

A pair of conventional strike plates 1111 are secured to the side walls of the flange 7, and the rear surfaces of said plates are provided with vertical serrations adapted to interlock with the serrations 8 of the flange. The strike plates are secured to the mullion by fastening screws 12-12 that pass through transverse slots 13-13 in the strike plates, whereby said plates are horizontally adjustable to different positions on the flange. The said strike plates are provided with the usual projections 14- 14 which are engaged by latch bolts 15-15 extending from emergency exit locks 16-16 that are carried on doors 17-17 which close against the front edge of the flange 7 as shown in FIG. 1. The provision of serrations for the entire length of the mullion permits mounting of the strike plates in alignment with the latch bolts anywhere along the flange 7, and the enlarged grooves 10-10 provide convenient means for locating the drill used to drill the holes for the fastening screws 12-12 exactly in the centers of the ribs 9-9.

In accordance with my invention, the mullion is mounted in a double door opening between the floor, or threshold 18, and the head jamb 19 of the door frame by a lower mounting plate 20 and an upper mounting plate 21.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lower mounting plate 20 is preferably fiat and generally of the same shape as the interior cross-sectional shape of the mullion so that it is adapted to fit snugly and be entirely received Within the end portion of said mullion; the tongue 20-a on said plate extending only partway into the flange 7 so as not to interfere with the ribs 9-9. The intermediate portions of the opposite sides of the mounting plate are outwardly curved providing bulges, or projections, 22-22 thereon whose curved surfaces meet the straight portions of said sides inwardly of the adjacent corners of the plate and engage the flat bottoms of longitudinal channels 23-23 formed in the side walls of the mullion. The width of the mounting plate across the center of the bulges is slightly greater than the interior width of the mullion between the bottoms of the channels 23-23 so that a very tight fit is established between the mounting plate and the mullion. In actual practice, the difference in widths is on the order of .025 of an inch so that the side Walls of the mullion are actually deformed when the mullion is placed over the plate, but the deformation is so slight that it is not noticeable.

It will be seen in FIG. 1 that the channels 23-23 are wider than the bulges 22-22 and thus extend over the sides of the relatively narrow end portions 24-24 of the mounting plate that fit snugly into the corners of the mullion, and that the curved surfaces of said bulges recede from the points where they engage the bottoms of said channels. This construction greatly facilitates the mounting of the mullion on the plate 20 as will be here inafter described.

A plurality of holes are formed in the lower mounting plate 20 for the reception of fastening devices, such as screws 25, which secure the plate to the floor 18.

The upper mounting plate 21 has a recess 26 in its bottom face which conforms generally to the exterior shape of the mullion and includes an enlarged portion 26a that extends inwardly from the rear edge of the plate and receives the body 6 of the mullion, and a narrow portion 26-b that extends from said enlarged portion to the front edge of the plate and receives the flange 7. The length of said plate 21 is equal to the depth of the mullion so that the front wall of the flange 7 and the rear Wall of the body 6 will be disposed flush with the respective edges of the plate as shown in FIG. 4. The said plate contains a plurality of countersunk holes 27 which extend therethrough from the bottom of the recess 3 26 and receive screws 28 that secure the plate to the head jamb 19 of the door frame.

The upper end of the mullion is retained in the recess 26 in the upper mounting plate 21 by a retaining bar 29 which extends across the open end of the recess 26 and is secured at its opposite ends to the rear edge of said plate by screws 303i). Referring further to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the body 6 of the mullion is confined between the retaining bar 29 and shoulders 26c 26c at the front of the enlarged portion of the recess 26.

In order to install the mullion, the lower mounting plate 20 and the upper mounting plate 21 are first secured to the floor 18 and the head jamb 19, respectively, in proper position; the retaining bar 29 having been previously removed. The mullion is then held at an angle to the floor, .as shown in FIG. 7, and its lower end is placed over the rear end portion 24 of the lower mounting plate so that said portion is received between the side walls of the body 6 of the mullion and thus positions the mullion with respect to the mounting plate. The mullion is then pressed downwardly and at the same time is swung toward the vertical in a direction parallel to said sides of the mounting plate as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 7. It will be understood that, since the distance a between the bottoms of the channels 2323 in the mullion is greater than the width of the rear end portion 24 of the mounting plate, the lower edges of said channels will first engage the curved upper edges of the bulges 2222 at a point between the center of the bulges and their intersection with the straight sides defining the rear end portionof the plate and will engage said edges at an angle. The side walls of the mullion will therefore be gradually'spread apart by the bulges while the mullion is moved toward its vertical position.

As the mullion approaches its vertical position, its upper end is guided into the recess 26 in the upper mounting plate until the front wall of the body portion 6 engages the'shoulders 26c-26c. The retaining bar 29 is then secured to the upper mounting plate and the installation is complete.

My improved mullion may be easily removed from the door opening by removing the retaining bar 29 and swinging the said mullion inwardly until its bottom end is disengaged from the lower mounting plate 20.

I claim:

1. In a removable mullion assembly for installation between the threshold and the head jamb of a door opening, the combination of an elongated tubular mullion member having opposed yieldable sidewalls, a mounting plate fitting within the lower end portion of said mullion member and adapted to be secured to said threshold for positioning said mullion member thereon, said mounting plate being of a height such that said mullion member may be swung into a vertical position thereover when pivoted about a lower edge thereof in a direction parallel to said sidewalls, said mounting plate having outwardly projecting portions at its opposite'sides engaging the sidewalls of said mullion member and being of greater maximum width across said outwardly projecting portions than the interior width of said mullion member between its said sidewalls whereby said sidewalls are distorted to provide a tight fit between said mounting plate and said mullion member, the upper edges of said outwardly projecting portions of said mounting plate being engageable by said sidewalls of the mullion member as it is swung into a vertical position thereover and adapted to cam said sidewalls outwardly over the sides of said mounting plate.

2. In a removable mullion assembly for installation between the threshold and the head jamb of a door opening, the combination of an elongated tubular mullion member having a front wall, a rear wall'and opposed yieldable sidewalls, a mounting plate fitting within the lower end of said mullion member and adapted to be secured to said threshold, said mounting plate engaging said walls of the mullion member to position said mullion member on said threshold, the opposite sides of said mounting plate including terminal portions fitting freely between said sidewalls and outwardly curved portions extending from said terminal portions, the maximum width of said mounting plate across said outwardly curved portions being greater than the interior width of said mullion memberbetween its said sidewalls whereby said sidewalls are distorted by said outwardly curved portions to provide a tight fit between said mounting plate and said mullion member, said mounting plate being of a height such that said mullion member may be positioned at an angle thereto with its said sidewalls disposed over said terminal portions and swung into a'vertical position thereover, the upper edges of said outwardly curved portions being engaged bysaid sidewalls as said mullion member is moved toward vertical position and adapted to cam said sidewalls outwardly and over the sides of said mounting plate.

3. In a removable mullion assembly for installation between the threshold'and the head jamb of a door opening, the combination of an elongated tubular mullion member having a front wall, a rear wall and opposed yieldable sidewalls containing longitudinally extending channels in their inner surfaces, a mounting plate fitting within the lower end portions of said mullion member and adapted to be attached to said threshold, said mounting plate conforming substantially to the interior cross-sectional shape of said mullion member and engaging said walls thereof to position said mullion member on said threshold, the opposite sides of said mounting plate including terminal portions fitting freely between said sidewalls and outwardly curved portions extending from said terminal portions and engaging the bottoms of said channels, the maximum width of said mounting plate across said outwardly curved portions being greater thanthe interior width of said mullion member between the bottoms of said channels so that said sidewalls are distorted by said outwardly curved portions to provide a tight fit between said mounting plate and said mullion member, said mounting plate being of a height such that said mullionmember may be positioned at an angle thereto with its said sidewalls disposed over said terminal portions and swung into a vertical position thereover, the lower edges of the bottoms of said channels being engageable with the upper edges of said outwardly curved portions whereby said sidewalls of themullion member are cammed outwardly andover the sides of said mounting plate as said mullion member ismoved toward vertical position.

4. The subject matter of claim 3 including, in addition, a separate mounting plate attachable to said head jamb and having a recess therein-opening to an edge of the plate and adapted to receive the upper end of the mullion member as it is rocked toward vertical position, and a retaining bar detachably secured to said mounting plateand extending over said recess'for retaining the upper end of the mullion member therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Moler Mar. 13, 1956