US3354497A

US3354497A - Panic release door arm

Info

Publication number: US3354497A
Application number: US543672A
Authority: US
Inventors: Armento Fred
Original assignee: Republic Industries Inc
Current assignee: Republic Industries Inc
Priority date: 1966-04-19
Filing date: 1966-04-19
Publication date: 1967-11-28
Anticipated expiration: 1984-11-28

Description

Nov. 28, 1967 F. ARMENTO 3,354,497

PANIC RELEASE DOOR ARM Filed April l9, 1966 United States Patent O 3,354,497 PANIC RELEASE DOOR ARM Fred Armento, Alpine, NJ., assignor to Republic Industries, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 543,672 6 claims. (C1. 16-55) This invention relates generally to the art of door control devices. More particularly it relates to a c-ontrol arm which is used to connect an automatic door operator mechanism with a swinging door.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a novel door control arm for connecting an automatic door operator t-o a door, which permits the door to break free and swing in either direction under emergency conditions, and which prevents subsequent automatic operation of the door until the mechanism has been manually reset.

An additional object is to provide an improved door control mechanism of the type described above which can be manually reset simply by manually swinging the door approximately to closed position.

Yet another object is to provide a novel door control arm of the type discussed above which will prevent the door from being swung by the automatic door operator once the door has been manually opened under panic or other emergency conditions, for instance.

Door control devices which simply swing a manually opened door toward closed position under control are, of course, old, and it also is old to provide these mechanisms in an embodiment which is mounted beneath the floor, the door controller having an upstanding spindle which is connected to a door such that when the door is swung toward open position, it rotates the door control spindle against the resistance of a spring. When the opened door is released, the action of the spring rotates the spindle so as to swing the door to closed position, the closing movement being under the control of a hydraulic damping arrangement.

The commonly used scheme for connecting the rotating spindle to the door is to provide the spindle end-which usually is either cylindrical or tapered-with at sides, and to t a door control arm socket over the end of the spindle, with the flat sides of the spindle in engagement with complementaryl surfaces in the door arm socket, thereby coupling the arm to swing with spindle rotation. This arm then is fitted into a slot in the bottom edge of the door near the hinged edge, and the free end of the arm is connected to the door in some fashion so that the door and the spindle swing together, Usually some arrangement is provided to accomplish adjustment of relative position as between the spindle and the door.

The arrangement generally described above has been used both for coupling a do-or to a floor mounted checking door closer, and for connecting a door to an automatic door operator. The d-oor operator differs from the door closer principally in that it has a source of power which rotates the spindle to swing the door to open positi-onV whenever a person steps upon a mat switch, or otherwise makes an electrical contact which informs the mechanism that the door should be swung open. After the person has passed through the doorway, power is automatically removed from the door operator, and the door swings closed under control.

The above-described general arrangement for connect ing a door to an automatic door closer-is shown in Carlson Patents Nos. 2,595,187 and 2,603,818. Automatic door operator mechanisms which use essentially this same type door arm are shown and describd in Carlson Patents Nos. 2,739,808 and 2,789,814.

One dilculty encountered in connecting the spindle of a door closer to a swinging door in the manner described above is that if the door is of the type which is designed to swing inwardly, the door cannot be swung outwardly under panic conditions.

A solution to this problem, so far as door closers are concerned, is shown in Carlson Patent No. 2,923,962, which, so far as is known, is the most nearly similar prior device. That device, however, is not suitable for use with automatic door operators of the type contemplated by the present invention.

In the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of reference refer to similar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal medial sectional view showing a portion of a door and the floor therebeneath, the door operator spindle, and the control arm of the present invention in their assembled relationship;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1, downwardly as indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 3 is a fractional sectional View which constitutes a portion of FIG. 2, but showing the elements in altered position.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the floor beneath the door is indicated at 10, and the top of the door operator spindle housing appears at 12. The spindle 14 extends upwardly through the housing 12, and is cylindrical except that it has fiat tapered faces oppositely disposed at 16. The door closer arm, indicated generally at 18, is connected to the spindle 14 andlies within a recess 20 formed within the bottom edge of the door 22. The top of the recess 20 is closed by a web 24 against which the mounting plate 26 of the arm 18 is secured by screws 28, one or more shims 30 being interposed, aS necessary, to adjust the position of the door upwardly or downwardly relative to the floor 10.

The door arm structure includes the flat plate 26 adapted for attachment directly to the door, and this plate carries a downwardly extending peg 32 riveted thereto. This plate is intended to be secured to the door as a separate element prior to attachment of the door to the principal structure of the door arm.

The principal portion of the door arm mechanism, which connects the spindle 14 to the plate 26, consists of a at plate 34 forked at its rearward end to provide a slot just wide enough to embrace the peg 32. The end of the slot beyond the peg is closed by a transversely extending bridge member 38 riveted at both ends to the plate 34. This bridge 38 carries an adjustment screw 40, the inner end of which bears against the rearward surface of the peg 32 when the parts are in assembled relationship. Preferably, the end of the screw 40, which is against the peg 32, is grooved transversely to lit the surface of the peg 32 when the screw 40 is in a certain position, or when it is rotated from the certain position. This provides a self-locking action, so that the screw will remain fixed after adjustment, the adjustment being accomplished in steps of one half turn each of the screw 40. The purpose of this screw adjustment is to shift the door slightly relative to the spindle 14.

At its opposite end, the plate 34 is secured to a block 42 drilled and tapped transversely in two locations to receive a pair of screws 44 which extend through slots in the side walls of the door 22, these screws being used to adjust the right hand end of the arm, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, slightly transversely within the recess 20 so that the door comes to the proper closed position when the door operator is at rest.

A housing 44, preferably formed as a beryllium copper casting, is secured to and extends downwardly from the plate 34 in a position near the peg 32. This housing is machined to provide a vertical cylindrical passage 46 closed at the top by the plate 34. A cylindrical sleeve 48 is fitted to rotate in the passage 46, the thrust being taken at its upper end which bears against the plate 34. This sleeve 4S is formed internally to provide a socket which has surfaces complementary to the upper end of the spindle 14, so that flat tapered surfaces within the sleeve tit the tapered surfaces 16 of the spindle 14. Thus, when the sleeve 48 is in position upon the spindle 14 there can be no relative rotation between the two.

The housing 44 is machined to provide a passage 50 extending horizontally away from the sleeve 48 to the right as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, this passage being fitted to a longitudinally movable latching bolt 52 having a wedge-shaped nose 54 at the end adjacent the sleeve 48. The opposite end of the bolt 52 has an enlarged head 55 which is partially squared as at 56. This head fits within a squared recess 58 at the end of the passage 50, an annular shoulder 60 being provided between the passage 50 and the recess 58. The squared surfaces on the bolt and within the recess prevent bolt rotation. The shoulder 60, in conjunction with the inner surface of the head 55, acts to limit inward travel of the bolt 52.

A sleeve 62 is tted to the housing member 44, as by threading, and extends outwardly in alignment with the passage 50. This sleeve 62 encloses a heavy coil spring 64 which is pressed against the outer face of the bolt head 55 by an adjustable spring base 66 at the end of a screw 68 threaded through a plug 70 which closes the outer end of the passage through the sleeve 62. In this particular instance, the plug is machined to slip into the sleeve, these elements then being welded together. Thus, by turning the screw 68, pressure applied by the spring 64 for urging the bolt 52 inwardly against the sleeve 48 can be adjusted.

At the point where the wedge-shaped nose 54 of the bolt 52 engages the sleeve 48-with the sleeve rotated relative to the arm 34 such that the door is properly aligned in the doorway with the system at rest--the nose 54 enters into a wedge-shaped notch 72 (best seen in FIG. 3), thus latching the main portion of the door arm and the door into xed relationship relative to the sleeve 48 and spindle 14. Under these conditions, the under face of the bolt head 55 almost touches the shoulder 60, the spacing here being only sufficient to insure that the end of the bolt is well seated within the notch 72 without there being interference as between the shoulder 60 and the head 55.

If sufcient turning force is applied to the door and the door arm while the spindle 14 remains stationary, the nose 54 of the bolt 52 will be wedged out of the notch 72, the spring 64 being compressed to permit this, thereby permitting the door to swing under restraint relative to the sleeve 48. This can be accomplished by manually. moving the door in either direction from the closed posltlon.

Once the nose 54 of the bolt 52 has been wedged out of the notch 72, additional rotation of the door relative to the spindle 14 and sleeve 48 causes the nose 54 to drop 1nto a peripheral groove 74 after the door has been rotated about thirty degrees away from its closed position. This groove 74 extends almost all the way around the sleeve 48, and ends about thirty degrees short of the other side of the notch 72. The groove 74 is deep enough, so that when the nose 54 of the bolt 52 is within the confines of the groove 74, the bolt will be restrained against inward movement under the inuence of the spring 64-by the shoulder 60 bearing against the under surface of the head SS-before the end of the nose 54 reaches the bottom of the groove 74.

Under ordinary conditions of operation with the nose 54 of the bolt 52 sealed in the notch 72, the spindle 14, sleeve 48, the door arm 18, and the door 22 will swing as a unit. Normally the door is at rest in the` closed position, and ywhenever someone approaches the door from the appropriate side-from the outside, for instanceand steps upon a control mat or otherwise actuates a device which makes a Isignaling contact, the spindle 14 will be rotated by the door operator mechanism, thereby swinging the door to open position. When the person has passed through the doorway, the door operator mechanism will return the door to closed position in preparation for a new cy-cle. If, |when the door is closed, panic conditions develop within the building and pressure is exterted against the door from the inside-thereby producing a door turning moment relative to the spindle 14 which is in excess of that normally required to insure swinging operation of the door when the spindle is rotated-the nose 54 of the vbolt 52 will be wedged out of the notch 72, thereby permitting the door to swing under a moderate amount of restraint-because the nose 54 presses against the surface of the sleeve 48 for a distance of about thirty degrees. Additional movement beyond this point will cause t-he nose 54 of the bolt 52 to slide down one or the other of -tapered ramps 75 at the end-s of the groove 74, and thereafter pressure of the spring 64 against the bolt 52 has no restraining action against free swinging movement of the door relative lto the sleeve 48 and spindle 14. The door, therefore, may be swung to completely open position, at right angles, -for instance, as is shown in FIG. 3. When the panic conditions have passed, it is necessary merely to swing the door to closed position, thereby causing the bolt nose 54 to slide up the appropriate ramp 75 and snap into the notch 72.

In FIG. 2 the door is shown in its normal closed position, and it is assumed that during automatic operation the mechanism swings the door inwardly of the building in a counterclockwise direction. In FIG. 3 the spindle 14 and sleeve 48 are shown in the closed position, but the door has been pushed clockwise outwardly about degrees. If now it is assumed that someone pas-ses through the doorway and steps upon the control mat or otherwise activatesy the mechanism, the door operator will rotate the spindle 14 counterclockwise, attempting to open the door. Since the door is already swung 90 degrees or so, this attempt by the mechanism to open the door will actually have the eifect of trying to close it. People passing through the doorway, therefore, will cause the mechanism to repeatedly attempt to open and close the door. However, because of the groove 74, and the fact that the nose 54 of the bol-t 52 cannot reach the bottom of the groove, the sleeve 48 rotates freely within the cylindrical passage 36. Thus the door remains in its open position even though the spindle 14 rotates back and fort-h. This prevents the possibility of injury to persons passing through the doorway, and in fact a person so passing would not Ibe aware of the fact that the door operator was attempting to swing the door.

From the above it will be seen lthat under normal operating conditions, the door arm and door swing in fixed relationship relative to the powered spindle 14. The door, however, can be manually broken free so as to swing either outwardly or inwardly relative to the spindle under emergency conditions so as to clear the doorway. It is also apparent that in the event that the door has been manually opened, it can be easily reset to its normal position simply by pushing the door closed, and that in the event someone attempts to pass through the doorway after the door has been opened manually in either direction, there is no danger of the door being inadvertently closed or swung against such a person -by normal operation of the door closer mechanism.

From the above description of a preferred embodiment of the invention it will be appreciated that variations in the structure can be made without departing from the scope or spirit thereof, and that, therefore, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the scope of thc following claims.

Haviug described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A door arm for connecting a door operator having a vertical spindle to a door having a recess in the edge thereof, said door arm being adapted to be housed Within said recess and having a lirst element for connection with said door and a second element having 4an internal surface adapted for connection to said spindle, said second element having an external surface litted to rotate in said iirst element substantially coaxially -With respect to said spindle, a spring lloaded bolt mounted to slide in said first element in a direction substantially normal to the axis of rotation of said second element, said bolt having a tapered nose engaging the external surface of said second element under the spring loading, said external surface being formed to provide a notch to t said nose when the door and spindle are in door closed position, said external surface being formed to provide a peripheral groove extending through an arc of t-he order of 300 degrees, the ends of said groove being substantially equally spaced on either side of said notch, said groove being in vertical alignment with said nose, and means providing a limit stop to prevent the nose of said bolt from applying substantial pressure against said second element when said nose is Within said groove.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 in which the pressure applied by said spring loaded bolt is adjustable.

3. The combination icalled for in claim 1 in which said tapered nose is Wedge-shaped to engage said second element along a line substantially parallel to the axis of said spindle, and means is provided to prevent rotation of said bolt relative to said first element.

4. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the ends of said groove and the sides of said notch are tapered.

5. The combination called for in claim 1 in which the ends of said groove and the sides of said notch are tapered.

46. A door arm for connecting a door operator having a vertical spindle to a door having a recess in the edge thereof, said door arm being adapted to be housed Within said recess and having a tirst element for connection with said door and a second element having an internal surface adapted for connection to said spindle, said second element having an external surface tted to rotate in said Irst element substantially coaxially with respect to said spindle, a spring loaded bolt mounted to slide in said rst element in a direction substantially normal to the axis of rotation of said second element, said bolt having a tapered nose engaging the external surface of said second element under the spring loading, said external surface being formed to provide a notch to t said nose when the door and spindle are in door closed position, said external `surface being formed to provide a peripheral groove extending from a position about 30 degrees from the center of said notch to a position at least degrees from the center of said notch, said groove being in vertical alignment with said nose, and means providing a limit stop to prevent the nose of said bolt from applying substantial pressure against said second element when said nose is within said groove.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,923,962 2/1960 Carlson ..-16--55 BGBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner. I. L. KOHNEN, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A DOOR ARM FOR CONNECTING A DOOR OPERATOR HAVING A VERTICAL SPINDLE TO A DOOR HAVING A RECESS IN THE EDGE THEREOF, SAID DOOR ARM BEING ADAPTED TO BE HOUSED WITHIN SAID RECESS AND HAVING A FIRST ELEMENT FOR CONNECTION WITH SAID DOOR AND SECOND ELEMENT HAVING AN INTERNAL SURFACE ADAPTED FOR CONNECTION TO SAID SPINDLE, SAID SECOND ELEMENT HAVING AN EXTERNAL SURFACE FITTED TO ROTATE IN SAID FIRST ELEMENT SUBSTANTIALLY COAXIALLY WITH RESPECT TO SAID SPINDLE, A SPRING LOADED BOLT MOUNTED TO SLIDE IN SAID FIRST ELEMENT IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF SAID SECOND ELEMENT, SAID BOLT HAVING A TAPERED NOSE ENGAGING THE EXTERNAL SURFACE OF SAID SECOND ELEMENT UNDER THE SPRING LOADING, SAID EXTERNAL SURFACE BEING FORMED TO PROVIDE A NOTCH TO FIT SAID NOSE WHEN THE DOOR AND SPINDLE ARE IN DOOR CLOSED POSITION, SAID EXTERNAL SURFACE BEING FORMED TO PROVIE A PERIPHERAL GROOVE EXTENDING THROUGH AN ARC OF THE ORDER OF 300 DEGREES, THE ENDS OF SAID GROOVE BEING SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALLY SPACED ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID NOTCH, SAID GROOVE BEING IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID NOSE, AND MEANS PROVIDING A LIMIT STOP TO PREVENT THE NOSE OF SAID BOLT FROM APPLYING SUBSTANTIAL PRESSURE AGAINST SAID SECOND ELEMENT WHEN SAID NOSE IS WITHIN SAID GROOVE.