US3562850A - Magnetic door holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A MAGNETIC DEVICE IS MOUNTED UPON A WALL STRUCTURE CLOSELY ADJACENT A HINGE MECHANISM FOR A SWINGABLE DOOR HAVING THEREON A HINGE ELEMENT CAPABLE OF MAGNETIC ATTRACTION AND ENGAGEABLE WITH THE MAGNETIC DEVICE FOR RELEASABLY HOLDING THE DOOR IN AN OPEN POSITION.

Description

Feb. 16, 1971 g. EUASON ETAL 3,562,850

MAGNETIC DOOR HOLDER Filed Aug. 13, 1968 INVENTOR.

w W 7 m5 Z7 0% 1.7 J [v M 2 w 0 g yw aw my C M K44 VLA United States Patent O US. Cl. 16-139 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A magnetic device is mounted upon a wall structure closely adjacent a hinge mechanism for a swingable door having thereon a hinge element capable of magnetic attraction and engageable with the magnetic device for releasably holding the door in an open position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to a magnetic door holding device and, more particularly, to a type thereof capable of being mounted closely adjacent the door-supporting hinge mechanism, such device releasably holding the door in an open position when such holding is desired, but otherwise serving only as a door-protecting bumper.

Numerous devices have been developed for the purpose of holding doors in open and/or closed positions and a number of these devices include a magnet element and a magnetically attracted element, one of which is mounted upon the door and the other of which is mounted upon the door jamb or adjacent wall which supports the door. This invention is concerned primarily with the type of magnetic device which is intended to hold a swingable door in the open position.

The previously existing devices for this purpose have not been entirely satisfactory. For example, it is generally desirable that swingable doors should remain free to return to their closed position after they are operated unless there is a specific need for holding the door in its open position. Also, swinging doors are frequently used under circumstances where the persons passing through the doors have their hands occupied so that it is at least inconvenient for such persons to manually engage the door, as for the purpose of releasing the mechanism which is holding the door open. Existing magnetic devices capable of holding a swinging door in the open position are constructed so that the door must be pulled away from the magnetic device to release same from its open position.

Existing magnetic devices for holding doors in the open position normally require two special elements, one on the door and the other on the means, such as the wall, supporting the door. Often, it is undesirable to disfigure the appearance of the door by placing such an element thereon. In fact, the structures of many doors are such that bumper structures will actually damage the door unless some protective plate is mounted thereon. The problem becomes especially serious where efforts are made to place the bumper mechanism close to the hinge axis, thereby greatly magnifying the leverage applied by the door to the bumper mechanism when the door swings into the completely open position and engages the bumper mechanism with a substantial amount of force.

In recent years, a number of lightweight swinging doors have been developed for use primarily as privacy shields. Such doors are particularly useful, for example, in treatment areas of hospitals, where it is advantageous to open and close doors without manually engaging them, and in commercial establishments where a minimum amount of obstruction to movement is desired between customer areas and working or storage areas. Where lightweight doors are involved, the problem of damage created by devices limiting the swing of the door is particularly critical. Also, the tendency for such doors to be seized by the magnetic device and held open when such is not desired, is also more likely to occur. This latter problem becomes particularly acute where the door returns toward the closed position with a relatively slow movement.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of a small, easily adjusted and easily installed magnetic door-holding device capable of mounting adjacent the hinge axis of the door for cooperation with and engagement of a part of the hinge mechanism mounted upon the door whereby a minimum amount of equipment must be added to the door to effect the holding operation and whereby the holding device can also act as a bumper without damaging the door.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a magnetic door-holding device, as aforesaid, which will not effect holding of the door unless the door is intentionally and momentarily held in a position substantially adjacent the magnetic holding device to permit the engagement thereof to occur, and wherein disengagement of the holding device can be effected by merely urging the door gently against the magnetic holding device which is resiliently mounted.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a magnetic holding device, as aforesaid, which can be moved into an inoperative position so that it may still function as a bumper but will not effect a magnetic holding of the door even when the door is held adjacent the holding device.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent to persons familiar with this type of equipment upon reading the following descriptive material and examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of a door and casement structure including a hinge structure and the magnetic holding device of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. '1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to that appearing in FIG. 2 and showing the door in the open position.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IVIV in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view substantially as taken along the line VV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a door casement including a portion of a door hinge mounted thereon and magnetic holding devices of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to that appearing in FIG. 2 and illustrating a modified form of the invention.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a modified hinge bracket and attached magnetic holding device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The magnetic device 10 (FIG. 1) of the present invention is shown in conjunction with a door 11 which may be swingably mounted on the jamb 9 of an opening in a wall 12 by a hinge 13. The door 11 is of a type which will be normally urged gently toward a closed position by gravity or spring means (not shown) and a door of this type is disclosed in US. Pat. N0. 3,160,913.

Hinge 13 has a jamb member 14, which is secured to the jamb 9 by screws 16 and a door member 15 secured to the door 11. The jamb member 14 is L-shaped and includes a vertical flange 17 and a horizontal flange .18. A pin 19, which has a head 20, extends vertically through an opening 21 (FIG. 4) in flange 18 to which the pin 19 may be secured by welding.

The door member 15 comprises a pair of side plates 22 and 23 secured to opposite sides of the door 11 by screws 24. The door 11 has a notch 28 in the lower end of its edge adjacent the jamb 9, and the plates 22 and 23 extend over the notch 28 to form a radial bearing for the pin 19. Specifically, the edge portions of the plates 22 and 23 covering the notch 28 are bent outwardly and then inwardly to form vertical grooves 29 and 30, respectively, which open toward each other and define the bearing surfaces within which the pin 19 is slideably and rotatably received.

The door 11 is preferably provided with another hinge (not shown) located near the top of the door and arranged to support same. An upper hinge of a preferred type is disclosed in Pat. No. 3,160,913 issued to the assignee of this application. However, other types of hinge structures may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. At least one of the side plates 22 and 23 or its equivalent must be comprised of a magnetically attractable material, such as iron, for reasons set forth hereinafter.

The magnetic device 10 is comprised of an elongated, resilient strap 31 which supports a magnetic element 32. The strap 31 is preferably of a relatively stiff but resilient material, such as spring steel, and has an opening therein near one end through which one of the screws 16 extends for securing the strap to the jamb 9. The magnetic element 32 is secured near the other end of strap 31 such as by a suitable adhesive or by welding. The strap 31 preferably has a slight, transverse bend between its ends so that the face 33 of the magnetic element will engage the side plate 23 when the door is in a position (FIG. 3), slightly more than 90 degrees, such as 95 or 100 degrees, from its closed position of FIG. 2. The same result could be achieved by canting the face 33 of the magnetic element with respect to the strap 31.

OPERATION Although the operation of the magnetic door holder will be apparent to skilled persons from the foregoing description, a summary thereof will now be set forth.

The device 10 is usually positioned so that the face 33 of the magnetic element 32 will engage and hold the plate 23 (FIG. 3), when the door 11 is gently urged into engagement therewith, thus holding the door 11 in the open position. The door 11 can be released from the open position by pulling it away form the magnetic element 32. Alternatively, the door can be released by urging it slightly toward the device 10, thereby flexing the strap 31 into its broken line position 31A (FIG. 3). As the door moves the magnetic element toward the jamb 9, the face 33 of element 32 is moved away from its parallel position against the plate 23, thereby substantially weakening the magnetic bond between the element 32 and the plate 23. Thus, when the force urging the door to flex the strap is released, the flexed strap will augment the nomal urging of the door 11 toward its closed position. As the door returns to its closed position, it will momentarily pass through the position where the face 33 of element 32 is parallel with and adjacent to the plate 23. However, the door will be moving at a rate sufficient to prevent the reengagement of the door by the holding device.

The device 10 further serves as a bumper if the door 11 is pushed rapidly open. The force is absorbed as the starp 31 is flexed and, as discussed above, will help to urge the door 11 through the zone of attraction between the face 33 of the magnetic element 32 and the plate 23.

If desired, the device 10 may be made to serve only as a bumper by pivoting the strap 31 upwardly (FIG. or downwardly out of its normal, horizontal position. In such raised (or lowered) position, the magnetic face 33 is sloped to the horizontal so that it is incapable of being parallel with and adjacent to the plate 23, regardless of the position of the door. Thus, the initial magnetic attraction between the element 32 and plate 23 cannot be achieved.

4 ALTERNATE CONSTRUCTION It may be desirable, where a door is capable of pivoting both inwardly and outwardly from a closed position, to provide a pair of magnetic devices 36 and 37 (FIG. 6) to engage and hold the door either in the inwardly open position or the outwardly open position. The magnetic devices 36 and 37 may be identical to magnetic device 10 in both construction and operation.

A modified magnetic device 40, illustrated in FIG. 7, can be mounted on the wall 12 near the jamb 9 and at a point spaced from the hinge 13A. The modified device 40 is comprised of a strap 41 which has a V-shaped configuration including a first flange 42 with an opening through which a screw 43 may extend for securing said strap to the wall 12 at a point spaced from jamb member 14A. The strap 41 has a second flange 44 to which the magnetic element 46 is attached. The modified device 40 can operate in a manner similar to device 10, but it permits the door to swing through a larger arc before reaching the open position.

As shown in FIG. 8, the objects of the invention can also be achieved by providing a lateral extension 51 on the modified bracket or jamb member 52 and then attaching a magnetic device 53 thereto. In such case, the desired resiliency (provided by the strap 31 in the device 10) is furnished by the resiliently flexible spacer 54 disposed between the magnet 56 and the extension 51 to which the device 53 is attached by a screw 57.

The spacer 54 is preferably, but not necessarily, tapered in one radial direction so that the side of the hinge plate '58 on the door 59 will make a flush engagement with the flat end 61 of the magnet 56 when the door has swung slightly more than degrees from its closed position. Thus, when the device 53 is rotated in either direction between 90 degrees and 270 degrees (FIG. 9) around the axis of the screw 57 from the FIG. 8 position, the end 59 will be in a position where it cannot engage the door 58 to effect a holding thereof.

Although particular preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed above for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that variations or modifications thereof which lie within the scope of the appended claims, are fully contemplated.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A device for holding in an open position a swingable door supported by hinge means upon wall means and constantly urged toward the closed position, comprising:

a hinge device including first and second pivotally interconnected hinge members for swingably supporting at least a portion of said door upon said wall means, said first hinge member being rigidly secured to said door and having a substantially flat surface capable of magnetic attraction, and said second hinge member being secured to said wall means;

a magnetic device supported on said wall means and engageable with the door for holding the door in a predetermined open position;

said magnetic device including a magnetic member having a substantially flat face engageable with the flat surface of said first hinge member only when said first hinge member is in said predetermined open position; and

said magnetic device further including means movably mounting said magnetic member on said wall means for permitting release of said first hinge member from said magnetic member by a slight urging of said door toward or away from said magnetic member, whereby said door will return to the closed position.

2. A door-holding device according to claim 1, for mounting on a wall parallel with the closed position of the door, whereby said mounting means comprises a V-shaped resilienitly flexible supporting member, said magnetic member being firmly secured to one leg of said flexible member and the other leg of said flexible member being mounted on said wall.

3. A door-holding device according to claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes a resiliently flexible and tapered spacer mounted upon said second hinge member and said magnetic member being firmly secured to said spacer, said device being pivotable about an axis normal to said wall means betweetn an operative position in which said flat face can be parallel with an adjacent to said flat surface for holding said door in the predetermined open position and an inoperative position in which the fiat face cannot be parallel with the flat surface so that the magnetic device is not capable of holding the door in said open position.

4. A door-holding device according to claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes a resiliently flexible, elongated arm pivotally mounted upon said second hinge member and said magnetic member being firmly secured to said arm, said having a slight transverse bend whereby said magnetic device can be pivoted between an operative position in which said flat face can be parallel with and adjacent to said flat surface for holding said door in the predetermined open position and an inoperative position in which said flat face cannot be parallel with said flat surface so that the magnetic device is not capable of holding the door in said open position.

5. A door-holding device according to claim 4, including a second magnetic device having a magnetic element and an arm securing same to said second hinge member on the opposite side of said door from the first-mentioned magnetic device, whereby said door can be held in either of two predetermined, open positions.

6. A door-holding device according to claim 1, wherein said magnetic device is located close to the hinge axis of the door and said door is held in said predetermined open position by the magnetic device only when the flat face is substantially parallel with the fiat surface; and

said mounting means including a resiliently flexible member secured to and connected between said wall means and said magnetic member for permitting urging of said door toward said magnetic member for causing said flat face to assume a nonparallel relationship relative to said flat surface for disrupting the magnetic holding force between said first hinge member and said magnetic member.

7. A door-holding device according to claim 6 wherein the resiliently flexible member comprises an elongated arm secured adjacent one end thereof to said wall means, said magnetic member being fixed to said arm adjacent the other end thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,791,346 5/1957 Tell 16--139 2,850,072 9/ 1958 Bryans 292251.5

3,016,563 1/1962 De Jong 16139 3,152,716 10/1964 Feldhahn 16128M FOREIGN PATENTS 1,277,373 10/1961 France 16128M BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 292-25 1.5

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