US3714735A - Hydraulically operated railroad car door - Google Patents

Abstract

AN ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR LATERALLY MOVING A SLIDING DOOR OF THE PLUG TYPE INTO AND OUT OF THE DOOR OPENING UTILIZING FOUR INDEPENDENT CRANK ARMS, EACH ROTATABLY JOURNALED AT OPPOSITE END PORTIONS TO THE SLIDING DOOR AND THE SUPPORTING DOOR TRACK, RESPECTIVELY. THE JOURNALING BEING BY VERTICAL SHAFTS EACH FORMING A CRANK ARM AND SHAFT ASSEMBLY WITH THE RESPECTIVE ARM, HYDRAULIC CYLINDER DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING ACTUATION MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID ASSEMBLIES, AND MANUALLY CONTROLLABLE HYDRAULIC PRESSURE SUPPLY MEANS OPERATING SAID HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING SAID DOOR. LATCHING ASSEMBLIES AT THE SIDES OF SAID DOOR AND CONTROLLED BY HYDRAULIC CYLINDER MEANS WHICH LATTER IS OPERABLY CORRELATED WITH SAID MANUALLY CONTROLLABLE HYDRAULIC PRESSURE SUPPLY MEANS AND UNLATCHING SAID DOOR BEFORE IT OPENS AND LATCHING SAID DOOR AFTER IT CLOSES.

Description

Febi 6 .1973 OWEN HYDRAULICALLY OPERATED RAILROAD CAR noon Filed June 7. 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 2 2 m. w w s w 7. 01 W l 2 2 m 9 z mmwm waw \w. l mum H 6% O 4 M4 4 8 3 5 O 8 2 3% 0 B W 5 4 m n 5% 6 w \LE RE'oo s4b 850 FIG. I

FIG. 2

FIG. 2 A

INVENTOR.

ROBERT E. OWEN R. E. OWEN Feb. 5;- i973 mac; June 7, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 502 I84 I84 502 80% v as 1 I I88 I as 1 O O 44s 3: 50o

FIG.3

FIG. 5

INVENTOR. ROBERT E. OWEN United States Patent US. Cl. 49-220 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An actuating mechanism for laterally moving a sliding door of the plug type into and out of the door opening utilizing four independent crank arms, each rotatably journaled at opposite end portions to the sliding door and the supporting door track, respectively. The journaling being by vertical shafts each forming a crank arm and shaft assembly with the respective arm, hydraulic cylinder door opening and closing actuation means connected to said assemblies, and manually controllable hydraulic pressure supply means operating said hydraulic cylinders for opening and closing said door. Latching assemblies at the sides of said door and controlled by hydraulic cylinder means which latter is operably correlated with said manually controllable hydraulic pressure supply means and unlatching said door before it opens and latching said door after it closes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of sliding doors of the plug type used on vehicles and particularly on railroad cars and to mechanisms for moving such doors laterally into and out of a recessed door opening for sealing and unsealing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Prior art methods of opening and closing and latching doors of the type described have been mechanical mechanisms without hydraulic components.

There are important advantages to hydraulic control, especially in the elimination of many disadvantages of the prior art grain doors.

Box cars come with door openings in hundreds of sizes. There has been very little standardization through the years and with different manufacturers of box cars. The box cars were not made by any one having it in view that some day it would be desirable to be able to fit all the box cars with one size of door, for example.

For this reason, grain doors for box cars must likewise be of many sizes to fit the many door openings and must have many other variations of dimension in order to fit the latching notches in the door jambs which are of different spacings and of different heights throughout the many, many different makes and models of box cars.

In the prior art, a tremendous inventory problem has been involved in maintaining an inventory of the mechanical parts used for mechanical grain doors of the prior art since different sizes of parts and linkages must be provided for each different change in the characteristics of the box car doors to be serviced. This inventory is a problem both at the factory where a stock piling of parts must be made to accomplish any mass production and also the inventory problem for repair of doors already in use is a great nuisance either for a railroad or for a factory, where the completely mechanical doors of the prior art are concerned.

Another prior art problem caused by the lack of standardization in door sizes and latching notch positions has been the need for a separate repair list of parts for each different size or variation of door, as is a nuisance in printing cost, but even a greater nuisance in classification, file maintenance, and selection of the proper repair list.

In the prior art it has been necessary to have shafts of certain lengths to fit doors of certain heights and widths and to have a linkages pre-set to certain latch notch position. In fact, the prior art problem was so great, and is so great, it is far more easy to modify the door opening of a box car to fit a given door than it is to modify the door to fit the box car, which latter, with prior art allmechanical systems is extremely difficult.

Prior art doors have been easily broken. This breakage is from the jolt a door receives when the momentum of its sliding motion alongside the box car is abruptly stopped by a stop means.

This breakage is experienced particularly at the fiberglass shell which is on the inner side of the grain door for holding insulation. This is because stops mounted on the side of the box car in positions to engage a door to prevent excess sliding movement in its tracks during door closing, tend to strike the fiberglass liner causing an extremely costly liner replacement problem.

A particular problem from the jolt has been that the sudden stopping of the sliding of the doors of the prior art tends to tear the upper track oil of the side of the box car, particularly when the stop is only at the bottom of the door, as has been common practice. While not all doors break as seriously as others, yet the repair problem has been very great.

On those prior art doors in which the momentum of the sliding door along its tracks is stopped by purely mechanical means engaging the closer door hanger, then all the force of the momentum is taken by the hangers, shafts and journals and the big jolts cause steady wear, which over a period of time, is serious.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An actuating mechanism for laterally moving a sliding door of the plug type into and out of the door opening utilizing four independent crank arms, each rotatably journaled at opposite end portions to the sliding door and the supporting door track, respectively.

The journaling being by vertical shafts each forming a crank arm and shaft assembly with the respective arm, hydraulic cylinder door opening and closing actuation means connected to said assemblies, and manually controllable hydraulic pressure supply means operating said hydraulic cylinders for opening and closing said door.

Latching assemblies at the sides of said door and controlled by hydraulic cylinder means which latter is operably correlated with said manualy controllable hydraulic pressure supply means and unlatching said door before it opens and latching said door after it closes.

The concept of using a toggle linkage mechanism in the door opening and closing actuating means in order to mechanically hold the door closed in addition to hydraulically doing so for an extra measure of safety, as is possible when two linkages of a toggle mechanism are substantially in alignment but slightly to that side of perfect alignment which is the side the connected ends of the linkages are on as they are mainly approaching the door closed position, the linkages being prevented by stop means from moving out of said substantially aligned but somewhat non-aligned position.

The provision of toggle linkage mechanisms of similar nature between hydraulic cylinders controlling latches and the latches themselves for likewise holding the latches closed mechanically in addition to hydraulically.

The provision of catch means for holding said door in a open position to one side of said opening, the catch means automatically operating to reach a catching position as the door reaches the described open position.

It is an object to prevent the breakage of doors by proyiding a hydraulic cushioning effect throughout the hydraulic line whenever the impact of the door hanger against the stop on the track exerts a force on the respective door swinging cylinder. In addition, whenever this hydraulic pressure becomes excessive, a line relief valve or by-pass valve goes into effect at approximately 200 pounds per square inch permitting a flow from the line under pressure to another main line of the door, thus relieving the pressure built up in the first-mentioned line.

A further object is to provide a door as described, the lower crank arms of which extend inwardly from their respective journaling shafts toward the center of the door at times when the door is closed, this arrangement being very effective because it cooperates with the fact that when the door is in a position later-ally spaced away from the box car and the door is moving along its track toward a closing position, then when a respective hanger strikes a stop on the track, the effect of the stoppage of momentum is to cause the door to move laterally by swinging inwardly on its crank arms directly into a nested position in the door opening.

Still another object is to provide a spring catch assembly mounted on one of the lower door hangers in a position for engaging in a tube, which can be called an anchoring tube and booking around an outer side of the edges of the opening in the tube so as to automatically lock the door open, the spring catch assembly being releasable easily with the fingers of one hand by an operator.

Particular objects of the invention are further to make possible the standardization of repair parts because the only main differences in horizontal or vertical dimensions of the door as regards the latching and door swinging parts themselves are simply the effective lengths of tubes for conveying hydraulic fluid. It is possible for these tubes to be easily cut to length with much greater ease in ad justing the sides of prior art mechanical door parts. It is also possible that these tubes not be cut at all, but simply be allowed to have slack in them enough to fit many sizes of doors, since such slack has no disadvantage as it is housed between the inner and outer walls of the door since the door has two metal walls or panels, inwardly and outwardly of each other, these being in addition to a fiberglass shell on the inner side of the door which encloses an insulation material receiving area.

A further object is to make it possible also to standardize the inventory of repair parts for this reason, and also to make it possible to fit all sizes of doors with one repair list for all door swinging and latching mechanisms of the new hydraulic door, even thereby fitting all latch notch positions, since the positioning of the latching mechanisms and their anchoring to the door panel is done at the factory by welding, but could be done, if necessary, on the railroad car itself by welded installation either with or without the removal of already positioned anchor means for latching assemblies of the prior art.

A further object is to provide a hydraulic system operated by an operating member which is preferably a wheel on the outside of the door and which has on it a handle extended, when in use as a handle parallel to the axis of the shaft of the wheel by pivoting into a position radial with respect to the wheel and securable to an anchor tab fixed to the door for preventing the wheel from rotating.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the outer side of the door of this invention shown with portions of tracks on which it is carried; small portions of the door jamb of a box car being shown with forward sections thereof broken away whereby the remainder is shown in section; portions of a treat seve g mea s 9 the 99? b i brakes a y for showing parts therebehind; and portions of tracks being broken away.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a latching assembly shown in detail, an outer side of a latch bracket being partially broken away for showing parts therebehind, and an outer half of a stop sleeve being broken away.

FIG. 2A is an outer side elevation showing in detail the hydraulic cylinder assembly and associated toggle mechanism and associated parts seen in the upper righthand portion of FIG. 1 with the parts shown in position for holding the door in closed position. The left-hand end of a lever being broken away.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the hydraulic system of the door of this invention, the lines of one side of the hydraulic system being dotted for ready distinction from the remainder of the hydraulic system.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the pump assembly shown in the center of FIG. 1, but with a hand-wheel mounted thereon and further showing a wheel locking assembly, a section of the outer covering panel in which the locking assembly and the pump are mounted being shown in crosssection, a handle position of a handle or securing memher being shown in dotted lines.

FIG. 5 is a view of the hand-wheel and locking assembly of FIG. 4 as seen from the outer side of the door of this invention, other parts of the door not being shown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, the hydraulic operated door of this invention is generally indicated at 10 and is adapted for operation in upper and lower guiding and supporting door tracks 29 and 22 so as to move conventionally laterally into and out of a door opening 30 to slide longitudinally to a position uncovering the door opening 30 by sliding along the tracks 20 and 22 in a manner which will be described.

Four generally horizontally extending crank arms are provided, two being upper crank arms 41 and two being lower crank arms 40.

The upper crank arms 41 are attached to upper vertical shafts 46 rotatably journaled in bearings 48 which are attached to the door. In FIG. 1, the door is shown in closed position and in that position the arms 41 are parallel to the tracks 20 and 22. The inner ends of the arms 41 are attached to the shafts 46, while those outer ends of the arms 41 which are farthest disposed from the respective adjacent sides of the door when it is in closed position are attached to upstanding roller hanger track 20.

The lower crank arms 40 are quit similar and, in closed position, have outer ends attached to lower vertical shafts 50 is journaled to the door by bearings 52. The inner ends of the lower crank arms 40 being pivotally attached to downwardly depending roller housings 56 in a conventional manner and the latter roll along the top of the lower track 22 for making supporting engagement with the lower track to support the weight of the door.

For claim reference, the upper crank arms 41 and their respective shafts 46 can be called upper crank arm and shaft means assemblies generally indicated at 60. The lower crank arms 40 and their shafts 50 can be called lower crank arm and shaft means assemblies generally indicated at 64.

In accordance with this invention a door opening actuation means is generally shown at 69 comprising: two, upper and two lower door opening actuation means sections generally indicated at 70 and 72 respectively, each actuation means section 70 or 72 comprising a hydraulic cylinder assembly generally indicated at 80.

As seen in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 2a the lower ends of the upper hydraulic cylinder assemblies are pivotally attached to the door at 84 and each cylinder assembly has a cylinder 86 and p o rod 88 wh h atter ex n s vertically upward to a pivotal connection at 90 with a pair of links 96 and 98 of a toggle mechanism generally indicated at 100.

With the inner ends of the respective links 96 and 98 having first or inner ends F pivotally connected at 90, by suitable means, to the shafts 8S, outer or second ends S of the links 96 and 98 are connected respectively by pivot means 108 and 110 to an anchor 112 fixed to the door and to a suitable fitting 114 on a horizontal rod 116, which latter is mounted for horizontally sliding through a bearing 120 fixed to a bearing anchor 122 attached to the door, the rod 116 being pivotally connected by means shown at 130 for rotation about a vertical axis, to a lever 140, which latter is attached to the respective vertical shaft 46 in a manner such that reciprocation of the rod 116 causes rotation of the shaft 46 and swinging or rotation of the crank arm 41.

The position of parts is such that the links 96 and 98 are substantially in alignment at a time when the door is closed which is also at a time when the crank arms 41 are disposed in parallelism with the door 10, which latter is elongated as seen in top plan view in parallelism with the tracks 20 and 22.

While the links 96 and 98 are substantially but not exactly in alignment at a time when the door is closed, yet they are in a locked position somewhat inclined with respect to each other with their pivotal connection 90 disposed to a certain side which is the side opposite the cylinder assembly 80, and which is illustrated in FIG. 2A as the upper side of a compression line extending between the outer ends of the links 96 and 93, the said upper side being the side the pivotal connection 90 is on when the pivotal connection is largely approaching door-closed position.

Referring now to the left lower actuation means 72 seen in the lower left of FIG. 1, we see a lower hydraulic cylinder assembly 80, the positions of all parts of the actuation means 72 being exactly upside down from the positions of parts just described for an identical upper actuation means 70. Since all actuation means 70 and 72 are identical, similar numbers will be given to similar parts and the description of operation will not be unnecessarily repeated.

A manually controllable pressure supply means is generally indicated at 160 and operates the hydraulic cylinder assemblies 80 for door opening and closing selectively in each of two ways, as will be described.

The manually controllable pressure sup-ply means 160 has a two-direction pump assembly generally indicated at 170 which is manually controlled by the rotation of its shaft 172 by means of an operating hand-wheel 180 which is disposed on the outer side of the door where it can be conveniently reached.

For the housing of the pump assembly 170 a first connection line 178 extends to a first main line 180 which latter is endless and extends along the lower side of the door inwardly from its bottom, along the right-hand side of the door spaced inwardly from the right side, along the upper side of the door but spaced inwardly from the top and down the left-hand side of the door and spaced inwardly from the the left-hand side of the door.

The first main line is connected by communication line 184 with corresponding ends which are the outermost ends of each cylinder 86.

The inner end of each cylinder 86 is connected by a second group of communicating lines 188 by a second main endless line 190, which latter extends along but is spaced inwardly from the bottom, top and both sides of the door and is in communication with the housing 174 of the pump to a second connecting line 192.

The pump housing 174 has two supply lines leading to two other of the ports of the housing 174 from a hydraulic fluid reservoir 206 which is disposed above the pump housing 174.

In operation, it will be seen that as the pump control hand wheel or operating member 180- is rotated in one direction, oil will flow through the lines 178 and 180 and 184 to the cylinders and entering at their outer ends in the example shown in FIG. 1, as will cause the door swinging cylinders 80 to retract their piston rods for causing the door to open, although the exact operation is more complex as will be described in further detail hereafter. Likewise, it will be seen that when the hand-wheel 180' is turned in an opposite direction, the lines 192, 190 and 188 will be pressurized while fluid flows back to the pump through the lines 184, 180 and 178.

When the line 190 is pressurized, this causes the door swinging cylinders 80 to expand causing the upper and lower crank arms to swing the door toward closed position.

Latching mechanisms of the invention will now be described, and referring to FIG. 1, a latching cylinder is shown at 300 in each corner of the door at the bottom thereof and another latch cylinder 302 is disposed approximately centrally between the top and the bottom of the door from the right and left sides thereof.

The latching cylinders 300 are each connected to a toggle mechanism anchored to the door and identical to the toggle mechanism associated with the door swinging cylinders 80 and having rods 416 which move horizontally and are connected to latches 420 which latter have extended positions in which they engage in latch notches 424 in the right and left sides 42-6 of a door jamb generally indicated at 430.

Each latching cylinder has that one of its ends which is nearest to the toggle mechanism connected by a latching communication line 440 to the first main line 180.

Each latching cylinder 300 and 302 has an unlatching communication line 446 connected to that one of its ends which is farthest from the respective toggle mechanism 350 and extending to the second main line 190.

Suitable fluid control valves which can be of the springloaded ball check valve type and called latching fluid cylinder control valves 500 and door swinging cylinder control valves 502 are provided in the lines 446 and 184 respectively and have a very important operation which can be best understood by the general description of combined operation which will now be described.

In operation, when the door has both latching cylinder systems and latches as well as the door swinging cylinders, then the operation is in this manner, now described.

To open the door, turn the wheel 1'80 counter-clockwise. Oil will then flow through line 178 into the first main line or out line 180 and will enter the latch cylinders 300 without interruption and will proceed to do so until unlatching is completed.

While unlatching is proceeding, the door swinging cylinder fluid control valves 502 prevent fluid from entering the door swinging cylinders 80 until the latches are fully retracted, and further until the line pressure reaches 200 pounds per square inch, after which, fluid can then flow into the door swinging cylinders causing the shafts 50 to rotate approximately degrees to swing the door into open position.

A general line relief pressure valve shown at 600 interconnects the first main line or out line with the second main line or in line and will activate at 1000 pounds per square inch to permit fluid to by-pass from the out line or first main line 180 to the in line or second main line 190 to prevent bursting of the first main line or out line 180.

To close the door, the wheel 1-80' is turned clockwise. Oil then flows into the in line or second main line 190 and on into the door swinging cylinders freely, during which the fluid control valve 500 on the latching cylinders 300 and 302 prevent oil from entering the latching cylinders until the shafts 50 have rotated enough to have closed the door and further until the line pressure reaches 200 pounds per square inch.

After the pressure has reached 200 pounds per square inch and the door is fully closed, the oil then flows into the latching cylinders 300 and 302, whereby the latches move out and lock the door firmly in place.

The general line relief pressure valve 600 is double acting and will work the same as it does during door opening with the exception that the valve will permit the oil to by-pass, in this case, from the in line or second main line 190 to the out line or first main line 180.

The pressure relief valve has the elfect of assisting in the hydraulic cushioning of the door, as will be later described.

In FIG. 1 it will be seen that the pump housing 174 is suitably anchored to the door by attachment to a member 602 which latter is, in turn, attached to the door. The reservoir 206 is connected to the door in any suitable manner.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the outer side panel 620 of the door is there shown in section.

Referring now to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the wheel 180' has a rotating axis 690 and can have a plate 700 extending radially outwardly from and attached to its outer portion 702, the plate 700 having a handle or securing member generally indicated at 720 attached pivotally thereto by a bolt 722 disposed at a right angle to the radius of the wheel 180', the handle 720 having a cylindrical outer surface 728 which can be usually gripped for assisting in the rotation of the wheel at times when the handle is swung upwardly into a horizontal position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 9.

An outermost end of the handle has a fiat surface 730 with an opening 732 therethrough extending transversely of hte handle, the opening 732 matching with an opening 736 in an anchor tab 740 which is suitably welded to the recess portion 742 of the outer panel 620, whereby the opening 736 and the opening 732 can be placed in alignment so that a padlock or keeper can be ilaged therethrough for preventing rotation of the wheel Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the hangers 56 can be further designated by the letters LE for the hanger 56 which is closest to the doorway opening at a time when the door is open and RL for the hanger 56 which is fartherest from the doorway opening at a time when the door is open.

In accordance with this invention, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outer side 800 of the hanger 56- shown at RE has a mounting bracket 802 attached thereto and to which a pair of latch books 810 are mounted by a suitable pivot bolt 812, whereby the hooks 810 are adapted to move toward and away from each other under the urging of a spring not shown.

In FIG. 2 a preferred form of latching assembly is there shown at 840 of which the bracket 802 forms a part, the bracket 802 being attached to the hanger 56 which is shown at F. Two elongated latching hooks 850 are pivotally attached by suitable means at 852 to the bracket 804, whereby the hooks are normally disposed in parallelism with each other extending horizontally being urged by a spring seen at 860 in FIG. 2 so that an upper hook U is urged upwardly and a lower hook L is urged downwardly and so that the hooks are spaced apart.

Each hook 850 has a curved camming surface 871 on the upper side of the right-hand end of the hook U and the lower side of the right-hand end of the hook L which are adapted to strike and be deflected by the closest ends of a stop sleeve 880, best seen in FIG. 2, which is fixed to the lower track 22 on its upper side, the stop sleeve 880 being shown in FIG. 2 with its outer side 882 broken away for showing how shoulder 886 engages the far side of the stop sleeve 880.

The hooks U and L engage the far side 888 of the stop sleeve 880, the side 888 being the side fartherest from the center of the doorway, whereby the stop sleeve 880 engages in notches 890 in the upper side of the upper hook U and in the lower side of the lower hook L securely holding the door from sliding along the track with the stop sleeve 880 preventing motion of the door to the right because the stop sleeve 880 would then engage the far side 892 of the bracket 840. The operator by pinching together the hooks 850 can permit them to slide through the stop sleeve 880 as the door is slid toward the left and toward the door opening.

In operation, as the door opens and is slid along the track 22 to the right as seen in FIG. 2, or in other words, along the line of the arrow 1000 in FIG. 1, the time will come when the curved surfaces 871 strike the respective upper and lower walls 1002 and 1004 of the sleeve 880 causingthe hooks 850 to deflect toward each other, allowing them to press through the sleeve 880 until they have received the sleeve 880, in their notches 890, whereupon the hooks are free to move outwardly again into the position shown in FIG. 2 for freely hooking onto the far side 1010 of the sleeve 880 where they hold the door securely open until such time as an operator pressing on the curved surfaces 871 can push the hooks 850 together while urging the door toward closed position, thus releasing the hooks from the stop sleeve 880.

In FIG. 2, the spring is held in place by pegs 1210 on those surfaces of the hooks 850 which face each other, the pegs engaging in the spring 860.

In FIG. 2A, it will be seen that each cylinder is attached by means of the pivot member 84 to a suitable anchor 85 which is itself fixed to the inner panel of the door.

It will also be seen in FIG. 1 that each latch 420 slides through a guide sleeve 422 attached to the inner panel of the door for a horizontal sliding motion with respect thereto.

Each cylinder 302 is similarly anchored by means of pivot member 384 to an anchor 38S attached to the inner metal panel of the door.

Referring to FIG. 1, a door closing or left-hand stop is seen at 2010 in FIG. 1 in a position engaging that edge 2020 of that one of the hangers 56 which is disposed to the left when the outside of the door is faced and is, therefore, designated by the letters LE. It is the function of the stop 2010', in operation, to stop movement of the door along the track 22 in the direction of an arrow 2030 for closing, whereby since the door is at that time disposed outwardly away from the box car with the crank arm 40 at to the track 22, then the striking of the stop 2010 by the wheel hanger 56 shown at LE, will stop that wheel hanger from further motion whereby the momentum of the door in the direction of the arrow 2030 will cause the hangers 40 to swing 90 into the position shown in FIG. 1, and during this swinging, the door will move transversely of the track 22 into the doorway opening firmly and also automatically as a result of its own momentum. Thereafter, the door can be latched in the manner previously described.

In all of the toggle mechanisms described the block member seen at 3000 and which is fixed to the anchoring member 3002 engages the link 98 of the toggle mechanism to prevent excess movement of the toggle links 96 and 98 beyond the described locked position and away from the respective cylinder assembly 80.

In FIG. 1 the door is in closed position, but, looking at FIG. I, imagine how it would be when the door is in a sliding motion to the left, from an open position nearer the door motion arresting sleeve 880, it will sometimes be moving to the left with great momentum from an excessive shove and because of its weight. The left bottom roller housing 56 will then strike the stop means 2010 causing the lower left crank arm 40 to rotate from a door open position at a right angle to the door toward the door closed position shown in FIG. 1 because of the continuing momentum of the door itself, this swinging or rotation of the lower left crank arm 40 being resisted by the frictional resistance to flow of hydraulic fluid in the lower left door opening and closing cylinder assembly 80 and also resisted by hydraulic fluid in all other door opening and closing cylinder assemblies 80, since door momentum pulls all crank arms 40 and 60 with it into swinging motions.

Such rotation or swinging of the crank arms 40 and 60 tends to elongate the cylinder assemblies 80 by pulling out their rods 88 because of the rotation of the shafts 50 and these cylinder elongations tend to force fluid into the door opening conduits 184 and from there into the first main hydraulic line 180.

Obviously, if there were no relief of fluid pressure, this could cause either a rupturing of the line 180 or of the door opening conduits 184, or else hydraulic pressure would stop the door from closing.

But this hydraulic pressure is relieved through the relief valve 600 through the second main line 190', and the gradual flow of fluid through the relief valve 600 during the time period immediately previous to the closing impact of the door with the door jamb substantially reduces the momentum of the closing motion of the door, thereby reducing the force of ultimate impact and relieving strain on the door for longer door life without damage.

I claim:

1. In a laterally movable, sliding door for operation in upper and lower guiding and supporting door tracks to move laterally into and out of a door opening and to slide longitudinally to a position uncovering the door opening, an actuation mechanism for laterally moving the door comprising: two generally horizontally extending upper crank arms each rotatably journaled at one end portion of each to the upper end of said door, and each crank arm having an upwardly facing means at the other end portion making guiding engagement with the upper door track; at least two horizontally extending lower crank arms rotatably journaled at one end portion of each to the lower end of the door, and each lower crank arm having a downwardly depending roller housing at the other end portion making supporting engagement with the lower door track; said upper and lower crank arms each being journaled by means respectively comprising upper and lower vertical shaft means to which they are respectively attached whereby said four arms and said shaft means form two upper and two lower crank arm and shaft means assemblies, each of said shaft means having a vertical axis, a door opening actuation means comprising hydraulic cylinder assembly means, said door opening actuation means being operably connected to said upper and lower crank arm and shaft means assemblies respectively in a manner for urging each of said crank arms to rotate about the axis of its respective vertical shaft means thereby laterally moving said door into and out of said door opening in accordance with reciprocation of said bydraulic cylinder assembly means, manually controllable hydraulic pressure supply means operating said hydraulic cylinder assembly means selectively in each of two ways for causing said door opening actuation means to operate said arm and shaft means assemblies to close and open said door respectively.

2. The combination of claim 1 with: a two-direction pump assembly mounted on said door, an operating member on the outside of said door and in each of two directions movable to control said pump assembly, a hydraulic reservoir, supply conduit means from said reservoir to said pump assembly, first and second hydraulic lines from said pump assembly to said door opening and closing hydraulic cylinder assembly means and each line when pressurized respectively causing the respective door opening actuation means to operate the respective crank arm and shaft means assemblies to close and open said door respectively, each of said first and second lines functioning to convey fluid back to said pump from said hydraulic cylinder assembly means when the other of said lines is pressurized.

3. The combination of claim 1 having said hydraulic cylinder assembly means comprising at least one hydraulic cylinder assembly and said actuation means comprising at least one toggle mechanism having a pair of links having first ends, means connecting said first ends pivotally together, a second end of one of the links of said pair being anchored to said door, the second end of the other link of said pair being operably correlated to the remainder of said actuation means in a manner for causing said links to be substantially in alignment at a time when said door is closed but somewhat inclined with respect to each other when said door is closed and with the pivotal connection disposed to a certain side of a line extending between the pivotal connections of the second ends of said links, said certain side being opposite to the side of said line said pivotal connection of said first ends is on when said pivotal connection of said first ends is in its door open position, and block means connected to said door and engaging at least one of said links to prevent said connection of said first ends from moving excessively to said certain side whereby said door is locked by said toggle mechanism in said door closed position, said hydraulic cylinder assembly being operably associated with said links to cause said links to move between said door open and door closed positions.

4. The combination of claim 1 having said hydraulic cylinder assembly means comprising at least one hydraulic cylinder assembly and said actuation means comprising at least one unlockable lock means correlated with said crank arm and shaft means assemblies and with said hydraulic cylinder assembly means to hold said crank arms in positions for holding said door in said door opening.

5. The combination of claim 2 in which said door has latch means mounted thereon for movement between extended latching positions and retracted unlatched positions, latching and unlatching actuation means comprising at least one latch control hydraulic cylinder assembly means, means connecting one end of said latch control hydraulic cylinder assembly means to said door, means connecting the other end of said latch control cylinder assembly means to said latch means, said latch control cylinder assembly means having at least one latch control cylinder which latter has two ports, latching and unlatching conduits respectively hydraulically connecting said latch control cylinder assembly ports respectively to said first and second lines, a plurality of spring loaded ball check valve means between said first and second lines and said latch control cylinder assembly means and between first and second lines respectively and said door opening cylinder assembly means respectively and said latch control cylinder assembly means respectively and automatically operating to prevent operation of said door opening cylinder means upon pressuring of said second line for door opening until first said latch control cylinder means has unlatched said latch means and also operating to prevent said latch cylinder from causing said latch means to latch said door during pressurizing of said first line for closing said door until first said door opening and closing cylinder assembly means has closed said door.

6. The combination of claim 1 having said hydraulic cylinder assembly means comprising at least one hydraulic cylinder assembly and said actuation means comprising at least one holding mechanism adapted to hold said crank arm and shaft assemblies and positions for holding said door closed without assistance from said bydraulic cylinder means, said at least one holding mechanism being overcomable by operation of said hydraulic cylinder means.

7. The combination of claim 2 in which said upper and lower crank arms extend inwardly substantially towards a center of the top and bottom of said door respectively at times when said door is closed, said lower track having a stop means attached to it in a position for being engaged by one of said lower roller hangers when said door is moved along said tracks toward a closed position whereby said one rollers hanger is stopped and the momentum of said moving door will cause said lower crank arms to swing throwing said door laterally of itself into a position for closing said doorway opening, and a relief valve disposed between said first and second lines and permitting passage of fluid therebetween at a previous time to said impact of the closing of said door and the restriction to the flow of fluid provided by said relief valve substantially reducing the momentum of closing motion of said door and thereby reducing the force of said impact to relieve strain on said door.

8. The combination of claim 7 further having a second latch of like description to and disposed alongside of said first-mentioned latch and likewise cooperative with said stop means, said spring mounting means being partly defined by said second latch, and said spring urging said second latch and said first latch apart,

9. The combination of claim 1 in which said stop means is a sleeve having an opening extending therethrough in substantial parallelism with said lower track.

10. The combination of claim 2 in which said operating member is rotatably movable about a horizontal axis and in which an elongated securing member is attached to said operating member, an anchor tab attached to said door, and means removably attaching said anchor tab to said securing member to prevent said operating member from rotating.

11. The combination of claim 2 in which said securing member is pivoted to said operating memebr, whereby it can be placed in a position parallel to said axis to serve as a handle.

12. The combination of claim 1 further having a door motion arresting means fixed to said lower track at a point spaced from said door opening suificiently as to engage that certain lower crank arm roller housing which is closest to said door motion arresting means at a time when said door is in open position substantially offset to one side along said track from said door opening and a door holding assembly for holding said door in said otfset open position comprising a hook-engaging means fixed to said 12 lower track at a point spaced from said door opening, and a hook means on the arresting means side of that certain lower crank arm roller housing which is closest to said door motion arresting means, said hook means being horizontally elongated and having a hook engaging means engaging end projecting toward said hook-engaging means, said hook means having a hooking surface transverse to its elongation and when said hook means is in hooking position said hooking surface being cooperative with said hook-engaging means to engage said hook-engaging means in a manner for preventing said hook means and door from moving toward said doorway, means pivotally anchoring the other end of said hook means on said certain roller housing in a manner for lateral movement of said hook means into and out of said hooking engagement with said hook-engaging means, said hook means having a deflection surface on its hook-engaging means engaging end and said hook-engaging means having a surface engaged by said deflection surface when struck thereby during door opening movement for deflecting said hook means into a position for movement with respect to said hook engaging means for said hooking engagement therewith, spring means engaging said hook means for urging said hook means laterally into said hooking engagement, means mounting said spring means on said certain roller housing for the said urging by said spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,150,531 8/1915 Miller 49-221 X 2,507,360 5/1950 Wicks 49--209 X 3,334,441 8/1967 Landis et al 49-426 X 3,397,489 8/1968 Cook 49281 1. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 49280

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