WO1994028274A1

WO1994028274A1 - Latching mechanism for door

Info

Publication number: WO1994028274A1
Application number: PCT/FI1994/000221
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seppo Ilmari Kankkunen
Original assignee: Seppo Ilmari Kankkunen
Priority date: 1993-05-31
Filing date: 1994-05-31
Publication date: 1994-12-08
Also published as: FI934957A; FI96233B; AU6798494A; FI96233C; FI934957A0

Abstract

A lock mechanism for a door, for instance for locking a fire door, which lock mechanism comprises a latch mechanism (50) mounted in the upper and/or lower edge of the door frame, an opening means (10), such as a handle or a push-button, for opening the lock mechanism, and a pulling member, such as a pull rod or wire rope (12, 14), which transmits the movement of the opening means to the latch mechanism. The pulling member is movably connected to the latch mechanism so that the pulling member in the active position of the opening means, when for instance the push-button is being pressed, keeps the latch mechanism in its unlocked position, and in the rest position of the opening means permits the latch mechanism to move from the unlocked position to the locked position.

Description

LATCHING MECHANISM FOR DOOR

The present invention relates to a lock mechanism for a door, for instance for locking a fire door, which lock mechanism comprises a latch mechanism which is mounted in the upper and/or lower edge of the body of the door and in its locking position locks the door to the door frame, an opening means, such as a handle or a push-button for opening the lock mechanism, and a pulling member, such as a pull rod or wire rope, which transmits the movement of the opening means to the latch mechanism.

Fire proof entrance doors and other fire doors between separate compartments are usually divided into two parts, whereby the door consists of two halves. The first half is usually locked by a lock mechanism so as to be unopenable. The second door half, which is freely openable, is used as a through passage. The passage through the door can however be blocked by means of a lock mounted in the openable door half. When the lock is set in its locking position, it locks one of the door halves, i.e. the openable half, to the opposite door half, i.e. the unopenable half, whereby neither of the door halves can be opened without unlocking the lock.

In emergency exit situations one must however be able to open the doors from the inside. For this purpose a handle has to be disposed on the inside of the first door half, by means of which the locking rods of the lock mechanism are moved and the lockings to the upper and lower frame are unlocked when turning the handle. Then this first door half and with it the whole door can be opened irrespective of whether the lock of the second door half, i.e. the through passage door, is locked or unlocked.

The drawback of the above fire door construction according to the prior art is that if the first door half has been opened by unlocking the lock mechanism it may be left unlocked after having been closed. Conventional lock mechanism do not lock again without a specific locking movement. It thus can happen that even if the door is shut, the lock mechanism of the first door half may remain in an open position. The locking of the lock of the second door half does not in this case lock the whole door, which may open by itself. The door can in any case easily be opened by pushing or pulling the door. Doors of this kind are not suited as doors which are usually open and which should automatically close and lock, for instance in case of a fire. All compartmentation fire double doors, for instance, belong to this group.

To avoid the above mentioned drawback, so called automatically locking doors are used which are provided with a sensing element which, when hitting the door frame or the like when the door is closed, triggers the lock mechanism and locks the door.

In automatically locking doors of this kind, the locking of the door is effected by means of two locking rods which, when the door is closed, are pushed by spring force into recesses in the upper and lower frame. The door is unlocked by means of a handle disposed between the locking rods in the middle of the door, which handle moves the locking rods away from the recesses against the spring force. The locking rods are locked in the unlocked position by means of an auxiliary latch mechanism. When the door thereafter is closed, a sensor element of the auxiliary latch mechanism hits the door frame and releases the locking rods so as to be freely movable, whereby the spring between the locking rods pushes the locking rods back into the locking position. The arrangement described above involves however problems, because the doors are not always completely straight and the sensing element of one of the latch mechanisms may for that reason hit the door frame before the other and trigger the respective locking rod to move freely. Because of the fact that the locking rods are operatively connected to each other and therefore move synchronously, both locking rods then strive to move simultaneously outwardly from the body of the door, although both latch mechanisms are not yet in their right places relative to the door frame.

When for instance the sensing element disposed in the upper part of the door hits the door frame and releases the upper locking rod to move, also the lower locking rod tends to move and may, if the door is curved and its lower part has not yet reached the door frame, hit the floor. In the lower part of the door even a small, too early movement of the locking rod may be fatal and hinder the closing of the door, as the locking rod protrudes from the door body towards the floor and retards the closing of the door. In the lock mechanism arrangements of the prior art, the locking rods can not be moved to a locked or unlocked position independently of each other.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention to eliminate the above problem and to provide a new lock mechanism which does not have the above mentioned drawbacks. The invention is characterized by the features set forth in the appended claims.

In the arrangement according to the invention, a latch mechanism is disposed in the upper and/or lower part of the door, which latch mechanism is connected by a pulling member, such as a pull rod or wire rope, to the opening means. When opening the door, the command of the opening means to unlock the lock mechanism, for instance the pressing of the push-button, is transformed in the opening means into a pulling movement of the pulling member. The pulling member transmits the command of the opening means as a pulling movement to the latch mechanism. When the door is closed, the pulling member is independent of the movements of the latch mechanism so that the locking movement of the latch mechanism is not mechanically transmitted to the pulling member and through the pulling member to the opening means or to the latch mechanism in the other part of the door so as for instance to cause this to lock.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the latch mechanism is connected to a sensing element or a detecting latch which automatically effects closing of the door and locking of the latch mechanism when the sensing element of the latch mechanism has come into contact with the door frame or the like.

In fire door arrangements in which a latch mechanism is disposed both in the upper and lower parts of the door, the pull rods are preferably connected to the latch mechanism so that the unlocking of the latch mechanisms is effected synchronously, for instance by pressing a push-button, but the locking of each latch mechanism is effected independently of the other.

When the door is opened, the pull rods or wire ropes function actively and pull the latch mechanism to an unlocked position. When the latch mechanism has reached its unlocked position, i.e. when the locking latches have been retracted from the recesses in the door frames, the pull rods or wire ropes are released, i.e. permitted to move freely relative to the movement of the latch mechanism. The push-button is preferably provided with a return spring which, once the latch mechanism has been opened, returns the push-button and the pull rods or wire ropes to their initial positions, i.e. the rest positions.

The pull rods or wire ropes, which are free relative to the push-button and latch mechanisms, do not substantially take part in the locking process when the door is being closed. The latch mechanisms disposed in the upper and/or lower part of the door lock automatically when the sensing or detecting elements release or turn the locking latches into a locked position. Consequently, the locking of the two latch mechanisms takes place independently of each other and can thus take place at different times in each of the latch mechanisms.

The pulling members in the lock mechanism according to the invention can be relatively thin compared with the pull rods of the prior art, because their main purpose is only to transmit the pulling movement from the opening means to the latch mechanism. Thus, the pulling member does not necessarily have to be rigid. In some embodiments of the invention, a wire rope or other similar means can for instance be used to transmit the pulling movement.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the movement of the pulling member is transmitted to the locking latch by means of a mechanism comprising a member turnable on a shaft and disposed in a box-like body part, which member preferably is a flat-shaped member with an asymmetric periphery, turnable around the shaft and provided with at least two radially outwardly projecting protrusions, which form a locking latch and a detecting latch. In the locking position of the lock mechanism, the locking latch protrudes from the body of the door extending into an opening, recess, or the like, formed in the door frame, thereby locking the door. In the unlocked position of the lock mechanism, the detecting element protrudes from the body of the door and hits the door frame when the door is being closed, thereby turning the turnable member so that the detecting latch is pushed downwards (in the upper part of the door) into the body of the door, and the locking latch is pushed upwards and out from the body of the door. The door can be provided with a door pump which automatically closes the door and starts the process of locking the door.

Preferably a slide is additionally disposed in the latch mechanism, in which a blocking piece in the locked position of the latch mechanism prevents the turnable member from turning and the locking latch from moving to its unlocked position. The slide is mounted movable in the body of the latch mechanism parallel with its base enabling it to be moved along the base in the longitudinal direction of the sides. The slide can be moved between upper and lower extreme positions.

The slide is connected to the turnable member by means of a spring, which in the locked position strives to keep the slide in its upper extreme position. The slide is additionally connected to the pull rod or wire rope. The end of the pull rod, in which there is a stop, is preferably arranged to go through an opening in the lower edge of the slide so that the pulling movement of the pull rod is transmitted to the slide, which pulls the slide in the direction of the pull rod. In the rest position of the pull rod, the movement of the slide is not transmitted to the pull rod.

The active pulling movement of the pull rod or wire rope is capable of pulling the slide to its lower extreme position, thereby moving the blocking piece to a lower position and releasing the turnable member, which by the action of the spring strives to move the locking latch to its unlocked position. When the locking latch has moved to the unlocked position, the pulling movement of the pull rod or wire rope, i.e. the pressing of the push-button, is stopped. A spring is preferably disposed in the push-button, which automatically returns the push-button, and with it, the pull rods or wire ropes to the rest position when the pressing has stopped. In the rest position of the push¬ button, the pull rod or wire rope is not operatively connected to the slide, whereby for instance the closing of the door, the movement of the turnable member and the movement of the slide to its upper extreme position does not have any effect on the pull rod or wire rope.

By means of the invention an automatic and safer than before locking of fire doors and the like has been achieved, even in cases where the doors are not quite straight. The arrangement according to the invention is simple and can easily be carried out. By means of the invention the door can be made to lock merely by shutting it or by letting the door pump shut it. There is no risk of the fire door being left unlocked by mistake.

The invention is described in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows schematically the push-button of the lock mechanism according to the invention and the drawing mechanism of the pull rods connected to it in its rest position,

FIG. 2 shows the push-button and pulling mechanism of

FIG. 1 in its active position, FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of the push- button of FIG. 1 and 2, FIG. 4 shows the latch mechanism according to the invention disposed in the upper part of the door in a locked position of the door, and FIG. 5 shows the latch mechanism of FIG. 4 in the unlocked position.

In FIG. 1, 2 and 3 is shown a push-button 10 on the surface of the door for moving pull rods 12, 14 located on the inside of the door. The pull rods are operatively connected to the push-button by a pulling mechanism 16, which by pressing the bush-button effects a pulling movement of the pull rods 12, 14. The pulling mechanism 16 consists of levers 18, 20 connected to the pull rods and a turnable connecting piece 22 connecting the levers. The connecting piece 22 is connected to the levers 18, 20 by means of pins 24, 26. Turning of the connecting piece 22 around the pin 28 causes movement of the levers 18, 20 and consequently also of the pull rods 12, 14.

The push-button 10 comprises a body 30 having a box-like shape, the base of which is partly open and attached to the surface of the door so that the pulling mechanism 16 going through an opening 34 in the surface 32 of the door partly protrudes through the open base into the body of the push¬ button. A frame-like push member 36, i.e. the push-button key, is disposed in the body 30 of the push-button. The push-button is protected by a shell or cover 38.

The push member 36 is connected to the body 30 of the push¬ button by means of a pin 40 so as to be partly turnable around the pin. A return spring 42 is additionally mounted on the pin 40 to return the push-button to its rest position after the pressing has stopped. The turnable connecting piece 22 of the pulling mechanism 16 is connected to the body of the push-button 30 by means of the pin 28 turnable around the pin.

The connecting piece 22 of the pulling mechanism 16 is connected to the push member 36 by means of a pin 44, which restricts the turning of the push member around the pin. The pin 44 is disposed in elongated guiding openings 46 formed in the push-button key. The connecting piece 22 turns by means of the guiding openings into a desired direction when the push member 36 is being pressed against the surface of the door and returns with the push member to its initial position when the pressing has stopped.

In FIG. 1 the push-button 10 is shown in its rest position when the push member 36, i.e. the push-button key and the cover 38 of the push-button are in their utmost positions and the levers 18, 20 of the pulling mechanism 16 are wide apart, the pull rods 12, 14 being pushed away from each other. FIG. 2 shows the push-button 10 and the push member 36 pressed against the surface of the door when the button is depressed. The connecting piece 22 of the pulling mechanism 16 has then turned clockwise around the pin 28.

Also the pins 24 and 26 have turned clockwise around the pin 28 pulling the levers 18, 20 closer against each other. At the same time, a pulling movement of the pull rods 12,

14 has been effected.

When the pressing of the button has stopped, the spring 42 returns the push member 36 to its rest position and the openings 46 guide the connecting piece 22 by means of the pin 44 to turn counterclockwise and return the pull rods 12, 14 to their initial positions.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 is shown an automatically locking latch mechanism 50 disposed in the upper part of the body 48 of the door, which latch mechanism comprises a box-like body 52, a turnable member 54, in which a locking latch 56 and a detecting latch 58 are formed at an angle of about 70° to 120° from each other, and a slide 60 which is connected by a spring 62 to the turnable member.

The body 52 of the latch mechanism comprises a base 64 and two sides 66, 68. The turnable member 54 is mounted in the upper part of the body 52 on a pin 70 so that the turning movement of the member takes place parallel with the base 64 of the body. The slide 60, which is a flat-shaped element, is disposed on the base 64 of the body, parallel with the base. The slide is adapted to move between two extreme positions, an upper and a lower extreme position, on the base of the body in the longitudinal direction of the sides 66, 68. The turnable member 54 is disposed on top of the slide. An opening 72 is formed in the upper edge of the slide to permit the slide to move past the pin 70.

The spring connecting the turnable member 54 and the slide 60 is at one end attached to an ear 74 formed in the turnable member and at the other end to an edge 76 formed in the lower end of the slide 60. Thus the spring strives to hold the slide against the turnable member 54 and through the pin 70 in the body 52 of the latch mechanism as well as turn the turnable member 54 so that the ear 74 points towards the lower part of the slide.

An opening 78, in which the pull rod 14 can move freely up and down to a certain point, is additionally formed in the edge 76 of the lower part of the slide, which edge is preferably turned at right angles to the surface of the slide. A stop 80, which prevents the end of the pull rod from being pulled out through the opening 78, is formed at the end of the pull rod 14. In the rest position, for instance when the latch mechanism is in its unlocked position, the pull rod extends to a point at a small distance inward of the opening 78. During the pulling movement the pull rod is pulled downwards striving to draw the slide downwards by means of the stop 80.

The turnable member shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 comprises four protrusions, the locking latch 56, the detecting latch 58, i.e. the sensing element, the attachment ear 74 and additionally, opposite the locking latch, at an angle of about 180°, a fourth protrusion, the purpose of which is explained in the following. The spring 62 strives to turn the turnable member 54 so that the ear 74 points downwards, i.e so that the locking latch 56 turns downwardly away from the locking position. To prevent this, a blocking piece 84 is disposed in the slide 60, which, when the slide is in its upper position, blocks the movement of the turnable member 54. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the blocking piece 84 prevents the fourth protrusion 82 from turning counterclockwise and thus locks the locking latch in its locked position.

In the locked position the locking latch 56 protrudes from the body 48 of the door. When the door is in its place in the door frame 86, the locking latch extends into an opening or recess 88 formed in the door frame. The opening or recess can, as is evident from the figure, be reinforced by a counter or metal plate 90.

The latch mechanism according to the invention functions as follows: In the locked position (FIG. 4) , the blocking piece 84 prevents the turnable member from turning and the locking latch from leaving the opening 88 in the door frame, i.e. it prevents the latch mechanism from being unlocked. When pressing the push-button, a pulling movement of the pull rod 14 is brought about which pulls the slide 60, and with it, the blocking piece 84 downwards so that the turnable member 54 is freed and turns by the spring 62 force counterclockwise, whereby the locking latch 56 is retracted from the opening 88 of the door frame, the latch mechanism is unlocked and the door can be opened. When the turnable member turns about 70° to 120°, the detecting latch 58 rises to its upper position.

When the door is being closed, by pushing it by hand or by means of a door pump, the detecting latch 58 first strikes the door frame 86 and turns, when the door is closing, the turnable member 54 clockwise pushing the locking latch 56 into the opening 88 in the door frame. At the same time the ear 74, to which the spring 62 is fastened, turns clockwise and upwards pulling the slide 60 upwards and the protrusion 82 downwards until it points mainly vertically downwards. When the slide is pulled upwards, also the blocking piece 84 rises and places itself in the direction of the movement caused by the spring 62 in front of the protrusion 82, thereby preventing the spring from turning the turnable member 54, i.e. locking the latch mechanism.

The pull rod 14 does not substantially take part in the locking process. In the lower part of the door there is preferably another latch mechanism which is unlocked by the pulling movement of a pull rod 12 in a similar manner. The construction of the latch mechanism of the lower part of the door corresponds to that of the latch mechanism described above. Also the pull rod 12 of the lower part of the door does not substantially take part in the locking of the latch mechanism of the lower part. Thus the latch mechanisms in the upper and lower parts of the door operate entirely separately as regards the locking of the latch mechanisms.

Claims

1. A lock mechanism for a door, for instance for locking a fire door, which lock mechanism comprises - a latch mechanism (50) which is mounted in the upper and/or lower edge of the body of the door and in its locking position locks the door to the door frame (86) ,

- an opening means (10) , such as a handle or a push-button, for opening the lock mechanism, and - a pulling member, such as a pull rod or wire rope (12,

14) , which transmits the movement of the opening means to the latch mechanism, characterized in that the pulling member (12, 14) is movable connected to the latch mechanism (50) so that the pulling member

- in the active position of the opening means, for instance when pressing the push-button (10) , keeps the latch mechanism in its unlocked position, and

- in the rest position of the opening means permits the latch mechanism to move from the unlocked position to the locked position.

2. The lock mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the latch mechanism is connected to a detecting latch mechanism (58) which when closing the door moves the latch mechanism to its closed position.

3. The lock mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the latch mechanism comprises - a member (54) turnable on a shaft, which is preferably a flat-shaped member with an asymmetric periphery, turnable around the shaft and provided with at least two radially outwardly projecting protrusions (56, 58) which form

- a locking latch (56) which in the locking position of the lock mechanism protrudes from the body of the door extending into a recess (88) or the like formed in the door frame, and

- a detecting latch (58) , which in the unlocked position of the lock mechanism protrudes from the body of the door and, when the door is being closed, hits the door frame (86) , thereby turning the turnable member (54) so that the locking latch (56) is pushed out from the body of the door.

4. The lock mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the latch mechanism comprises

- a member (54) turnable on a shaft and provided with a locking latch (56) which in the locked position of the latch mechanism protrudes from the body of the door extending into a recess (88) or the like formed in the door frame, and

- a slide (60) which is connected, for instance by means of a spring (62) , to an ear (74) formed in the turnable member, and that

- the pulling member (12) is connected to the slide for transmitting the movement of the opening means, such as a push-button (10) , to the turnable member (54) and retracting the locking latch (56) from the recess formed in the door frame.

5. The lock mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the latch mechanism (50) comprises

- a body of the latch mechanism which comprises at least a base (64) and two opposite sides (66, 68) for forming a box-like structure, - a member (54) turnable on a shaft, which is mounted in the body of the latch mechanism so that the turnable movement of the member takes place in a plane substantially parallel with the base (64) of the body and which is provided with a locking latch (56) and a detecting latch (58), and - a slide (60) which is movably disposed in the body of the latch mechanism parallel with its base so that the slide can be moved along the base in the longitudinal direction of the sides (66, 68) , and operatively connected to the turnable member (54) for instance by means of a spring (62).

6. The lock mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that - the body (52) of the latch mechanism is mounted in the body (48) of the door so that its base (64) is at right angles to the surface of the door and vertically so that the member (54) turning on the shaft is disposed in the upper end of the body of the latch mechanism, - the slide (60) is movable in a vertical plane between two extreme positions,

- the slide (60) is connected to the turnable member (54) by means of a spring (62) which strives to turn the turnable member so that the locking latch moves to an unlocked position, and that

- a blocking piece (84) is disposed or formed in the slide (60) , which in the first, upper, extreme position of the slide prevents the turnable member from turning and locks the lock mechanism and in the second, lower, extreme position of the slide permits the turnable member to turn freely.

7. The lock mechanism according to claim 6, characterized in that - the member (54) turnable on a shaft is a flat-shaped member with an asymmetric periphery, turnable around the shaft (70) and provided with radially outwardly projecting protrusions (56, 58, 74, 82) which form

- a locking latch (56) which in the locking position of the lock mechanism protrudes from the body of the door extending into a recess (88) or the like formed in the door frame,

- a detecting latch (58) which in the unlocked position of the lock mechanism protrudes from the body of the door and, when the door is being closed, hits the door frame (86) , thereby turning the turnable member (54) so that the locking latch (56) is pushed upwards and out from the body of the door,

- an attachment ear (74) for the spring (62) for attaching the spring which is connected to the slide (60) to the turnable member (54) , and

- a protrusion (82) blocking the movement of the latch mechanism, which, when the slide is in its upper extreme position, engages with the blocking piece (84) and thus prevents the turnable member from turning.

8. The lock mechanism according to claim 7, characterized in that

- the locking latch (56) and the protrusion (82) blocking the movement of the latch mechanism are formed in the plate

(54) on substantially opposite sides of the shaft (70) , and that

- the locking latch (56) and the detecting latch (58) are located at an angle of about 70° to 120° from each other.

9. The lock mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the latch mechanism comprises

- a member (54) turnable on a shaft, which is mounted in the body (48) of the latch mechanism and provided with a locking latch (56) which in the locked position of the latch mechanism protrudes from the body (48) of the door extending into a recess (88) or the like formed in the door frame (86) , and

- a slide (60) which is movably mounted in the body (48) of the latch mechanism parallel to its base so that the slide can be moved along the base of the body, and operatively connected to the turnable member (54) for instance by means of a spring (62) , and that

- the pulling member (14) , at the latch mechanism end of which is a stop (80) , is movably connected to the slide

(60) so that the pulling movement effected by the opening means (10) in the pulling member (14) by means of the stop is transmitted to the slide (60) causing a movement in the direction of the pulling member and that the movement of the pulling member in the opposite direction takes place freely without moving the slide.

10. The lock mechanism according to claim 9, characterized in that - a substantially horizontal protrusion or abutment (76) , in which there is an opening (78) , is formed in the lower end of the slide (60) ,

- the pulling member (14) is adapted to extend through the opening (78) , and that - the stop (80) at the end of the pulling element is shaped in such a way that, when the pulling member is being pulled, it pulls the slide (60) in the direction of the pulling member.

11. The lock mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the latch mechanism comprises

- a member (54) turnable on a shaft which is mounted in the body (48) of the latch mechanism and provided with a locking latch (56) and a detecting latch (58) , and - a slide (60) , which is movably mounted in the body (48) of the latch mechanism and operatively connected to the turnable member (54) by means of a spring (62) , and that

- the member (54) turnable on the shaft is disposed in the upper part of the latch mechanism at such a level that the locking latch (56) in its locked position protrudes from the body (48) of the door extending into a recess (88) or the like in the door frame (86) above it and in its unlocked position remains below it, and that - the pulling member (14) is connected to the lower edge of the slide (60) so that the slide can be pulled downwards in the latch mechanism by a pulling movement of the pulling member away from the turnable member (54) .

12. The lock mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the opening means (10) comprises a push-button disposed in the middle of the door, the pressing movement directed towards which is transmitted by two pulling members (12, 14) as pulling movements to the latch mechanisms (50) mounted in the upper and lower edges of the door for opening the door.

13. The lock mechanism according to claim 12, characterized in that a spring (42) is disposed in the push-button (10) for returning the push-button to its rest position when the pressing has stopped and for returning the pulling members (12, 14) to their initial positions, i.e. in a position away from each other.

14. The lock mechanism according to claim 12, characterized in that a locking mechanism is disposed in the push-button

(10) by means of which the push-button, and thus the pulling members, can be locked in a desired position, for instance in a position in which the door can not be locked or not be unlocked.

15. The lock mechanism according to claim l, characterized in that a door pump for automatically closing the door is connected to the latch mechanism.