WO2011039739A1

WO2011039739A1 - An object attacher and a method for attaching a movable object

Info

Publication number: WO2011039739A1
Application number: PCT/IL2010/000609
Authority: WO
Inventors: Moshe Raz Cohen
Original assignee: Moshe Raz Cohen
Priority date: 2009-10-01
Filing date: 2010-07-29
Publication date: 2011-04-07
Also published as: IL201277A0

Abstract

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to an object attacher (10) comprising: an object's magnet (14) fixed to a movable object (28) moving the object's magnet along a course (24); a first stationary magnet (18) polarized similar to the object's magnet (14) for repulsing thereof, the first stationary magnet (18) fixed adjacent to a first point (B) on the course (24) of the object's magnet (18), allowing passing of the object's magnet (18) therebeyond; and a mechanical barrier (32) to the movable object (28), the barrier limiting the object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from one side (side C) of the magnetic repulsion along the course (24), thereby softly attaching the movable object (28) between boundaries determined by the mechanical barrier (32) and non-maximal magnetic repulsion (34) force between the magnets (14, 18).

Description

AN OBJECT ATTACHER AND A METHOD FOR ATTACHING A

MOVABLE OBJECT

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of object attaching. More particularly, the invention relates to an object attacher and to a method for attaching a movable object. Background of the Invention

A doorstop is an object or device used to hold a door open or closed, or at a certain state of opening, for preventing damage caused by occasional wind drafts pushing the door and for preventing undesired noise. A door stop may be a simple heavy solid object, such as a brick, placed in the path of the door. These stops are predominantly improvised. Another doorstop features a small manufactured or improvised wedge, of wood, rubber, or another material, for being kicked beneath the door, providing static friction, keeping the door motionless. A third strategy is to equip the door itself with a stopping mechanism, pushing it towards the floor.

However, these doorstops require manual arming.

Doorstops which do not require manual arming include mechanical or magnetic latches, including a pair of elements being latched one to the other. The doorstop latches the door upon moving the door to the latched location, and releases the door upon drawing the door from that location. Both mechanical and magnetic latches require accurate installation, since they require improved contact between the two elements. Mechanical latches are disadvantaged of mechanical amortization.

Both magnetic and mechanical latch doorstops are disadvantaged of increased force required either to latch or to release thereof. The magnetic doorstop is disadvantaged of knocking the elements upon latching, as the magnetic attraction increases exponentially by the distance.

All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of crudity of the mechanical and magnetized doorstops.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing gentle and soft doorstops.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing gentle and soft attaching means to other movable objects, rather than doors.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Summary of the Invention In one aspect, the present invention is directed to an object attacher (10) comprising:

- an object's magnet (14) fixed to a movable object (28) moving the object's magnet along a course (24);

- a first stationary magnet (18) polarized similar to the object's magnet (14) for repulsing thereof, the first stationary magnet (18) fixed adjacent to a first point (B) on the course (24) of the object's magnet (18), allowing passing of the object's magnet (18) therebeyond; and - a mechanical barrier (32) to the movable object (28), the barrier limiting the object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from one side (side C) of the magnetic repulsion along the course (24), thereby softly attaching movable object (28) between boundaries determined by the mechanical barrier (32) and non-maximal magnetic repulsion (34) force between the magnets (14, 18).

Mechanical barrier (32) may comprise a low elasticity element (16) for providing mechanical force opposing the magnetic repulsion (34), thereby stabilizing the movable object (28) between forces of low elasticity element (16) and of magnetic repulsion (34).

Mechanical barrier (32) may comprise (Figs. 3,4) the first stationary magnet (18).

According to this embodiment, object attacher (10) may further comprise (Figs. 3,4) an arm (12), fixing movable object (28) to object's magnet (14),

the arm (12) longer than length (L) of first stationary magnet (18), for locating movable object (28) at the first side of first stationary magnet (18), limiting movable object (28) at the first side, and locating object's magnet (14) at the second side of first stationary magnet (18), repulsing object's magnet (14) at the second side.

According to another embodiment (Fig. 5), mechanical barrier (32) may comprise an external barrier (30).

The object attacher (10) may further comprise (Fig. 6):

- a second stationary magnet (18A) polarized similar to object's magnet (14) for repulsing thereof, the second stationary magnet (18A) fixed adjacent to a second point (Bl) on the course (24); and

- a second mechanical barrier (32 A), said barrier limiting object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from one side (side CI) of the magnetic repulsion,

thereby softly attaching movable object (28) between boundaries determined by second mechanical barrier (32) and non-maximal magnetic repulsion (34) force between object's magnet (14) and second stationary magnet (18A).

The object attacher (10) may further comprise (Fig. 8):

■ a third stationary magnet (18B) polarized similar to object's magnet (14) for repulsing thereof, third stationary magnet (18B) fixed adjacent to first point (Bl) on course (24) opposite to the first stationary magnet, for canceling repulsive force (50) deviating from course (24).

Object attacher (10) may further comprise (Figs. 7,8):

- a third mechanical barrier (32B) to movable object (28), said third barrier (32B) limiting object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from the other side (side A) of the magnetic repulsion along course (24),

thereby allowing toggling of movable object (28). The movable object may comprise a hinged door, a slidable door, a hinged window, a slidable window, a rotating arm (Fig. 8), a toggle mechanism (Fig. 8), or another movable object.

In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for locating a movable object (28) attached, the method comprising the steps of:

- moderate drawing of the movable object (28), moving an object's magnet (14) fixed thereto towards a stationary magnet (18) from a first side thereof (from location A), increasing magnetic repulsion of the object's magnet (14);

- pressing the object's magnet (14) against the increased magnetic repulsion, to pass beyond the stationary magnet (18), repulsing the object's magnet towards the second side of the stationary magnet (18); and

- mechanically limiting object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from the magnetic repulsion at the second side,

thereby softly attaching movable object (28) between the mechanical limitation and the magnetic repulsion at the second side (location C). The method may further comprise the steps of:

- moderate drawing of object's magnet (14) back towards stationary magnet (18) from the second side thereof (from location C), increasing magnetic repulsion of the movable object (28) towards the second side; and - pressing the object's magnet, overcoming the increased magnetic repulsion of movable object (28) towards the second side, to pass beyond the stationary magnet over to the first side (back to location A) thereof, causing magnetic repulsion of movable object (28) towards the first side,

thereby releasing the soft attachment of movable object (28).

The method may further comprise the steps of:

- mechanically limiting object's magnet (14) from being drawn away from the magnetic repulsion at the first side,

thereby softly attaching movable object (28) between the mechanical limitation and the magnetic repulsion at the first side (location C), thereby toggling movable object (28) between the first (location C) and second sides (location A).

The foregoing embodiments of the invention are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments and features of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings:

Fig. 1 depicts the object attacher, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 depicts the door having the attacher of Fig. 1, close to the attached location.

Fig. 3 depicts the door having the attacher of Fig. 1, at the attached location.

Fig. 4 is a magnified view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 depicts the force on the object's magnet and on the door at different locations of the object's magnet.

Fig. 6 is a general model of the object attacher of Fig. 1.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail.

Fig. 1 depicts the object attacher according to one embodiment of the present invention. An object attacher 10 includes a first magnet 14, referred to herein as a "object's magnet", fixed to a movable door 28, and moving by door 28 along a course 24. Also, it includes a stationary magnet 18, fixed at a stationary location adjacent to course 24, where door 28 is to be attached. According to the depicted example, the attached location is close to a wall 30.

Door 28 is shown as near wall 30, but not too close. Object's magnet 14 is fixed to door 28 adjacent to course 24, but shifted. It may be higher or lower or at the side of course 24. Thus, stationary magnet 18 will maximally influence object's magnet 14 upon passing over, but will not be a direct mechanical barrier thereof.

Fig. 3 depicts the door having the attacher of Fig. 1, at the attached location. Fig. 4 is a magnified view of Fig. 3.

Object attacher 10 includes an arm 12 between door 28 and magnet 14, which is longer than length L of stationary magnet 18. Thus, object's magnet 14 can pass above or below or from the side of stationary magnet 18.

Thus, object's magnet 14 at the attached location, shown in Figs. 3 and 4, is closer to wall 30 than stationary magnet 18. Magnets 18 and 14 are similarly magnetized, thus repulsing each other, providing repulsion magnetic field 34. For example, the pole of the outer zone of both magnets is North and the inner zone is South. Thus, the North edges of magnets 18 and 14 repulse each other.

Repulsion force 34 pushes object's magnet 14, together with door 28, towards wall 30.

Fig. 5 depicts the force on the object's magnet and on the door as object's magnet moves along the course thereof.

Object's magnet 14 is shown at three locations along course 24. At location A, stationary magnet 18 repulses arrival and knock of door 28 on wall 30 along course 24. Repulsion field 34 increases along course 24 towards location B. Near location B the direction of repulsion field 34, as shown by the arrows, thus repulsion field 34 along course 24 diminishes. Upon passing beyond location B, field 34 steeply increases, but magnet 14 is pushed towards location C, which is the side of wall 30.

The force towards location C decreases, as at location C the distance between magnets 14 and 18 increases. Thus, unlike prior art magnetized attaching mechanisms, door 28 gently reaches the location near wall 30, and the force is decreased there. Also, unlike prior art mechanical or magnetized attaching mechanisms, the startup movement of magnet 14 for drawing door 28 away from wall 30 requires only weak or moderate force. An element 16 having a low coefficient of elasticity may provide mechanical force opposing the repulsing magnetic field 34 to soften and stabilize magnet 14 to location C. Low elasticity element 16 is shown in Fig. 5 between magnet 14 and wall 30, or preferably between door 28 and magnet 14, as shown in Fig. 4.

Object attacher 10 may be installed using the following steps. At the first step, arm 12 of object's magnet 14 may be fixed to door 28 by screws 20 at a height such that the magnet 14 is above the height of stationary magnet 18. At the second step, stationary magnet 18 may be temporally located on the floor 16, by a double-sided adhesive tape, such that object's magnet 14 will pass above and such that object's magnet 14 will reach close to wall 30. At the third step, stationary magnet 18 will be fixed to floor 26 by a screw 22.

Fig. 6 is a general model of the object attacher of Fig. 1. Object's magnet 14 may move along course 24 from one side of stationary magnet 18, fixed by fixing element 38, to the other side thereof. Object's magnet 14 is attached at location C, where the magnetic repulsive field 34 between magnets 14 and 18 is moderate. A mechanical barrier 32, which may comprise or be supported by low elasticity element 16, prevents either object's magnet 14 or movable object 28 from being drawn away from magnetic repulsive field 34 to decreased repulsive field 40.

The result is that object's magnet 14 is attached by moderate magnetic repulsive field 34 between mechanical barrier 32 and increased magnetic repulsive field 42.

According to the embodiment of Fig. 4, stationary magnet 18 represents mechanical barrier 32, since stationary magnet 18 limits door 28 and object's magnet 14 from going farther to the right, where the magnetic repulsion 34 is decreased.

According to the embodiment of Fig. 4, wall 30 constitutes mechanical barrier 32, since wall 30 limits door 28 and object's magnet 14 from going farther to the right, where the magnetic repulsion 34 is decreased.

Unlike two attracting magnets of the prior art, release of door 28 requires only moderate drawing of object's magnet 14 against moderate repulsive field 34 towards stationary magnet 18. The object's magnet is drawn towards increased field 42, overcoming it and passing beyond stationary magnet 18 over back to location A, releasing said movable object 28.

An additional stationary magnet 18 A, fixed adjacent to point Bl on course 24, and an additional barrier 32A, may attach door 28 to another location.

Other movable objects to be attached, such as sliding doors, rotating windows, sliding windows, toggle mechanisms, switches and other movable elements may be fixed, instead of door 28, to object's magnet 14. Fig. 7 is a graph of the forces of the prior art attracting doorstop and of the attacher of Fig. 1.

The X-axis shows the location of object's magnet 14 and the distance between object's magnet 14 and stationary magnet 18 along course 24; the Y-axis shows the force between object's magnet 14 and stationary magnet 18 along the course 24 only.

The force of prior art attracting magnet line maximizes at location B, i.e. the distance between the centers is close to zero. Thus, de-attaching object's magnet 14 from the attaching location requires powerful force.

In contrast, the line of attacher 10 shows moderate force 34 at the attaching location where barrier 32 limits it. Thus, de-attaching object's magnet 14 from the attaching location C does not require powerful force.

Moving of object's magnet 14 from location A towards location

B, where stationary magnet 18 is located, increases the repulsive force. At location B both magnets are located exactly on the same X location, thus the force along course 24, upon which the user confronts is zero, due to balance. Fig. 8 describes an embodiment where the force at this location is diminished along all axes.

Moving of object's magnet 14 from location B towards location

C, where barrier 32 is located, increases the repulsive force to field 42, and then decreases to field 34. Barrier 32 does not allow reaching weak field 40.

Unlike the prior art attracting magnet line, the line of attacher 10 is symmetrical on both sides of stationary magnet 18.

Adding another limiting barrier 32B at a symmetrical location to barrier 32 may be utilized for symmetrical appliance of both sides of the line of attacher 10 in the graph, for example, as shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8 depicts another appliance using the attacher of Fig. 1.

Movable object 28 in the appliance of Fig. 8 is an arm rotatable about a hinge 46, for instance, manually by a handle 48. Magnet 14 is fixed to movable arm 28 and is thus movable along course 24. Stationary magnet 18 is fixed adjacent to course 24 for repulsing object's magnet 14 along course 24. Physical barrier 32 may limit the motion of arm 28, preventing object's magnet 14 from being drawn away along course 24 from the repulsive magnetic force of stationary magnet 18.

Physical limiting barrier 32B is fixed at the other side at a symmetrical location to barrier 32, preventing object's magnet 14 from being drawn away along the other side of course 24 from the repulsive magnetic force of stationary magnet 18.

The appliance of Fig. 8 may be utilized for a toggle switch having two symmetrical states. The toggle switch applying object attacher 10 is advantaged of initial moderate force (34 of Fig. 7), required for detaching from both of the attached states, together with the powerful force (42 of Fig. 7) required for traversing the central position between the attached states.

Another contributing stationary magnet 18B may be fixed to cancel the repulsive force denoted by arrow 50, deviating from course 24.

In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals have been mentioned: - numeral 10 denotes an object attacher, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

- numeral 12 denotes an arm fixing the object's magnet to the door;

- numeral 14 denotes the object's magnet attached to the door;

- numeral 16 denotes a low elasticity element;

- numerals 18, 18A and 18B denote stationary magnets;

- numerals 20 and 22 denote screws;

^■ numeral 24 denotes the course of the object's magnet; - numerals A, B and C denote locations on the course;

- numeral 26 denotes the floor;

- numeral 28 denotes a movable object, such as a movable door, an arm or other;

- numeral 30 denotes a wall;

^■ numerals 32, 32A and 32B denote mechanical barriers, for limiting the object's magnet from being drawn away from the magnetic repulsive field;

- numeral 34 denotes the magnetic repulsive field, especially where it is moderate;

- numeral 38 denotes a fixing element, for example, for fixing the stationary magnet to the floor;

- numeral 40 denotes the repulsive field, where it is decreased;

- numeral 42 denotes the repulsive field where it is increased;

■ numeral 46 is a hinge;

- numeral 48 is a handle for rotating a movable arm; and

^■ numeral 50 denotes the magnetic repulsive force deviating from the course of the motion of the movable object.

The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.

The terms of the claims defined above, are to be interpreted according to the definition thereof.

Claims

is claimed is:

CLAIMS An object attacher comprising:

- an object's magnet fixed to a movable object moving said object's magnet along a course ;

- a first stationary magnet polarized similar to said object's magnet, for repulsing thereof, said first stationary magnet fixed adjacent to a first point on said course of said object's magnet, allowing passing of said object's magnet therebeyond; and

- a mechanical barrier to said movable object, said barrier limiting said object's magnet from being drawn away from one side of said magnetic repulsion along said course,

thereby softly attaching said movable object between boundaries determined by said mechanical barrier and non-maximal magnetic repulsion force between said magnets.

An object attacher according to claim 1, wherein said mechanical barrier comprises a low elasticity element for providing mechanical force opposing said magnetic repulsion,

thereby stabilizing said movable object between forces of said low elasticity element and of said magnetic repulsion.

An object attacher according to claim 1, wherein said mechanical barrier comprises said first stationary magnet.

An object attacher according to claim 3, further comprising an arm fixing said movable object to said object's magnet as said, said arm being longer than the length of said first stationary magnet, for locating said movable object at the first side of said first stationary magnet, limiting said movable object at said first side, and

locating said object's magnet at the second side of said first stationary magnet, repulsing said object's magnet at said second side.

An object attacher according to claim 1, wherein said mechanical barrier comprises an external barrier.

An object attacher according to claim 1, further comprising:

- a second stationary magnet polarized similar to said object's magnet for repulsing thereof, said second stationary magnet fixed adjacent to a second point on said course ; and

- a second mechanical barrier, said barrier limiting said object's magnet from being drawn away from one side of said magnetic repulsion,

thereby softly attaching said movable object between boundaries determined by said second mechanical barrier and non-maximal magnetic repulsion force between said object's magnet and said second stationary magnet.

An object attacher according to claim 1, further comprising:

- a third stationary magnet polarized similar to said object's magnet for repulsing thereof, said third stationary magnet fixed adjacent to said first point on said course opposite to said first stationary magnet, for canceling repulsive force deviating from said course.

8. An object attacher according to claim 1, further comprising:

- a third mechanical barrier to said movable object, said third barrier limiting said object's magnet from being drawn away from the other side of said magnetic repulsion along said course, thereby allowing toggling of said movable object.

9. An object attacher according to claim 1, wherein said movable object comprises a member selected from a group including: a hinged door, a slidable door, a hinged window, a slidable window, a rotating arm, a toggle mechanism, another movable object.

10. A method for attaching a movable object, said method comprising the steps of:

- moderate drawing of said movable object, moving an object's magnet fixed thereto towards a stationary magnet from a first side thereof, increasing magnetic repulsion of said object's magnet;

- pressing said object's magnet against said increased magnetic repulsion, to pass beyond said stationary magnet, repulsing said object's magnet towards the second side of said stationary magnet; and

- mechanically limiting said object's magnet from being drawn away from said magnetic repulsion at said second side, thereby softly attaching said movable object between said mechanical limitation and said magnetic repulsion at said second side.

11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of: ^■ moderate drawing of said object's magnet back towards said stationary magnet from said second side thereof, increasing magnetic repulsion of said movable object towards said second side; and

- pressing said object's magnet, overcoming said increased magnetic repulsion of said movable object towards said second side, to pass beyond said stationary magnet over to said first side thereof, causing magnetic repulsion of said movable object towards said first side,

thereby releasing said soft attachment of said movable object.

12. A method according to claim 1 1, further comprising the steps of: ■ mechanically limiting said object's magnet from being drawn away from said magnetic repulsion at said first side,

thereby softly attaching said movable object between said mechanical limitation and said magnetic repulsion at said first side, thereby toggling said movable object between said first and second sides.