US1242658A - Fire-shutter. - Google Patents

Description

T. E. COLLINS.

FIRE SHUTTER.

APPLICATION man JUNE 28, 1916.

Patented Oct. 9,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l I 720772062 Collz'mi Patented 0 1;. 9, 1917.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

awM M a 5 T. E. COLLINS. FIRE SHUTTER.

' APPLlCATlON FILED JUNE 28, 1916. 1,242,658;

To all whom it may concern:

" WEED W Wares.

. THOMAS E. COLLINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-SHUTTER.

7 Be it known that I,T1-1oMAs E. CoL INs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fire-Shutters, (Case 2,) of which the following is'af full, clear, concise, and exact description, refereiencebeing had to the accompanying drawing,

forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatic fire shutters. a I

The conditions ofoperation imposed upon devices of this class are severe. These devicesare generally employed to guard openas a door and during fire conditions it must serve as an automatic closure.

- Devices of this class generally consist of a door or shutter element which may be operated normally as a door and a closing means which is normally inactive but which becomes active to positively close door or shutter element upon the occurrence of fire conditions. Due to the necessity of using a powerful and positively acting closing means, the automatic shutter is exposed to various severe usage. This has been remedied to;an extent by the application .,of governing means for regulatlng the speed ofclosure. On some types of doors, the governing means is constantly connected .to the shutter. It thereforeis subject to continual wear by the ordinary usage of the device as a door and may to a certain extent lose its adjustment. It alsomakes the door more diflicult to operate. V

Other devices have been proposed whereby'the governing device is in'the nature of a spring or the like forcounterbalancing or governing the closing means. gThis spring is normally disconnected from the shutter and becomes-connected only upon the occurrence of firecondition. This type of governor or .controllerhas been found to be cylinder-and air port; and

the same.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 0013.9, 1917; Application filed June 28,1916. SeriaLNO. 106,310. l i

unreliable as the spring tension varies and may inadvertently 'becomejchan'ged or lost so that fallure results. Furthermore, to be successful the door must always be inth'e same position when the automatic closing diflicult to determine the condition of the device. p Y

My lnvention a'nns to provide a simple and eflicient brake 1n comblnatlon with an automatically closing shutter which is free from the above ob ectlon and which 1s accessible and inexpensive and which is readily adjustable to secure different speeds'of op eration. V v

I In the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated one form of my invention V Figure 1 is a front elevation with parts broken away of a fire shutter-embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a left hand elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is aright hand elevation of the same on a slightly enlarged scale; i

Fig. 4: is a front View of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3; V 3

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view of the F ig. 6 is a view taken at p A shutter or curtainl (see Fig. 3) "has its upperend attached to'the drum 2, themajor portion of the curtain being normally wound [right angles to '60 means is applied,totherwise the spring ten- I upon. the drum. The curtain 1 is'composed of a number of metallic sections secured together in such manner as to permit the curtain to be wound upon the drum as described. The drum 2 is supported at the left end upon a shaft 3 and at its right end upon" a shaft 4, these two shafts being axially in line. A

counterbalancing springois containedwithin the drum 2 and this springhas one end attached to the shaft 3 and the other end attached to the drum 2. The tension of the spring may be suitably adjusted by means of a plate Bywhich is keyed to the shaft 3.

The plate 6fis provided with a number jof ends of which bar project between the parallel sides of the angle bars lt and 15 which form a groove for guiding the bar'13. An angle bar 16 is attached to the front of the bar 13 and a channel bar 17 is attached to the rear of the bar 13. The outer end or flange of the channel bar 17 is adapted to engage the lintel 18 of the doorway. An iron bar 19 is normally suspended from a shaft 20 and is adapted under fire conditions, as will be described later, to be dropped into'the channel 17 to cause the curtain to be lowered. The bar 19 is provided with hooks 21 which engage arms 22 on the shaft 20 so that when the shaft 20 turns into the position shown in Fig. 3, the bar 19 will be supported upon the shaft 20. A pair of cables 23 are supported from brackets 24 and these cables pass through the ends of the bar 19 forming guides therefor to prevent accidental displacement of the bar 19.

The shaft 20 has bearings in the end plates 10 and 11. The left hand end of the shaft 20 has a weighted raising lever 25 secured thereto as by a pin or T. The lever v25 is'normally held in the raised position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by means of a controlling lever 26 which is formed in the shape of a bell crank and pivoted to a plate 27 secured to the end plate 10. The horizontal arm of the bell crank 26 is adapted to be moved under the end of the weighted lever 25, the vertical arm of the bell crank 26 being held by a wire or cable 28 which includes a fusible link 29 in such position as to be subjected to any excessive rise of temperature, such as would occur in case of fire. The opposite end of the cable 28 is secured to the vertical arm of a bell crank lever 31 which controls the connection of the governor to the drum. It is obvious that the cable 28, instead of being secured between the two controlling bell crank levers, may be connected through a suitable abutment or stationary object, or may be so arranged as to release the two controlling levers at substantially the same time. It is also obvious that a single controlling lever may be employed to control both devices without departing from my invention.

y The governor which I'employ is normally disconnected from the shutter mechanism so a door Without operating the governor.

There is thus a minimum of wearv upon the governor. The curtain is not subject to the drag ofa governor during normal oper ation. The shaft 4 which is connected to the .drum 2 projects out through the end plate 11 and bears a gear 32 which is keyed to the shaft 1. A weighted bell crank lever 33 having the longer arm 34- projecting outward from the wall in generally a horizontal direction, is pivoted at 35 to the end plate 11. The other endof the bell crank lever 33 bears a pin 36 which'serv'esas a bearing forthe pinion 37. The pinion-37 is preferably providedwith a flange 38 formed integrally with the body of the pinion to provide proper support for the wrist pin 40 which may be screwed into any one of the holesll, 42 and A3. 'The purpose of the adjustment of the location of the crank pin 40 is to secure a greater or less stroke. A suitable cylinder 44 is mounted upon the end plate 11 in a generally vertical direction in position to be operated by the pinion 37 when the same is rotated. The cylinder 4 1 is provided with a piston 45 mounted on the piston rod 4.6. The piston rod 46 extends completely through the cylinder, being guided by suitable bearings in the cylinder head at both ends. The

piston rod is connected by a suitable wrist have ports therethrough, as shown in Figs.

5 and 6 controlled by suitable means such as the set screws 51. The weighted arm of the bell crank 33 is normally in the raised position as shown in full lines inFig. 3 and the pinion 37 is out of mesh with the gear 32. The controlling lever'31 is pivoted on a plate 52 secured to the end plate 11. A swinging latch member 53 is pivoted to the bottom of the plate 52 and lies in such position that when the Weighted arm 34% drops downwardly to put the gear 32 and the pinion 37 in mesh, the arm will be held in the downward position to prevent disengagement of the gears. A suitable stop or bracket 5% is provided to prevent excessive movement of the arm'3l. It can- At the same time, the weighted arm 34, be-

ing released, throws the pinion 37 into engagement with the gears 32 so that the drum is connected to the governor by the release of the thermal control. The air governor forms a dashpot or fluid brake which is effective to secure a rapid but smooth descent of the curtain. As the curtain unwinds the effective diameter of the drum becomes less and due to the increase in speed the governor becomes more effective.

This fluid brake is not to be confused with a friction brake as the voperation of the two are totally different. The fluid brake prevents less friction to movement for slow speed than it does for high speed, presenting practically zero resistance to start the same. In a friction brake, on the contrary, the friction is excessive just before starting and becomes less after move ment is initiated.

It is apparent that the fluid brake may be otherwise constructed and that the means for connecting the same operativel to the drum may be varied and I consi er such variations to be within the spirit and scope of my invention.

' I claim:

1. In combination a flexible curtain, a drum for said curtain, means for lowering said curtain, a gear connected to said drum, a pivoted arm, a pinion having a bearing on said arm, said pinion being adapted to mesh with said gear but being normally out of mesh therewith, a fluid dash-pot connected to said pinion to oppose rotation thereof, and automatic thermally controlled means for moving saidvarm to cause the I pinion to mesh with said gear, and latching means for holding said arm in position to maintain said gear and said pinion in mesh.

2. In combination, a casing having a roller therein and a shutter wound on said roller, a weight to move the shutter, a restraining arm for the weight, a gear operable with said roller, a lever pivoted adjacent said gear and carrying a pinion, a fluid brake connected with the pinion, fusible means to restrain said arm and lever, destruction of said fusible means permitting the weight to actuate the shutter and allowing said lever to move said pinion into mesh tard movement of the shutter.

with the gear to connect the brake and re- 8. In combination, a drum having a fiexible shutter wound thereupon, a weight to cause descent of sald curtaln, a gear'on said drum, a reciprocating fluid brake having a v crank and connecting rod, a pinion associated therewith, a lever carrying said pin-' ion, a restraining arm for said lever to maintain said pinion out of engagement with said gear, means to suspend said weight, and fusible means extending between said weight suspending means and said lever, whereby upon destruction of the fusible means said lever and said weight suspending means will be simultaneously actuated.

4. In combination, a casing, a roller mounted therein and a flexible shutter wound on said roller, and a weight to lower the shutter, a restraining arm for the weight, a gear operable with said roller, a

' lever pivoted on said casing and carrying a pinion, retarding means connected to the pinion, means to support said lever, and a fusible means weight arm and last said means. I

5. In combination, a casing having a roller therein and a curtain wound on said roller, a weight to lower the curtain, means to restrain the weight composed of an arm,

a gear connected to the drum, a retarding and the pivoted arm dropped bringing said pinion into engagement with the gear to retard the downward movement of the cur tain.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 21st day ofJune A. D. 1916.

THOMAS E. COLLINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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