US2322923A - Silo door and silo - Google Patents

Description

June 29, 1943'. z. w. CRAINE SILO DOOR AND SILO Filed Aug. 5, 1940 IIIIII'IIIII'II INVENTOR Z02 M (Zen/ 5 ATTORNEY Patented June 29, 1943 UNETED STATES FATENT OFFICE SILO noon AND srLo Zur W. Craine, Norwich, N. Y.

Application August 8, 1940, Serial No. 350,877

(01. til-1.4)

4 Claims.

The invention relates to a silo of either the stove or block Wall construction and relates particularly to a door construction for a silo. A silo is usually circular and has an opening or doorway in the wall thereof extending from the bottom, or a point near the bottom, to the top. A series of doors are mounted in this doorway, one above the other, and one door may be opened at any point, or a series of doors may be opened. Since the doors open inwardly, it is understood that no door can be opened which is obstructed by ensilage within the silo.

It is an object of the invention to build a new and novel door construction.

Another object of the invention is to construct a door locking means which can be used as a ladder rung.

Another object is to construct a combination door hinge and door locking and clamping mechanism which can also serve as a ladder rung and in which neither mechanism interferes with the operation of the other.

A further object is to construct a door frame which is particularly suited for the door hinging and door clamping and locking means.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a silo wall construction which is gasketed to form a tight and leakproof seal between the joints thereof.

Other objects of the invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, illustrating two embodiments of the door frame construction, in which:

Figure l is a front perspective view of a portion of a silo having walls built up of blocks and showing the door and door frame in which the latter is an integral four-sided construction. This view also shows details of the wall block with a side groove for a vertical gasket or cushion and sealing means. A gasket sealing means, used between the ends of the blocks, is also shown.

Figure 2 is a cross-section, taken on line 2--2 of Figure 1, through a portion of the silo wall with the door seated in the door opening, shown in solid lines, and swung completely into the silo and entirely clear of the doorway shown in dot and dash lines.

The various constructions of the invention, including the frame means, the door hinge means, the door locking means and the gasket means, are suitable for any style of silo. The silo I0, particularly illustrated in Figure 1, has walls built of blocks H of tile, vitrified. clay, or

. la in the frame.

other suitable material, to form a circular silo. A silo, when filled with ensilage, subject to considerable pressure and forthis reason tie rods 12 pass around the outside of the wall of the silo to reenforce the same and prevent it from bursting under the internal pressure. At the upper levels of the silo, simple tie rods, which pass around the wall and are spaced between the doors, are suiiicient. At the bottom of the silo, however, where the pressure is considerably greater than it is at the top and the mid-section, a greater number of tie rods are used which are located between the simple tie rods, and hence if simple rods were used here around the entire silo, they would normally cross in front of the door opening. In order to avoid this, a tie rod loop i3 is utilized at the doorway.

In building a silo having a wall built of blocks, the blocks H are laid so as to form a vertical doorway iii in the wall extending from the bottom, or near the bottom, to the top thereof. A door frame means or door frame. ii is inserted in the doorway which, in the form illustrated particularly in Figure l, is an integral four-sided frame of cast metal. The frame has a door seat 8 which extends around all four sides and is preferably recessed, so that when a door it is clamped therein, the door is even with the inner edge of the frame and with the inner face of the silo, wall. Such a recessed door frame is not essential, but it is a distinct advantagein order to prevent air pockets. The sides of the door frame, which, form the top and bottom of a par together in any suitable fashion, such as by bolts 25 passing through the adjacent flanges. Preferably a gasket 26 is used between the door frames to cushion the frames and provide a tight seal therebetween. Also a gasket groove ay extend along each vertical side of the i'ranie to receive. a cushion and gasket means 32.

Means are provided to secure each door it against its particular frame 1?, which means preferably clamps the door against the door seat The door securing meansincludes lug means, carried either by the door means or by the frame means, and a cooperating pivoted looking or clamping means carried by the other of the door means or frame means. The lug means particularly shown includes a pair of spaced lugs 21. preferably carried by the frame or frame means, one lug being mounted on each vertical side of the frame or frame means. The lugs are positioned in a horizontal central region of the doorway in the frame, but the better location is upon the horizontal central axis thereof. The locking means includes a pivoted locking hook or latch 28 for each lug which is preferably carried by the door. It is desirable to provide a slight angularity to the lug engaging portion of each hook or latch so as to clamp as well as secure the door against the door frame. The locking latch i pivotally mounted upon the door by pivot bearings 29.

In the more desirable construction, the pivoted locking means assumes a horizontal position spaced from the door when in looking engagement with the lug means, in order to form a ladder rung. The better way to accomplish this is to construct the pivoted locking means of a single bar 3 I, the ends of which are pivotally mounted in the supports or bearings 29. tal bar, joining the two hook or latches 28, pivots relatively close to the door in unlatched position, so that the door may swing into the silo without being obstructed by the bar. In looking position, the pivoted bar lies horizontally and spaced from the door so that it serves a double purpose, first, as a ladder rung so that a. series of vertically poitioned doors provide a ladder extending to the top of the silo, and, secondly, enables a person to stand thereon and thereby obtain firm clamping of the locking hooks upon the lugs. Either the edge of the door, the door seat [8 on the frame, or both, may carry a gasket 30 to provide a tight joint between the door and door frame. The space between the door frame and the edge of the door may be gasketed or caulked.

The door It may be hingedly secured to the door frame in any suitable manner, so long as the hinged means utilized does not interfere with the door locking means described. Preferably the hinge means is on the exterior of the silo, or the exterior side of the door frame I1, so that the metal thereof does not come into contact with the ensilage. It is desirable also that the door hinge be so constructed that the door can be swung within the silo completely out of the way of the door opening. Such a hinge means also must not interfere with the operation of the door locking and clamping means.

The door I9 is hinged upon a pair of spaced hinge bearings 33 in which a hinge means 34 is pivotally mounted in any suitable fashion. The hinge means illustrated has one end 36 bent downwardly which is received in the hinge hearing. This hinge means extends outwardly from its hinge bearing a sufficient distance so that when the door is swung within the silo, the hinge means passes around the inside corner of the silo wall, as shown in Figure 1 in dot and dash lines. The hinge means then bends and extends towards a vertically extending center portion of the door and is pivotally secured to the door by a vertical hinge bearing 35. A pair of such spaced hinge means may be used, however in the construction particularly illustrated, the pair of hinge means are the end portions of a single bar. The central portion of the bar extends vertically along or adjacent to the door It and is pivotally The horizonsecured by the spaced hinge bearings at spaced points in a vertical central portion of the door. The drawing shows the hinge bearings 35 located beyond the vertical central axis of the door so that the door may swing well past the door opening, as shown in dot and dash lines in Figure 2, and leaves a clear doorway into the silo unobstructed by any part of the door.

With the construction of hinge described, the horizontal clamping bar 3| may be pivoted up relatively close to the door l9, thereby unlatching the door, and so that the door may be swung either on the vertical door hinge bearings 35 or the fram hinge bearings 33, or both, without the clamping bar striking the door frame l1 and obstructing the door movement. The door is then swung upon its hinges or hinge means 34 so that the door may lie near the inside silo wall completely away from the door opening. The hinge means, as previously described, clears the inside corner of the silo wall and the door ha rotated through approximately relatively to the hinge mean from its relative position when clamped in the door opening.

The hinge lug or bearing 33 may extend from the spaced projection 20 for retaining the tie rod l2 and the tie rod loop 13 in position upon each side of the frame ll. With this construction, one part gives increased strength to the other.

In the block construction of silo wall, a leakproof wall is obtained by inserting a gasket 59 between the ends of each block H when constructing the wall. The vertical edges of the block are also made leakproof by providing a longitudinally extending groove 60 in each edge of each block and into this groove extends a continuous gasket 32. Each gasket not only aids in retaining adjacent blocks in relative position, but is squeezed in its respective groove and thereby serves as a cushion and a seal between the vertical joints. These joints may be caulked to close the edges between the blocks. In so gasketing all edges of the blocks, a leakproof silo wall is obtained.

This invention is presented to fill a need for improvements in a silo door and silo. It is understood that various modifications in structure, as well as changes in mode of operation, assembly, and manner of use, may and often do occur to those skilled in the art, especially after benefiting from the teachings of an invention. Hence, it will be understood that this disclosure is illustrative of preferred means of embodying the invention in useful form by explaining the construction, operation and advantages thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A silo door construction comprising a foursided frame adapted to be inserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support a tie bar loop, a pair of the lugs providing hinge bearings,

a door fitted to the frame, hinge means secured to the door and in the hinge bearings to swing the door, a locking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame, and a horizontal lock bar pivotally secured to the door and engaging the locking lugs to lock and clamp the door against the frame, the lock bar being spaced from the door and serving as a ladder rung when the door is closed and permitting a person to stand thereon to tightly lock the door.

2. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adapted to be inserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support a tie bar loop, a pair of the lugs having holes to provide hinge bearings for a door hinge, a

locking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted to be engaged by a looking means to lock and clamp a door against the frame, and means at the horizontal edges to secure an adjacent door frame thereto.

3. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adapted to be inserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support a tie bar loop, lateral inwardly directed extensions carried by an upper and a lower lug and providing hinge bearings for a door hinge, a locking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted to be engaged by a looking means to lock and clamp a door against the frame, and means at the horizontal edges to secure an adjacent frame thereto.

4. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adapted to be inserted in a silo wall, a pair of flanges at each horizontal edge and one flange of each pair being adjacent each vertical edge of the frame to secure adjacent frames together, lugs adjacent each corner to support a tie bar and spaced inwardly from the aforesaid flanges to provide means to re tain a tie bar in position, an upper and a lower lug upon one vertical side providing hinge bearings for a door hinge, a locking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted to be engaged by a locking means to lock and clamp the door against the frame.

ZUR W. CRAINE.

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