US2679290A - Guide-free overhead door - Google Patents

Description

May 1954 E. s. MONAGHAN ET AL 2,579,290

GUIDE-FREE OVERHEAD DOOR Filed 00tl, 1952 E2122 izsalz HZ fHE Patented May 25, 1954 UNITED S'i'dfTiiiid iE ATENT OFFICE Chicago, 111.; said Frit Monaghan sch assignor to said Application October 1, 1952, Serial No. 312,426

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to overhead doors. More particularly, the invention concerns the construction of an overhead door of the type which may be folded or collapsed com pletely out of the way when in the open position.

I The most common type of overhead door in commercial use today comprises the type in which the door runs along side guide rails. These rails are extended upwardly and backwardly overhead so that when the door is opened, or pushed upwardly out of the way, it rolls along the guide rails into a position generally parallel to the floor and usually a foot or two above the top level of the door opening. Other types of overhead doors now in general use utilize a solid one-piece door which is counterbalanced so as to pivot approximately about its center position and then elevates to an overhead position approximately equivalent to that of the door utilizing the overhead rails above discussed.

It is found in the use of overhead doors for trucking terminals and other establishments utilizing loading docks, that the above mentioned commercial doors are entirely unsatisfactory. This is true since the rails and guides utilized with the doors and the position of the door itself blocks the free movement of loading and unload ing equipment. Recent developments in material handling have made the use of the so called pallets practically universal. Under this system, goods are stacked upon a wooden platform or pallet which is readily picked up by small vehicular loading cranes or lift trucks having lift forks projecting from the front thereof. Through the use of the combination of the pallet and the lift truck it is now possible, and is indeed desirable, to move much merchandise in very tall stacks, a feat heretofore impractical.

In practice, therefore, the stacks of goods being carried by the lift trucks is very often higher than the guide rails and other paraphernalia utilized with the prior art overhead doors. This has resulted in great damage to such door guideways and in some instances has lead to injuries due to the guide rails being dislocated upon accidental impact thereupon by stacks of moving material with the result that the overhead door supported thereby has fallen upon persons be low. A further source of trouble has been the presence of the relatively fragile guideways at the sides of the door aperture. In practice, these guides are repeatedly damaged by the lift trucks and other equipment necessitating constant and expensive maintenance. In order to eliminate these causes of difficulty, it is an object of the 2 present invention to provide an overhead door which may be withdrawn completely from the area formerly occupied by overhead sliding doors.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an overhead folding door which requires no guideway whatever and which has all of its working parts mounted on the door structure thereby preventing injury thereto by loading equipment.

Yet another object of the present invention is the, provision of a simple overhead door having a construction which seals the opening against all types of weather and in which the sealing mechanism is not subject to injury by loading equipment of the type which is in common use.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a counterbalanced overhead folding door which may be readily operated by only a slight pressure of the hand.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of an overhead folding door which may be folded down into a closed position and maintained in said closed position by latch means the movable parts of which are all mounted on the door members rather than the door frame.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of an extremely simple, counterbalanced overhead door requiring no overhead guides, side guideways or other similar constructions for guiding movement thereof into the open position.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of a spring bias linkage which simultaneously moves the door member to an overhead position and also pulls it into a compact folded relationship.

Another feature of the present invention is the elimination of guide frames of any sort.

Yet another feature of the present invention is the provision of assembled door latching means having all of its moving parts positioned onthe door panel itself thereby preventing the possibility of injury of the door latch by machinery, utiized during the time in which the door is in its open, folded position. 7

Other and further objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the accompanying sheet of drawings taken in connection with the following description thereof.

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view showing a two-panel folding door constructed according-to he present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the door construction shown in Figure 1 and taken from the right hand side of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged partial view of the linkage utilized in folding the doors of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a partial cross sectional view showing a modification of the door latch utilized with the bottom of the door for maintaining it in a closed position.

As shown on the drawings:

As may be clearly seen from Figure l the folding door of the present invention comprises a pair of door panels I and 2. The uppermost panel I is hinge .ly secured by means of hinges 3 to the upper edge of a door opening 4. The door panels I and 2 are hingedly secured to each other by means of the hinge member 5 which may, as in the case of the hinge 3, comprise any of the standard known types of hinges such as the piano hinge or a plurality of butt hinges. As may clearly be seen from Figure 3, the hinge between the panels I and 2 is a weather proof hinge having interlocking members (i and 'l which bafiie the opening therebetween when the door is in its closed, extended position.

Counterhalancing mechanism is provided for aiding in the lifting of the door into its folded, open position. This counterbalancing mechanism comprises a spring actuating means generally indicated at ill and having a pulley H which is actuated in the counterclockwise direction as shown in Figure 2 by means of a torsional spring 12 which is fixed at its right hand end l2a and secured at its left hand end to the drum l3 by means of the offset spring end H1). The pulley H and the drum K5 are fixedly secured to the shaft M which is rotatably mounted in the support bracket IS. A wire cable It is coiled about the pulley ll, stud H which forms the pivot for the links 16 and IS. The links l8 and H] are pivotally secured at their outer ends to the door panels I and 2 by means of brackets 20 and 2|. As may be seen from Figure 2, the links [8 and I!) assume a position somewhat less than straight out when the door is in its closed position.

In order to prevent the links from opening outwardly rather than inwardly as desired, we have provided stops 22 integral with the ends of the links 18 and IQ for preventing the links I8 and I9 from snapping over center. It should be noted also that the links are prevented from accidental pivotal movement over-center by the latch bolt construction which will be described later.

It will further be understood that the space required to accommodate the linkage as viewed from Figure 1 is exaggerated to aid in the disclosure. This gap between the door and the side wall will. of course, be much less, in a relative sense, in the actual construction.

Due to the placement of the spring. pulley H as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the lever arm upon which the spring force acts. is decreased as the door isv moved toward its. closed or extended position. This compensates for the fact that the spring is increasingly tensioned as the doors are brought downwardly into their closed position thereby providing a substantially constant spring counterbalancing force up to the point where the doors are substantially fully closed and the links l8 and I9 are practically fully extended, at which time there is practically no force tending to open the door, and the force that is presand is attached to a ent is overcome easily by the weight of the doors themselves.

It will be further noted that while the spring arrangement shown at it) in Figures 1 and 2 has proved very satisfactory, various other constructions may be equally effective. For example, in installations where the height of the ceiling is greater than the height of the door opening by a distance equal to or greater than the width of the door panels, it is desirable to incorporate spring means that will not interfere with folding the panels flat against the wall above the door. It is contemplated that in such installation the spring mechanism here shown at 1B, which is the standard spring now in use with the common guided type of door and which may be retained during replacement by a door of this invention, be reversed thereby placing the mounts l5 in the space at the side of the door. This positioning removes the spring mechanism from its position between the door panel I and the wall. In multiple-door buildings there is generally suflicient space between the doors to accommodate the length of the spring mechanism It.

A further spring arrangement which is available during construction of the building, is the embedding of the spring mechanism in a recess in the wall. In such an installation the cable It would be entrained about the pulley H counterclockwise as viewed in Figure 2 in order to position it along the wall in generally the same position it occupies in Figure 2 of the drawings.

In order to permit easy opening and closing of the doors we have provided the handles 25 and 26. While these handles may, of course, be placed at any convenient position on the door, we have found that the position indicated, which places the handles about a third of the way from the center hinge 5 to the outer edges of the panel, is very satisfactory and places the handle at a convenient height for operation. With the handles in these positions, the operator may reach them without bending over and since the doors are counterbalanced, only a little effort is needed in actuation of the doors, thereby eliminating the necessity of placing the handles at the outer extremity of the door panel. Since the doors fold into a position which is high overhead, it is also usually convenient to provide a pull rope such as that shown at 21. This rope is preferably of a short length, sufficient only to place it within reach of the outstretched hand of the operator, thereby placing it out of usual contact with material or persons passing. through the door.

Latching means are provided at 36 for maintaining the door in its closed position. This latching construction comprises a pair of reciprocatable bolts 31 and 32 which are carried for sliding movement by the guides 33. The bolts are ivotally connected to the links 34 and 35 which are in turn pivotally connected to the bar 36 which is. mounted for rotation on the doorpanel I. A handle 31 is provided for oscillating the link 36 to thereby reciprocate the bolts SI and 32. The bolts coact with U-straps or apertures 38 and 39 in the building wall. When the handle 31 is oscillated in the counterclockwise direction the bolts are reciprocated outwardly into engagement with the members 38 and 39- thereby securely looking the door.

It is, of course, understood that various forms of locking means could be utilized in the present invention and we have shown merely an illustrative type which has important advantages. In the first place all of the moving parts of the lock construction herein shown are mounted on the door members themselves. This is extremely important in installations of the present type, since the door members and lock parts are pivotally moved out of all danger from moving trucks, hoists and other heavy machinery which are manipulated in the vicinity of the sides of the door openings, thereby preventing any damage from occurring to these rather expensive and hard to to replace parts.

An alternative type of latch which meets the requirement of all moving parts on the door panels is the cam-locking type. In such a construction a rotary bar having radially extending cam cars is mounted in the door panel near the edge thereof. The frame member 9 is provided with a bore facing the door and in alignment with the of the rotary bar. The bore has radial slots at its edges for allowing passage of the bar with its cam cars.

In operation the door panels are held flat against the members 9 and the rotary bar is rotated until the cam ears align themselves with the radial slots, at which time the bar passes into the member 5. Cam faces are provided in the bore so that rotation of the bar after passing into the member 9 will cause the cam ears to engage the cam faces to hold the door and frame locked together in much the same manner used with automotive radiator caps.

In this arrangement the only latch part found on the wall is the aperture in the frame member 9, thereby making it practically impossible to in-- iure the working parts of the latch by impact of moving lift trucks or other impl ments.

Several alternatives are posible in latching the bottom of the door closed and by way of illustrative example we have shown two preferred constructions. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, we have provided L-shaped door retainer brackets 36. These are embedded in the walls or floor of the building or in the side posts 9, and extend a short distance above the floor level. Since the folding door the present invention permits the bottom panel to travel in almost a straight upward direction upon release of the door from its closed position, the panel 2 is permitted to move upwardly and out of engagement with the L brackets it. However, when the door is in its closed position and latched by the latch bolts 3! and the bottom panel 2 is absolutely prevented from any movement by the upwardly extending arm of the L bracket.

A second modification of the door latch for use with the door panel 2 is shown in Figure 4. In this figure the panel 2 has firmly aflixed thereto a pointed bolt ti. This bolt cooperates with the socket 422 in the floor of the building when the door panel 2 is moved into the door closed position. It is apparent that this bolt and socket arrangement will prevent any movement of the panel 2 parallel to the floor when the door is in its closed position and latched by means of the latching mechanism 3E1.

Both of the latching means 4t and G! are extremely simple and are also placed in out-of the-way spots so that little danger exists of injuring them by passing vehicles, etc. This is, of course, particularly true of the construction shown in Figure 4 wherein no projecting parts whatever are found on the floor or framework of the building, the bolt 4! being placed upon the 6. door panel 2 which is, as is shown in the dotted lines of Figure 2 folded into a position entirely out of the way of passing objects.

It will be readily apparent that the door of our construction is very easily sealed against draft and other heat losses. By utilizing weather stripping at 43 between the panels i and 2 and the side post 3, and by also utilizing a common rubber flap 44 at the bottom edge of the door panel 2, it is possible to completely seal the door opening when the door is in the closed position. As explained before, the bafile hinge arrangement at E, i prevents the leakage of air through the hinge 5.

is noted also that in accordance with the fundamental concept of maintaining the doorway free of damageable parts, it is preferred that the weatl'ierstripping Z3 be placed on the panels I and 2, rather than on the members 9, although either position can of course be used.

It will be further readily apparent to those skilled in the that the door construction of the present invention has eliminated the major difficulties encountered with the present overhead doors by first completely eliminating all guide rails, both overhead and along the sides of the door opening, thereby eliminating interference of these parts with material handling equipment or other objects passing through the door aperture and also e minating to such parts; second, by providing an easily sealed door which is superior in heat retention to doors utilizing guide rails and, thirdly, by providing a completely counterbalanced and very easily moved door which requires only a minimum amount of effort to open or close, the frictional losses being maintained at a minimum which is substantially less than those found in doors utilizing the guide c0nstruction.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the pr sent invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. An overhead door comprising a pair of door panels hingedly secured to each other along a -orizontally disposed edge, the upper panel being hingedly secured to the top edge of a door frame, linkage means associated with said panels and comprising a first link pivoted to a vertical edge of said upper panel and a second link pivotally secured to a vertical edge of the lower panel, said first and second links being pivotally secured to each other at their free ends by means of a stud, means applying an upwardly directed force to the stud whereby the weight of said door is counterbalanced and whereby the upper and lower panels may be folded against each other and about the said top edge into a folded overhead position.

2. A weather-proof overhead door comprising first and second door panels positioned edge to edge one over the other, hinge means securing said panels together along horizontally disposed abutting edges, second hinge means for securing the first panel to the upper edge of a, door frame, counterbalancing means for counterbalancing the weight of said door panels comprising first link means pivot-ally secured to a vertical edge of said first panel, second link means pivotally secured to a corresponding vertical edge of said second panel, pivotal fastening means connecting the other ends of said first and second links to each other at a point substantially coaxial with the axis of said first hinge when said panels are in the door-closed position, and actuating means acting on said fastening means to apply a force from an overhead position thereto, said actuatin means cooperating with said link means to slightly overbalance the weight of the door panels except when in the substantially door closed position.

3. In combination a four sided aperture defining frame, first hinge means secured to the upper edge of said frame, a first door panel secured to said hinge for pivotal movement about the top edge of said aperture, a second panel hingedly secured to the bottom horizontal edge of said first panel and adapted to pivot about said edge, sealing means carried by the bottom horizontal edge of said second panel for cooperation with the bottom edge of said frame, a pair of side posts secured to the side edges of said frame and having sealing means positioned along a vertical edge thereof facing said panels for sealing cooperation therewith when in closed position, counterbalaneing means comprising a first link pivotally secured to a vertical edge of said first panel, a second link pivotally secured to a corresponding vertical edge of said second panel, connecting means pivotally securing said links to each other, and force-applying means acting upwardly against said connecting means, and latch means having all moving parts thereof mounted on one of said panels for positively retaining said door panels in the closed extended position.

4. An overhead closure for use with loading platforms which comprises a pair of panels disposed edge to edge, first hinge means securing one of said panels to the upper edge of an aperture defining frame, second hinge means securing said second panel to said first panel along abutting horizontal edges of said panels, combined folding and counterbalancing linkage for folding said panels upon each other and for maintaining said panels in an out-of-the-way overhead folded position, movable latch means mounted on one of said panels for cooperation with fixed latch means on the sides of said frame for maintaining said panels in an extended closed position in said frame, and manual actuating means on one of said panels for the application of an additional overba-lancing opening or closing force.

5. A folding overhead door comprising a pair of door panels, hinge means securing said panels together at abutting horizontal edges, second hinge means securing the upper of said panels to the top of a door frame and toggle link means associated with said panels and actuatable upwardly for folding of said panels into an overhead position.

6. A folding overhead closure comprising a pair of panels, hinged means securing said panels together at abutting horizontal edges, second hinge means securing the upper of said panels to the top of a cl sure frame, and toggle link means associated with said panels and actuatable upwardly at the toggle pivot thereof for folding of said panels into an overhead position outside of said frame.

7. A folding overhead door comprising a pair of door panels, first hinge means securing the upper of said panels to the top of a door frame and toggle link means associated with said panels and actuatable upwardly for folding of said panels into an overhead position, said toggle link means comprising a first link pivoted to said upper panels and a second link pivoted to the other of said panels, and pivotal means securing said links together at the ends thereof remote from the panels, said links and said pivot being foldable in a direction opposite to said panels.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 wherein actuating means are provided for actuating the toggle upwardly toward a point above said second hinge means.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 wherein movement of said door into said overhead position may be accomplished independ' ently of any association with the vertical side walls of said door frame.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,493,750 Holbrook May 13, 1924 1,733,694: Price Oct. 29, 1929 2,090,099 Bittorf Aug. 17, 1937 2,201,636 Siess May 21, 1940 2,393,052 lviehard Jan. 15, 1946

Images