This invention relates to an automatic door bottom with a release mechanism. An automatic door bottom is a device attached to bottom part of a door by mounting means, for example by screws. The terms Automatic Door Bottom and Door Bottom will be used interchangeably in the description of this invention.
The current invention allows a person to selectively seal or unseal a door bottom when said door is in the closed state. Said release mechanism to the automatic door bottom may be actuated remotely or in close proximity. The mechanism utilized to release the automatic door bottom may be through mechanical force or electrical forces.
A door is described as an enclosure of an opening. The perimeter of the opening around the door on the left and right vertical sides are referred as jambs. The part of the floor bellow the bottom part of the door is referred as a door sill. The term swing door as used herein describes a door which is pivotally mounted to one of the jambs by mounting means generally referred as hinges. The side of the door nearest to the hinges is referred as the hinged side, the side farthest from the hinges is referred as the unhinged side. The opening and closing of said door occurs by moving the door in a swinging action around the hinges. A gap generally exists between the bottom part of the door and the adjacent sill when the door is in its closed position.
The Automatic Door Bottom of the present invention has a housing in the form of an inverted U shaped channel with an open bottom facing toward the door sill and has a length corresponding to the door width. The Automatic Door Bottom has at least one sealing member installed at the open bottom of said channel.
A displacement mechanism is coupled to the sealing member at one or multiple points to actuate the sealing member and move it from an extended to a retracted position relative to the bottom of the door. The displacement mechanism has at least one operating member and at least one resilient member. The at least one operating member cooperates with at least one stationary abutment around the perimeter of the door to operate the displacement mechanism, and displace the sealing member to move it to its extended position. A release mechanism is also provided that is activated by other means of actuation to selectively disengage the displacement mechanism from actuating the sealing member even when the door is closed.
The sealing member in this invention consists of a compressible and elastic sealing element and a generally H-shaped rigid member to support the sealing element. The sealing member can be reciprocally lowered, i.e. extended, in to a first sealing position and retracted into the channel in a second unsealing position. The first and second position correspond respectively to a closed and an opened door position. The purpose for providing the sealing position is in general to block drafts, light, noise, and foreign objects from passing through the gap between the bottom edge of the door and the sill.
Furthermore the described reciprocal action creates a first correlation of a closed door correlated to a sealed gap, and a second correlation of an opened door correlated to an unsealed gap. An Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism in this invention creates a third correlation where a closed door may also correlate to an unsealed gap.
a, 10b, and 10c together form a partial front view of the displacement mechanism of the first embodiment of the invention.
a, 17b, and 17c together form a partial front view of a displacement mechanism according to the second embodiment of the invention.
a and 24b together form a front view of a displacement mechanism according to a third embodiment of the invention.
The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,584, U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,584, and U.S. Pat Application No. 20040010973 are incorporated hereby in their entirety by reference.
The displacement mechanism of the present invention consists of a release mechanism referred with numeral 9 and resilient members such as leaf springs 42 and 43. The leaf springs 42 and 43 are connected to each other by a connecting block 41. The other end of leaf spring 43 is secured in end block 2. The end block 2 is fixedly mounted to the channel 15, by a pin 87 that pass though in line holes 88 of channel 15 channel and hole 1 of end block 2.
The release mechanism 9 also includes a hollow block 128, adjustment block 125, and a housing block 7. The blocks mentioned above generally take shape of block 33, and are able to move freely along the channel 15 lengthwise.
A H-shape rigid housing 13 holds compressible sealing element 14 in place in the assembly. The sealing element has a shaped head which slides into and secures the sealing element to the housing 13 and it is fixed in place, for example, by adhesive or any form of mechanical mounting mechanisms commonly known to persons skilled in the art to form a two part sealing member 36. The displacement mechanism is connected to the sealing member 36, by mounting the middle sections of springs 42 and 43 beneath pins 89 which are mounted in through in line holes on the housing 13. The mounting is in such a way, that a limited movement of sealing member 36 lengthwise is permitted, but downward vertical movement across the width of channel downward is restricted by both leaf springs 42 and/or 43.
a, 10b, and 10c are partial front views of the displacement mechanism of the Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism according to the first embodiment of the invention. To form a complete figure, join the right side of
Hollow block 128 has an interior threaded base which, in cooperation with a hollow adjustment cylinder 131, is used to adjust the length of operation of the displacement mechanism. An adjustment is executed by turning the head of cylinder 131, which preferably has a hexagonal shape. A spring 126 is provided to prevent accidental turning of cylinder 131.
Cushion 132 located at the left end of cylinder 131 is removably mounted in the bore formed in cylinder 131 to enable a screw driver to access a screw head 50 formed in the left end of shaft 10 as seen in
At operating stage one with the door open, sealing member 36 is retracted inside channel 15, cushion 132 is not engaged with jamb 26, and shaft 10 is latched to housing 7 by means of latch pin 102. Rocker 116, is engaged in slot 103b of leaf spring 103. The condition of stage one is shown in
As the door is closed, at one point cushion 132 will engage door jamb 26 at the hinged side of the door and cause block 7 to move to the right as the cylinder 131 is pushed into channel 15. At first, due to its lower spring constant leaf spring 42 will flex down (as seen in
A further closing of the door 21 causes rocker 116 to move more closely to latch pin 102. Such further closing also causes spring 43 to flex and bring the remaining part of sealing member downwardly by applying a downward force at coupling point 92, until the door is completely closed and sealing element is fully in contact with door sill 25. Springs 42 and 43 as combined have a spring tension force F1 as shown in
In accordance with the present invention the action of operating either one of the levers 38 cause rocker 116, in cooperation with leaf spring 103, to release the latch pin 102 from latching onto shaft 10. The combined spring force F1 then causes springs 42 and 43 to unflex, causing housing 7 to move to the left side as seen in
When the door 21 is eventually reopened, tension F2 of helical spring 8 would push shaft 10 out of housing 7 until it is latched again by latch pin 102. This effectively resets the release mechanism 9 and sets the condition of the Automatic Door Bottom to the stage one of operation as shown in
According to this embodiment of the invention, stages one, two, and three are normal operation stages for the Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism. Operation stage four is optional and active only if release mechanism 9 is actuated by a user.
The release mechanism 9 can furthermore be actuated by another means.
The solenoid consists of: a frame 136, a mounting plate 133, a plunger 137 with a washer 138, E-ring 140, end stop 134, and coil 139. The mounting plate 133 is mounted into the mortised part of door upward with mounting screws 141. The plunger 137 projects into the channel 15 at an opening 35 on the top wall 17. A hook 142 at the end of plunger 137 is slidably engaged into slot 103b of leaf spring 103, by a method similar to insertion of rocker 116 to spring 103 in
An action of energizing coil 139 will cause a pulling action by plunger 137, and actuate the release mechanism 9. This action can be done by means of a switch that temporarily connects the coil 137 to any suitable source of electricity energy for example a battery. Furthermore the switch can be related to an action of turning the door knob 31 (as in
The release mechanism of this embodiment is referred to by numeral 60 and resembles the release mechanism 9 with several exceptions. Housing 24 resembles housing 7, with the exception that housing 24 has a termination hole 1. Shaft 112 is similar to shaft 10, with the exception that shaft 112 does not have screw head 50 and grove 51. Housing 24 is fixably mounted at hole 1 to channel 15 by means of mounting means similar to mounting means for end block 2 as described above with respect to
Adjustment nut 11 with cushion 12, is used to adjust the effective length of operation of the displacement mechanism by rotating it on the threaded end of shaft 114.
Adapter 28 can be constructed similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,008. An adaptation of the patent to fit this invention is shown in
A pair of fastening plates 65 are provided with confining holes 66 and holes 72. Confining holes 66 are confined into alignment rods 74. Into holes 72 a rotary wheel 67 is provided with a through hole 68 and two moving teeth 64 engagable with projections 63 of two action arms 69. The moving teeth 64 of rotary wheel 67 are actuated by door knob 31, which is engaged with the through hole 68 by mean of spindle 73, thereby causing the moving teeth to pull up either of the projections 63, depending on the action of operation of the door knob. As it is seen from the side of door knob 31 in the figure, an action of turning the knob clockwise causes moving teeth 64 to move counterclockwise and engage with right hand side of action arm 69. And vise versa, an action of turning the knob 31 counterclockwise, cause moving teeth 64 turn clockwise and engage with left hand side of action arms 69.
A body 77 is provided at its lower end with an attachment hole 76 and a collar 75 at its upper end. The attachment hole 76 is provided for connection to shaft 29. The shaft 29 is fastened to hole 76 by nuts 71 and slip ring 70. The collar 75 rests on one side of rotary wheel 67.
A spring loaded door latch 27 as shown in
The operation of this actuating mechanism from turning of door knob 31, creates a pull-up action by shaft 29, connector 30, shaft 164, and hook 171. A cooperation of sleeve 167, helical spring 176, and washer 169 will push the hook 171 down, to reset the pull-up action by operation of actuation.
As door 21 is closing, cushion 12 engages with jamb 26 causing spring 42 to flex and its associated sealing member 36 at the hinged side of the door to move downwardly until contact is made with sill 25, as is shown in
A further closing of door 21 will flex spring 43 and cause the sealing member 36 at the unhinged side of the door to come to contact sill 25 until the sealing member is completely in contact with sill 25 and door 21 is completely closed, as shown in
With an actuation mechanism similar to that described with respect to
According to this actuation mechanism stage one, two, three and four are normal routine stages of operation of the Automatic Door Bottom. The action of turning door knob 31 will actuate the release mechanism and a precursor to open the door 21, or it can be an action just to actuate the release mechanism 60 without actually opening the door.
Furthermore, alternatives to actuate the release mechanism can be by means of mechanical lever as shown in
The Automatic Door Bottom 22 according to the second embodiment can be surface mounted similar to
a, 24b show partial views of the displacement mechanism with release mechanism according to the third embodiment of the invention. To form a complete figure, join the right side of
The end block 2 is fixed to channel 15 by similar means as shown in
During closing of the door 21, at one point, cushion 132 will engage with jamb 26 causing the release mechanism to be driven into channel 15 along rails 18. That movement causes spring 4 to flex, forcing sealing members 36 partially out of the lower section of the channel 15 until it contacts with door sill 15. The location of the spring dimple 5 is arranged such that the portion of sealing member 36 from the coupling point toward the hinged side of the door is relatively longer than the portion of member 36 from the coupling toward the unhinged side. This arrangement is to assure that the portion of the sealing element 14 near the hinged side will contact the sill first, to minimize drag of sealing element 14 against the sill 25 during closing of door 21.
All publications, patents, and patent documents are incorporated by reference herein, as though individually incorporated by reference. Although the invention has been described with reference to a specific and preferred embodiment and technique, it should be appreciated by one of skill in the art that many variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention.
While the above invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. One skilled in the art may find variations of these preferred embodiments which, nevertheless, fall within the spirit of the present invention, whose scope is defined by the claims set forth below.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/995,659, filed Sep. 26, 2007.
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813268 | Woodburn | Feb 1906 | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20090077895 A1 | Mar 2009 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60995659 | Sep 2007 | US |