The present invention relates to a cable failure device, and to a door including the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a braking device for use with a cable-operated door, such as garage doors and the like. Namely, it is intended to hold the garage door in position in case of a rupture of one of the cables or in case of a failure of one of the elements that hold the cables, which is represented by a loss of tension in the cable(s) Furthermore, the cable failure device is devised so as to not be able to be removed from the door when there is still tension in the cable with which it cooperates.
Cable-operated doors such as garage doors are well known in the art. A garage door is usually connected to an overhead counterbalancing mechanism that provides a counterbalancing force in order to decrease the force required to open the door and also facilitate its closing. A conventional garage door is typically connected to the counterbalancing mechanism by means of two cables, one at the right and one at the left. The cables are usually made of steel. The lower free end of each cable is usually attached at the bottom of the door.
It is also known in the art that a garage door needs to have a proper counterbalancing system so that it may be easily opened and closed. The counterbalancing force is generally achieved by the usage of either one or many torsional springs. Each torsional spring is generally connected to two plugs, a first one being the “winding plug” at one end of the spring, and a second one being the “stationary plug” at the other end of the spring. The winding plug is generally in turn fixed onto the shaft while the stationary plug is generally fixed onto a fixed structure, such as a bearing plate mounted to a wall for example. To transmit the force to the door, there are generally two drums on the shaft of the counterbalancing mechanism on which cables are installed. The extremities of these cables are generally fixed onto bottom brackets, one on each side (left and right) of the door, typically at the last panel of a sectional door for example.
One could envisage that although very unlikely, it might happen that one of the elements (e.g. spring) of the counterbalancing system undergoes a failure, leading to the garage door falling which is undesirable. There have been many attempts to come up with devices used for such an event.
Known in the art are the following US patents and foreign patent applications which describe various cable failure devices for garage doors and the like:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,268 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,266 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,158; U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,686; U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,166; U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,686; U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,938; U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,828; U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,471; U.S. Pat. No. 2,185,828; EP 721043 A1; EP 678641 A1; EP 172351 A1; EP 149692 A1; DE 3800789 A1; DE 3710237 A1; and FR 2758157 A1.
However, some of the devices taught in the above-mentioned documents are known to be fairly bulky; difficult to install, use, and/or maintain; expensive to manufacture and/or assemble; and generally not offering optimal efficiency for stopping downward movement of a cable-operated door, such as garage doors and the like, in the event of a failure of one of the cables holding such cable-operated door or in the event of a failure of one of the elements holding the cables. Moreover, most of the devices taught in the above-mentioned documents are not provided with additional safety features designed to prevent a user from tampering with and/or removing the device from the door when there is still tension in the cable, and thus prevent the user from being subject to undesirable effects as a result of substantial tension being still present in the cables.
Hence, in light of the above-discussed, there is a need for an improved cable failure device which would be able to overcome some of the aforementioned prior art problems.
The object of the present invention is to provide a cable failure device which, by virtue of its design and components, satisfies some of the above-mentioned needs, and which is thus an improvement over other cable failure devices known in the prior art.
In accordance with the present invention, the above object is achieved with a cable failure device for a cable-operated door operated by a tensioned cable, the cable-operated door having a movement guided along a fixed structure, the fixed structure having an inner portion and an outer portion, the cable failure device being mountable onto the cable-operated door and being configured for cooperating with the tensioned cable so as to immobilize the cable-operated door with respect to the fixed structure in the event of a loss of tension in the cable, the cable failure device comprising:
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a cable-operated door operated by a tensioned cable, the cable-operated door having a movement guided along a fixed structure, the fixed structure having an inner portion and an outer portion, the cable-operated door comprising a cable failure device configured for cooperating with the tensioned cable so as to immobilize the cable-operated door with respect to the fixed structure in the event of a loss of tension in the cable, the cable failure device comprising:
The objects, advantages and other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given for the purpose of exemplification only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the following description, the same numerical references refer to similar elements. The embodiments shown in the figures are preferred.
Moreover, although the present invention was primarily designed for use with a cable-operated door, such as a garage door for example, it may be used with other types of doors and objects and in other fields, as apparent to a person skilled in the art. For this reason, expressions such as “cable”, “garage”, “door”, etc., as used herein should not be taken as to limit the scope of the present invention and includes all other kinds of doors and/or items with which the present invention could be used and may be useful.
Moreover, in the context of the present invention, the expressions “driving mechanism”, “controlling mechanism”, “counterbalancing mechanism”, and any other equivalent expression known in the art will be used interchangeably. Furthermore, the same applies for any other mutually equivalent expressions, such as “cable-operated door” and “garage door”, “safety arm” and “lever arm”, as well as “braking” and “slowing down descent rate” for example, as also apparent to a person skilled in the art.
In addition, although the preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings comprises various components such as a block, a shaft, a roller, a spring, a casing, a guiding channel, etc., and although the preferred embodiment of the cable failure device 1 as shown consists of certain geometrical configurations as explained and illustrated herein, not all of these components and geometries are essential to the invention and thus should not be taken in their restrictive sense, i.e. should not be taken as to limit the scope of the present invention. It is to be understood, as also apparent to a person skilled in the art, that other suitable components and cooperations thereinbetween, as well as other suitable geometrical configurations may be used for the cable failure device 1 and corresponding parts according to the present invention, as briefly explained and inferred herein, without departing from the scope of the invention.
Broadly described, the cable failure device 1 according to the present invention, as shown in the accompanying drawings, is a device 1 for use with a cable-operated door 3, such as garage doors 3 and the like, and it is intended to hold the garage door 3 in position in the event of a failure in the counterbalancing mechanism of the cable-operated door 3, such as, for example, a rupture of one of the cables 5 or a failure of one of the elements holding the cables 5, which is generally represented by a loss of tension in the cables 5 operating the cable-operated door 3. The cable failure device 1 according to the present invention is intended to reduce the possibility of the garage door 3 falling all the way down in the event of a failure of the counterbalancing system.
Indeed, according to the present invention, the cable failure device 1 is intended for a cable-operated door 3 operated by a tensioned cable 5, the cable-operated door 3 having a movement guided along a fixed structure 7, such as a guide rail for example, as better shown in
As better shown in
As can be easily understood when referring to
As also better shown in
Preferably also, the guiding means comprise a guiding channel 27 disposed along a side portion of the support bracket 9, as better shown in
It is worth mentioning that the guiding means may be a single component or various components (e.g. part 28 also), and may be made separate to the support bracket 9, as shown in the accompanying drawings, or could be made integral to the support bracket 9, as apparent to a person skilled in the art.
As also better shown in
As shown and as can be easily understood from the accompanying drawings, the braking assembly 13 of the cable failure device 1 is operatively mounted onto the support bracket 9 and is operable between a rest position and an operable position (not shown). In the rest position, the guiding assembly 11 is allowed to guide the cable-operated door 3 along the fixed structure 7, as can be easily understood from
Preferably, the support bracket 9 comprises first and second support arms 31, 33, as better shown in
As better shown in
An important innovative aspect of the present invention resides in the fact the cable failure device 1 comprises a safety arm 15 operatively connected to the braking assembly 13 and cooperating with the tensioned cable 5 so as to detect the given loss of tension, which would represent a corresponding failure of the counterbalancing mechanism of the door 3, as previously discussed. The safety arm 15 is operable between a safety configuration (shown in the figures) where it is positioned over at least one fastener 19 of said at least one hole 17 of the support bracket 9 when there is still a given tension in the tensioned cable 5, for preventing a user from removing the support bracket 9 from the cable-operated door 3. The safety arm 15 is further operable in a retracted configuration where the safety arm 15 is positioned away from said at least one fastener 19 when the given tension is no longer present in the cable 5 (either due to a failure of the counterbalancing mechanism or after the tension has been safely removed from the counterbalancing mechanism), so as to enable the user to work on the cable failure device 1 only when there is no longer any tension, and thus reducing the chance of the user from being adversely affected as a result of tension still being present in the cable 5. Thus, as may now be better appreciated, the cable failure device 1 according to the present invention, by virtue of its design and components, namely its safety arm 15, is intended to prevent a user from tampering with and/or removing the device 1 from the door 3 when there is still tension in the cable 5, and is thus intended to prevent a user from being adversely affected as a result of substantial tension being still present in the cables 5. Moreover, as will be briefly explained hereinafter, the safety arm 15 also acts as a lever arm 15 when the braking assembly 13 is triggered into an operable position.
Indeed, as better shown in
Preferably, the biasing means comprise a spring 41 having one end operatively connected to the support bracket 9 and another end operatively connected to the braking plate 39 via the safety arm 15, for urging the braking plate 39 to engage the fixed structure 7 when said given loss of tension is detected by the safety arm 15, that is when the braking assembly 13 is triggered into an operable position. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, said other end of the spring 41 is preferably connected to the block 23 mounted onto the safety arm 15, as better shown in
It is worth mentioning though that several modifications could be made to the present cable failure device 1 according to the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention. Indeed, although the biasing means preferably comprise a loaded spring 41, capable of storing potential energy via deformation so as to provide a potential force urging the safety arm 15, and thus the braking plate 39, into a braking mode, in the event of a loss of tension in the cable 5, it is worth mentioning however that other suitable biasing means which do not use potential energy for providing a biasing force may be used according to the present invention, so long as these biasing means are capable of biasing the safety arm 15 and corresponding braking plate 39 in a suitable way in the manner discussed above, and as apparent to a person skilled in the art.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the biasing means may have other suitable dispositions on the cable failure device 1 so as to ensure a corresponding biasing force on the braking plate 39, via the safety arm 15, according to the present invention. It is worth mentioning also that, according to the present invention, the spring member is not absolutely necessary for proper operation of the cable failure device 1. Indeed, in an alternate embodiment, the biasing means could ultimately consist of the effect of gravity acting on the braking plate 39 for example, in the event of a loss of tension in the tension cable 5, in which case, the braking plate 39, and corresponding safety arm 15 rigidly connected thereto, would be positioned, shaped, and sized onto the shaft 37 of the guiding assembly 11, so that, by virtue of the effect of gravity acting thereon, as apparent to a person skilled in the art, it would cause the braking plate 39 to engage with the fixed structure 7 in the event of a loss of tension in the tensioned cable 5, as described above and as also apparent to a person skilled in the art.
It is worth mentioning also that, according to the present invention, the different various components of the cable failure device 1 may be disposed otherwise on the support bracket 9, as also apparent to a person skilled in the art.
Referring to
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a door 3 provided with a cable failure device 1 such as the one described herein.
As can be easily understood from the accompanying drawings, when the braking plate 39 is in the rest position, the roller 35 of the cable failure device 1 will guide the door 3 along the rail and the braking plate 39 will travel freely therealong inside the rail. When the braking plate 39 is triggered into the operable position by a loss of tension in the cable 5, corresponding to a failure in the counterbalancing mechanism for example, said loss of tension is detected by the safety arm 15, which in turn acts as a lever arm 15. Namely, the force of the actuating spring 41 becomes greater than the force that was acted upon by the tensioned cable 5 against the safety arm 15, thereby causing the actuating lever arm 15 (i.e. safety arm 15) which is preferably rigidly connected to the braking plate 39 to rotate the same and thus engage it inside of the rail, thereby urging the brake plate 39 against the rail and thus thereby preventing and/or slowing down substantially downward movement of the garage door 3, as apparent to a person skilled in the art. As can be easily understood, this combined action brakes the movement of the cable-operated door 3 and thus is intended to break its free falling to the ground, which is advantageous.
As may now be better appreciated, the cable failure device 1 according to the present invention preferably comprises several safety features. For example, as better shown in
Moreover, the device 1 shown in the accompanying figures is a “right” cable failure device 1 to be located at the bottom of the garage door 3, more specifically at the right-hand side thereof when viewed from the inside of the garage. A “left” cable failure device 1, that is, a left-hand side version of the cable failure device 1 shown, would simply be a mirror image of what is in the accompanying figures. Each cable failure device 1, whether right or left, is preferably devised to hold at least half of the load of the garage door 3 and is tightly attached to its corresponding tensioned cables 5.
Furthermore, the present invention is a substantial improvement over the prior art in that, by virtue of its design and components, the cable failure device 1 is very simple and easy to use, as well as is very simple and easy to manufacture and/or assemble, without compromising the reliability of its functions. Hence, it may now be appreciated that the present invention represents important advantages over other cable failure devices known in the prior art, in terms of performance and in terms of costs.
The present invention is also an improvement and presents several advantages over other cable failure brakes known on the prior art in that it may be used in the garage door industry, with new garage doors 3 or existing garage doors 3, whether commercial or residential. Indeed, in the case of a cable failure, the present invention is intended to stop the fall of the garage door 3 and to maintain it immobilized where it is until the necessary inspections and repairs are made. As it is evident from reading the above description, the present invention is a cable failure device 1 used for braking a cable-operated door 3, such as garage doors 3 and the like, in the event of a failure of one of the cables 5 operating such cable-operated door 3 or in the event of a failure of one of the elements holding the cables 5. The present invention is also a more compact, more reliable, easier to use, easier to maintain and more cost effective device 1 than those available in the prior art. Furthermore, the present invention may be used with other kinds of doors 3, such as slidable truck doors 3, or with any other items suspended by a cable 5, as apparent to a person skilled in the art.
Of course, numerous modifications could be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention, as apparent to a person skilled in the art.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2419185 | Feb 2003 | CA | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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2185828 | Blodgett | Jan 1940 | A |
4385471 | Gabry et al. | May 1983 | A |
4604828 | Baarse | Aug 1986 | A |
4956938 | DeMent | Sep 1990 | A |
5291686 | Sears et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5704166 | Tam et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
5791686 | Moriyama | Aug 1998 | A |
6042158 | Horn | Mar 2000 | A |
6189266 | Mihalcheon | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6279268 | Beaudoin et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6553716 | Bruns | Apr 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2735123 | Feb 1979 | DE |
3710237 | Oct 1988 | DE |
3800789 | Jul 1989 | DE |
0149692 | Jul 1985 | EP |
0172351 | Feb 1986 | EP |
0678641 | Oct 1995 | EP |
0721043 | Jul 1996 | EP |
2758157 | Jul 1998 | FR |
03023173 | Mar 2003 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040182007 A1 | Sep 2004 | US |