Door structure

Oct. 8, 1935.

D. H. MORGAN

DOOR STRUCTURE

Filed July 5, 1932

2,017,012

Sheets-Sheet 1

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Oct 8, 1935.

D. H, MORGAN

DOOR. STRUCTURE

Filed July 5, 1932

2,017,012

Sheets-Sheet 2

<img file="US2017012A_D0002.tif" />

Oct. 8, 1935. _{D H} morgan 2,017,012

DOOR STRUCTURE

Filed July 5, 1932 ' 4 Sheets-Sheet 3

<img file="US2017012A_D0003.tif" />

Oct. 8, 1935.

D. H. MORGAN

DOOR STRUCTURE

Filed July 5, 1932

2,017,012

Sheets-Sheet 4

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Patented Oct 8, 1935

2,017,012

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,017,012

DOOR STRUCTURE

David H. Morgan, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to Truscon Steel Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Michigan

Application July 5, 1932, Serial No. 620,912

Claims. (Cl. 20—20)

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple practicable door structure particularly intended for doorways of large size in which the weight of the door is in great measure 5 supported directly by the guiding means when the door is opened, and in which novel mechanism is provided for counterweighting the door and eliminating in part the action of the counterweighting means as the door becomes thus 10 supported.

Another object is to provide a door structure of a character that will permit a small or pilot door being formed therein so that entrance to or exit from the building may be had by in15 dividuals without the necessity of operating the large door structure.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an inside elevation of one embodiment &lt;?f the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2—2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 3—3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view showing 25 the relation of the door when partially opened.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the relation of the counterweighting means when the door is in substantially the position shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4, but showing the door fully opened.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view through the counterweighting means showing said means in the relation assumed when the door is in the po35 sition shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the door and particularly the door operating mechanism.

Figure 9 is a plan view of the door structure with said operating mechanism removed;

As shown in certain of the figures, particularly 3, 8 and 9, a doorway 10 is defined by spaced walls 1 i of any suitable structure. On the inner sides of the walls 11 adjacent to the doorway 10 are placed vertical supports shown in the form of angle irons 12. On these are mounted vertical channel pieces 13 with overhanging rear walls 13·, said pieces 13 forming vertical guideways. At their upper ends these guideways are rearwardly turned as shown at 14 where they per50 form the additional functions of supports as hereinafter explained. The portions 14 are shown as hung at their rear ends bya carrier bar 15 supported by hanger rods 16 that may be attached in any suitable way to convenient overU lying structural parts of the building.

A door for the doorway 10 is shown as consisting of a lower, section 17 and an upper section 18. These sections consist of suitable frame bars 19, the top frame bar of the lower section and the bottom frame bar of the upper section being 5 hinged together, as shown at 20. The walls of the door sections are formed by suitable plates or panels 2t welded or otherwise secured to the frame bars. The upper section may have windows as illustrated at 22. io

The door as a whole being primarily intended for relatively large doorways or openings is much higher than the ordinary human being, and as an entity may be said to be flexible because of the hingedly connected sections. In the struc- 15 ture shown the lower section 17 is in itself higher than or as high as the normal human being and is individually inflexible. It is provided with a pilot doorway 23 large enough to permit the passage of individuals. A door 24, hinged to the ad- 20 jacent door frame bar as illustrated at 25, is thus supported on this section and may be provided with the usual latch and lock indicated at 26. Thus ingress to and exit from the building may be made through the doorway 23 without operat- 25 ing the main door structure.

The door is vertically and then rearwardly movable to an open position and forwardly and then downwardly movable to a closed position. In order that it be guided properly rollers 27 to operating in the guideways 13—14 are carried on spindles 28 fixed to brackets 29 secured to the upper portion of the upper section to, to the lower portion of the lower section 17, and to one of the sections, preferably the lower section ad- 3S jacent to the hinged joint between them. As will be clear by a comparison of Figures 2, 4 and 6, if the door is elevated the upper section initially moves vertically, but almost immediately the . upper end turns rearwardly and its rear end be- 40 gins to be supported by the portions 14 of the guideways by reason of the uppermost rollers 27 resting thereon. In like manner the lower door section 17 moves vertically until it too turns rearwardly and when the door is fully opened, as in-. 40 dicated in Figure 6, only the front portion thereof will be unsupported by the rearwardly turned portions 14 of the guideways.

The operating mechanism for the door is preferably constructed as follows. Two cables 30 50 and 31, which may be in the form of chains, have ends secured as indicated at 32 to the lower corner portions of the lower section 17. The cable 30 passes around a driving sheave 33 located above its poi”*· of connection 32 to the M

2,017,012 door. The other cable 31, passing around a guide sheave 34 above its point of connection 32, extends over to and about another drive sheave 35. The two sheaves 33 and 35 are fixed to a ₅ common shaft 36 carrying a spur gear 37. Meshing with this spur gear is a drive pinion 38 on a shaft 39 that carries an operating pulley 40. An endless operating chain 41 extends around the pulley 40 and freely drops to the lower porIQ tion of the structure at one side of the doorway where it may be readily grasped and operated. Other operating means may of course, be employed.

The two cables 30 and 31 after passing over .jeAthe operating sheaves 33 and 35 have their ends ] Adjustably but fixedly secured to a suitable support as shown at 42. There is enough of the y two cables between the support 42 and said op? erating pulleys to form depending bights 43 in 20 said cables, and these bights hang in the upper portion of a guide housing 44 located alongside the doorway and preferably at the outer side of one of the vertical guideways 13.

In said housing 44 is located a counterweight 25 mechanism consisting in the present embodiment of two distinctive counterweights 45 and 46. Each may consist of a series of weight sections which can be added to or depleted in number according to the weight and arrangement 30 of the door. The upper section 45 has its units secured together by rods 47 and said rods are connected to a top plate 48 carrying a bracket 49 in which are idler pulleys 50. These pulleys are engaged in the bights 43 of the cables and 35 allow free movement of the cables. The lower counterweight 46 is supported by vertical tie rods 51 that pass therethrough and through the upper counterweight 45, being slidable in the upper weight as will be clear by a comparison of 40 Figures 5 and 7.,

The operation of this counterweight mechanism may thus be described. When the door is in its closed position or as shown in Figure 1 and 2 both weights are supported by the cables 45 30 and 31 as indicated-in Figure 1, the lower weight being some distance above the floor or bottom of the housing 44. If now the operating means is actuated, by moving the chain 41 in the appropriate direction, the rotation of the operated ing sheaves 33 and 35 causes a pull to be exerted on the chains 30 and 31 to elevate the door. The bights 43 of the cables thereby increase in size as the slack accumulates and obviously the weights 45 and 46 are lowered. As the upper 55 door section 18 travels on to the supporting sections 14 of the guideways or as shown in Figure 4, the weight of this section is taken from the cables 30 and 31. By the time substantially all of this weight is thus carried by the guide60 ways 14, the lower counterweight 46 is seated on the bottom of the housing and its weight is thus taken from the cables, so that a substantial balancing action occurs in that the upper weight 45 is then alone in operation and is part65 ly counterbalancing the lower door section Π. As the opening of the door is continued the lower weight section also comes substantially on to the supporting portions 14 of the guideways, but even when the door is fully open as will be clear 70 by reference to Figure 6, the lowermost rollers 27 are still on the turn of the guideways and there is a material portion of the weight still carried by the cables. The fully open position of the parts is determined by stops 82 at the IS rear ends of the guideways 14 and which are abutted by the uppermost or now rearmost rollers 27 (see Figure 6). While the upper counterweight is permitted to move downwardly by reason of its sliding engagements with the tie rods 51, as shown in Figure 7, and said upper weight 5 45 may be allowed to rest directly upon the lower weight, preferably the upper weight is always in action, or in other words spaced from the lower weight so that it is acting to hold the door in open position and against its tendency 10 to inove forwardly by reason of gravity acting on the front or normally lower end of the lower section 17 as illustrated in Figure 6. To close the door therefore it is only necessary for the operator to move the actuating chain 41 in a 15 reverse direction, whereupon the holding action of the upper weight 45 is overcome, gravity is permitted to act and move the front end of the lowermost section 27 from its position shown in Figure 6 and the door moves downwardly, its 20 active weight on the chains increasing until the upper counterweight 46 is elevated sufficiently to cause the tie rods 51 to again raise the lower counterweights 46.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the con- 25 struction, operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minor 30 details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.