Sectional vertical acting door

Nov. 13, 1951

H. C. BLODGETT

SECTIONAL VERTICAL ACTING DOOR

2,575,255

Filed Sept. 19, 1947 zz

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/ INVENTOR.

Herbert Cady B/odaatt Q .

ATTORNEY

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Nov. 13, 1951

H. C. BLODGETT

SECTIONAL VERTICAL ACTING DOOR

2,575,255

Filed Sept. 19, 1947

SHEETS—SHEET 2

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Ml

INVENTOR.

Herbert Cady Plod'dett

ATTORNEY

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

Patented Nov. 13, 1951

2,575,255

2,575,255

SECTIONAL VERTICAL: ACTING DOOR

Herbert C. Blodgett, Hartford City, Ind., assignor to Overhead Door Corporation, Hartford City, Ind.

Application September 19,1947, Serial No. 775^023'

4Claims. (C

I

This invention relates to improvements in vertically acting door construction.'

The'principal objects of this invention are:

First; to provide a door structure of the horizontally'hinged sectional type arranged to be ·' opened by vertical movement of the door in which the several sections of the door may be assembled from a minimum Humber of different stamped or bent or rolled parts or elements; thus reducing 'the cost of dies and other machinery: ft for producing the elements.

Second;· to provide a structure' for the sections of a' horizontally hinged sectional door in which the*elements of the door section may be economically-produced from sheet metal by stamping or Ιέ bending sheet stock” and ‘ cutting the elements to the desired lengths.

Third;- to provide a door of the horizontally hinged sectional type which Will have a smooth exterior surf ace of pleasing- appearance and one 2( in which the joints are effective in-excluding wind and water.

Fourth, to provide a door construction for the sections of a horizontally hinged sectional door which permits the' easy and', inexpensive 'Welding., 21 of the several elements of each section and hi which- the ^Jsize-of the several elements may be readily changed to provide door section's of different sizes with a minimum of alteration or adjustment of the machinery for producing the clc- _;ilments?

Fifth, to provide a stile element for the ends or center of a sectional door which may be economically-produced- in· varying lengths and easily assembled by welding to the rail and panel· portions 3; of the door section.

Sixth-, to provide a combined panel‘and rail ’ element for a sectional-door which may be easilyproduced· by bending or stamping from sheet metal stock to provide an overlap between-the 4( door sections and which is easily joined by welding-to the stile elements of the door section.

Seventh, to provide a structure for the sections of 'a horizontally hinged seetional door in which none of the screws or bolts for '· attaching the-41 hinge elements and fixtures of the door project through: the front surf ace of the door to mar the smooth outer surface of ^;the door.

Other objects and ', advantages pertaining to the 'details-and· economies of the invention will 51 beapparent from a consideration of- the following description and claims.

The drawings' of which there are two sheets, illustrate a -preferred form of my ddor construetion. 5

1.160-239)

Fig. 1 is an'elevational view of the inside of- my door in assembled and lowered or closed position.Fig.' 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional viewalong the line 2^-2in Fig. 1.

^s Fig; 3 is a fragmentary- croSs sectionaFviCwalong the line 3—3 in-Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an end elevational· view-Ofmy door irn installed and closed- position in the doorway of a building, portions of -the building' structure;

¹ being shown in cross'section.

Fig; 5 is a fragmentary¹ cross-sectional-view·' along the line 5-M in-Fig. 1.

Fig;: 6 is a cross sectional view along line in Fig; 1.

Fig; 7 iS -a^-fragmentary exploded· perspectivet view of part of. the'elements of my door section·.' While my door constructibn may' be used onahy type of conventional ’door; if is particularly i adapted for use on large¹ garage doors-of the¹ type Which are opened by moving jihe ddor‘up“ Wardly. mto a horizontal position. Fig.¹ 4-illustrates an installation of this type in which a door opening between the'door frame members I is closed by my. door generally indicated at '2'; The’ door comprises a plurality; of horizontally arranged sections 3 which are joined by. hinges 4 positioned, at the ends of the door sections and' central hinges ,5'positioned between the ends of the: door sections.. It (will be (readily understood ¹ that as many central hinges 5 as are. desired may · be provided, depending, upon the width’ of the· door.

The outer -hinges 4-are providedwithrollers -6i . arranged to roll in the-guide rails 7,. the guide. . ’ rails 7 having.a generally vertical reach along the. sides of the·:door opening; secured- to the door frame by the brackets. 3 (see Fig; 5)· and· a generally .liorizontal·reach :9 /extending to·, the “rear · ₍. ofsthe door opening.·. The vertical and-horizontal reaches of the guide rails are connected by a curved section 10. The: 1 construction; and arrangement ' of the hinge members; rollers and; guide· raila·' will be described in greater detail _} presently.

Brackets 11 are secured-to’ the ’ wall· of- the¹building and to the upper portions of the guide ’ rails for-supporting· 'pulleys 12 above’- each edge of the door and lift chains 13 are -passed over the > pulleys to the lower corners of the door for rais- · ing-’the-idoor.·’ The chains-43 ^'extend to· any'de-sired :type-'*of''counter-'balance:-'system;the type illustrated consisting of a movable· pulley 14 'being connected to the¹ end ofthe tension -spring S ί 15? The brackets Ί 1 ^:may be·: shaped -tb suppbrt ·’

2,575,255 μ 3 a driving motor and gears for power operation of the door, but in the example illustrated, this mechanism is omitted and the door is arranged for manual operation only.

The construction of the several sections 3 of the door is most clearly illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 7. Each section consists of end stile elements 16, top rail element 17, bottom rail element 18, and a panel 19. The rail elements 17 and 18 are formed as by rolling or stamping the edges of sheet metal stock which also forms the panel 19.

The upper rail portion of each section as is most clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 7 consists of a horizontal flange 20 connected to the body of the panel 19, by the upwardly and outwardly opening angular rebate 21. The lower rail portion 18 of each section consists of a rearwardly turned horizontal flange 22, the rear edge of which is connected to a rearwardly and downwardly opening angular rebate portion 23. The rebate portions 21 and 23 are of equal vertical depth and extend over one half the depth of the rail sections so as to form an over-lapping joint between the sections when two sections are hinged together as shown in Fig. 2.

The end stile elements of each section as is most clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 7 consists of generally U-shaped stampings having a relatively wide inner flange 24 and a relatively narrow outer flange 25. The upper ends of the web portion of the stile elements 16 are notched on the outer side as at 26 so as to fit snugly against the rebate portion 21 of the upper rail portion of each panel. The lower ends of the stile elements 16 are notched as at 27 on their interior sides so as to fit snugly within the rebate portions 23 of the lower rail portions of each panel section. The stile elements 16 are thus conveniently and securely fastened to the panels 19 by lapping the outer flange 25 of the stile elements against the inside of the panels 19 and tack-welding the edge of the flange 25 to the panel as indicated at 28 in Figs. 2, 3 and 5. The abutting edges of the ends of the stile element and the rail portions of the panel 19 are conveniently exposed and may be welded as indicated at 29 in Fig. 5.

The stile elements 16 may also be used as interior stile elements of the door sections, but I prefer to use a slightly modified interior stile element 30, such as is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 7. The inner stile element 30 is provided with a relatively narrow outer flange 31 and a relatively wide inner flange 32 connected by the web portion 33 of the same width as the web portion of the stile elements 16. The ends of the interior stile elements 30 are notched in the same manner as the ends of the end stile elements, but instead of being formed into U-shaped cross section, the flanges 31 and 32 are folded into opposite directions from the web to form a generally Z-shaped cross section. By turning the interior flange 31 oppositely from the outer flange 32, the junction between the outer flange and the panel 19 is clearly exposed along the inside of the panel so that it may be welded thereto as indicated at 34 in Fig. 1.

The hinges 4 and 5 for joining the several sections of the door are conveniently secured to the inside flanges 24 and 32 of the stile elements by bolts 35 so that no bolts or screws project through the panels 19 to mar or interrupt the smooth outer surface of the door.

One or more of the panel sections 19 may be formed with an aperture closed with a pane of glass 37 to form windows in the door as desired. The window panes are conveniently mounted in their openings 36 by means of annular gaskets 38 as is most clearly shown in Fig. 6.

The rebate portion 23 along the lower edge of the lowermost door sections forms a convenient shoulder for attaching a deformable rubber bumper 39 along the. lower edge of the door as is most clearly shown in Fig. 3. The bumper may be easily attached by passing self-tapping screws 40 through a flange on the bumper and the vertical wall of the rebate portion 23. Cleats 41 are secured to the center stile element of the lowermost section of the door to assist in opening and closing the door as is illustrated in Fig. 3.

The hinges 4 comprise upper leaves 42 secured to the inner flanges 24 of the stiles by the bolts 35 and having lower end portions bent inwardly of the door into cylindrical portions 43 receiving the hinge pins 44. The hinge pins 44 are supported between the side flanges 45 of the generally U-shaped lower hinge leaves 46. The flanges 45 also support pintle pins 47 for supporting the rollers 6. The interior hinges 5 are similar to the end hinges 4 but do not have the pintle pins or rollers mounted thereon.

My door construction is particularly useful and economical to construct in that the combined panel and rail portions of each section of the door may be produced from sheet metal by stamping or rolling and cut to the desired length to fit door openings of various widths. The stile elements are economically produced as stampings and easily welded to the panel and rail sections as previously described. The hinges and other door fixtures are easily mounted on the door sections with bolts positioned entirely on the inside of the panels so that the outer surface of the finished door is completely smooth and/or attractive appearance.