Combination hanger and track for edgewise-movable doors.

Application filed June 21,1904. Serial No. 213,508.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, Daniel Schuyler, a citizen of the. United States, residing at· Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and 5 State of Connecticut, and Homer Laughlin, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing . at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Combination Hanger and Track _I0 for Edgewise-Moving Closures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is more particularly applicable to closures commonly known as sliding doors and windows.

x5 Some of the objects of this invention may be enumerated as follows: (1) to provide for constructing a sliding door set with minimum weight of metal and maximum strength and rigidity, (2) to avoid torsional strain, 2o (3) to secure simplicity and cheapness of manufacture, (4) noiselessness, (5) superior attachment to the door, (6) easy mounting and dismounting of the door, (7) simplicity, convenience and permanency of adjustment, 25 (8) ready mounting and dismounting of the door from its support, (9) improved and more convenient means for preventing any displacement of the hanger on the rail, and, (10) to provide maximum stability of support 30 with minimum friction, (11) to provide a sheet metal carriage having hard antifriction faces and a tough supporting portion.

(12) An object of this invention is to provide for sliding door mechanism, the most 35 perfect and the cheapest possible antifriction construction, at the same time avoiding noise. This we accomplish in part by providing mechanism comprising a sheet-metal rail having on opposite sides parallel faces 40 on which the door carriage runs; and more fully by providing a sheet-metal surface which runs on said rail.

In carrying out this invention in its most approved form all of the antifriction surfaces 45 except the bearing balls are formed of sheetmetal and are planished, but we do not limit our invention to the use of the sheet-metal rollers and rail for the reason that other features of our invention maybe used with other 50 foims or rail and roller, with satisfactory results. We regard our invention, however, as including broadly the combination with a grooved wheel, of a sheet-metaljrail having on opposite sides parallel bearing surfaces on which the grooved wheel runs, tlie prin- 55 ciple being that thereby it is made possible at low cost to provide for said wheel a planished rail which will not set up’a noise vibration.

(13) An object is to avoid noise and yet 60 use a steel rail without using any fiber, wood or other sound deadening material.

(14) Another obj ect is to provide improved means whereby the trolley is proof against accidental displacement from the rail, but is 65 readily removable from the rail at any point therealong without manipulation of screws, nuts or other extraneous means of fastening.

(15) Another object of the invention in its preferred form is to allow a liberal adjust- 70 ment of both ends of a single sliding door without removing any door stops or any parts of the door.

(16) Another object is to provide a superior construction of hanger for suspending 7 5 the. door at its center by means which will run in a narrow slot so that the opening above the door may be as inconspicuous as possible without any concealing means.

(17) Another object secured by the pre- 80 ferred form of the invention is to provide for the adjustment of a rail under tension without disturbing such tension.

(18) To provide for so supporting the door that the sound vibration of the moving parts 85 will not be transmitted to the door; ana yet to obtain a connection which is sufficiently rigid for satisfactory operation.

(19) Another object is ease of assembling the parts. 90 (20) Another object is to cause the action of gravity to tighten tlie parts.

In carrying out this invention we propose to reduce vibration and resonance to a minimum and this is accomplished by bringing 95 into one combination various elements and features hereinafter set forth, whereby tlie initial vibrations are suppressed, and their transmission and augmentation are largely prevented. 100

It may here be remarked that tlie body of a sliding door and the frame work and partially inclosed air^r spaces pertaining to a sliding door form an acoustic instrument by

856,607 which slight vibrations are caused to resound, and the object more particularly in view in the present invention is to avoid the noise commonly attendant upon the operation of 5 sliding doors.

An idea of means which largely enters into this combination consists in the application of a wedging action for suppressing rattling between contacting surfaces. It is a feature io of our invention to provide door mechanism embodying this wedging principle throughout for the purpose stated. We thereby provide and use a tense sheet-metal rail and a tense sheet-metal connection between the 15 roller and the door closure, thereby securing great rigidity and freedom from vibration with slight weight.

The accompanying drawings illustrate our invention.

Figure 1. is a fragmental view illustrating our invention. Fig. 2. is an enlarged fragmental detail of the same. Fig. 3. is a fragmental elevation in mid-section along the rail and door. Fig. 4. is a cross section on 25 line IV.—IV. Fig. 3. Fig. 5. is a fragmental ^: view of the underside of the door support and the rail. Fig. 6. is a side elevation of the adjustment cap. Fig. 7. is an elevation looking left from line VII—VII, Fig. 3.

3° In this view the cantaliver arm 5 is shown wedged home to slightly spread apart the walls of the rail. The leader from the character 5 extends into a cavity in the under face of the arm; but it is to be understood 35 that said arm fits tightly against both walls 6 of the rail.

is the body of a door or other edgewise movable closure, 2 a rail, 3 supports therefor fastened to uprights 4 of the building.

4° 5 designates portions of the supports wedged in between the side walls 6 of the rail 2, which rail is preferably an open angular shaped sheet metal trough, the side walls 6 of which extend alongside each other and are 45 brought under tension by the wedging action of the arms 5 which wedge between said side walls, thus slightly spreading them apart and causing a tight fit between side walls of shoulders 7 which are substantially con5° formed to the outside of the end of the rail to prevent rattling of the rail.

designates shoulders above the bases 51 of the arms and under and within which shoulders the ends of the rail will be inserted 55 in mounting the rail on its supports.

In order to provide a practically noiseless edge-wise moving door we have produced a combination of parts by which we largely avoid setting up initial vibrations and 6° largely prevent the transmission and increase • of any vibrations which may be set up. With this purpose in view a portion of the • door support consists in a pair of externally grooveci rollers or wheels 8, one for each up per corner of the door and each contacting with the rail, practically at two points only, at any one time, as will hereinafter more fully appear. For this purpose the outer faces 9 of the side walls 6 of the rail diverge downwardly more rapidly than the inner faces 10 7 c of the grooved rollers, so that the only contact between the rollers and the rail is at two points on opposite sides of the rail somewhere below the top thereof, the wheel being free from contact with the rail in the mid- 75 die space between said inside faces of the groove. Each rail is desirably made of cold rolled sheet steel having a planished surface upon which the-rollers roll. Preferably the roller 8 is likewise formed of sheet metal hav- 80 ing planished surfaces at 10 to roll upon the planished faces of the rail.

designates wedge shape sheet metal members, two carried by each roller 9 and extending downward alongside each other on 85 opposite sides of the roller and widening down ward ly and terminating in inwardly and upwardly bent portions 12, and interlocking ivith, wedging into and supporting the vibration, absorbing and sound deadening plate or 90 bridge 13 which is preferably provided with shoulders 14 between which the members 11 tightly wedge. 15 is a screw-threaded bolt carried by the bridge and extending through a vertical holel6 in the body of the door 1 and 95 serving as a suspender therefor. 17 is a nut on said bolt having a rough, irregular and corrugated edge 18. A curved sheet metal washer 19 is mounted on the bolt between the nut and the supporting face 20 of tlie 100 door body 1 and is adapted and arranged to engage the body of the nut at the edges thereof to prevent the same from turning on the bolt so long as the weight of the door is on the washer. 105 is a lateral hole forming a chamber and opemng in the body 1. communicating with and having a greater diameter than hole 16, and through which access to the nut 17 may be gained by means of any instrument where- 110 by the nut may be turned in case the body 1 is raised so as to relieve the engagement between the washer and nut. The washer is held stationary relative to the body by suitable means such as the walls of the chamber 115 or opening 21 in the door in which the nut and washer are located. Preferably said _: chamber is circular and the ivasher 19 is crowned to fit the same and bear upon the upper face of the adjusting nut 17 and there- 120 by prevent undue vibration.

Desirably the bridge 13 is formed of sheet metal notched at its edges to receive, wedge upon, and interlock with the lower ends of the supporting members. The ends of the 125 bridge 13 are tapered, so that they can be readily inserted between the arms 5 to spread them apart in the act of assembling the de- vice.

It is desirable that the support for the rail 130

856,607 should allow the ends of the rail to be adjusted up and down to compensate for any settling of the building, and for the purpose of bringing the rail either to a horizontal or an inclined position as desired.

is a bracket plate provided with a supporting boss 23 constructed to seat in a hole 24 bored into the studding or other support by which it is sustained at the end of the rail.

is a lag screw for holding the upper end of the bracket 26 in place. Said bracket 26 is adjustable vertically by means of a collar screw 27, the neck of which fits a slot 28 in a ledge 29 at the lower end of the bracket plate, 22. Said screw screws into the bracket 26 so that by turning the screw the bracket 26' will be raised or lowered as the case may be; the bracket 26 being furnished with a slot 30 for the lag screw 25 permits this to be done. The rail is cramped by its brackets and held under a longitudinal tension by reason of its resting on the points of the arms 5 with the extreme ends of the rail bent down under the shoulders 7 of the brackets 26. It is apparent that when thus held the rear end of the rail is practically fixed and that adjustment may be made by turning the collar screw 27 at the front end without turning the collar screw 27 at the rear end of the rail.

In practice, each moving support or hanger comprising the roller and its connections will move freely along the rail with but little tendency to set up any vibration in the rail, the hanger or the door; and the several devices, as the plate 13, the bolt 15, and the washer 19, serve as vibration intercepters to suppress the vibration and prevent its transmission to the door, thus rendering the movement of the cloor substantially noiseless.

The washer 19 is desirably crowned being formed in an arc to fit the circular wall of the hole 16. The chord of such arc is somewhat greater than the diameter of the corrugated nut, and such nut, wedges thereinto underpressure of the door thereby preventing looseness at that point.

In the form at present deemed best, the trolley or hanger running on the rail surrounds the rail at top, bottom and sides and the suspender is centrally arranged below the hanger and is carried thereby thus affording a true and stable support and suppressingvibration. The body is held from turning by means of two suspenders 15 as shown in Fig. 1, the threaded parts of which extend down through the holes 16 in the supporting part of the door body and through the washers which wedge on and prevent the nuts from turning when the supporting part is borne by tlie washer on the nut. By this construction the door is caused to run true and noiselessly and without any danger of getting out of adjustment. The sheet metal rail and sheet metal rollers have planished faces so as to avoid setting up vibrations. The body of the door is adjustably connected with the bridge or plate so as to allow easy access to the adjusting devices and to allow a construction in which the vibrations are suppressed and largely⁷ avoided. The bridge 70 plate being detachable and arranged intermediate the door body and the supporting means carried directly⁷ by the roller, provides at once for ready attachment of the door and for muffling and deadening noise. 75 is a finishing cap for the mouth of the lateral hole ‘21. It has an opening 32 through which a wire, a screwdriver or other instrument may be inserted to engage the notched or corrugated nut to turn the same 80 for adjusting the height of the body 1. In practice the body 1. must be lifted to free the nut from the nut locking washer 19 before the nut can be turned. By means of the construction shown, the height of the door can 85 be readily and conveniently adjusted.

By providing the vertically adjustable cantaliver shown at the end of the rail and in contact therewith at two points together with, means for adjusting tlie same vertically 90 and means for canting the support, a tension may be brought on the rail to the extent of bowing the same in the middle, each of the corresponding supports at the two ends of the rail serve to hold the rail in tension, the 95 one acting against the other, thus avoiding looseness and vibration; and the vertical position of the, rail may be changed without appreciably loosening the tension.

It will be seen from Figs. 4 and 5 that the 100 trolley cannot be accidentally displaced from the rail while the door is suspended thereby, but by⁷ prying the side members 11 outward, the plate 13 may be released and the door removed without manipulation of screws, nuts 105 or the like.

By providing a trough shaped sheet metal rail held under the tension and a roller running on said rail· and sheet metal arms held under tension and carried by said roller, it is no possible to bring the supporting means of the edgewise moving body into a narrow space, and to construct said supporting means with minimum weight of material for a given strength, rigidity and freedom from noise. 115

It is to be understood that \ve do not limit· our invention to the use in every instance of all the features of the same; for good results are obtainable by the use of parts of the invention, other parts being omitted, for in- 120 stance an advantage is gained by the use of a trough shaped metal rail, a door, a roller running on said rail, a connection between said roller and the door, and means for rendering said connection, tense, regardless of whether 125 the connection referred to is attached directly to the door or to an intermediate part.

It will also be understood that advantages over former constructions are secured by the combination of the, rail, the roller on said 130

856,607 rail, arms carried by said roller ancl extending downward, therefrom, a bridge below the rail ancl detachably interlocked with, saicl arms and the body connected with said bridge 5 regardless of how the body is connected, although. it is to be understood that the best results are secured by the construction in which the body is connected with the arms by the means shown in the drawings.

io It is evident that when one end of the rail is appropriately adjusted, that by operating the means for canting the support at the other end to cramp the rail between the two points of support at its opposite ends, the r 5 tension of the rail may be increased.