Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Closure checks
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-14
2001-09-25
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3626)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Closure checks
C016S366000, C292S268000, C292S269000, C217S06000R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292978
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an enclosure with a door stop and in particular, to a door stop apparatus providing a positive mechanical stop to hold the door in an open position.
2. Prior Art
Enclosures used in outdoor applications often require a positive mechanical stop for holding the door open. If the door is not balanced or if it is outside and subject to wind, the door may swing shut unless it is held open. The interior of the enclosure should be easily accessible for maintenance, repair or other work that requires the door to be positively held open for extended periods of time. This allows the worker to access the interior without having to hold the door, allowing the worker greater flexibility and improved safety and efficiency.
Simple door stops are often just a wedge placed between the door and the floor. Devices for maintaining enclosure doors, such as doors for electrical enclosures, in an open position typically have utilized a shoulder bolt on a moving arm that drops into a widened area in a channel. Although these devices do keep the door open, this configuration requires careful alignment so that the shoulder bolt drops into the widened hole without hanging up. Often, it may take some jiggling of the door to attain the proper alignment for the bolt to drop through or the door many not stay open. Over time, dirt and grime may build up to make alignment and free movement more difficult. A further problem with such designs is the single orientation to which the device is limited. Left hand and right hand opening doors, or mounting at the top and bottom typically require different embodiments to accommodate the various door configurations. This requires additional parts and raises manufacturing, assembly and stocking costs.
It can be seen that a new and improved door stop device is required to maintain a door in an open position. Such a door should provide a reliable, simple positive mechanical stop to maintain the door in the open position. Such a door should be easily alignable and should accommodate a device mounting in either a left or right opening orientation or be mounted near either the top or the bottom of the door. The present invention addresses these as well as other problems associated with enclosures and door stops.
SUMMARY
The present invention is directed to a door stop device for providing a positive mechanical retainer to hold a door in an open position.
The door stop includes a mounting bracket typically mounted to the frame providing a pivot point for a link member. The link member includes a follower that mounts to a slot in a guide member, typically mounted to the door. The follower slides along the slot as the door is opened and closed, causing the fixed distance of the link relative to the pivot point, to move along the slot.
The guide member includes a gate along the slot that provides for sliding the follower over the gate in a first direction, but engaging and being held by the gate in the opposite direction. The gate of the guide member includes flared portions ramped up from the face of the guide member on either side of the slot. The flared portions form a ramp that allows the follower and link to slide over the ramp in a first direction. However, the gate has an abrupt intersection with the horizontal surface on either side of the slot. Therefore, the follower and link may slide over the gradual intersection of the gate when moving in a first direction, and then gravity causes the element to fall downward and slide down the abrupt edge. However, when the travel direction is reversed, the follower and link abut the edge of the gate and are held in position. With this configuration, the door is held open when the abrupt edge retains the link member. To close the door, the follower and link are easily lifted and moved beyond the abrupt edge of the gate.
In one embodiment, the guide member includes a gate at each end of the slot extending out from opposite faces of the guide member. With this configuration, the guide member is reversibly and invertably mountable so that when the entire stop assembly is attached, it can be inverted for mounting along either the upper or lower portions of the door. The guide member also includes mounting holes on either side so that the relative direction of the member may be changed for use with either left or right opening doors. The mounting bracket may also be inverted for use in either the upper or lower edge. When inverted, the link will engage the upper surface of the gate rather than the follower, but the stop functions in an identical manner. In a second embodiment, the guide member includes a gate at a first end of the slot and a widened orifice at the opposite end allowing the follower to be inserted for easier assembly and disassembly.
These features of novelty and various other advantages which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.
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Product Catalog,Hoffman Engineering Company, pp. 31, 497, 529, 540 (1995).
Product Catalog, “Rittal Handbook 27”,Rittal, p. 192 (1996).
Product Blueprints,EMKA Beschlagteile GmbH & Co. KG, pp. 6A-220, 6A-230 (Aug. 1996).
Product Catalog,Hoffman Engineering Company, pp. 9.05, 1.109 (1997).
Product Catalog,Hoffman Enclosures Inc., p. 48 (1998).
Brouillard David
Lakoduk Harold D.
Hoffman Enclosures Inc.
Knight Anthony
Merchant & Gould P.C.
Williams Mark
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