Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – With mounting or supporting means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-12
2001-04-03
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
With mounting or supporting means
C187S335000, C049S116000, C049S120000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209612
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is based on a door system to move and lock at least two door leaves, which door system may be equipped with a drive device to move the leaves between a position that opens a passage and a position that closes the passage, as well as with a locking device. The locking device can have a motor-side drive unit which is attached to a door frame profile, and top and bottom locking elements, whereby the top locking elements can be actuated by the drive unit in the position of the leaves that closes the passage, and to create a substantially interlocking or form-fitting connection in the vicinity of the top of the leaves between the leaves and a stationary part of the doors, whereby there can be lower locking elements that can be actuated by the drive unit and are located in the vicinity of the bottom of the leaves to create an additional interlocking connection between the leaves and the stationary part of the door system, and whereby the drive unit can be effectively connected with the locking elements only when the leaves are closed for locking and unlocking.
2. Background Information
A similar locking device is described in European Patent No. 0685621 A1. The locking device has top and bottom locking elements on leaves of an automatically actuatable door system which, when the leaves are in the closed position, lock the top and bottom portions of the door leaves. The top and bottom locking elements are mechanically coupled by means of a rod, so that both locking elements are actuated when the drive unit is started by means of a pivoted lever. The top locking elements lock the neighboring leaves with respect to one another, while the bottom locking elements fix the respective leaf directly to the floor. The top and bottom locking elements are automatically moved into an interlocking connection by a single drive unit. The interlocking connection of the locking elements thereby acts in all directions, i.e., both in the direction of movement and also perpendicular to it. The door system can be operated fully automatically by means of a switch. The door system can be locked and unlocked manually in the event of the failure of the power supply system.
The type of conversion of the motor movement to the locking elements and their complex mechanical coupling system must be seen as a disadvantage, because complex and time-consuming adjustment measures on the entire system are necessary during the installation and as a result of the inevitable tolerances that occur during the operation of the door system. On account of the direct mechanical coupling of the locking elements, it may not be possible to compensate for differences in the distances traveled between the top and bottom locking element, e.g. differences that may be caused by dirt in the floor guide, which can lead to the failure of both locking mechanisms. The pivoted lever device that couples the locking element during the movement of the leaves also requires a high degree of precision of the movement process. Even minor deviations mean that the driver pin, provided for the purpose, on the pivoted lever does not come into engagement with the corresponding indentation of a locking bracket, because the plane of the indentation is perpendicular to the direction of movement, and the indentation in the direction of movement of the leaf must be guided by means of the driver pin.
An additional disadvantage of at least one locking device described in some publications is that the locking device of the leaves can be tampered with mechanically—that is, a pin-shaped tool can be pushed between the leaves, so that when the appropriate pressure is exerted against the locking bracket, the top and bottom locking elements can be moved from their position and the leaves can be displaced.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to create a locking device, involving a slide attached to a beam, which is simple and easy to install, whereby the reliability of operation and security against tampering is increased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention teaches that this object may be achieved by means of a slide, to which top and bottom actuator elements of the locking device are attached, which slide may be attached to a beam and may be configured and disposed to be moved on the beam transverse to a sliding direction of the movement of door leaves.
One possible embodiment of the present invention has the advantage that separate actuator elements can be associated with both the top and the bottom locking elements. Consequently, there may be essentially no direct interactions between the top and bottom locking elements. The mechanical coupling of the top and bottom locking elements may be accomplished by means of a slide which actuates both actuator elements by means of a single drive unit. A dual function of an actuator element may be greatly avoided, however. Differences in travel between the top and bottom locking elements caused by installation or operating conditions can consequently be greatly minimized or equalized by simple interventions in the separate subsystems. Larger differences can easily be minimized or equalized by post-installation adjustments on account of the greatly simple construction of the system, in which case the top and bottom locking elements can be adjusted separately. The top locking element acts on the truck and thus may create a lock which, in the event of an attempted break-in, creates a barrier that may not act directly on the leaf or leaves.
The actuator elements and the corresponding locking elements may be realized so that when the leaves are moved into the closed position, they are essentially easily and reliably engaged with each other even if there are minor movement tolerances, fluctuations, discrepancies, or inequalities. For this purpose, in particular, in another possible embodiment of the present invention, the plane of the recesses in the actuator element for the lower locking element may be oriented in the direction of sliding of the door leaves, for example, so that there is a greatly simple seat for the vertically movable rods. Moreover, because of the actuator element for the bottom locking element, security against tampering or attempted forced entry can be increased, because it may not be possible to push the neighboring leaves at a right angle to the direction of displacement of the leaves. The vertical locking may be accomplished by rods which are located in the frame of the leaf and are preferably invisible. With the recess, the actuator element can enclose seating means on the upper end of the rod and push the lower locking element on the bottom end of the rod, which may be in the form of a pin, into a floor bushing or socket. To prevent the penetration or insertion of foreign objects and thus a malfunction of the lock, the floor bushing or socket can be covered with an internal or retracted spring-loaded plate, which spring-loaded plate is opened only by the vertical pressure of the bottom locking element. After the rod has been unlocked, the floor bushing or socket is again closed by the plate. The other actuator element—that is, the top actuator element-may have, as the top locking element, bent fingers or hooks which are lowered vertically and are engaged in an engagement opening of a locking tongue located on the truck.
The overall greatly simple construction of the locking device essentially guarantees the functional reliability of the door system and reduces the time and cost involved in manufacturing and installation. The drive unit and a slide are located by means of a mounting bracket on a beam that is fastened in an essentially stationary manner to the door frame profile of the door leaf drive unit or door system. The slide may be coupled by means of a toothed rack and a gear wheel to the drive unit and is movably fastened to the beam. The two actuator elements can be fastened to the slide in the form of a forked plate and a locking hook which, when the leaves are closed, interact with
Kleyer Heinz
Niederste-Ostholt Torsten
Schack Arnold
Dorma GmbH + Co. KG
Lev Bruce A.
Nils H. Ljungman & Associates
Stodola Daniel P.
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