Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – With mounting or supporting means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-08
2004-04-13
Johnson, Blair M. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
With mounting or supporting means
C160S201000, C160S209000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06719032
ABSTRACT:
The present invention concerns a device for electrically driving a shutter with articulated elements.
Such shutters are well known and consist of a series of rectangular panels, the largest dimension of which extends horizontally, these panels being connected to one another, by their horizontal edges, by means of articulations. The lateral edges of these panels are provided with running rollers or similar mechanisms which run in guide rails, by means of which the shutter is guided from its open position to its closed position and vice versa. These rails each have a first rectilinear part (in general, vertical in substance) mounted in a fixed manner along one side of the door opening, the upper part of this first rectilinear part being connected, by means of a curved part, to a second rectilinear part (and generally horizontal in substance) mounted in a fixed manner in the plane which the shutter is to occupy in its open position.
Such shutters are normally used as garage doors or warehouse doors, but also as road vehicle doors and in particular as rear doors of trucks or vans.
These shutters can optionally be activated manually, which can often be done without too much difficulty, at least when the shutters are not too large and, in particular, too tall.
This is because, as a general rule, such shutters are provided with a balancing spring device that pulls the shutter towards its open position and thus counterbalances, at least approximately or partially, the weight of the shutter that pulls it towards its closed position.
In many cases, it is however desirable that such a shutter is equipped with an electrical drive device. Many types of device have already been designed and proposed to that end.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,236 describes an electrical drive device for a door shutter, in which the mechanical transmission between the electric motor and the upper element of the shutter comprises a chain (of the Galle chain or roller chain type) guided in a rail.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,922,638 describes a device for electrically driving a garage door. This device comprises an electric motor and a drive shaft both carried by arms fixed in an articulated manner to the upper element of the shutter. A belt and pulley transmission is provided between the motor shaft and the drive shaft. The latter carries a pinion at each of its two ends. These two pinions mesh with racks mounted along the horizontal part of the shutter guide rails.
EP-0 291 171 describes a door shutter for trucks equipped with a drive device with an electric motor. This device comprises a system of winches and belts, at least one of these belts having one end fixed to an element at the bottom of the shutter and at least one other belt having one end fixed to an element at the top of the shutter.
The door shutter described in NL 8902808 has a number of points of similarity with that described in EP-0 291 171, but the belts (which are preferably notched belts) are fixed by one of their ends to an element at the bottom of the shutter and by their other end to an element at the top of the shutter.
EP-0 222 204 describes a shutter with articulated elements, equipped with one or more electric motors activating a pinion which meshes with a rack mounted parallel to the rails of the shutter. The motor or motors is (are) fixed against one of the elements of the shutter, on the side turned towards the inside of the room or space closed by this shutter. When the shutter is in the open position, the motor (or each motor) is therefore suspended under the shutter element to which it is fixed.
A proposal has been made to drive truck shutters by a hydraulic system that comprises one or two hydraulic jacks situated close to the ceiling of the load space of the truck and the end of the piston rod of which is connected, in an articulated manner, to the upper element of the shutter.
Such a hydraulic system involves the use of very long jacks, which furthermore limits its application possibilities to sufficiently long trucks. This is because, when the shutter is closed, the total length of the jack (cylinder+piston rod) is necessarily a little greater than twice the height of the shutter.
To remedy this drawback, the device described in NL 9000459 comprises a double acting pneumatic cylinder, with free-floating piston (without a piston rod). The movement of this free-floating piston is transmitted to a sliding sleeve disposed around the pneumatic cylinder, by virtue of the fact that this piston and this sleeve are both provided with magnetic elements. The sliding sleeve is connected to one element (lower or upper) of the shutter. It will be understood that the magnetic (and not mechanical) connection between the piston and the sleeve can be a source of problems and also limit the application of such a system to relatively small and light shutters.
Certain of the shutter electrical drive devices which have been proposed up to now have been considered fairly satisfactory and notably fairly reliable, as long as they were used for equipping garage doors, warehouse doors or other building shutters.
Generally speaking, these shutter electrical drive devices have not given satisfaction when they have been used for equipping doors of trucks or similar vehicles; on account of their sometimes faulty operation and too many failures, they are considered to be insufficiently reliable. This observation also applies to the electrical drive devices that are nevertheless presented as being especially designed to equip vehicle shutters.
The fact that one and the same shutter electrical drive device can give satisfaction when it is used for equipping a garage shutter and, on the other hand, suffers too many failures when used for equipping a truck shutter, is due to a number of causes. The main one of these causes of difficulties and breakdowns is due to the fact that, when the truck starts, runs and stops, the electrical drive device of the shutter and the mechanisms composing it are subject to incessant vibrations and jolts which have particularly harmful effects when the truck runs on bumpy roads.
With vehicle shutter electrical drive devices proposed up to now, it may also be noted that these vibrations and jolts can cause at least partial opening of the vehicle shutter during running. Keeping such a shutter in the closed position by means of a lock, latch or similar fastening device is considered to be an unacceptable solution, notably because of the waste of time this involves.
Generally speaking, the truck shutter electrical drive devices proposed up to now are also too bulky. For this reason, they reduce the load capacity of the trucks to an unacceptable extent.
There is, however, a real demand for shutter electrical drive devices operating in a truly satisfactory and reliable manner for equipping doors of trucks or similar vehicles therewith.
It will be understood that such a device must not only be reliable, so as to be able to be used for a long time without notable risk of failure, but it must also be compact, so as to reduce the load capacity of the truck as little as possible.
The aim of the present invention is to provide such a device.
The electrical drive device according to the invention has been designed and perfected for equipping shutters of trucks or similar vehicles therewith, but this device can obviously also advantageously be used for equipping garage shutters, warehouse shutters or other building shutters therewith.
One object of the present invention is a shutter with articulated elements, the movement of which between a closed position and an open position, and vice versa, is guided by two rails disposed along the path that is to be followed by guide rollers with which the lateral edges of the elements of the shutter are provided. These guide rails each have a first rectilinear part mounted in the plane that the shutter is to occupy, in substance, in its closed position, this first part being connected by means of a curved part to a second rectilinear part mounted in the plane that the shutter is to occupy, in substance, in its open pos
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Johnson Blair M.
LandOfFree
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