GB2151461A - Cabinets - Google Patents

Abstract

A door (12) is hingedly mounted to a cabinet (10) by means of a hinge pin (32) on the door (12) engaging in a hinge bracket (30). The pin (32) is engaged in a slot (34) in the bracket (30) which is elongate in a direction such that, after the door is closed, latch means (not shown) can be operated to pull the door (12) towards the cabinet (10) to cause a portion of the door to abut and compress a seal member (36) on the carbinet (10). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cabinets This invention relates to cabinets.

A known cabinet intended for housing electrical/electronic equipment comprises a housing, a door, hinge means hingedly mounting the door to the housing about an edge of the door, and a seal positioned so that it can be deformed to seal the door to the housing in the vicinity of said edge of the door when the door is closed. In the known cabinet, the seal is deformed during hinging movement of the door into the closed position. This subjects the hinge means and parts of the door and housing to considerable stress so that they must be appropriately massive and correspondingly expensive.

According to the present invention there is provided a cabinet comprising a housing, a door, hinge means hingedly mounting the door to the housing about an edge of the door, and a seal positioned so that it can be deformed to seal the door to the housing in the vicinity of said edge of the door when the door is closed, wherein the hinge means is so constructed as to permit movement of the door, after the door has been closed, in a sense towards the housing thereby to deform the seal to seal the door to the housing, and latch means is provided to hold the door in the position in which it is sealed to the housing.

In a cabinet in accordance with the invention, the seal need not be subjected to any def ormation or at least any substantial deformation until after the door has been closed and it is thereafter moved towards the housing to deform the seal and effect sealing.

Consequently, the hinge means, door and housing are not subjected, during hinging movement of the door, to stresses resulting from deformation of the seal, whereby the hinge means and related components need not be as massive as in the known arrangement mentioned above.

The movement of the door towards the housing to deform the seal may be accomplished manually or otherwise separately from the operation of the latch means, the latch means thereafter being operative to hold the door in place. Preferably, however, the latch means is operative to effect the movement of the door to the sealed position as well as thereafter to hold the door in place in the sealed position.

Preferably, when the seal is deformed it effects a seal directly between the door and a side panel of the cabinet. Such an arrangement is preferable to a known arrangement, in which the door is sealed to a corner pillar of the cabinet by one seal and the corner pillar is sealed to a side panel by another seal, in that only one seal rather than two is required.

It is within the scope of the invention for the seal to be carried by the door. However, in a preferred arrangement described hereinbelow, the seal is carried by the housing.

In a preferred arrangement described here- inbelow, the door, housing and seal are electrically conductive. When the seal is deformed, not only is the door sealed to the housing but it is put into good electrical contact therewith. This enhances radio-frequency (RF) screening between equipment within the cabinet and the exterior of the cabinet.

The invention will now be further described, by way of illustrative and non-li#'..iting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a partial sectional view, taken in a horizontal plane through the left-hand front corner of the cabinet as viewed in Figure 1, with a door of the cabinet in an open position; Figure 3 is a view corresponding to Figure 2, showing the door in a closed position; Figure 4 is a view corresponding to Figure 3, showing the door in a closed and sealed position; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figures 2 to 4, but taken at a position spaced vertically from the views of Figures 2 to 4, showing a latch means holding the door in the closed and sealed position of Figure 4;; Figure 6 shows the latch means as seen from the front in Figure 5, with parts removed for clarity: and Figure 7 is a sectional view of the latch means taken along a line VIIVII in Figure 6.

Figure 1 shows a cabinet intended for housing electrical/electronic equipment. The cabinet comprises a housing 10 and a door 12.

The door 12 is hingedly mounted along its left-hand edge to the left-hand front corner of the housing 10.

The housing 10 includes an interior frame structure (not visible in Figure 1), a side panel 14 preferably in the form of a lift-off door, mounted to the frame structure, and a like side panel mounted to the other side of the housing 10. i.e. the side not visible in Figure 1. The back of the housing 10 may have fitted thereto a lift-off panel or a door similar to the door 12.

The door 12 comprises a frame formed by four like interconnected extrusions 16, 18, 20 and 22, within which is fitted a door panel 24. As shown in Figure 2 for the extrusion 16, each extrusion 16, 18, 20 and 22 is provided in its inner face with a recess 26 for accommodating the door panel 24. The recess 26 is of a stepped configuration so that it can accommodate either a relatively thick door panel 24 (as shown in Figure 3) or a relatively thin door panel 24 (as shown in Figure 4).

The relatively thick door panel 24 shown in Figure 3 may, for example, be of a clear plastics material, which plastics may be electrically conductive if RF screening is required.

The relatively thin door panel 24 shown in Figure 4 may be of sheet metal, for instance sheet steel or sheet aluminium, in which case RF screening will of course be provided.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 are each like crosssectional views through the front left-hand corner of the cabinet, showing the door in respective different positions. These views show a hollow section pillar 28 which forms part of the above-mentioned frame structure of the housing 10. Like pillars (not shown) are provided at the other three corners of the housing 10 and the frame structure further includes means holding the four pillars together. A hinge bracket 30 is fixed to the front face of the pillar 28. A hinge pin 32, fixed in a manner which is not illustrated to the extrusion 16. is received within a slot 34 in the hinge bracket 30.The longitudinal axis of the slot 34 extends perpendicularly to the plane adopted by the door 12 when it is closed. (A plurality of hinge means each constituted by a respective hinge bracket 30 and hinge pin 32 may, if required, be spaced apart along the height of the extrusion 16.

though a single such hinge means is sufficient).

A seal 36 is received as shown between the side panel 14 and a sheet metal member 38 affixed to the pillar 28. The seal 36 extends along the height of the extrusion 16. The seal 36 comprises a length of elastomeric material which may, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, be substantially circular in cross-sectional outline when not deformed.

Figure 5 shows a fastener or latch 40 which is mounted to a metal strip 42 held in place, as shown, within the extrusion 16. The fastener 40 comprises a stem 44 and a cam member 46. The stem 44 has a screw head 48 which is received in a hole 50 in a front web of the extrusion 16. The stem 44 passes through a hole 52 in the strip 42 and is secured to the cam member 46, behind the strip 42, by a pin 54. Consequently, by turning the screw head 48, the cam member 46 can be rotated about the axis of the stem 44 with respect to the strip 42 (and the extrusion 16). More specifically, the cam member 46 can be rotated from a latching position, shown in Figures 5 to 8, to a nonlatching position, by rotating the screw head 48 through 90 in an anti-clockwise direction as represented by an arrow 56 in Figure 6.

The cam member 46 is prevented from being rotated beyond the non-latching position by abutment of the cam member against a stop tab 58 formed in and protruding beyond the rear of the strip 42.

A latching bracket 60 is secured to the pillar 28. As the cam member 46 is rotated from the non-latching position towards the illustrated latching position. an inclined surface 62 of a cut-out or cam portion 64 of the cam member comes into contact with a rear face 66 of a front web 68 of the latching bracket 60. As such rotation continues, the camming action provided by the inclined surface 62 causes the extrusion 16 (and therefore the door 12)to be pulled inwardly towards the housing 10 until, as best seen from Figure 5, the inside face of the front web of the extrusion 16 contacts the outer face of the front web 68 of the latching bracket 60.

The operations that take place upon closure of the door will now be described. Figure 2 shows the door in an open position. In this position, the hinge pin 32 is disposed at the outer end of the slot 34 in the hinge bracket 30. Spring means (not shown) may be provided to bias the door into this position, though the illustrated arrangement should function satisfactorily in the absence of such spring means because the seal 36 will tend to bias the door away from the housing 10 if the door is moved by anything more than a small amount inwardly from the position shown in Figure 2 (and that of Figure 3). To close the door, it is hinged from the position shown in Figure 2 into the position shown in Figure 3.

It should be noted that, in the position shown in Figure 3, the extrusion 16 has not come into contact with the seal 36 whereby there has been no deformation of the seal 36 and, consequently, the side panel 14, the extrusion 16 and the member 38 have not been subjected to any stresses, resulting from deformation of the seal, that would cause them to tend to bend. (The same would be the case if, at this stage, the seal were only slightly deformed by the extrusion 16. as opposed to wholly undeformed, as in the illustrated arrangement, provided there had been no substantial deformation of the seal during hinging of the door to the closed position shown in Figure 3). Thus, at this stage, a seal between the door 12 and housing 10 has not been effected.

To effect a seal, the fastener 40 is actuated by rotating the screw head 48 in the direction opposite to the arrow 56 shown in Figure 5 to rotate the cam member 46 from the nonlatching position to the illustrated latching position. As described above with reference to Figures 5 to 8, this causes the door 12 to move inwardly towards the housing 10. Such movement is permitted by the fact that the hinge pin 32 is received in the slot 34, rather than a circular hole. The inward movement continues until the extrusion 16 contacts the hinge bracket 30, as shown in Figure 4, and the latching bracket 60, as shown in Figure 5.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the extrusion 16 is pushed into contact with the seal 36 during the closing movement to effect a seal between the door 12 and the housing 10, more specifically between the door 12 and the side frame 14.

To release the seal, the screw head 48 is rotated in the opposite direction (i.e. in the direction of the arrow 56 shown in Figure 5) to release the fastener 40 so that the door 12 can move from the position of Figure 4 to that of Figure 3. The cam member 46 is then in its non-latching position in which it is disengaged from the latching bracket 60.

There may be only a single fastener 40 or a plurality of fasteners 40 may be spaced apart along the height of the extrusion 16. They may all be operated separately by means of a screwdriver or the like, or could be so designed as all to be linked to and operated from a central operating position or positions.

The front right-hand corner of the housing 10 and the extrusion 20 may be constructed in similar manner to that shown in Figures 2 to 5, with the exception that the hinge pins 32 will not, of course, be provided. A seal and latching arrangement like the illustrated arrangement may be provided at the righthand front corner and a seal may be effected in that corner in similar manner by operation of like fasteners or latches. Sealing may be similarly accomplished along the top and bottom edges of the door 12.

The arrangement as so far described effects sealing of the door 12 to the housing 10. In some applications, where radio frequency screening between the interior and exterior of the cabinet is desired, it is highly desirable also to effect good electrical contact or continuity between the door 12 and the side panels when the door is fully closed, i.e. is in the position shown in Figure 4. This can be accomplished by making the seal 36 electrically conductive, for instance by providing it with a metallic mesh sheath which can for example be knitted onto the seal proper. As will be evident from an inspection of Figure 4, the mesh will be pressed tightly against the extrusion 16 and the side panel 14 to provide good electrical continuity between them. To this end, the parts of the extrusion 16 and side panel 14 that contact the mesh are either left unfinished or are finished with a conductive paint.

The invention can, of course, be performed in other ways than that described above by way of example. For instance, the door 12 can be moved from the closed but non-sealed position of Figure 3 to the closed and sealed position of Figure 4 by other means than the fastener or fasteners 40, for instance by way of screws that act between the extrusion 16 and the hinge brackets 30. Further, the door could be moved manually from the position of Figure 3 to the position of Figure 4, and thereafter held in place by suitable latch means, though a form of latch means (as described) that effects the movement to the position of Figure 4, as well as holding the door 12 in the position shown in Figure 4, is preferred.

Claims (7)

1. A cabinet comprising a housing, a door, hinge means hingedly mounting the door to the housing about an edge of the door, and a seal positioned so that it can be deformed to seal the door to the housing in the vicinity of said edge of the door when the door is closed, wherein the hinge means is so constructed as to permit movement of the door, after the door has been closed, in a sense towards the housing thereby to deform the seal to seal the door to the housing, and latch means is provided to hold the door in the position in which it is sealed to the housing.

2. A cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the latch means is operative to effect the movement of the door to the sealed position as well as thereafter to hold the door in place in the sealed position.

3. A cabinet according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein one of the door and the housing mounts a hinge pin and the other of the door and the housing includes a hinge bracket with a slot therein to receive the hinge pin, the slot being elongate in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the door when the door is in its closed position.

4. A cabinet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, when the seal is deformed, it effects a seal directly between the door and a side panel of the cabinet.

5. A cabinet according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the seal is carried by the housing.

6. A cabinet according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the door, the housing and the seal are electrically conductive.

7. A cabinet substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.