GB2174137A

GB2174137A - Door

Info

Publication number: GB2174137A
Application number: GB8605981A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Rudolf Schneider
Original assignee: BEHRENS ROLLWAENDE JALOUSIEN
Current assignee: BEHRENS ROLLWAENDE JALOUSIEN
Priority date: 1985-03-13
Filing date: 1986-03-11
Publication date: 1986-10-29
Also published as: GB8605981D0; GB2174137B; NL8600622A; DE3508957A1; ATA63286A; CH669818A5; DE3508957C2; AT391516B

Abstract

A sectional door assembly comprises a plurality of door sections (1) and guide rails (2) including a vertical portion (4) for retaining the door in its operative closed position, a transitional arcuate region (3) and a substantially horizontal portion (5) disposed substantially above the opening for the door for retaining the door in its open inoperative position. The door sections (1) have guide means (8) having a pair of rollers (9) associated therefor for engaging the guide rails (2). In order that the uppermost door section (1) may close against a low lintel (6) when track (3) is sharply curved, it is, according to the invention, connected to guide means (8) by a pivoted connecting link. When the section nears its closed position, guide means strikes an abutment 13, so that final movement is achieved as link (11) pivots against a spring associated with pivot 6. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sectional door assembly The present invention relates to a sectional door assembly. More particularly the present invention relates to a door assembly of the type in which guide rails are provided for retaining and guiding rollers provided on the door sections.

A known sectional door assembly of this type has guide rails having vertically extending portions in which the rollers are located when the door is closed, arcuate transitional portions and substantially horizontally extending portions located above the opening in a building or the like in which the door is located; the rollers being located in these horizontal portions when the door is open.

A disadvantage of such known doors is that it is difficult to close the door properly if the lintel for the door is comparatively low. This is because it is difficult to bring the uppermost section of the door into abutment with the lintel. What tends to occur is that the rollers for the uppermost section are still located in the arcuate transitional sections of the rails when all of the other sections are in their desired positions. The uppermost section of the door is, of course, bound to follow the curve of the rails with the result that such section will remain at an acute angle to the vertical.

Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide a sectional door assembly which is generally of the above-described type but which is improved to the extent that the uppermost section of the door can be moved into its desired operative position which, in most practical cases, is vertical, even if the lintel for the door is comparatively low.

According to the present invention, there is provided a sectional door assembly comprising a plurality of door sections and guide rails disposed laterally of the sections for retaining and guiding the door sections during displacement thereof, the guide rails each including a vertically extending portion for retaining the door in its operative position, an arcuate transition portion and a substantially horizontal portion which is disposed substantially above the opening in which the door is located and serves to receive and hold the door in its inoperative position, the door sections having guide means associated therewith cooperating with the guide rails, wherein means are provided for connecting the uppermost section of the door when the door is in its operative position to the guide means therefor so as to permit the spacing of the upper edge of said section from said guide means to be varied, and means for applying a restoring force tending to oppose an increase in said spacing, whereby the uppermost door section is movable towards and into abutment with a lintel for the door when the lower sections of the door are guided and retained in the vertically extending portions of the guide rails.

The basic concept of the invention is, therefore, to provide an assembly in which the spacing between the upper edge of the top section of the door and its guide can be increased against the action of a restoring force. By so doing, the angle between the top section of the door and the guide means can be increased even when the guide means are located within the arcuate portion of the track and are prevented from travelling further therealong because of the lintel for the door.

In a preferred embodiment, this is achieved if the means for connecting the upper edge portion of the uppermost door section to its associated guide means comprises a lever which is pivotally mounted at each of its ends, the pivot axes each extending substantially horiziontally.

Desirably, an abutment member cooperates with the guide means for guiding the upper edge of the uppermost section of the door and the restoring force is capable of being overcome by movement of the door in a direction towards its operative position.

By providing these arrangements, the restoring force is overcome when desired because the guide means for guiding the upper edge of the top section of the door abut against the stop member and, if the door is lowered further, the applied force is greater than that of the restoring force, the lever pivots. In consequence the spacing between the uppermost door section and the guide means increases.

To permit the guide means fpr guiding the upper edge to absorb the torsional forces needed to overcome the restoring force or to absorb the restoring force, the guide means may be in the form of a carriage provided with two serially disposed rollers. It is, however, also possible for a slide conveyor or any other suitable type of guide means to be used, if desired.

One embodiment of the present invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a part of a sectional door assembly in accordance with the present invention with the door being partially open; Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the iine Il-Il of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Figure 1 but showing the door in its operative or closed position.

In the drawings, there is shown part of a sectional door assembly. Only the uppermost section 1 of the door is shown for the sake of clarity.

Guide rails 2 are disposed on each side of the door, which rails 2 retain and guide the sections of the door. The rails 2 comprise vertical portions 4 and horizontal portions 5 which are connected by arcuate portions 3.

Horizontally extending pins 6 are disposed on the upper and lower edges of the sections and act as roller holders. However, to simplify the drawing, the lower roller holder for the section 1 and the roller associated therewith which is engageable with the rail 2 are not shown. The pin 6 is mounted on the section 1 by means of a support member 7.

It is important that the upper roller holder 7, or the pin 6 mounted thereon, is not directly connected to the guide means therefor but is, instead, indirectly connected thereto. To achieve this, and as shown in the drawings, the guide means is in the form of a carriage 8 which includes two serially arranged rollers 9 which run in the rails 2. The carriage 8 is provided, beneath the rail 2, with a horizontally extending pin 10 which pivotally supports a lever 11 pivotally connected at its other end to the pin 6.

However, the lever 11 is not freely pivotable about the two pins 6 and 10 because restoring means are provided which tend to prevent the position of the lever 11 relative to the section 1 being changed. For this reason, the pin 6 is mounted by means of a torsion spring which tends to maintain the lever in the desired position.

The carriage 8 has a pin portion 12 formed thereon which projects beneath the rails 2.

Mounted on the rails 2 is an inwardly protruding projection portion 13. As the door is closed by lowering the sections from the position shown in Figure 1, the pin portion 12 eventually comes into abutment with the portion 13 so that this latterly effectively acts as a stop member. Accordingly, the carriage 8 cannot move further along the track to permit further lowering of the door sections. Further lowering movement of the sections is achieved by overcoming the restoring force to which the lever 11 is being subjected by the torsion spring.

As the force applied to the door continues to be applied, the lever 11 is caused to pivot. This causes the upper end 14 of the section 1 to move away from the carriage 8 and towards a seal 15 provided on the lintel 16 for the door. When the lower sections of the door have assumed their operative positions, that is to say, they extend vertically, the uppermost section 1 is also moved into its operative position, as shown in Figure 3.

When initial opening of the door is effected, the pin 12 on carriage 8 moves out of abutment with the projecting portion 13. The restoring force of the torsion spring therefore again becomes effective.

As the door is further opened, the torsion spring causes the end portion 14 of the section 1 to return into its position shown in Figure 1.

This support for the upper end 14 of the door section 1 is therefore simple and effective. A conventional sectional door can thus be modified to provide an assembly in accordance with the present invention by slightly modifying the rollers and the pivotal mounting of the end 14 of the section 1 and by providing a spring arrangement capable of returning the section 1 from its position shown in Figure 3 to its original position shown in Figure 1.

Claims

1. A sectional door assembly comprising a plurality of door sections and guide rails disposed laterally of the sections for retaining and guiding the door sections during displacement thereof, the guide rails each including a vertically extending portion for retaining the door in its operative position, an arcuate transition portion and a substantially horizontal portion which is disposed substantially above the opening in which the door is located and serves to receive and hold the door in its inopeative position, the door sections having guide means associated therewith cooperating with the guide rails, wherein means are provided for connecting the uppermost section of the door when the door is in its operative position to the guide means therefor so as to permit the spacing of the upper edge of said section from said guide means to be varied, and means for applying a restoring force tending to oppose an increase in said spacing, whereby the uppermost door section is movable towards and into abutment with a lintel for the door when the lower sections of the door are guided and retained in the vertically extending portions of the guide rails.

2. A door assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for connecting the upper edge portion of the uppermost door section to its associated guide means comprises a lever which is pivotally mounted at each of its ends, the pivot axes each extending substantially horizontally.

3. A door assembly as claimed in claim 2, in which the means for applying a restoring force comprises a torsion spring associated with the pivotal mounting of the lever.

4. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the guide means comprises a carriage which is provided with at least two serially disposed rollers.

5. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which an abutment member cooperates with the guide means for guiding the upper edge of the uppermost section of the door and the restoring force is capable of being overcome by movement of the door in a direction towards its operative position.

6. A door assembly as claimed in claim 5, in which a pin member is mounted on the guide means, the pin member being disposed beneath the rails and being displaceable into and out of abutment with an extension member mounted on the rails and being disposed in the region of the rails.

7. A door assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, in which connecting means permit the spacing between the upper edge of the uppermost door section and the guide means associated therewith to be increased in such a manner that the uppermost section of the door is displaceable into a vertical position.

8. A door assembly as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 7, in which roller holders, disposed at the edges of the sections, are used to support the lever.

9. A door assembly as claimed in claim 1 constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.