US2177325A - Opening and closing device - Google Patents

Description

06f. 24, 1939.. G, MADLAND ZTSZS OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE Filed C. 18, 1935 N agis 30 I. Ae u T 2/ 2 v A mi 25 @N TTY Patented Oct. 24,v 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE y OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE Application October 18, 1935, Serial No. 45,632

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in opening and closing device.

Railway house cars are customarily provided with doors slidably supported for controlling door `5f openings formed in the side walls of such cars.

' The front vertical margin of these doors cooperates with vertical members to effect weatherproof construction for said margin in the closed position of the door. By reason of this cooperation a binding engagement between said front vertical margin and said members may occur, making it difficult at times to impart initial opening movement and final closing movement to said doors.

To overcome this diiiculty devices known as door opening and closing or door operating def Vices are utilized. They comprise generally a lever which may be pivotally supported on a door and a link supported on a relatively xed member with which the door is associated. The

lever and link cooperate to impart the necessary movements to the door. The lever usually is pivoted so as to assume a vertical position, by far the greater portion of the lever depending below the pivot or fulcrum to obtain sufficient leverage in the operation of the device.

Such operating devices are conveniently located with respect to the ground and the lever may readily be grasped and effectively actuated from the ground. However, railway cars are more commonly loaded and unloaded at platforms provided for this purpose. The oors of these platforms are usually at the level of the floors of the railway cars. The sliding doors of these rail- B way cars must, therefore, be opened and closed from the platform. The use of the door operating devices obviously becomes exceedingly awkward and the securement of the effective leverage of the lever is diilcult.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide a door opening and closing device for sliding doors capable of easy and effective operation both from the ground and from platforms. A further object is to provide door opening and closing devices for sliding doors embodying an actuating lever normally disposed in a vertical position, which device shall be capable of easy and efficient operation both from the ground and from loading and unloading plato0 forms. A further object is the provision of door opening and closing devices for sliding doors embodying an actuating lever normally disposed in a vertical position in which the lever is capable of operation from the ground in one vertical position and capable of operation from a platform when displaced through approximately as Y' effectively as from the ground. A further object is to provide door opening and closing devices for sliding doors embodying an actuating lever normally disposed in a vertical position and a cooperating link member wherein the lever when in its normal vertical position may be actuated from the ground to exert a substantially horizontal force on the link and, hence, on the door and when in substantially inverted position, may be actuated from a platform to again exert a substantially horizontal force on the link and the door with equal facility and effectiveness as from the ground. A further object is to provide a self-contained door opening and closing device for sliding doors capable of easy and effective operation, both from the ground and from platforms without requiring modification or additional means for this purpose. Other objects of the invention will become clear as the description thereof proceeds.

In the drawing forming part of this specification:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of a pair of cooperating horizontal sliding doors for a rail- Way house car to which an opening and closing device embodying the instant invention is applied, the device being illustrated in position for operation from a platform.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the device in position for operation from the ground.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the door in partially open position.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the instant invention, there is disclosed a pair of cooperating sliding doors, the main door of which is designated by the numeral l0 and the auxiliary door by the numeral Il. lThe doors selected for the purpose of illustrating the invention are formed of metal. The main door I0 comprises a sheet metal panel I2 which is provided with spaced horizontal corrugations i3 and marginal vertical corrugations, one of which is indicated at i4 and into which the horizontal corrugations merge. The marginal portions of the metallic panel l2 are customarily reinforced by means of rigidifying members, one of such members i5 being illustrated in Figures 3 and 5 secured to the front vertical margin of the door.

The auxiliary door l l is similarly provided with a corrugated metallic panel i6, the horizontal corrugations of which are indicated at l1 and one of the vertical corrugations being indicated at I8. The front vertical rigidifying member of the auxiliary door is shown at I9, this member cooperating with a jamb or post 23 fastened to said margin of the auxiliary door to provide a pocket 2| for the reception of the iront vertical margin of the main door when the doors are in closed position.

In this position of the main and auxiliary doors a binding frequently occurs between the front vertical margins of the doors making it dinicult to impart initial opening movement to the main door and final closing movement thereto. It isl yopening movement and final closing' movement to the main door with equal facility both from .the ground and from a loading platform.

The construction of the opening and closing device is such that it utilizes a portion of the door locking means. This locking means comprises a hasp fastener 22 secured preferably upon a horizontal corrugation I3 of the main door l0. Rivets 23 are preferably utilized for this securement, these rivets passing through a backing member 24 disposed within the horizontal corrugation upon which the hasp fastener is positioned. The hasp fastener 22 embodies a neck portion 25, the free end 26 of which passes through the eye of a hasp 2 and through the metallic panel l2 Vand the adjacent end of the Vbacking member 24. The hasp 21 is thus swingably fastened upon the main door l and in order to lock the main and auxiliary doors together is provided with yan abutment 28 cooperating with a tapered locking pin 29 secured upon the auxiliary door Il for vertical movement. The securement of the locking pin 29 is effected by means of a lock plate 3i! riveted to the panel IE of the auxiliary door as indicated at 3|, and provided with housing members 32 and 33 Within which the locking pin is received. Means not vital to the instant invention is employed to prevent disengagement and loss of the locking pin from the lock plate 3B.

The instant embodiment of the invention utilizes the hasp 2l as a part of the door opening and closing device. This device embodies, additionally, an operating lever 31% which preferably is pivotally mounted upon the lock plate 30 for swinging movement in a plane parallel to the plane of the auxiliary door. This pivotal securement of the operating lever upon the locking plate member is eiiected by means of a hollow boss 35 preferably formed as an integral portion of the lock plate member which extends through an elongated longitudinal slot 36 formed adjacent one end of the operating lever. Disengagement of the lever from the boss 35 is prevented by means of a washer 31 larger than the slot 36 and secured to the boss by means of a rivet 38 passing therethrough. The operating lever 34 carries lugs 39 and 49 which are disposed on opposite sides of and adjacent the slot 36. The lugs 39 and 40 are provided respectively with lip portions 4l and 42 by means of which an'interlocking engagement between said lugs and the portion of the hasp adjacent an opening43 provided therein and through which each of the lugs is adapted to extend may be had.

It has been stated hereinabove that the opening and closing device embodying the instant invention is eiective in performing its intended function as fully when operated from a platform as when operated from the ground. The operation of the opening and closing device from the ground in order to impart initial opening movenient to the door is illustrated in Figs. i2 and 3 of the drawing. In Fig. 2 the doors are shown in their fully closed position. In order to impart initial opening Vmovement to the main door ill theassociation between the operating lever 34 and the hasp 2l will bek as indicatedin Fig. 2 of the drawing. As shown, the operating lever 34 lies behind the hasp 2l' and the lug t provided on the operating lever extends through the opening L33 formed'adjacent the free end ofthe hasp. The locking pin 29 is first raised so as to become disengaged from lthe lug or abutment 23 provided on the hasp. The lower end of the operating lever 3, which constitutes the` handle end, is then grasped and a force exerted thereon in the direction of the Aopening movement or the main door.

the hasp and through the hasp to the main door ii'which will then move away from `the auxiliary door. The Yposition of the various parts of the construction when the door has been given an initial opening movement by the operation of the opening and closing device is clearly shown in Fig. 3 oi the drawing. The hasp 2 may then be released from-the lug it of the operating lever and the main door it readily moved to its full open positionif desired.V

Should the need for imparting initial opening This force will be transmitted by virtue of the cooperation between the lug t3 and the hasp toY movement to the main door arise when the car provided with said door is disposed at a loading platform, the opening and closing device of the instant invention may be used aseffectively as hereinabove described. For this purpose the lug lill of the operating lever is released from the hasp 2 and the lever is then turned in a clockwise direction so that it assumes an inverted position. In this position of ythe lever the lug 39 is extended through the opening 3 provided in the hasp so as to eiiect engagement between said lug and said hasp. YWhen the locking pin 29 has been raised to the position shown in Fig. 3

of the drawing, the handle end of the operating lever may be grasped and a force exerted upon the lever tending to turn it in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. lof the drawing. The lug 39 will then exert a force upon the hasp 2i, which force will bertransmitted to the main door and eiect initial opening movement thereof. It is apparent 'that in the inverted position of the .operating lever 34 as great a force may be as effectively exerted to obtain initial opening movement of the main door as when the operating lever is actuated in its normal position from the ground. f n

It will be apparent without further detailed explanation that the operating lever will cooperate with the hasp in the normal and inverted positions of said lever to obtain final closing movement of the main door it. Attention is also invited to the fact that in both the normal and inverted positions of the operating lever it will exert a substantially horizontal force upon the hasp 2l so that all of said force is utilized for the purpose of opening or closing the main door.

The opening and closing device illustrated is shown applied to the two doors of a railway house car commonly utilized to control a large door opening provided in a side of such car. Where a smaller opening is satisfactory, a single door will be utilized to control such opening and it is to be understood that the instant invention is as readily applicable to single door house car constructions as to the double door construction illustrated. It Will be apparent, moreover, that the positions of the hasp fastener and hasp and of the lock plate and operating lever may be reversed; that is, the hasp fastener or hasp may be fastened to the auxiliary door or to a car side and the lock plate and operating lever may be fastened to the main door or to the single door of a railway house car.

It will be apparent that numerous changes and modifications in the details of the invention will be clear to those skilled in the art. It is intended, therefore, that all such modifications and changes be comprehended Within this invention, which is to be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A door opening and closing device comprising a lever adapted to be pivotally suspended from a relatively stationary member for swinging movement in a vertical plane and cooperating means adapted to be swingably mounted upon a sliding door associated with said member, lugs provided on said lever on opposite sides of the lever pivot, one of said lugs being capable in suspended position of said lever of association with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof to impose substantially horizontal oppositely directed forces thereon and the other of said lugs being capable in the substantially inverted position of said lever of association with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof to impose substantially horizontal oppositely directed forces thereon.

2. A door opening and closing device comprising a lever, a slot formed in said lever adjacent one end thereof, said lever being adapted to be swingably and slidably suspended from a boss extending through said slot and carried by a relatively stationary member, lugs provided on said lever adjacent to and on opposite sides of said ,slot and means cooperable with said lever adapted to be swingably mounted upon a sliding door associated with said member, one of said lugs being capable in the suspended position of said lever of association with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof to impose substantially horizontal oppositely directed forces on said means and the other of said lugs being capable of association with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof when said lever has been inverted and slid relative to said boss to impose substantially horizontal oppositely directed forces on said means.

3. In a railway house car having a sliding door member and a relatively stationary member associated therewith, a lever pivotally mounted on one of said members for swinging movement in a plane substantially parallel to said member, means pivotally mounted on the other of said members, said lever and said means cooperating to impart opening and closing movements to said door member, said lever in one vertical position being engaged with said means and operated from the ground to impart both opening and closing movements to said door member, said lever in inverted position being engaged with said means and operated from a loading platform to impart both opening and closing movements to said door member, the position of said means when in engagement with said lever being substantially the same for both positions of the lever.

4. In a railway house car having a sliding door member and a relatively stationary member associated therewith, a lever mounted upon one of said members for swinging movement in a plane substantially parallel to said member, means mounted for swinging movement upon the other of said members, said lever when in a vertical position being releasably engaged with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof to impart horizontal opening and closing forces to said door member, said lever when released from said means being swingable to substantially inverted position, said lever when in said inverted position being releasably engaged with said means in the substantially horizontal position thereof to again impart horizontal opening and closing forces to said door member.

GABRIEL MADLAND,

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