US3175761A

US3175761A - Door balancer construction

Info

Publication number: US3175761A
Application number: US352074A
Authority: US
Inventors: R F D Archie L Moore
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-03-16
Filing date: 1964-03-16
Publication date: 1965-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 1982-03-30

Description

March 30, 1965 A. L. MOORE 3,175,761

DOOR BALANCER CONSTRUCTION Filed March 16. 1964 INVENTOR Arc/vie L. Moore ATTORNEY nite States This invention relates to a door balancer construction and has for an object to provide a construction for balancing a door of a box like storage member, such as a mail box or the like, to maintain and hold it in either opened or closed position, so that, when the door has been hinged to the open position, it will remain balanced in the opened position, and when it has been hinged to the closed position, it will remain in the closed position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a door balancer construction applicable to mail boxes or other box like members, whether food container boxes for use in the home or elsewhere, or even large box like members such as garages or other similar buildings used for storage or other purposes wherever it may be desired to maintain a door in opened and closed positions at different times.

In brief, this invention comprises a box like storage or container member, such as a mail box or the like, having a door opening at one end and binge bars pivoted at their door ends to the door at its top and at its opposite sides adjacent its bottom ends, and pivoted at their other ends to the roof and to the mid points of the opposite vertical sides at a suitable distance from the door opening end thereof, with a hollow tube lever closed at both its ends and connected at its fulcrum end to one side hinge bar at its side wall pivot end, and a ball weight rollable within the hollow tube lever to hold the door opened or closed, the ball rolling down to the fulcrum hinge bar pivoted end, to hold it closed, and by rolling down to the opposite closed end of the hollow tube to thus counterbalance the weight of the door and hold it opened.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mail box to which this invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of FIG. 1, partly broken away, and showing the opened position of the door in dot-dash outline.

FIG. 3 is a partly sectional and partly elevational view, taken on the rear side of FIGS. 1 and 2.

There is shown at a box like parallelepiped shaped member, such as a mail box or the like, consisting of a floor 12 suitably supported as on a post 14. The box 10 has a rear wall 16, opposite vertically extending

side walls

18 and 20, a top wall or roof 22, here shown as somewhat curved or arched, the better to shed rain or snow, and an open door end closable by a door 24.

The door 24 is hinged to the box 10 by at least three

hinge bars

26, 28 and 30, each hinge bar being pivoted at one end to the door 24 and at their other end to the box 10. As shown, the top hinge bar 26 is connected to the top edge of the door 24 by a pivot 32 and to the top wall or roof 22 by a pivot 34 at a distance from the open end equal to the length of the hinge bar 26.

One side hinge bar 28 is connected at one end to one vertical side edge of the door 24 adjacent its bottom end by a pivot 36 and at its other end to a pivot 38 located at about a mid point on the vertical side wall 18. The other side hinge bar 30 is similarly connected at one end to a pivot 40 similarly located on the opposite side edge of door 24 adjacent its bottom end. The other end of hinge bar 30 is connected to a pivot 42 similarly atent located on the opposite vertical side wall 20 at a similarly located mid point.

Extending from at least one side hinge bar, such as the side hinge bar 30 beyond the pivot 42 and in straight line alignment therewith, is a lever comprising a hollow tube 44, closed at both its ends, and containing a ball Weight 46 therein rollable between both its closed ends. Obviously, if desired, a similar tube lever and ball weight may be provided on the other side hinge bar 28.

In operation, the door 24 may be moved between its closed position shown at 24 and against gravity to its opened position shown at 24' before it passes dead center position in either direction whenever desired. When the door is closed as at 24, the tube lever 44 is raised so as to slant down toward the fulcrum end of the hinge pivot 42, causing the ball to roll to the fulcrum end of the lever 44 to the position at 46. With the ball weight 46 in this position, there is insufficient lifting force on the lever 44, and the door remains closed.

However, whenever the door 24 is lifted on its

hinge bars

26, 2S and 30 to the opened position at 24, the lever or tube 44 is moved to the position 44' slanting down away from its fulcrum end to its opposite end, with the ball rolled to the position at 46', and thus provides sufficient leverage to counterbalance the weight of the door 24 and its

hinge bars

26, 28 and 30 and hold it in such opened position against gravity before it passes dead center position. The door is moved between its opened and closed positions either manually or by any other suitable means not forming part of this invention. As shown, the door 24 may have a weather protecting flange 48 to overlap the ends of the roof 22 and

vertical side walls

18 and 20, and when this flange is present, the

pivots

32, 36 and 46 may be mounted on this flange 48, which in effect constitutes the edges of the door 24.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A door balancer construction comprising a box like member having a door opening at one vertically extending end, a door for closing said opening, hinge means pivotally connected to said door at the top edge thereof at one end of said hinge means and also pivotally connected to said box like member on the horizontal top side thereof at a distance from the door opening end thereof, additional hinge means pivoted to opposite edges of said door adjacent the bottom end thereof and also pivotally connected to said box like member on the vertically extending opposite sides thereof at a point between the top and bottom of said box like member, a lever connected at its fulcrum end to said hinge means beyond the pivotal connection of said hinge means to the vertically extending side of said box like member, and a weight member movable along said lever between the fulcrum end of said lever and the opposite end thereof to thereby change the leverage effect of said lever to permit the door to remain in closed position with the weight moved to the fulcrum end of said lever and to counterbalance and hold the door in open position against gravity and before dead center position of the door with the weight moved to the opposite end of said lever, said lever comprising a hollow tube closed at both its ends, said weight comprising a ball rollable within said hollow tube lever between its closed ends, said lever and said hinge bar being in a straight line.

2. A mail box door balancer construction comprising a substantially parallelepiped mail box having a door opening at one end, a door for closing said door opening, and means for hinging said door to said mail box and for maintaining said door in either open or closed position comprising a hinge bar pivoted to the top end of said door at one end and to a pivot mounted on the top of said mail box at a distance from the door opening end thereof, hinge bars pivoted at one of their ends to the opposite side edges of said door adjacent the bottom end thereof and at the other of their ends to the opposite vertical sides of said mail box at a point substantially mid way between the top and bottom thereof, and a hollow tube lever closed at both ends and connected at its fulcrum end to one of said side wall hinge bars in a straight line therewith, and a ball weight rollable within said hollow tube lever rolling down toward the fulcrum end when the door is closed, permitting the door to remain in closed position, and rolling down to the opposite end when the door is opened, counterbalancing the door against gravity to hold it opened before dead center position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

Claims

2. A MAIL BOX DOOR BALANCER CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLELEPIPED MAIL BOX HAVING A DOOR OPENING AT ONE END, A DOOR FOR CLOSING SAID DOOR OPENING AND MEANS FOR HINGING SAID DOOR TO SAID MAIL BOX AND FOR MAINTAINING SAID DOOR IN EITHER OPEN OR CLOSED POSITION COMPRISING A HINGE BAR PIVOTED TO THE TOP END OF SAID DOOR AT ONE END AND TO A PIVOT MOUNTED ON THE TOP OF SAID MAIL BOX AT A DISTANCE FROM THE DOOR OPENING END THEREOF, HINGE BARS PIVOTED AT ON OF THEIR ENDS TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE EDGES OF SAID DOOR ADJACENT THE BOTTOM END THEREOF AND AT THE OTHER OF THEIR ENDS TO THE OPPOSITE VERTICAL SIDES OF SAID MAIL BOX AT A POINT SUBSTANTIALLY MID WAY BETWEEN THE TOP AND BOTTOM THEREOF, AND A HOLLOW TUBE LEVER CLOSED AT BOTH ENDS AND CONNECTED AT ITS FULCRUM END TO ONE OF SAID SIDE WALL HINGE BARS IN A STRAIGHT LINE THEREWITH, AND A BALL WEIGHT ROLLABLE WITHIN SAID HOLLOW TUBE LEVER ROLLING DOWN TOWARD THE FULCRUM END WHEN THE DOOR IS CLOSED, PERMITTING THE DOOR TO REMAIN IN CLOSED POSITION, AND ROLLING DOWN TO THE OPPOSITE END WHEN THE DOOR IS OPENED, COUNTERBALANCING THE DOOR AGAINST GRAVITY TO HOLD IT OPENED BEFORE DEAD CENTER POSITION.