DEVICE FOR THE TEMPORARY STABILISATION OF SLIDING DOORS IN OPEN POSITION

Abstract

 A device (10) for the temporary stabilisation of sliding doors in the open position, both for doors with shutters (20) with automatic closure by gravity sliding and for doors with shutters provided with counter frame and such as to not be provided with said automatic closure by gravity, comprises a track (12) with wheels or rollers (14) for sliding in a guide profile or rail (16) whose lower side has a central slot (16') extending lengthwise; the track (12) is inferiorly provided with a bracket (18) to which the shutter (20) is attached with screws or equivalent means. The device of the invention comprises a first hollow body (48) with a mouth (52) extending horizontally into the guide rail (16) in which it is stabilised and partially forms the seat for housing an elastic means, intended to cooperate with a second hollow body (56) to which at least one magnet (46) is fixed, facing towards said track (12).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors.

[0002] More particularly, the present invention relates to a device that allows keeping in the open position the shutter of sliding doors with automatic closure by gravity sliding, leaving at the same time the possibility to the shutter itself to return in closed position spontaneously. The device of the present invention is also advantageously applicable to sliding doors provided with a counter frame, i.e. of the type which does not provide the automatic closure of the shutter by gravity.

[0003] As is known, sliding doors are often used for the isolation of some rooms consisting of a sliding shutter with automatic closure; said doors are designed to help the user, and are typically installed at service rooms, especially for people with disabilities, or in hospitals, restaurants and public places reserved for smokers.

[0004] In addition to the use of electrified systems that carry out both the automatic opening and closing of the doors, which are connected to tracks sliding along a guide constrained to the ceiling or a wall, solutions are known and widely used in which the automatic closing movement of the shutter is carried out in a mechanical manner, with the provision of an inclined rail on which the track fastened to the shutter itself slides. An example of such a solution is known from EP 2 913 468 by the same applicant, which inter alia provides for the advantageous possibility of adjusting the inclination of the rail prior to the installation of the frame supporting it on the wall or ceiling.

[0005] In certain situations, the sliding doors with automatic closure require to be temporarily and stably kept in the fully open position; this happens, for example, to allow carrying out floor cleaning or for transferring bulky items from one room to another. In these cases, the operator must make sure to lock the door in the open position, in contrast with the slope of the guide that tends to make it close.

[0006] To this end, self-closing sliding doors are sometimes provided with a latch clamp which allows the temporary locking thereof in the open condition; in other cases, if the latch clamp is not present, there is only a bumper, so that the assigned operator compulsorily uses improvised means to keep the door open until the end of the operations.

[0007] The same need is also seen in relation to non-automatic closure sliding doors, provided with a counter frame, which many times remain in the intermediate positions, i.e. more or less distant from the complete closing and opening conditions. The precise stabilisation in opening is sometimes required also for such doors, typically for the same reasons stated above in reference to the self-closing doors. On this type of sliding doors, moreover, a handle is traditionally present for gripping and handling, or a boss, recessed in the thickness of the door; the boss, however, is often difficult to use, since there is a real possibility that the user's finger remains stuck in the hole of the boss acting as a gripping point.

[0008] A device for sliding doors is known from German patent DE 10 2009 011919 comprising a magnet and provided at the stroke end with a retainer with piston and the mechanical retaining lever; a damper partially absorbs the door impact.

[0009] The German patent DE 33 01 808 relates to a device for the automatic closing of doors that uses a magnetic component to "reset" the damper adapted to slow down the closure, while the Japanese patent JP 2003 020862 relates to a device for the automatic closing of doors that uses a magnetic component to reset the damper adapted to slow down the closing of the same doors.

[0010] A further German patent DE 202 04 986 describes a multistage damping device, comprising a magnet at one end.

[0011] The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above.

[0012] More specifically, the object of the present invention is to provide a device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors adapted to allow easily keeping the shutter fully open, and thus the passage opening between one space to the other as much as possible free, according to specific needs and for carrying out certain operations.

[0013] A further object of the invention is to provide a device as defined above that, if applied to the shutter of a sliding door closing by gravity, still allows the door itself to close automatically by means of a simple manual movement, once the temporary stabilisation thereof has been interrupted.

[0014] Last but not least, an object of the invention is to provide a device as defined above able to be effectively applied also to sliding doors not with automatic closing, for temporarily stabilising the shutter in fully open condition and preventing applying a handle or gripping and handling boss thereto.

[0015] A further object of the invention is to provide the users with a device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors adapted to ensure a high level of resistance and reliability over time, also such as to be easily and inexpensively constructed. These and yet other objects are achieved by the device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors of the present invention according to the main claim.

[0016] The construction and functional features of the device of the present invention shall be better understood from the following detailed description, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred and non-limiting embodiment thereof, in which:

figures 1 and 2 schematically show an exploded view of the device of the present invention combined with a track for the sliding of the door;

figure 3 schematically shows an exploded view of a part of the device of the invention which is attached to said track;

figure 4 schematically shows an exploded view of said part of the device according to figure 3 to be attached to the track;

figure 5 schematically shows an axonometric view of the device of the invention inserted and stabilised in the guide profile in which said track is moved to achieve the sliding of the door;

figure 6 schematically shows a side partially sectional view of the device of the invention associated with said track;

figure 7 shows the enlargement of a part of the device according to the preceding figure;

figure 8 schematically shows the exploded view of the device according to figures 1 and 2;

figure 9 schematically shows a perspective view of the frame of a door in which the sliding door is completely inserted in the counter frame and thus leaves the passage space completely free;

figure 10 schematically shows a perspective view of the frame of a door in which the sliding door projects by a limited extent from the counter frame to allow the gripping of the closing boss or handle;

figures 11, 12 and 13 schematically show as many schematic side views in which the track of an automatic closing door is respectively shown approaching the device of the invention, adhering thereto and in a position close to the detachment from the device itself.

[0017] With initial reference to figures 1, 2 and 5, the device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors of the present invention, indicated as a whole with reference numeral 10, is associated with a track 12 of a substantially known type, provided with wheels or rollers 14 which allow the sliding thereof in a profile or guide rail 16 fixed to or integrated in a beam on the ceiling or wall; said track is inferiorly provided with a bracket 18 to which shutter 20 to be moved in sliding is connected with screws or equivalent means, partially shown in figure 10. Track 12 typically comprises, at one of the side ends and in substantial alignment with wheels 14, a beak appendage 22 generally used as a stopping point in the sliding of the same track. Said appendage, which in its outermost part defines an inverted "T" section, is advantageously the element to which a shaped sheet of ferromagnetic material is connected, intended to cooperate with a magnet as described hereinafter. The shaped sheet, indicated with reference numeral 24 and shown in detail in figure 4, has a "U" shape in which the two parallel and opposed branches 24' and 24" are provided with overlapping through holes 26; a dowel 28 provided with a recess 30 having a shape complementary to that of the beak appendage 22 in its outermost part with "T" section, is fitted from below on the appendage itself, to which it is attached by a screw 32 or equivalent restraint member. In the preferred embodiment shown in figure 3, said screw 32 extends transversely into a hole 38 of the dowel itself, on the beak appendage 22. In practice, said screw surmounts said appendage, abutting with the threaded stem thereof the upper side or surface and a part of the thread is forced thereon; the latter, in fact, is a little sunk in the upper side of the beak appendage once screwed. In this way, dowel 28 and the beak appendage 22 are constrained together in an extremely effective manner. Screw 32 too is simultaneously blocked with respect to said beak appendage, protected from any loosening that may result from the stresses to which track 12 is subjected when shutter 20 abruptly abuts the limit switch when closing or opening.

[0018] The same dowel 28 is provided, opposite to the beak appendage 22, with further through holes 34, intended to align with the through holes 26 made on branches 24' and 24" of the shaped sheet 24; said latter is therefore fitted on the rear part of dowel 28, to which is secured with rivets 36 which extend simultaneously both into holes 26 of branches 24', 24" and into holes 34 of the dowel itself. If track 12 is devoid of the beak appendage 22, a metal body similar to the shaped sheet 24 may, however, be steadily connected, through any means, to one of the side ends of the track, with or without the use of a dowel corresponding to dowel 28. The shaped sheet 24 constitutes the means for temporarily stabilising track 12 when shutter 20 is fixed thereto in condition of total opening, as shown schematically in figure 9; in this condition, in fact, shutter 20 is perfectly aligned with jamb 40 and compartment 42 formed in the wall indicated with reference numeral 44 is totally open and usable in its entirety as a passage. This depends on the fact that, as specified below in detail, rack 12 is kept in suitably retracted position within the guide rail 16 as a result of at least one magnet 46, which retains the track itself starting from the shaped sheet 24 of ferromagnetic material.

[0019] In addition to the shaped sheet 24 fixed to rack 12, the device of the present invention comprises a first hollow body 48, substantially regular parallelepiped in shape, which extends horizontally in the guide rail 16 in which it is arranged and stabilised; said first hollow body partially defines the containment seat of an elastic member, typically consisting of a helical spring 50 which cooperates with said magnet 46.

[0020] In detail, with particular reference to figure 8, the first hollow body 48 is provided with a mouth 52, which is open on the side facing the shaped sheet 24 connected to track 12; the side opposite to mouth 52 is closed by a wall 54, visible in figure 1. In mouth 52 is inserted an end of the helical spring 50, which protrudes from the first hollow body 48 to be inserted, starting from the opposite end, in a second hollow body 56. Said latter also has a substantially regular parallelepiped section but is dimensioned so as to be inserted, starting from mouth 52, in the first hollow body 48, in which it has the ability to slide, thus partially compressing the helical spring 50. A bottom wall 58 closes the side of the second hollow body 56 facing the shaped sheet 24; the opposite side of the same hollow body 56 is instead open to allow the insertion of one end of the helical spring 50. The bottom wall 58 of the second hollow body is provided with a threaded hole 60 in which stem 46' of magnet 46 is screwed; said latter preferably has a flattened cylindrical configuration.

[0021] The upper face of the first hollow body 48 is open in the front half-side facing mouth 52; in the opposite rear semi-side, said side is closed to form a flat surface 66 (figure 8) on which there is formed a shaped seat 62 for housing a nut 64, preferably hexagonal. The flat surface 66 is recessed with respect to said front semi-part of the upper side of the first hollow body 48 and is surmounted by a quadrangular plate 68, fixed with screws 70 to the same flat surface 66. Plate 68 comprises two through holes 72 for screws 70 and a further threaded through hole 74 which protrudes the pointed end 76' of a screw 76. Screw 76 is inserted from the lower side in the first hollow body 48, is screwed into nut 64 arranged in seat 62 and into hole 74 of plate 68; protruding from the latter with said pointed end 76', screw 76 abuts inside the upper side 16' of the guide rail 16. Said latter is traditionally provided on the lower side of a central slot 16' extending longitudinally, which allows the passage of stem 12' which connects track 12 to bracket 18 and the latter to door 20; stem 12' is visible in particular in figures 6 and 2, and in the latter figure, by way of example, it has a greater height. Through said longitudinally extending slot 16' of the guide rail 16 it is possible to carry out the screwing of screw 76 into nut 64 and into the threaded hole 74 of the quadrangular plate 68; screw 76 stabilises device 10 as a whole inside of the guide rail 16, which is arranged in a suitable position to retain track 12 at the same time bringing shutter 20 alongside jamb 40. In order to keep device 10 centred and further stabilised in the guide rail 16, it is advantageously provided that the first hollow body 48 is provided, on one or on the opposite sides thereof, with ribs 80, preferably extending vertically (figures 1, 2, 5 and 8), adapted to abut from inside the respective vertical walls of said guide rail 16.

[0022] The second hollow body 56 is provided, on its upper side and at the mouth for the helical spring 50, with a projection 82, as in figures 1 and 8, having the function of preventing the possible extraction of the same hollow body 56 from first hollow body 48 in which it is inserted, due to the thrust exerted by said spring.

[0023] In order to obtain a calibrated attraction effect of magnet 46 on the shaped sheet 24, the use of a cured coating of soft rubber is advantageously provided on the same magnet; such a coating, of suitable thickness, prevents the shaped sheet 24 from excessively adhering to magnet 46, which would make the separation between these two elements difficult when the door has to be closed. At the same time, the soft rubber coating substantially reduces the noise caused by the contact, sometimes violent, between the shaped sheet 24 and magnet 46 in the process of opening of shutter 20.

[0024] In the operating step, the device of the present invention effectively performs the functions described hereinafter.

[0025] If the sliding door consists of a self-closing door by means of gravity sliding, as schematically shown in figures 11, 12 and 13, device 10 and track 12 which carries shutter 20 are arranged in a guide rail 16 typically inclined and the dotted lines in figure 11 schematically identify such a rail; the inclination is oriented in the opposite direction to device 10, to ensure that the door carried by track 12 spontaneously drops by gravity in the direction of the jamb opposite to the one indicated with reference numeral 40 in figures 9 and 10. Figure 11 shows the condition in which rack 12 carrying shutter 20 is located as a result of the thrust received from the door itself to raise along the inclined guide rail 16 and as a result open the passage compartment, indicated with reference numeral 42 in figures 9 and 10. At this stage, the hypotheses as to the rising movement of track 12 and shutter 20 fixed thereto are the following.

A) Shutter 20 is thrust with force in the opening by the user and then bounces on device 10, abutting the magnet with the shaped sheet 24 and causing the temporary compression of the helical spring 50. The almost immediate release of said spring, however, immediately starts the redescent of track 12 carrying shutter 20, thus making the latter close again quickly; meanwhile, compartment 42 has however been left open for a sufficient time for the passage of the person (figure 11).

B) The user who has the need to temporarily keep compartment 42 open to the fullest extent possible, progressively accompanies shutter 20 in opening, making the shaped sheet 24 of track 12 slowly lean on magnet 46 and engage therewith, thus remaining temporarily restrained, as shown in figure 12 and figure 9 which shows shutter 20 alongside jamb 40.

[0026] After the period necessary to keep compartment 42 as much as possible open, the user can easily make shutter 20 disengage from magnet 46 and resume the descent path to automatically close again; to this end, it is sufficient to exert a slight thrust action on the same door starting from a part of its vertical edge, aligned with jamb 40, in order to make the helical spring 50 be partially compressed and extend immediately after. When said spring extends, rack 12 receives an initial thrust in the descent direction in the guide rail 16 and then continues spontaneously to bring shutter 20 to the closed position, i.e. in abutment against the jamb opposite to that indicated with reference numeral 40 in figures 9 and 10.

[0027] As mentioned above, the device of the present invention may also be advantageously used on doors in which the shutter is not of the self-closing type, but is provided with a counter frame. In this case, in order to keep said shutter, again indicated with reference numeral 20, in the fully open and stable condition, the manoeuvre indicated in the previous point B) is carried out; in order to bring shutter 20 to the closed condition it is sufficient, as in the previous case referred to the automatic closing, to exert a slight thrust action on the same door starting from a part of its vertical edge, aligned with jamb 40. The door will be made, as a result of the helical spring 50 that was compressed, to protrude from jamb 40 by a limited extent, but nevertheless sufficient to enable the user to grasp it to make it manually slide up to the stop during closing. Therefore, it will not be necessary to provide the door with a traditional gripping boss (schematised with reference numeral 84 in figure 10) to initially engage the door itself.

[0028] As can be noticed from the above, the advantages achieved by the invention are clear.

[0029] The device for the temporary stabilisation in the open position of sliding doors of the present invention can be used both for the shutters of self-closing doors and for non-automatic doors and in any case allows temporarily keeping said doors in a position such as to totally use the gap of the passage compartment. The possibility to use, on self-closing doors, a single and effective device instead of the traditional systems consisting of simple buffers or latch clamps is also undoubtedly appreciable. In relation to non-self-closing doors, we should also consider the additional advantage related to the fact that the use of the device of the invention allows excluding the application of a boss or the like to the door, with consequent saving resulting both from the elimination of a component and of the interventions necessary to the installation of the same.

[0030] Finally, it should be noted that the device of the invention can be advantageously applied, easily and quickly, also to existing tracks which are provided with the beak appendage 22.

[0031] While the invention has been described hereinbefore with reference to a possible embodiment thereof made by way of a non-limiting example, several changes and variations will appear clearly to a man skilled in the art in the light of the above description. The present invention, therefore, is intended to include any changes and variations thereof falling within the spirit and the scope of protection of the following claims.

Claims

1. A device (10) for the temporary stabilisation of sliding doors in the open position, both for doors with shutters (20) with automatic closure by gravity sliding and for doors with shutters provided with counter frame and such as to not be provided with said automatic closure by gravity, comprising a track (12) with wheels or rollers (14) for sliding in a guide profile or rail (16) whose lower side has a central slot (16') extending lengthwise, said track (12) being inferiorly provided with a bracket (18) to which said shutter (20) is attached with screws or equivalent means, characterised in that it comprises a first hollow body (48) with a mouth (52) extending horizontally into the guide rail (16) in which it is stabilised and partially forms the seat for housing an elastic means cooperating with a second hollow body (56) to which at least one magnet (46) is fixed, facing towards said track (12) said second hollow body (56) being partially inserted, starting from the mouth (52), in the first hollow body (48) in which it slides, partially compressing said elastic means, consisting of a helical spring (50).

2. The stabilisation device according to claim 1, characterised in that said at least one magnet (46) is provided with a cured coating of soft rubber and engages with a shaped sheet (24) fixed to the rear part facing towards the second hollow body (56) of the track (12).

3. The stabilisation device according to claim 2, characterised in that said shaped sheet (24) defines a "U" shape and is connected with rivets (36) to a dowel (28) having a recess (30) intended to mate with an appendage (22) projecting from the track (12).

4. The stabilisation device according to claim 1, characterised in that the side opposite to the mouth (52) of the first hollow body (48) is closed by a wall (54) and a wall (58) closes the second hollow body (56) on the side facing towards the shaped sheet (24), said wall (58) of the second hollow body being provided with a threaded hole (60) in which the magnet (46) with the stem (46) thereof is screwed.

5. The stabilisation device according to claim 4, characterised in that the upper side of the first hollow body (48) is open in the half-part facing towards the mouth (52), while in the opposite rear half-part, said upper side is closed to form a flat surface (66), lowered with respect to said front half-part of the upper side and provided with a shaped seat (62) in which a nut (64) is arranged, said flat surface (66) of the first hollow body (48) being surmounted by a quadrangular plate (68), fixed with screws (70) to the same flat surface.

6. The stabilisation device according to claim 5, characterised in that the quadrangular plate (68) is provided with two through holes (72) for said screws (70) and a further through threaded hole (74) from which the pointed end (76') of a screw (76) protrudes, intended to abut from the inside the upper side (16') of the guide rail (16).

7. The stabilisation device according to claim 5, characterised in that said first hollow body (48) is provided, on one or on opposite sides thereof, with ribs (80) extending vertically, adapted to abut from inside the respective vertical walls of the guide rail (16).

8. The stabilisation device according to claim 4, characterised in that the second hollow body (56) is provided, on the upper side thereof, with a projection (82) which prevents the possible extraction thereof with respect to the first hollow body (48) in which it is inserted.

9. The stabilisation device according to claim 8, characterised in that the first hollow body (48) and the second hollow body (56) have a regular parallelepiped shape.

Drawing