US3071800A

US3071800A - Door closer assembly

Info

Publication number: US3071800A
Application number: US54448A
Authority: US
Inventors: George P Patriquin
Original assignee: Independent Lock Co
Current assignee: Independent Lock Co
Priority date: 1960-09-07
Filing date: 1960-09-07
Publication date: 1963-01-08
Anticipated expiration: 1980-01-08

Description

Jan. 8, 1963 c;i P. PATRIQUIN DooR CLOSER AssmBLY Filed Sept. 7, 1960V 3,071,800 Patented Jan. 8, 1963 3,071,800 DOR CLOSER ASSEMBLY George P. Patriquin, Gardener, Mass., assigner to Independent Lock Company, Fitchburg, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Sept. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 54,448 13 Claims. (Cl. 16-66) This invention relates to a door closer assembly, and more particularly to a. door closing and dampening assembly whereby a door, when opened and released, is smoothly and slowly returned to the closed position.

Still more particularly, this invention relates to an air dampened door closing assembly wherein a cylinder having air bleed means at one end is secured to a door, a piston reciprocably mounted in said cylinder is operatively associated with the frame of the door, and a spring is biased between the piston and the cylinder. When the door Vis opened, the spring is further biased and when the door is released, the biased spring, in urging the piston toward the bleed end of the cylinder, returns the door to the closed position, said closing movement being dampened by the restricted air passage provided in the bleed end of the cylinder.

This invention, in its more specific phases, relates to an improved door closer assembly having a novel and easily assembled end cap closure means. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved air dampened door closer assembly.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved air dampened door closer which maybe economically produced and easily assembled as compared with assemblies heretofore known.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improved door closer assembly having a novel construction to permit the use of a plastic end cap.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a novel dampener assembly having a friction reducing, selflubricating plastic end cap against which the closing spring may be biased, which end cap is substantially free from any tendency to become dislodged from the air cylinder when said closing spring is biased thcreagainst.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a dampener and closer assembly with a plastic end cap as aforesaid, capable of being snapped into engagement 'with the cylinder, wherein the cap forms a tight seal with the dampener cylinder to prevent detritus, water or the like from entering the bore at the junction of the cap and cylinder said seal being augmented by the biasing action l of the closer spring against the end cap.

To attain these objects and such further objects as may appear herein or be hereinafter pointed out, reference is made to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a ydoor and door frame to which the closer assembly has been applied;

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGUR-E 3 is an exploded, pre-assembly view of the end cap and end of the air cylinder;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary section similar to the section of FIGURE 2 showing the position of the parts when the closer spring is biased against the end cap of the assembly;

FIGURE 5 is a cross section taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2. t

In accordance with the invention, a cylinder member is provided at one end v11 with air bleed means 12. To the end 11 of the cylinder there is also secured a bracket 13, pivotally connected at 14 to said end, which bracket is adapted to be mounted to a door D, as shown in FIG- URE l. A piston rod 15 is provided adjacent its leading end 16 with piston head 17, which head is adapted to provide a close lit with the inner walls of the cylinder 10. 'I'he outer end 18 of the piston rod 15 is pivotally secured to bracket 19, which in turn is secured to the door frame Y F, as shown in FEGURE 1.

The air cylinder 10, adjacent its outer end 20, is provided lwith a series of keeper slots 21, which slots are preferably equally spaced from each other about the circumference of said cylinder 10 and equally spaced from the end 20 of said cylinder.

An end cap of closure 24 is anchored against the end 20 of the air cylinder l10. While the end cap23 may be made of almost any resilient material having suflicient structural strength, the use of nylon plastic has been found to be advantageous.l As an example of a preferred nylon plastic, reference is made to Zytel 101, which is a polymeric amide resin or the resin formed by reacting adipic acid with hexamethylene diamine, as more fully described in the publication entitled Zytel Nylon Resin, copyright 1956 by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc., page 9.

The end cap 23, as best seen in FIGURE 3, includes a disk-like body portion 24 having a plurality of radially outwardly extending flange segments 25, which may dene therebetween gripper portions 26. From the inner side of the disk 24, there extends a generally cylindrical web 27, from which web there are extended the latching ringer portions 28. Each said latching nger 28 is provided with a radially outwardly extending latching lug 29, said latching lugs being provided with a forwardly directed shoulder portion 30 and a rearwardly directed undercut camming portion 31, at the rearmost junction of the lugs 29 with the fingers 28. The end cap 23 is formed with a central aperture 32 and an inwardly extending cylindrical sleeve 33, the center boring of which forms a continuation of the said aperture 32.

The outer leading edge portions 34 of the lingers 28 may be provided with a taper or bevel to facilitate the insertion of the end cap 23 to a position within the bore of the cylinder 10u In said inserted position, the latching lugs 29 will be projected out through the complementally spaced keeper slots 21 so that each said locking lug 29 1will, in the assembled position of the cap, be projected outwardly by the resilience of the ngers 28 through one of said slots 21.

The radially outwardly disposed portions 29a of the lugs 29 are tapered or angularly oriented from a low position adjacent the forward shoulder 30 to a high trailing position at the rearward portion of the said lugs 29 to provide camming faces for further facilitating insertion to a position within the bore of the cylnder 10, it being readily recognized that such surfaces 29a coact with the inner portion of the end 20 of cylinder 10` to bias the fingers 28 further radially inwardly.

In the assembled condition of the dampener, a relatively heavy coil spring 40 is biased between the end cap 23 and the piston head 17. The convolutions 40a, 40b, 40C of the spring 40 which will lie nearest the end cap 43 are formed with progressively increasing diameters, with the convolution 40o being of greater diameter than the convolution 40a which, in the assembled condition of the closer, lies against the inner face of the end cap 23 and surrounds cylindrical sleeve 33. The adjacent succeeding convolutions of the spring 40 proceed in a direction toward the piston head 17 and have an outside diameter to provide relatively small clearance with the inner or under surfaces 28a of the lingers 2S. Thus, in the assembled condition of the dampener, the wider convoluted coil 40C and the adjacent, forwardly disposed convolutions lie forwardly out of radial registry with the lingers 28.

Further, it will be readily recognized that the action of the spring 40, after initial insertion of the fingers 28 to projected position through keeper slots 2l, will shift the cap or closure 23 rearwardly so that the trailing retainer shoulders or edges 2in of the keeper slots will lie in the undercut portions 31 provided on the lugs 29. The camming portions Sla of undercuts 31 drive the fingers 28 radially outwardly as the cap is urged rearwardly by the spring 40. This action lessens the likelihood of accidental disengagement of the cap Z3, and will also serve to provide a tight fit about slots 2 by forcing the outer portions of the fingers 28 surrounding lugs 29 tightly against the inside of the bore surrounding the slots 2l, thereby excluding detritus, water or the like from the bore and permitting the unit to be used out of doors.

It will be readily recognized that while the wire convolutions of the coil 4t2* ie forwardly out of registry with the fingers 28 in the relatively untensioned position of the spring 40 (see FIGURE 2), when the door D is opened, the rearwardly travelling piston head 17 will shift one or more of such wider convolutions into radial registry with the fingers 28 (see FIGURE 4). Thus, as the door is opened, the spring is biased against the end cap 23 with an increasing force, which force may be further augmented if the door is swung to a position whereby the coil 40 is fully compacted. As the door is swung to such position, and the spring 40 entirely compacted, a relatively enormous force may be exerted through the compacted spring against the cap 23. While the shear resistance of the lugs 29 has been found to be ample to resist rupture under the combined forces of the fully tensioned spring and the impact against the end 23 upon compaction of the spring, there is a tendency under such conditions, notwithstanding the undercuts 3l, for the lingers 28 to be shifted radially inwardly. This tendency is particularly evident where the end cap material is plastic and of a nature to permit distortion and deformation under extreme conditions of stress. Should the fingers 28 move radially inwardly a distance sufiicient to permit the lugs 29 to move out of engagement with the keeper slots 2l, the end cap Z3 would obviously become dislodged from the cylinder and the dampener device would fly apart.

In the described device, however, the wide convolutions of the coil 4d which are moved into registry with fingers 28 in the biased position of the spring 4t), limit the inward movement of the fingers 28 and thus mechanically prevent the withdrawal of lugs 29 from keeper slots 21, notwithstanding temporary distortion of said lugs 29.

It should be noted that only the wider convolutions of spring 4) interfere with the radial inward movement of the fingers 28 and since the wider convolutes are normally forwardly positioned with respect to the fingers Z8, said wider convolutions do not interfere with the inward liexing of such fingers which is necessary for assembling the end cap to the cylinder.

While inthe aforedescribed embodiment, the inner convolutes of the spring 40 serve as the retainer means for limiting inward radial movement of the fingers 28, this function need not be carried out by the coil spring and, accordingly, an annular collar or the like may be used for` this purpose, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Also, it will be seen that the flange may be omitted, since the biasing influence of spring 4t) would prevent entry of the cap 23 into the bore of the cylinder.

Having thus described the invention and illustrated its use, what is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A door closer assembly or the like comprising a cylinder having an open end, keeper means adjacent said open end of said cylinder, bleed means at the other end of said cylinder, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member secured at said open end of said cylinder, said closure including latching means having portions within the bore of said cylinder, and portions radially outwardly biased into engagement with said keeper means and a coil spring interposed between said closure and said piston and urging the piston toward the other end of the cylinder, said coil Spring including a plurality of convolutions normally out of radial registry with said latching means and of a diameter to limit radial inward movement of said latching means, at least one said convolution being shifted into radial registry with said portions of the latching means within said bore when said piston is displaced away from said other end of said cylinder.

2. A door closer assembly or the like comprising a cylinder having an open end, keeper means adjacent said open end of said cylinder, bleed means at the other end of said cylinder, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member secured at said open end of said cylinder, said closure including latching means having portions within the bore of said cylinder and portions radially outwardly biased into engagement with said keeper means and a coil spring interposed between said closure and said piston and urging the piston toward the other end of the cylinder, said coil spring including a plurality of constricted convolutions normally disposed radially inwardly of said latching means and a plurality of convolutions of a diameter to limit radial inward movement of said latching means normally disposed out of registry with said latching means, said piston and spring cooperating, when said piston is displaced away from said other end of said cylinder, to shift at least one of said last named convolutions into radial registry with said portions of said latching means within said bore.

3. A door closer assembly or the like 4comprising a. cylinder having an open end, a plurality of keeper slots defined by the walls of said cylinder adjacent said open end, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member having a plurality of longitudinally extending fingers within said bore, a lug member formed on each said finger, each said lug member being biased by one of said fingers radially outwardly through one of said keeper slots, shoulder means on said closure member lying against said open end of said cylinder and a coil spring interposed between said closure member and said piston and urging the piston away from said open end of said cylinder, said coil spring including a plurality of convolutions of a diameter to limit radial inward movement of said lingers, at least one said convolution of said coil spring being in registry with said fingers when said piston is moved toward said open end of said cylinder.

4. A door closer assembly or the like comprising a cylinder having an open end, a plurality of keeper slots defined by the walls of said cylinder adjacent said open end, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member having a plurality of longitudinally extending iingers within said bore, a lug member formed on each said finger, each said lug member being biased by one of said fingers radially outwardly through one of said keeper slots, shoulder means on said closure member lying against said open end of said cylinder and a coil spring interposed between said closure member and said piston, said coil spring including a plurality of constricted convolutions normally disposed radially inwardly of said fingers and a plurality of convolutions of a diameter to limit radial inward movement of said latching means normally disposed out of registry with said latching means, said piston and spring being operatively associated to shift at least one of said last named convolutions into registry with said fingers when said piston is shifted toward said open end of said cylinder.

5. A device in accordance with claim 3 wherein said lugs define undercut portions at the junction of said lugs with said fingers.

6. A device in accordance with claiml 4 wherein said lugs define undercut portions yat the junction of said lugs with said fingers.

7. A device in `accordance withclaim 1 wherein said closure member is formed yof nylon and is centrally apertured to provide a slide bearing for the section of the piston rod extended therethrough.

8. A device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said closure member is formed of nylon and is centrally apertured to provide a slide bearing for the section of the piston rod extended therethrough.

9. A door closer assembly or the like comprising a cylinder having an open end, a plurality of keeper slots defined by the walls of said cylinder adjacent said open end, -a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member having a plurality of longitudinally extending fingers within said bore, a lug member formed on each said finger, each said lug member being biased by one of said fingers radially outwardly through one of said keeper slots, the trailing edges of said lug members defining an acute angle with said fingers at the junction of said lugs and fingers and a compressed coil spring interposed between said closure and said piston.

10. A door closer .assembly or the `like comprising a cylinder having an open end, a plurality of keeper slots defined by `the w-alls of said cylinder ladjacent said end including trailing retainer shoulder portions, a piston reciprocably mounted in said cylinder, a resilient closure member secured in 4said open end, said closure member including a plurality of fingers extending longitudinally Within said bore in number corresponding to the number of said slots, said fingers including arcuate outer portions conforming to the inner wall portions `of said bore surrounding said slots :and lug members extending radially outwardly through said slots, said lug members including a trailing cam face contacting said trailing retainer shoul- (i ders of said slots, said faces sloping outwardly and rearwardly, and a closer spring member biased against said cap to urge said lugs toward said open end of said cylinder.

11. A door closer assembly -or the like comprising a cylinder having an open end, a plurality of keeper slots defined by ythe walls of said cylinder adjacent said open end, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, a resilient closure member having a plurality of longitudinally extending fingers Within said bore, a lug member formed on each said finger, each said lug member being biased by one of lsaid lingers radially outwardly through one of said keeper slots, shoulder means 0n said closure member lying against said open end of said cylinder and generally 4annular retainer means of a diameter to limit radial .movement of said fingers in an inward direction operatively associated with said piston, said retainer means being disposed out of registry with said fingers when said piston is moved away from said open end and being disposed in registry with said fingers when said piston is moved toward said open end.

l2. A device in accordance With claim 11 wherein said lugs define undercut portions at :the junction of said lugs with said fingers.

13. A device in accordance with claim 11 wherein said closure member is formed of nylon and is centr-ally apertured to provide a slide bearing for the section of the piston rod extended therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims

11. A DOOR CLOSER ASSEMBLY OR THE LIKE COMPRISING A CYLINDER HAVING AN OPEN END, A PLURALITY OF KEEPER SLOTS DEFINED BY THE WALLS OF SAID CYLINDER ADJACENT SAID OPEN END, A PISTON RECIPROCABLE IN SAID CYLINDER, A RESILIENT CLOSURE MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING FINGERS WITHIN SAID BORE, A LUG MEMBER FORMED ON EACH SAID FINGER, EACH SAID LUG MEMBER BEING BIASED BY ONE OF SAID FINGERS RADIALLY OUTWARDLY THROUGH ONE OF SAID KEEPER SLOTS, SHOULDER MEANS ON SAID CLOSURE MEMBER LYING AGAINST SAID OPEN END OF SAID CYLINDER AND GENERALLY ANNULAR RETAINER MEANS OF A DIAMETER TO LIMIT RADIAL