10-09-2016, 11:59 AM
1454393714-US5203392.pdf (Size: 1.32 MB / Downloads: 17)
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rolling door com
bined with a mechanism which controls the raising and
lowering of the door. The so-called "rolling door” com
prises a curtain including a plurality of interconnected
relatively pivotal horizontal slats and a pair of vertical
guides positioned on both sides of the curtain for guid
ing the curtain for vertical movement between a ?rst or
raised position and a second or lowered position. More
particularly, the mechanism is used to regulate the rais
ing and lowering of a rolling ?re door. During normal
ambient conditions, the mechanism holds the door
open; however, if a ?re occurs, the mechanism releases
the ?re door permitting a regulated closing of the door
to secure the opening and to prevent the ?re from
spreading from one location to another.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention addresses the need for a mechanism
which can control the opening and closing of a door,
particularly a ?re door. The present invention is such a
mechanism comprising a speed reduction gearing, a
governor, and a brake combined with a rolling ?re
door. The mechanism, by itself, controls the speed of
the door when it is closing under the gravitational pull on the door. Additionally, a motor or a hand chain
assembly which is manually operated, may be attached
to the input shaft of the mechanism to further control
the opening and closing of the door.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Operating mechanisms to control the raising and
lowering of doors have been used for many years.
Among the doors so controlled are ?re doors including
?re doors of the type comprising a plurality of horizon
tal slats pivotally connected to one another to enable
the ?re door to be reeled in when raised and unreeled
when lowered. There are numerous prior art mecha
nisms known and used for raising and lowering such ?re
doors both in normal or non-emergency conditions and
during a tire. In such operating mechanisms, electric
motors are commonly included to raise the door. How
ever when a ?re occurs, these operating mechanisms
disengage the motor from the ?re door and allow the
door to close either under the urging of an auxiliary
spring activated by mechanical means or by the gravita
tional pull on the door resulting from the release of
tension from a torsion spring counterbalancing mecha
nism. Previously known ?re doors primarily rely on
mechanical means such as pendulum or oscillating gov
ernors, friction discs operating in viscous ?uid baths,
mechanical ratchets, cams or arms to release the ?re
door and govern its descent to secure the opening.
However, these devices are unreliable because they
often jam or cease functioning while the door is de
scending. The torsion spring counterbalancing mecha
nisms are also unreliable, expensive and dif?cult to
adjust to assure that the door will move downwardly at
a safe rate to a secure closed position. Centrifugally
operative break type governors have also been em
ployed to control the downward velocity of a ?re door.
However, such governors have always acted in con
junction with a low speed shaft connected to the door,
which low speed shaft is dif?cult to control by devices responsive to centrifugal force. These problems are
compounded by the fact that repeated use of the auxil
iary springs and the springs in the counterbalancing
mechanism often result in deformation due to excessive
heating, as during a ?re, and to general mechanical
fatigue. Therefore, the need exists for an impr'oved ?re
door operating mechanism for regulating the raising
and lowering of the door which effectively controls the
?re door’s movement without the need of springs or
unreliable mechanical means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The preferred embodiment of the invention will be
explained in further detail and in reference to the draw
ings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rolling ?re door and
a regulating mechanism embodying the present inven
tion with some parts broken away in order to reveal
other parts; -
FIG. 2 is a sectional view in enlarged scale of the
mechanism shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2 in
FIG. 1;
FIG. 2' is a sectional view in enlarged scale of an
alternate embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a releasing mecha
nism taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;
FIGS. 4 and 5, when taken together with FIG. 4 on
the left make up an exploded perspective view of the
interior of the regulating mechanism;
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the door
in a closed position; and
FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the door
in an open position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention relates to a rolling door com
bined with a mechanism which controls the raising and
lowering of the door. More particularly, the mechanism
is used to regulate the raising and lowering of a ?re door
and is shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and is generally designated
by the reference numeral 10. The regulating mechanism
10 combined with a ?re door 12 comprises a ?re door
assembly 14.
FIG. 1 shows a ?re door 12 which comprises a cur
tain 16 including a plurality of interconnected relatively
pivotal horizontal slats 18, which are kept in alignment
by endlocks 20. As shown and presently preferred,
endlocks 20 lock each end of alternate slats to act as a
wearing surface, to maintain slat alignment and to retain
the curtain 16 when there are wind pressures in a pair of
vertical guides 22, here shown as channels, positioned on either side of the curtain 16. Other forms of endlocks
may be employed. The pair of vertical guides 22 are for
vertically guiding the movement of the slats 18 inside
the guides 22 to a ?rst or raised position (FIG. 7) and to
a second or lowered position (FIG. 6). While the pre
ferred embodiment for the fabrication of the slats 18 of
the curtain 16 is either galvanized or stainless steel,
other ?reproof or ?re retardant materials may be used
without departing from this invention, such as, for ex
ample, materials according to Underwriters Laborato
ries (UL) and/or National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) requirements. The guide 22 is secured to a wall
or door frame or other structure 28 by a mounting angle
26. Since the guides 22 are preferably made of metal or
the like, they are slotted to allow for heat expansion of the metal when a ?re occurs to prevent the guides 22
from deforming and making the ?re door nonfunc
tional. As shown and presently preferred, at the bottom
of the curtain 16, two angles 30a and 30b are attached to
the bottom slat 32 to form a bottom bar 34 to reinforce
the bottom of the curtain 16 (FIG. 6). Like the guides,
the bottom bar 34 is slotted to provide for the heat
expansion of the metal.
The top of the curtain 16 is ?xed to a horizontally
elongated rotatable member 36 for winding and un
winding the curtain 16 around the member 36 to respec
tively raise and lower the curtain 16. (See FIGS. 6 and
7) In its preferred embodiment, the elongated rotatable
member 36 is a hollow barrel, tube or shaft. The mem
ber 36 may also be a solid or partially solid member,
tube, shaft, barrel or the like. The curtain 16 is shown as
connected to the rotatable member or barrel 36 by a
starter slat 38. In its preferred embodiment, the barrel 36
is supported by at least two plugs 40 with one being
inserted at each end of the barrel 36. The barrel 36
could also have a shaft or tube extending the entire
length of the barrel. Although the present invention
does not require any type of spring such as a torsion
spring counterbalancin g mechanism to assist the closing
of the door 12 under gravitational pull, a torsion spring
may be incorporated within the barrel 36 to act if neces
sary as an additional closing means. The shafts 42 of the
plugs are then attached to endplates 44 to provide sup
port for the barrel 36. Ball bearings (not shown) posi
tioned in the endplates 44 enable the shafts 42 of the
plugs 40 to rotate. The endplates 44 are mounted to the
mounting angle 26 which is secured to the wall 28. A
hood 46 which is typically a sheet metal housing, is
mounted horizontally between the endplates 44 and
secured to a lintel 48 which is a horizontal member
spanning and carrying the load above an opening for a
?re door and usually constitutes a part of a wall, beam
or the like directly above the door opening. The hood
46 encloses the coiled curtain 16 to act as a ?re stop by
closing off the space between the coiled curtain and the
lintel. A hood or ?re baffle 50 (FIGS. 6 and 7) which is
a hinged sheet metal piece within the hood 46 acts as an
additional ?re stop. A temperature sensitive actuator 88,
such as a fusible link, releasably holds the baffle 50in a
raised position. However, during a ?re, the fusible link
will melt and release the baf?e 50 which then drops
down to close the space between the top of the curtain
16 and the hood 46 to prevent smoke and ?re from
passing under the lintel 48 and over the barrel 36.