U.S. patent number 3,757,471 [Application Number 05/197,013] was granted by the patent office on 1973-09-11 for curtain wall safety panel.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Allied Products Corporation. Invention is credited to John S. Dougherty.
United States Patent |
3,757,471 |
Dougherty |
September 11, 1973 |
CURTAIN WALL SAFETY PANEL
Abstract
A safety curtain wall panel in a building is disclosed which
includes a safety sash normally held in a closed position by a
latch but which is automatically moved to an open position with
respect to the panel when a sensing device detects an undesired
atmosphere in the building. By this means smoke or heat detected
will cause the sash to open permitting the building to be
ventilated.
Inventors: |
Dougherty; John S. (Miami,
FL) |
Assignee: |
Allied Products Corporation
(Chicago, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
22727656 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/197,013 |
Filed: |
November 9, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
49/2; 49/31;
52/1; 49/374 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A62C
2/06 (20130101); E05F 15/72 (20150115); E05Y
2201/422 (20130101); E05F 1/02 (20130101); E05Y
2201/50 (20130101); E05F 1/16 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A62C
2/06 (20060101); A62C 2/00 (20060101); E05F
15/20 (20060101); E05F 1/02 (20060101); E05F
1/08 (20060101); E05F 1/00 (20060101); E05f
015/20 () |
Field of
Search: |
;49/1,2,7,374,31,379,141
;52/1,235,207 ;160/6,7,27,28,100 ;98/88 ;236/49 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Downey; Kenneth
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A safety curtain wall construction comprising:
a. a curtain wall panel,
b. a support structure for said panel,
c. at least one moveable safety sash in said panel,
d. a sash receiving well beneath said safety sash and in said
curtain wall into which said safety sash is adapted to be
moved,
e. latch means for engaging and maintaining said sash in a closed
position relative to said panel, said latch means including a
pivoted latch engaging the moveable sash,
f. cam means for disengaing said latch means from said sash whereby
said sash may move to an open position with respect to said wall
panel, said cam means including a slotted cam pivoted on a pin with
said cam contacting said latch,
g. a sensing device responsive to a selected undesired atmosphere,
and
h. means connected to said sensing device and activated thereby to
cause said cam means to disengage said latch, said means including
a solenoid having a throw on which the slotted cam is pivoted
whereby energizing of the solenoid causes the throw to move the cam
to disengage the latch from the moveable safety sash.
2. A safety curtain wall construction comprisng:
a. a curtain wall panel,
b. a support structure for said panel,
c. at least one moveable safety sash in said panel,
d. a sash receiving well beneath said safety sash and in said
curtain wall into which said safety sash is adapted to be
moved,
e. latch means for engaging and maintaining said sash in a closed
position relative to said panel, said latch means including a
pivoted latch engaging the moveable sash,
f. cam means for disengaging said latch means from said sash
whereby said sash may move to an open position with respect to said
wall panel, said cam means including a slotted cam pivoted on a pin
with said cam contacting said latch,
g. a sensing device responsive to a selected undesired atmosphere,
and
h. means connected to said sensing device and activated thereby to
cause said cam means to disengage said latch.
Description
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to curtain wall designs for buildings,
particularly "high rise buildings," with a safety sash as an
integral part of said curtain walls.
Curtain wall designs are widely used in many building structures
and particularly in "high rise" buildings. A curtain wall system
basically consists of an assembly of vertical and horizontal
mullions hung and anchored to the exterior perimeter of a basic
building structure. Mullions serve as structural framing members at
each floor for fixed or operable vision glass areas, for obscure
glass areas, or metal spandrel panels which may be used to cover
the building's structural beams and other members supporting the
floors and ceilings. In addition, other panels, usually metal,
although they may be of other materials, are hung to cover the
building structural column supports and normally run from the grade
line to the roof.
For economy purposes, many metal curtain wall systems are of the
"fixed" type. By "fixed" is meant there are no operable window sash
units and, therefore, the exterior facing of the building may be
designed with continuous, straight and uninterrupted vertical
and/or horizontal lines. If operable sashes, usable for ventilation
or window cleaning, are used, major modifications must be made to
the design of the building to incorporate additional materials and,
with the resulting additional labor, thus increasing the cost of
construction. Also, such modifications would cause the generally
esthetically desired clean, continuous and straight lines of the
otherwise fixed system to be interrupted.
While the fixed systems have been desired for esthetic and economy
reasons, serious deficiencies have been found with these systems.
In some cases minor fires within the building have resulted in
serious injuries from heat, smoke and toxic fumes. Deaths have even
occurred. As a result of these shortcomings of the fixed system,
there has been a demand for a solution which would permit the
venting of such buildings to relieve the hazard of heat which
builds up during a fire as well as the hazard of trapped smoke
contained therein.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an
operable safety sash which may be incorporated into what would be a
normally appearing fixed curtain wall system, yet the sash would be
operable to vent a building of heat and smoke in the event that a
fire were to occur. It is a further object of the present invention
to obtain the foregoing objective without unduly interfering with
the desired esthetic appearance of the building which is normally
found with a fixed system.
Therefore, in the present invention, a safety curtain wall
construction is utilized wherey a safety sash making up but one
component of the curtain wall is normally latched in place in a
closed positon. Sensing means are provided and the sensing means
are responsive to a selected undesired atmosphere such as smoke or
heat. Means such as a solenoid is connected to the sensing device
and activated by the heat or smoke. The solenoid in turn causes the
latch to become disengaged permitting the sash to open and vent the
adjacent area.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front view of a curtain wall in accordance
with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a section through the curtain wall structure of FIG. 1
taken along lines 2--2;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the latch housing cam means relating
to the operable safety sash;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the latch means of FIG. 3 taken along
lines 4--4; and
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the solenoid and cam device of FIG. 4
taken along lines 5--5 thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings and to FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular, a
curtain wall 10 usable in a building such as a high rise structure
is shown. The wall 10 includes vertical mullions 12 and a series of
lateral or horizontal mullions. The horizontal mullions include a
spandrel mullion 14, a drop sash mullion 18 and a fixed sash
mullion 18. The relationship of the mullions to the building floor
lines may be noted by reference to floor line 20.
The curtain wall also includes a series of sash units. These sash
units consist of a spandrel sash 22, a drop sash 24 and a fixed
sash 26. The spandrel sash 22 includes a spandrel panel 28 which in
the illustrated embodiment is an obscure glass, although it may be
made from metal or other material if desired. The panel 28 is set
by conventional means in a bottom spandrel 30. The upper portion of
the panel 28 is also connected to conventional means to the upper
spandrel panel rail 32. The spandrel sash 22 further includes an
inner insulating panel 34, which is attached to the lower rail 30.
The upper portion of the insulating panel 34 is connected to an
upper insulation rail 36.
The bottom spandrel panel 28 and the insulating panel 34 along with
their upper rails 32 and 36 and the bottom rail 30 cooperate to
form a U-shaped well 38. It is into the U-shaped well 38 that the
drop sash 24 is moveable.
The drop sash 24 includes a lower drop rail 40 and an upper drop
rail 42. In order to provide a tight fit within the well 38, seals
44 are provided on the lower drop rail 40 and these contact the
inner surfaces of the upper spandrel rail 32 and the upper
insulating rail 36. A drop panel 46, normally made of vision glass,
extends between the lower drop rail 40 and the upper drop rail 42.
A pair of seals 48 are provided on the outer surfaces 50 of the
upper drop rail 42. The seals 44 and 48 insure that there will be
no substantial transfer of moisture or cold about the drop sash 24
and into the U-shaped well 38 or an upper housing 52.
The interior dimensions of the housing 52 only have to be
sufficient to accommodate a release mechanism which is contained
therein. In a practical application the cross sectional dimensions
of the housing 52 may be as small as 2 inches by 3 inches.
Mounted on the upper drop rail 42 is a hook 54. The hook 54 engages
a latch 56 which includes a roller 57. The roller 57 is in intimate
contact with the hook when the drop sash 24 is in a closed position
relative to the curtain wall.
The latch 56 is pivoted on a pin 58 which in turn is supported on a
fixed bracket 60. To insure that the latch will be in engagement
with the hook 54, a spring 62 is biased against the housing wall 64
urging the latch into hook engagement.
As shown in FIG. 5 a sensing device 66 is connected by wires 68 to
a solenoid 70. The sensing device 66 may be made sensitive to
either heat or smoke or both. It in turn is connected to a source
of electricity not shown.
The throw 72 of the solenoid 70 has a yoke end through which a pin
74 is inserted. One end of a cam 76 is also inserted into the yoke
and the pin 74 is passed therethrough. While the cam 76 is only
pivoted at pin 74, it also has a cam slot 78. Into the cam slot 76
a cam pin 80 in the form of a bolt is fitted. One end 82 of the cam
which is away from the pivot pin 74 bears against a surface 84 of
the latch 56.
In actual operation the drop sash 24 is held in a closed position
so that it functions as an integral part of a fixed curtain wall
system. In the event that a fire occurs in the vicinity of the
sensing device 66, and the intensity of the heat or smoke is
sufficient to activate the device the following operation occurs.
The solenoid 70 is activated and the throw 72 is moved forward
moving the cam to the phantom line position shown in FIG. 5. When
that occurs the latch 56 is moved out of engagement with the hook
54 with this engagement being facilitated by the roller 57 and
against the biasing action of the spring 62. Normally, the weight
of the drop sash 24 should be sufficient to carry it by gravity
into the well 38. However, in the event that it is not, an assist
spring 85 may be provided to give it the initial downward push. The
open sash area now permits smoke or heat to be ventilated from the
adjacent portion of the building.
In addition to functioning as a safety device, it may at times be
desirable to operate the drop sash when certain mechanical
breakdowns occur within the building. For example, if there is a
breakdown in air-conditioning, the interior of the building may
become unbearable in warm weather. In order to vent it, it is a
simple operation to provide an emergency switching device which
would also activate the solenoid 70 causing the sash to drop. If
that were to occur there may be a desire to maintain the interior
of the building free of insects. This can be accomplished simply by
means of a roll screen 86 which is connected to the upper rail 42.
The screen will follow the sash downwardly covering the open space
with the screening.
When the drop sash 24 moves into the well 38, a stop 88 in a flange
form is provided on the upper rail to limit the travel of the sash
into the well. This stop 88 bears against the upper surface 90 of
the inner insulating rail 34 in its rest position. The stop also
functions as a lifting surface to raise the sash.
While the present embodiment has been shown as an individually
operated sash member, it is to be understood by those skilled in
the art that if desired a number of sash units may be tied in by a
single control point so that all the sash on a particular floor or
in a particular section of a building may be operated automatically
at one time.
Further, while the moveable sash has been shown as a drop sash, the
sash may be pivoted inwardly or outwardly rather than dropped into
a wall.
To those skilled in the arts, many combinations or variations on
the present invention will be obvious and such modifications are
not beyond the scope of the present invention.
* * * * *