U.S. patent number 3,791,687 [Application Number 05/263,929] was granted by the patent office on 1974-02-12 for pop up magnetic door stop and holder.
Invention is credited to Helmuth M. Schroeder.
United States Patent |
3,791,687 |
Schroeder |
February 12, 1974 |
POP UP MAGNETIC DOOR STOP AND HOLDER
Abstract
A cylindrical bar of magnetic material pops up from its
installed position in a floor when a magnet, carried by a housing
affixed to a door, reaches the position of installation of the bar,
as the door is opened, such attraction of the bar to the magnet
serving to stop and hold the door in its open position. A manually
operable push member is capable of separating the cylindrical bar
of magnetic material from the magnet, to weaken the holding power
of the magnet, whereby the door may be closed when desired. A pair
of small protuberances extending downwardly from the proximate end
face of the magnet housing and forming a part thereof, enables this
end of the housing to span the cylindrical bar when attracted to
the magnet, whereby displacement of the door from its position is
precluded until the cylindrical bar is pushed from its engagement
with the magnet. One of the protuberances may extend lower than the
push member when in down position, to always function as a stop to
limit maximum opening of a door.
Inventors: |
Schroeder; Helmuth M. (Castro
Valley, CA) |
Family
ID: |
23003854 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/263,929 |
Filed: |
June 19, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
292/251.5;
292/DIG.15 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05C
17/56 (20130101); Y10S 292/15 (20130101); Y10T
292/11 (20150401) |
Current International
Class: |
E05C
17/00 (20060101); E05C 17/56 (20060101); E05c
019/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;292/144,251.5,DIG.15 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Moore; Richard E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brosler; Edward
Claims
I claim:
1. A pop-up magnetic door stop and holder assembly comprising a
pair of sub-assemblies, one sub-assembly including a magnet, the
other subassembly including magnetic material, means for affixing
one of said sub-assemblies to a door, means for anchoring the other
of said sub-assemblies to the floor at a location where it is
desired to stop and hold a door in an open position, said magnet
and magnetic material, when aligned in an installation, being
sufficiently close to cause said magnet to attract said magnetic
material to hold said door, and means for weakening the magnetic
attraction of said magnet for said magnetic material in the absence
of door movement and while said magnet and said magnetic material
are still in such alignment, to facilitate a separation of said
sub-assemblies.
2. A pop-up magnetic door holder in accordance with claim 1,
characterized by a physical stop depending from a location on the
door sub-assembly such as to traverse the location of a floor
sub-assembly before magnetic attraction between said magnet and
magnetic material can occur, whereby upon such occurrence, said
magnet and magnetic material, in the absence of said weakening of
said attraction between said magnet and magnetic material, function
to physically block return movement of said stop.
3. A pop-up magnet door stop holder in accordance with claim 1,
characterized by said means for weakening the magnetic attraction
of said magnet for said magnetic material while still in such
alignment, including manually operable means independent of door
movement, for forcibly separating said magnetic material from said
magnet.
4. A pop-up magnetic door stop and holder assembly in accordance
with claim 3, characterized by a door having one of said
sub-assemblies affixed thereto, a floor having the remaining
sub-assembly installed on an arc defined by said door during
opening, a door closer on said door and exerting a closing force on
said door when said door is in open position, said closing force
being less than maximum magnetic holding force of said door stop
and holder assembly but greater than the holding force of said
weakened magnetic attraction due to said aligned separation of said
magnet and magnetic material, whereby said door can be maintained
in open position but will automatically close upon such aligned
separation between said magnet and said magnetic material.
5. A pop up magnetic door stop and holder in accordance with claim
3, characterized by said separation means including a push member
adapted to engage said magnetic material, and manually controllable
cam means for urging said push member against said magnetic
material.
6. A pop up magnetic door stop and holder in accordance with claim
5, characterized by means for limiting the extent of movement of a
door in the opening direction, to a position in line with said
magnetic material, when said push member is in its functional
position of separating said magnetic material from engagement
against said magnet.
7. A pop up magnetic door stop and holder in accordance with claim
6, characterized by said means for limiting the extent of movement
of said door in the opening direction, including a protuberance
extending from said first sub-assembly on the arc of movement of
said sub-assembly when opening said door and terminating beyond the
plane of said push member when in its functioning position.
Description
My invention relates to door stops and holders, for stopping and/or
holding a door in open position.
Many doors are provided with door closers or spring hinges, which
cause an open door to move toward its closing position, unless
otherwise restrained. To hold such door open, door holders are
sometimes provided.
One such device is mounted on the trailing side of a door and
involves a short rod hinged at one end to the lower portion of a
door, and terminating at its free end, in a rubber plug or cap
adapted to engage the floor, when the short hinged rod is permitted
to drop to the floor. In such lowered position, the rubber plug or
cap will engage the floor and frictionally impede the return of a
door to its previous unopened position.
Another device for such purpose, involves a foot depressible rubber
or like plug adapted to be pressured into engagement with the floor
following the opening of a door, to retain the door in its open
condition. Such device is usually provided with a foot releasable
latch to permit spring return of the plug from its engagement with
the floor to free the door for closing.
In neither case, does the device determine the open position of the
door, which is left to the individual to determine. In both cases,
the device functions as a stop by frictionally engaging the floor.
Should the force exerted by the door closer overcome the frictional
resistance of the holder, the holder will scrape along the surface
of the floor, producing wear and unwanted markings.
Among the objects of my invention are;
1. to provide a novel and improved door holder which will
additionally function as a door stop;
2. to provide a novel and improved door holder which cannot mar or
damage floor surface;
3. to provide a novel and improved door holder which is simple and
effective in its operation.
Additional objects of my invention will be brought out in the
following description of a preferred embodiment of the same, taken
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein,
FIG. 1, is a three dimensional view depicting an installation of
the present invention and showing the door in a partially open
condition;
FIG. 2, is a view in section, taken in the plane 2--2 of FIG. 1,
showing the door in its closed position, and in phantom, depicting
the door approaching its desired open or stop position;
FIG. 3, is a view in elevation, and partly in section, illustrating
the door stop and holder assembly of the present invention, and
depicting the same in its nonfunctioning condition;
FIG. 4, is a corresponding view depicting the assembly of FIG. 3 in
its energized functioning condition;
FIG. 5, is a plan view of the assembly of FIG. 3 to depict a manual
control for adjusting the device between its functioning and
nonfunctioning condition;
FIG. 6, is a view in section, taken in the plane 6--6 of FIG.
3;
FIG. 7, is a view in section, taken in the plane 7--7 of FIG.
3;
FIG. 8 is a view taken in the plane 8--8 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 9, is a view taken in the plane 9--9 of FIG. 4.
Referring to the drawings for details of my invention in its
preferred form, the assembly may be considered as involving a pair
of sub-assemblies 1 and 3, the one sub-assembly 1 for mounting
adjacent the lower edge of a door 5 on either side thereof, and the
other sub-assembly 3 to be installed in a floor 7 at a point on the
arc traversed by the first subassembly upon opening of a door, such
point determining the desired open position of the door, or the
stop position thereof.
The invention is preferably for use with, though not necessarily
limited to, a door provided with a door closer 9 as illustrated, or
with spring hinges (not specifically illustrated), or with any
other self closing mechanisms.
The sub-assembly for installation in the floor, comprises a
cylindrical housing 11 of non-magnetic material such as aluminum,
into which is slidably receivable, a cylindrical bar 13 which may
be made wholly of magnetic material such as iron, or of aluminum
and capped at its exposed end with a disc of magnetic material,
whereby the overall weight may be considerably reduced, and, to
further reduce the weight of this component, the bar may be
recessed from its other end to form the equivalent of an aluminum
tube.
The housing 11 is imbedded in the floor at the proper location,
flush with the floor surface so as to offer no obstruction, either
to the free swinging movement of the door, or to traffic by
individuals. Preferably, the housing is provided with a heavy
flange 15 to be recessed into the floor surface when the housing is
installed.
The sub-assembly 1 for attachment to the door, involves a
semi-cylindrical housing 19 provided with side flanges 21, 23 for
affixing the same to the door.
Within the housing is a magnet which in the preferred embodiment
illustrated, involves a pair of parallel spaced flat magnetic
pieces 27, 29 supported within a cylinder 31 of nonmagnetic
material such as aluminum, by a mastic or comparable material 33
having no magnetic properties. The spaced magnetic pieces are
installed with an end of each exposed, and the cylinder containing
the magnetic pieces is inserted through the bottom end of the
housing into a cylinder chamber, where it is retained by a pair of
diametrically located machine screws 35, 37 threaded into the
bottom of the housing with their heads overlapping the edge of the
cylinder containing the magnetic pieces. The screw 35 preferably
extends lower than the other for reasons to be discussed.
As the door is swung open and the magnet arrives over the location
of the sub-assembly in the floor, the magnetic bar will be
instantly attracted into engagement with the magnet to impede
further movement of the door and hold the same in position against
the restoring action of the door closure.
In this situation, the end of the bar engaging the magnet will lie
between the heads of the machine screws which hold the cylinder in
place, and if such machine screws are both located on the arc
defined by the travel of the magnet during opening of the door,
such protuberances will trap the upper sub-assembly and function as
mechanical stops against forcibly shifting the door from its
desired position over the floor sub-assembly.
A close sliding fit of the bar 13 in its housing 11 is preferred.
To assure against development of a vacuum on the up-stroke with
such close fit, which could preclude pop-up action of the bar, and
to avoid a slow return of the bar to its below floor level
position, the bar is provided with a longitudinal vent passageway
34.
To effect a release of the door from such a situation, I provide
means for forcibly separating the bar 13 from its engagement with
the magnet, and sufficiently to clear the obstruction offered by
the protuberance 37, but not the protuberance 35. Thus, not only is
the way cleared for closing movement of the door from its
previously held position, but such breaking of engagement of the
bar with the magnet reduces the magnetic force attracting the bar,
whereby separation of the two sub-assemblies is thereby
facilitated. Under these conditions, the door closer can then take
over and effect an automatic closing of the door.
To effect such separation of the bar 13 from its engagement with
the magnet, I provide a push element 41 located between the exposed
ends of the spaced magnetic pieces 27 and 29, and manually actuable
means for exerting a force on said push element in the direction of
the bar.
Toward this end, the push element is affixed to the lower end of a
vertical rod 43 extending up into the housing 19, where its upper
end is slidably anchored in a recess 45 in the upper end of the
housing.
A cam 47 located adjacent the roof of the housing 1 has a shaft 49
extending up through the upper end of the housing, to the end of
which shaft is affixed a control knob 51. A compression spring 53
installed on the rod, bears at its lower end against the floor of
the housing, and at its upper end against a mounting 55 fixedly
installed on the rod and from which extends a cam follower in the
form of a pin 57 bearing against the cam under the action of the
compression spring against the mounting.
The cam is of disc shape with a cam surface 59 occupying one half
of the disc and constituting a planer surface sloping upwardly from
a point slightly above the lower end plane of the disc. This forms
a diametrical wall 61 limiting rotational movement of the cam to
approximately 180.degree..
Within such 180.degree. of movement, the cam follower will travel a
vertical distance depending on the vertical rise of the cam surface
and, being affixed to the push member 41, the push member will move
accordingly. The extent of such movement need only be such as to
break physical contact between the magnet and the bar and cause the
bar to clear the protuberance or such screw head 37, to facilitate
separation of the two sub-assemblies as previously described.
With an arrangement as described, it will be appreciated that upon
opening of a door to its desired position, with the push member in
its up non-functioning position, the magnet will promptly cause the
bar 13 to pop-up into engagement therewith and hold the door in
such position.
Under these conditions, the engaging end of the bar will lie
between the screw head protuberances which function as stops to
block any forcible attempt to move the door in either direction,
the door being essentially locked in its open position.
To free the door for closing, the cam is rotated to cause a
forcible separation of the bar from the magnet, and sufficiently to
clear the protuberance 37. The door closer can then take over the
closing of the door, or in the absence of a door closer, the door
may be closed manually.
On the other hand, should one not desire to so lock the door in its
open position, the cam control knob 51 is rotated to effect a
lowering of the push member 41. When so adjusted, the bar 13, upon
the door reaching its location in the floor, will pop-up into
engagement with the push member, but holding power will be
sufficiently lower to permit closing under the action of a door
closer, and in the absence of precautionary measures, the door
could under these conditions be swung open beyond the floor
installed sub-assembly and possibly do some damage.
However, by extending the protuberance or screw 35 to a point below
the plane of the push member when in its low position, it functions
as a limiting stop to opening of the door beyond this point.
From the foregoing description of my invention in its preferred
form, it will be appreciated that the same is subject to alteration
and modification without departing from the underlying principles
involved, and I do not desire to be limited in my protection to the
specific details so illustrated and described, except as may be
necessitated by the appended claims.
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