Electric Door Opener

Abstract

In an electric door opener there is provided a housing, a swinger latch pivotally held in said housing and extending outwardly therefrom to engage a complemental recess in the door jamb, a pivotal locking lever spring-urged into a position in which it locks the swinger latch, a pivotal detent lever spring-urged into a position in which it immobilizes the locking lever in its locking position and an electromagnet including a solenoid that has an axis extending in the longitudinal direction of the housing and an armature which, when the solenoid is energized, moves the detent lever into its releasing position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an electric door opener which includes the following three basic components: a locking lever which extends within and in the longitudinal direction of the housing of the door opener and is pivotally held at one end to serve for locking a swinger latch in its closed position; a detent lever pivotable about one end and operatively connected with the free end of the locking lever, said detent lever extends in the transversal direction of said housing and serves for the immobilization of the locking lever in its locking position and an electromagnet to move the detent lever into its releasing position.

In known door openers of the aforeoutlined type, the electromagnet operates by attracting an externally located armature against the frontal face of the solenoid core. The motion of the armature is transmitted to the detent lever by means of pivoting bell crank levers or the like.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a door opener in which the transmission of the magnetic force to the detent lever is effected in a manner that requires less space and achieves the same output with weaker magnetic fields.

Briefly stated, according to the invention, the axis of the solenoid extends in the longitudinal direction of the housing and is provided with an armature which, upon energization of the solenoid, is moved in the direction of the free end of the detent lever and moves the latter, at least by indirect means, into its releasing position.

The invention will be better understood, as well as further objects and advantages become more apparent, from the ensuing detailed specification of a preferred, although exemplary, embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the electric door opener according to the invention with the cover removed and showing the detent lever in its position immobilizing the locking lever;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the same embodiment partially in section, with the locking lever partially removed;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing the detent lever in its position allowing movement of the locking lever;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the same embodiment in its position shown in FIG. 3 and taken -- as in FIG. 2 -- along the longitudinal axis of the magnet;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along line 5--5 of FIG. 1 at an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view along line 6--6 of FIG. 2 at an enlarged scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a rectangular box-like housing 10 has a pair of spaced support blocks 12 each provided with threaded openings 11 for receiving screws to fixedly hold a closure plate or lid (not shown). Further, the support blocks 12 also carry a shaft 13 for pivotally supporting a swinger latch 14. The cross-sectional configuration of the conventional swinger latch 14 may be best observed in FIG. 5. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the rear edge portion of the swinger latch 14 is provided with an integral abutment nose 15 which extends along a small portion of the length of the swinger latch. By means of the abutment nose 15, the swinger latch 14 is, under the effect of a cylindrical turning spring 41, urged against an oblique recess 17 of a pivotal locking lever 18. In the closed position of the swinger latch 14, a central web portion 42 thereof forms a continuation with a housing web 43 which also serves as an abutment for one of the terminal positions of the swinger latch 14.

The locking lever 18 which extends substantially along the entire length of the housing 10 is pivotally secured at one end by means of a pivot pin 19 extending normal to the base of the housing 10. The free end of the locking lever 18 extends beyond the terminus of the pivotal shaft 13 into an elongated hollow space 20 formed in the frontal wall portion of the housing 10. The elongated hollow space 20 is disposed transversely to the longitudinal direction of the housing 10 and receives a detent lever 21 which itself is pivotable on a fixed pin 22 disposed in the hollow space 20 and extending through one end of the detent lever 21. The locking lever 18 is urged into its locking position by means of a compression spring 23 which, with one end, engages the wall of the housing 10 and with its other end fits into a depression 25 of the locking lever 18. The detent lever 21 is urged into its locking position by means of a compression spring 24 which, with one end, engages the wall of the housing 10 and with its other end fits into a depression 26 of the detent lever 21. In this locking position a shoulder 27 of the detent lever 21 hooks behind the sharp edge of the free end of the locking lever 18. When the detent lever 21 is moved from its locking position shown in FIG. 1 into its releasing position shown in FIG. 3 against the return spring 24 in a manner to be described later, it permits a free motion of the locking lever 18 which, however, is still maintained in its present position (in which it locks the swinger latch 14) by the return spring 24. Due to a pivotal motion of the swinger latch 14 during the opening of the door and the necessary travel of the swinger latch past the door locking bolt, the locking lever 18 is, by virtue of the cooperation between the nose 15 and the oblique recess 17, pivoted into its position shown in FIG. 3. Immediately after swinging the door through a small opening angle, the return spring 23 moves the locking lever 18 and the latter, through the oblique recess 17 and nose 15, moves the swinger latch 14 into the locking position shown in FIG. 1. In this position, under the action of spring 24, the detent lever 21 snaps with its shoulder 27 behind the free end of the locking lever 18 and maintains the latter in its closed position.

For moving the conventional detent lever 21 against the force of the return spring 24 there serves an electromagnet 28 which, according to the invention, is provided with a solenoid 29 having an axis that extends in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10. The solenoid 29, which takes up a substantial portion of the length of the housing 10, is wound on a spool 30 made of synthetic material. With the solenoid 29 there is associated an armature 32 which is movable within the spool 30 against a stationary core 33 situated in the spool 30. The magnet armature 32 centrally holds an actuating pin 35 extending through the core 33 and an intermediate wall 34 of the housing 10. When the solenoid 29 is energized, the armature 32 is, by the magnetic attracting forces, moved towards the core 33 until it abuts the same. During its motion caused by magnetic attraction, the actuating pin 35 strikes a pin-like extension 36 which extends laterally from the underside of the detent lever 21 and which is disposed in the path of travel of the actuating pin 35. As a result of the engagement between the actuator pin 35 and the pin-like extension 36, the detent lever 21 is moved into its releasing position against the return spring 24 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Between the core 33 and the armature 32, there is disposed a return spring 37 formed as a compression spring which engages the base of a frontal recess 38 formed in the armature 32. The frontal recess 38 is so dimensioned that in case of a firm engagement between the armature 32 and the core 33, the compressed return spring 37 may be entirely accommodated therein.

To the frontal side of the housing 10 there is attached a terminal strip 39 made of insulating material. It supports terminal screws 40 for receiving electric conductors carrying the energizing current for the solenoid 29.

Claims

That which is claimed is:

1. In an electrically operable unlatching device for a door opener of the type having (a) an elongated housing, (b) a shaft supporting a swinger latch pivotally held in said housing and projecting therefrom, said swinger latch adapted to assume a closed position, (c) a locking lever pivotable at one end and disposed longitudinally in said housing, said locking lever cooperating with said swinger latch and adapted to assume a locking position in which it locks said swinger latch in the closed position thereof, (d) a detent lever pivotable at one end and disposed in said housing, said detent lever cooperating with said locking lever and adapted to assume an operative position in which it immobilizes said locking lever in its locking position and an inoperative or releasing position in which it permits said locking lever to move freely and (e) an electromagnet having an axis disposed in said housing with its axis extending longitudinally of said housing and operatively connected with said detent lever for moving the latter, the improvement comprising

A. a single flat solenoid forming part of said electromagnet extending parallel to said locking lever, and said electromagnet being arranged within a compartment of the housing defined by a portion of the swinger latch, the locking lever and the detent lever,

B. an armature movably held within and associated with said solenoid,

C. a magnet core held stationary in the inside of said solenoid at one end thereof, said magnet core constituting an abutment for said armature to determine an end position thereof,

D. a return spring interposed between said magnet core and said armature and

E. an actuating pin secured to said armature, said pin having in its returned position a spacing from the detent lever and being oriented towards said detent lever for impact by contacting the same and moving it away from said solenoid and into its releasing position upon movement of said armature in response to the energization of said solenoid.

2. An improvement as defined in claim 1, wherein the locking lever has a pivoting plane and the actuating pin lies in a plane parallel to the pivoting plane.

3. An improvement as defined in claim 1, wherein said armature includes a frontal recess oriented towards said core and receiving said return spring in its totality when in a compressed state during engagement of said armature with said core.

4. An improvement as defined in claim 1, including an extension fixedly attached to said detent lever and extending therefrom, said extension being disposed in the path of travel of said actuating pin to be engaged and displaced thereby during the motion of said armature in response to the energization of said solenoid.