Abstract:
This invention relates to automatic door bottom with a release mechanism for a hinged door which is pivotable to be positioned over a sill when closed, a sealing member having a length corresponding to the length of the channel, the sealing member being housed in the channel of said and being movable vertically downwardly into a sealing position in which the sealing member will contact the sill when the door is closed, alternatively said sealing member may be manually moved upwardly even when the door is in the closed position.

Description:
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to an automatic door bottom with release mechanism. An automatic door bottom is a device attached to bottom part of a door by mounting means, for example by screws. The term Automatic Door Bottom and Door Bottom will be used interchangeably in the description of this invention. 
         [0002]    The current invention allows a person to selectively seal or unseal a door bottom when said door is in the closed state. Said release mechanism to the automatic door bottom may be actuated remotely or in close proximity. The mechanism utilized to release the automatic door bottom may be through mechanical force or electrical forces. 
         [0003]    A door is described as an enclosure of an opening. Perimeter around the door on the left and right side are referred as jambs. Part of floor bellow the bottom part of the door is referred as door sill. A swing door is describe as a door which is pivot mounted to one side of the jamb by mounting means generally referred as hinges. The side of the door near to the hinges is referred as hinged side, the side farthest from the hinges is referred as unhinged side. The opening and closing of said door is by operating a swinging action to the door around the hinges. A gap generally exist between bottom part of the door and its sill as the door is in closed position. 
         [0004]    The Door Bottom has a housing in the form of an inverted channel with an open bottom toward the door sill, with length corresponding to the door width. The Door Bottom has at least one sealing member, installed at the open bottom of said channel. 
         [0005]    A displacement mechanism is coupled to the sealing member at one or multiple points to actuate the sealing member. The displacement mechanism has at least one operating member and at least one resilient member. At least one operating member cooperate with at least one stationary abutment around perimeter of the door to operate the displacement mechanism, and displace the sealing member. A release mechanism is activated by other means of actuation to disengage the displacement mechanism from actuating the sealing member. 
         [0006]    The sealing member in this invention consist of a compressible and elastic sealing element and a generally H-shape rigid member to support the sealing element. The sealing member can be reciprocally lowered in to a first sealing position and retracted to the channel into second unsealing position. The first and second position corresponding respectively to a close and an open door. The purpose for such sealing position are in general to block drafts, light, noise, and foreign object from passing through the gap. 
         [0007]    Furthermore the reciprocal action creates a first correlation of a close door correlate to a sealed gap, and second correlation of an open door correlate to an unsealed gap. An Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism in this invention creates a third correlation where a closed door correlate to its gap unsealed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is an elevation view of an Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism according to the first embodiment of the invention mounted on a closed swing door. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of  FIG. 1  showing the door slightly open, showing bottom part at hinged side. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is side cross section view of line (III-III) of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is elevation view of the other side of the door from  FIG. 2 , showing one side of foot operated lever as an actuator for release mechanism 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a plan, cross section view of line (V-V) in  FIG. 4   
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is a exploded perspective view of  FIG. 1  showing components of Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism according to first embodiment of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  is a general cross section view of  FIG. 3  showing channel of Automatic Door Bottom 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  is a view similar to  FIG. 3 , illustrating a modified version of embodiments of the invention with Automatic Door Bottom flush mounted to the door leaf. 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  is a view similar to  FIG. 3 , illustrating a modified version of embodiments of the invention with with Automatic Door Bottom mortise mounted to the door. 
           [0017]      FIGS. 10   a,    10   b,  and  10   c  are partial front view of displacement mechanism of the first embodiment of the invention. 
           [0018]      FIGS. 11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14  are front view of the first embodiment of the invention showing four successive operating stages. 
           [0019]      FIG. 15  is an elevation view of a modified version of  FIG. 1  showing solenoid as an actuator for release mechanism. 
           [0020]      FIG. 16  is a perspective view of  FIG. 15 . 
           [0021]      FIGS. 17   a,    17   b,  and  17   c  are partial front view of displacement mechanism according to the second embodiment of the invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 18  is front view bottom part of unhinged side of a swing door, showing a door knob as an actuator for release mechanism. 
           [0023]      FIG. 19  is a detailed perspective view of door knob adapter in  FIG. 18 . 
           [0024]      FIGS. 20 ,  21 ,  22 , and  23  are front diagram view of second embodiment of the invention, showing four successive operating stages. 
           [0025]      FIGS. 24   a  and  24   b  are partial front view of displacement mechanism according to the third embodiment of the invention. 
           [0026]      FIGS. 25 ,  26 , and  27  are front diagram view of third embodiment of the invention, showing three successive operating stages. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0027]    The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,584, U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,584, and U.S. Pat Application No. 20040010973 are incorporated hereby in their entirety by reference. 
         [0028]      FIG. 1  shows the preferred first embodiment of the invention which is a front view of a swing door  21  in closed position, mounted to doorjamb  26  by means of hinges  23 . The door  21  is provided with door knob  31  which operate a spring loaded latch (not shown in the figure). An alternative for door knob for example a hand lever can also be used, but not shown commonly known to persons skilled in the art. An Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism  22  can be surface mounted on the door or inserted in a hollow in the bottom portion of said door, with two foot operated levers  38 , to operate the release mechanism. Preferably, at least one lever  38  is mounted to the door by mounting plate  158 . Alternatively any form of switching mechanism commonly known to persons skilled in the art may be used, including but not limited to a push button mechanism, upwardly moving latch, laterally moving latch, or a pulling mechanism.  FIG. 4  shows the preferred embodiment with the lever on the other side of the door from  FIG. 1 . The operation of levers  38  are clockwise turn in  FIG. 1  and counterclockwise turn in  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 3  is a side cross sectional view of line (III-III) of  FIG. 1 , showing the connection between Door Bottom  21  and lever  38  by a spindle  117 .  FIG. 2  is perspective view of  FIG. 1 , showing a partially opened door with a more detailed part of Door Bottom at hinges side. 
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a plan cross section view at line (V-V) of  FIG. 4 , showing detail relationship between Door Bottom and levers  38 . In the preferred embodiment levers have component of a mirror image pair of lever handles  152 , mounted to shafts  148  by means of screws  154 . Each shaft  148  is held in place with a pair of washers  150  to the base plate  153 , which in turn are mounted to door  21  directly or indirectly.  FIG. 4  show direct mounting of lever  38  to the door  21  by screws  151 ,  FIG. 1  show indirect mounting through mounting plate  156  by screws  157 . The plate is mounted directly to door  21  by screw  151 . Preferably torsional springs  155  are mounted at one end to the shaft  148  and at other end to base plate  153 . This to enables levers  38  to spring back to its normal position. In an alternative embodiment, said lever moves into various positions manually without the aid of any mechanical forces. The pair of levers  38  are connected to each other by a square shape spindle  117 , and are connected to the release mechanism through rocker  116 . The rocker  116  is preferably made from injection molding resilient plastic. All parts of said invention may be constructed from different types of materials commonly known to persons skilled in the art for their desired purpose. 
         [0030]      FIG. 7  shows an alternative embodiment, a general cross section view of channel  15 , an extruded inverted U-shape with length corresponding to width of door  21 . Channel  15  has top wall  17 , a pair of legs  19 , and optionally a pair of feet  20  as shown in  FIG. 9 . A pair of rails  18  are provided for general form of block referred by numeral  33  to move freely along the channel  15 . Various blocks used in this invention have cut out shape of block  33  to accommodate rails  18 , but can have different internal shape and numerical references shape depending on their functions. Alternatively, additional mechanism maybe inserted into a cavity form by channel  15  if desired. Mechanism such as a temperature sensor may be inserted into said cavity to notify persons of dangerous fire conditions. 
         [0031]      FIG. 6  is an exploded view of first embodiment of the invention. The channel  15  is surface mounted to the door by means of mounting screws  107  through in line mounting holes  108 , extending along the length of the Door Bottom. A pair of levers  38  are connected to channel  15  by spindle  117  through in line holes  109  on both side of legs  19  of the channel. Inside the channel  15 , the spindle  117  pass thorough holes  116   b  of rocker  116 . The Rocker  116  is snapped in to in line holes  109  from inside the channel  15 . A hook  116   a  is slided into slot  103   b  through holes  103   a,  securely coupling rocker  116  to leaf spring  103 . 
         [0032]    The displacement mechanism consists of release mechanism referred with numeral  9  and resilient members such as a leaf spring  42  and  43 . Members  42  and  43  are connected to each other by connecting block  41 , and terminated at one end by end block  2 . The end block  2  is fixedly mounted to the channel  15 , by a pin  87  that pass though in line holes  88  of channel  15  channel and hole  1  of end block  2 . 
         [0033]    The release mechanism  9  has members of a hollow block  128 , an adjustment block  125 , and a housing  7 . The blocks mentioned above generally take shape of block  33 , and are able to move freely along the channel  15  lengthwise. 
         [0034]    A H-shape rigid housing  13  hold compressible sealing element  14  in place. The sealing element generally slide in the housing  13  and fixed in place for example by adhesive or any form of mechanical mounting mechanisms commonly known to persons skilled in the art to form sealing member  36 . The displacement mechanism are connected to the sealing member  36 , by mounting middle sections of spring  42 , and  43  to pins  89  which are slide through in line holes on the housing  13 . The mounting is in such a way, that a limited movement of sealing member  36  lengthwise are permitted, but vertical movement across the width of channel downward are restricted by both leaf spring  42  and or  43 . 
         [0035]      FIGS. 10   a,    10   b,  and  10   c  are partial front view of displacement mechanism of the automatic door bottom with release mechanism according to the first embodiment of the invention. To form a complete figure, join the right side of  FIG. 10A  to the left side of  FIG. 10   b,  and likewise join the right side of  FIG. 10   b  to the left side of  FIG. 10C . Tensional mechanisms such as but not limited to leaf springs may be used. Alternatively other forms of tensional mechanism maybe utilized as commonly known to persons skilled in the art. Leaf springs  42  and  43  are provided as such that spring constant of spring  42  is smaller than spring constant of leaf spring  43 . In  FIG. 10A , the housing  7  could be joined directly with spring  42  or indirectly by another connecting block  41 .The housing  7  take general shape of block  33  as in  FIG. 7 , has a bore hole at one end to accommodate shaft  10 , and an opening from top part toward its hollow middle. Leaf spring  103  is mounted to housing  7  by rivet  124  at one end, and has latch pin  102  in other end. The latch pin  102  extend from end of leaf spring  103  into the hollow middle of housing  7 , latching shaft  10  at its annular grove  53 . 
         [0036]    Hollow block  128  has an interior thread which in cooperation with hollow adjustment cylinder  131  to adjust length of operation for displacement mechanism. An adjustment is executed by turning the head of cylinder  131 , preferably in hexagonal shape. A spring  126  is provided to prevent accidental turning of cylinder  131 . 
         [0037]    Cushion  132  is removable to enable a screw driver to access screw head  50 . The shaft  10  has one annular grove  51 , which is retained by retaining ring  127  at hollow block  128 . A threaded area  52  threaded into hollow block  125  which has interior thread. The helical spring  8 , assisted with a pair of washer  106 , is situated between block  125  and housing  7 . An operation of turning the screw head  50 , in cooperation with the annular groove being latched by latch pin  102 , cause hollow block  125  to move along threaded region  52 , effectively adjust tension of helical spring  8 . 
         [0038]      FIGS. 11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14  show respectively operating stages one, two, three and four of the first embodiment of the invention. Stage one represent a door in open position, stage two represent door in almost closed position, stage three represent a door in closed position, and stage four represent door in closed position with release mechanism activated. 
         [0039]    At stage one, sealing member  36  is retract inside channel  15 , cushion  132  is disengage from jamb  26 , and shaft  10  are latched to housing  7  by means of latch pin  102 . Rocker  116 , are engage in slot of leaf spring  103 . Condition of stage one are shown in  FIG. 11 . 
         [0040]    As the door is closing, at one point cushion  132  engage with door jamb  26  at hinged side. At first, due to its lower spring constant leaf spring  42  will flex down, and bring sealing member  36  at coupling point  91  downwardly until sealing member  36  contact with door sill  25 . Housing  7  move along the housing to the right in the figure, causing rocker  116  to slide along the slot of spring  103  closer to latch pin  102 .  FIG. 12  show condition of door bottom of stage two. 
         [0041]    A further closing of the door  21  cause rocker  116  to move more closely to latch pin  102 . A further closing also cause spring  43  to flex and bring the remaining part of sealing member downwardly by coupling point  92 , until the door is completely closed and sealing element is fully in contact with door sill  25 . Springs  42  and  43  as combined have spring tension F 1 .  FIG. 13  show condition of door bottom at stage three. 
         [0042]    An action of operating either one of the levers  38  cause rocker  116  in cooperation with leaf spring  103  release latch pin  102  from latching onto shaft  10 . Tension F 1  cause spring  42  and  43  to unflex, causing housing  7  to move to the left side in  FIG. 14 , and in turn depress helical spring  8 . Since spring constant helical spring  8  is designed to be significantly smaller than spring constant of leaf spring  43 , the net result will cause sealing member  36  to significantly retracted into the channel  15 . Spring  8  will eventually compressed and has tension F 2  which is significantly smaller that F 1 . 
         [0043]    When the door  21  is eventually opened, tension F 2  of helical spring  8  would pull shaft  10  out of housing  7  until it is latch by latch pin  102 . This effectively reset the release mechanism  9  and set condition of Door Bottom to the stage one of operation as shown in  FIG. 11 . 
         [0044]    According to this embodiment of the invention, stages one, two, and three are normal operation stages for the Automatic Door Bottom with release mechanism. Operation stage four is optional and active only if release mechanism  9  is actuated by an actuator. 
         [0045]    The release mechanism  9  can furthermore be actuated by another means.  FIGS. 15 and 16  show one alternative of actuating the release mechanism by means of a solenoid. This actuating mechanism is preferable for Door Bottom  22  mortised mounted to the door  21  similar to mounting in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0046]    The solenoid consists of: a frame  136  a mounting plate  133 , a plunger  137  with washer  138  and E-ring  140 , End stop  134 , and coil  139 . The mounting plate  133  is mounted into the mortised part of door upward with mounting screws  141 . The plunger  137  projects into the channel  15  at an opening  35  on the top wall  17 . A hook  142  at the end of plunger  137  is slided into slot of leaf spring  103 , by method similar to insertion of rocker  117  to spring  103  in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0047]    An action of energizing coil  139  will cause pull action by plunger  137 , and actuate release mechanism  9 . This action can be done by means of a switch that temporarily connect the coil  137  to any suitable source of electricity energy for example a battery. Furthermore the switch can be related to an action turning the door knob  31  (as in  FIG. 1 ), for example by installing a switch that can be activated by rotation of door knob. The suitable source of electricity and means to activate the switch are well known to persons skilled in the art. 
         [0048]      FIGS. 17   a,    17   b,  and  17   c  show partial front view of displacement mechanism according to the second embodiment of the invention. To form a complete figure, join the right side of  FIG. 17A  to the left side of  FIG. 17   b,  and likewise join the right side of  FIG. 17   b  to the left side of  FIG. 17C . 
         [0049]    The release mechanism is referred as numeral  60  and resemble release mechanism  9  with several exceptions. Housing  24  resemble housing  7 , with exception that housing  24  has a termination hole  1 . Shaft  112  similar to shaft  10 , with exception shaft  112  does not have screw head  50  and grove  51 . Housing  24  is fixably mounted at hole  1  to channel  15  by means of mounting means similar to mounting means for end block  2  in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0050]    Adjustment nut  11  with cushion  12 , adjust effective length of operation of displacement mechanism. 
         [0051]      FIG. 18  show an alternative of actuating mechanism for this embodiment by operating door knob  31 . The actuating mechanism consist of an adapter  28  (not shown in this figure) and an actuator  165 . The actuator has an housing  162  and mounted to upper part bottom part of door  21  by mounting screw  163 . The actuator consist of a shaft  164  with threaded top end and hexagonal shape bottom  170 . The end bottom part are provided with a hook form  171 . The hook  171  is slotted into slot of leaf spring  103 . The shaft is suspended at the lower part with washer  169 , and a helical spring  176 , and upper part by a sleeve  167 . At the top most part of shaft  164 , are connected to shaft  29  by shaft connector  30 . The actuator  165  is operable by knob  31  through adapter  28 . Adapter  28  is not shown in this figure. 
         [0052]    Adapter  28  can be constructed similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,008. An adaptation of the patent to fit this invention is shown in  FIG. 19 . 
         [0053]    A pair of fastening plates  65  are provided with confining holes  66  and holes  72 . Confining holes  66  are confined into alignment rods  74 . Into holes  72 , A rotary wheel  67  is provided with a through hole  68  and two moving teeth  64  engage able with either part of projections  63  of two action arms  69 . The moving teeth  64  of rotary wheel  67  is actuated by door knob  31 , which is engaged with the through hole  68  by mean of spindle  73 , thereby causing the moving teeth to pull up either part of projection  63 , depending on action of operation of door knob. As it is seen from the side of door knob  31  in the figure, an action of turning the knob clockwise cause moving teeth  64  to move counterclockwise and engage with right hand side of action arm  63 . And vise versa, an action of turning the knob  31  counterclockwise, cause moving teeth  64  turn clockwise and engage with left hand side of action arms  69 . 
         [0054]    A body  77  provided at lower end with attachment hole  76  and a collar  75  at upper end. The attachment hole  76  is provided for connection to shaft  29 . The shaft  29  is fastened to hole  76  by nuts  71  and slip ring  70 . The collar  75  rest on one side of rotary wheel  67 . 
         [0055]    A spring loaded door latch  27  as shown in  FIG. 18  are operable by door knob  31  in a way that it is mutually exclusive from adapter  28 . 
         [0056]    The operation of this actuating mechanism are operated from turning door knob  31 , pull-up action by adapter  28 , shaft  29 , connector  30 , shaft  164 , and hook  171 . A cooperation of sleeve  167 , helical spring  176 , and washer  169  will push the hook  171  down, to reset the pull-up action by operation of actuation. 
         [0057]      FIGS. 20 ,  21 ,  22 , and  23  show respectively operating stages one, two, three and four according to the second embodiment of the invention. Stage one represent a door in open position, stage two represent door in almost closed position, stage three represent a door in closed position, and stage four represent door in closed position with release mechanism activated. 
         [0058]    As door  21  is closing, cushion  12  with engage with jamb  26  causing spring  42  to flex and bring down associated sealing member  36  at hinged side to move downwardly until contact with sill  25 , as is shown in  FIG. 21 . 
         [0059]    A further closing of door  21  will flex spring  43  and bring associated sealing member  36  at unhinged side to come to contact sill  25  until the sealing member is completely in contact with sill  25  and door  21  is completely closed, as shown in  FIG. 22 . Spring  42  and  43  will retain force F 3 . 
         [0060]    With actuation mechanism similar to description in  FIGS. 18 and 19 . An action of turning door knob  31 , would activate release mechanism  60 . As result latch pin  102  release the shaft  112 . In absent of latching of shaft  112 , helical spring  8  will be depressed by force F 3 , and eventually retain force F 4 . The sealing members as significantly retracted into the channel  15 , as shown in  FIG. 23 . 
         [0061]    According to this actuation mechanism stage one, two, three and four are normal routine stage of operation of the Door Bottom. The action of turning door knob  31  will actuate the release mechanism and a precursor to open the door  21 , or it can be an action just to actuate the release mechanism  60  without actually opening the door. 
         [0062]    Furthermore, alternatives to actuate release mechanism can be by means of mechanical lever as shown in  FIG. 5 , or by means of solenoids as shown in  FIGS. 15 and 16 . 
         [0063]    The Door Bottom  22  according to the second embodiment can be surface mounted similar to  FIG. 3 , or it can be flush mounted similar to  FIG. 8 . 
         [0064]      FIGS. 24   a,    24   b  show partial view of displacement mechanism with release mechanism according to the third embodiment of the invention. To form a complete figure, join the right side of  FIG. 24A  to the left side of  FIG. 24   b.    FIG. 24A  is the same with  FIG. 10A , with on exception that it is connected to a connecting block  41 . Description of  FIG. 24   a  follow the same description for  FIG. 10   a.    
         [0065]    The end block  2  is fixed to channel  15  by similar means as shown in  FIG. 6 . Housing  7  is connected with shaft  34  to connecting block  41  which in turn connected to leaf spring  4 . As shown in  FIG. 25  a dimple  5  is coupled to sealing members  36  at in line holes at the rigid member  13  by means of pin  89 . The coupling restricted any lengthwise movement of sealing element  36 . Spring constant of leaf spring  4  is provided to be significantly larger that spring constant of helical helical spring  8 . 
         [0066]      FIGS. 25 ,  26 , and  27  show respectively operating stages one, two, and three according to the third embodiment of the invention. Stage one represent a door in open position, stage two represent door in closed position. Stage four represent door in closed position with release mechanism activated. 
         [0067]    During closing of the door  21 , at one point, cushion  132  will engage with jamb  26  causing release mechanism to be driven into channel  15  along rails  18 . The movement cause spring  4  to flex, forcing sealing members  36  partially out of the lower section of the channel  15  until it contact with door sill  15 . It is arranged that portion of sealing members  36  from coupling point  93  toward hinged side of the door is relatively longer than portion of toward unhinged side. This to assure portion of sealing element  14  near hinged side will contact sill first, to minimize drag of sealing element  14  to sill  25  during closing of door  21 .  FIG. 26  show the second operating stage. Spring  4  will retain force F 7 . An activation of release mechanism by means of actuation as described in  FIG. 5 ,  15 , or  18  will cause shaft  10  to unlatch to housing  7 , and spring  8  to be depressed and eventually retain force F 8 . Where F 8  is significantly smaller than F 7 .  FIG. 27  show the third operating stage of the Door Bottom according to the third embodiment of the invention where door  21  is closed and sealing members  36  is retracted into channel  15 . When the door  21  is opened, cushion  132  disengage from jamb  26 , and relieving pressure to shaft. Retained force F 8  would cause spring to sprang and to pull shaft  10  out of housing  7  until its annular grove is latch again by latch pin  102 . The release mechanism  9  is reset. 
         [0068]    All publications, patents, and patent documents are incorporated by reference herein, as though individually incorporated by reference. Although the invention has been described with reference to a specific and preferred embodiment and technique, it should be appreciated by one of skill in the art that many variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention. 
         [0069]    While the above invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. One skilled in the art may find variations of these preferred embodiments which, nevertheless, fall within the spirit of the present invention, whose scope is defined by the claims set forth below.