Door blocking device

A door blocking device comprises a bar, which extends along the edge of the door jamb, and a formed section for housing the bar, which formed section is fast with said edge and so shaped as to allow the bar to move, with only a small amount of friction, under the control of an actuating member, between a door blocking position and a door releasing position. The bar is equipped with means for returning it to the blocking position, and the actuating member drives it against the returning force in order to bring it in the releasing position. The blocking bar is equipped with a locking device comprising an elongated flat rod which, by a pivoting movement under the action of return springs, takes up a slanted position behind the bar and locks it in the door-blocking position. The bar actuating member can drive said bar back to the releasing position after controlling the retraction of the flat rod by means of a bent lever pivoting through the bar.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a device for blocking a door constituted 
by an openable panel mounted opposite a door frame or jamb and comprising 
an edge which, when the door is in closed position, is situated in facing 
relationship to a conjugate edge of the door frame or jamb, and which, 
when the door opens, moves away from the latter edge in a direction 
substantially perpendicular to the plane of the door; this device is 
essentially composed of a bar extending along the aforesaid edge of the 
door frame, through most of the length thereof, and of a formed section 
for housing said bar, which formed section is fast with said latter edge 
and is so shaped as to prevent the bar from moving perpendicularly to the 
plane of the door in closed position, while allowing it to move, with only 
a small amount of friction, under the control of an actuating mechanism, 
according to a translatory movement in parallel to itself, between a 
blocking position in which it emerges laterally from the formed section to 
overlap the gap between the said edges, and a releasing position in which 
it retracts into the formed section while uncovering said gap and, as a 
result, permitting the opening of the door, the bar being equipped with 
means for returning it to the blocking position, so that the actuating 
mechanism drives the bar against the restoring force to bring same in the 
releasing position. 
Door blocking devices are often required to be locked when they are in 
their blocking position, in order to prevent anyone, who has found a way 
of entering the area protected by the door without coming through the 
latter, from opening said door by direct action on the blocking device to 
bring it to the releasing position, hence opening it. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
To overcome the aforesaid problem, the present invention proposes a device 
for locking in position the blocking bar of the above-described device. 
Such locking device comprises a blocking member which is adapted to be 
placed in an active position in which it locks the bar in the blocking 
position, or in an inactive position in which the bar is released, said 
locking device being so designed that its blocking member has priorly been 
placed in inactive position by the bar actuating mechanism when said 
mechanism operates to drive the bar to its releasing position. 
The blocking member is preferably provided with restoring means which, when 
the bar resumes the blocking position, automatically returns it to active 
position. 
According to one advantageous embodiment, in which means are provided for 
guiding the bar into the formed section while creating a gap between at 
least one of the walls of the formed section and the opposite face of the 
bar, the blocking member is constituted by a long flat rod which extends 
through substantially the whole height of the bar and can pivot of a small 
angle about one of its longitudinal edges resting against the bottom of 
the formed section, between an inactive position in which it is retracted 
in said gap, leaving the bar to move freely, and an active blocking 
position in which its second longitudinal edge is placed behind the bar in 
blocking position such as to block the latter by a bracing function 
between the bottom of the formed section and the rear face of the bar. 
Given that the bar actuating mechanism controls the bar displacements 
through a movable member adapted to come and exert a pressure on the front 
face of the bar with the object of driving the latter back towards the 
bottom of the formed section, arrangements should be made so that the 
pivoting movement of the flat rod from its active position to its inactive 
position is controlled by a lever bent substantially at right angle, and 
so that said lever, which is pivotable about an axis joined to the bar and 
parallel to the bar longitudinal direction, comprises a first arm of which 
the end is contiguous to the second edge of the flat rod and a second arm 
of which the end is interposed between the front face of the bar and the 
movable member used for actuating said bar, in order that said member, 
when moving to drive the bar to its releasing position, causes first the 
bent lever to pivot, which lever then controls, by the end of its first 
arm, the pivoting movement of the flat rod toward its retracted position. 
According to another feature of the invention, the first arm of the bent 
lever traverses the bar through an orifice provided in its front face, 
namely the face closest to the openable panel of the door, of 
cross-section hardly larger than that of said arm, said orifice being near 
the arm pivoting axis, and through an orifice provided in its rear face, 
and being wide enough to allow the pivoting movements of the bent lever. 
Preferably, the second arm of the bent lever is wider in the longitudinal 
direction of the bar, than the first arm and connects up with the latter 
by way of a pair of symmetrical shoulder pieces by which the bent lever 
rests against the front face of the bar, on either side of the orifice 
provided in said face. 
It is recommended to select, for each particular case of application, the 
disposition of the bent lever which offers the best security, as regards 
possible illegal actuating thereof. For example, and depending on the 
case, the second arm of the bent lever can be oriented either in the 
direction of the door opening movement, or, on the contrary, in the 
direction of the door closing movement. Moreover, an obstacle can 
advantageously be provided close to the end of the second arm of the bent 
lever, to prevent the access to the face thereof which is opposite the bar 
when said bar is in blocking position. 
When a second movable member is provided for actuating the bar, the 
dimensions of the second arm of the bent lever should be such that it can 
be engaged by either one of the two actuating members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 3, these show the conjugate edges 1a, 2a of a 
door 1 and of the door jamb 2 in which said door is mounted and can pivot 
about a vertical pivoting axis. Said door is equipped, on the inner side 7 
corresponding to the room which the door is designed to close, with a 
blocking device essentially composed of a bar 4 movable inside a formed 
section 5 fixed to the door jamb 2, both these elements extending 
vertically along the edge 1a of the door, opposite to its pivoting axis, 
which the conjugate edge 2a of the door jamb faces, when the door is in 
closed position, as in the illustrated example. The bar 4, which is formed 
by a rectilinear metal tube of square cross-section, can move while being 
guided inside the formed section which is U-shaped, following a horizontal 
translatory direction 6 parallel to the plane of the panel forming the 
door 1, in order to reach either a door-blocking position I (FIGS. 1 and 
2), or a door-releasing position II (FIG. 3). 
In its door-blocking position I, the bar 4 emerges from the U-section 5 
housing it, to reach a position in front of the gap 8 separating edges 1a 
and 2a on the inner side 7. In such a case, door 1 cannot be opened, its 
edge 1a being stopped by the face 4a of the bar 4 parallel to the plane of 
the door and closest to said door, whereas the bar comes to rest, over its 
entire length, which latter is only a little shorter than the height of 
the door, by its opposite face 4b against the contiguous flange 5b of the 
U-section 5. In the event of a thrust force being exerted from the 
outside, the bar 4 being under compression between the flange 5b of the 
U-section 5 and the edge 1a of the door, prevents the opening of the 
latter. 
In its door-releasing position II, the bar 4 is retracted inside the 
U-section 5 (FIG. 3), and thus it no longer prevents the edge 1a of the 
door from moving towards the inner side 7, and the door can be opened 
according to arrow 34. 
The bar 4 is supported at its lower end by a device which enables it to 
move between its position I and II without undergoing any noticeable 
frictions. Moreover, sliding studs 17 are distributed over faces 4a and 4b 
and over the corresponding faces 5a and 5b of the U-section 5, in order to 
reduce friction between the bar and the U-section. Leaf springs 13 are 
placed between the bottom 5c of the U-section 5 and the opposite face of 
the bar 4 so that said bar is subjected, through its entire length, to a 
restoring force returning it towards its blocking position I. 
The bar 4 can be placed in its releasing position II by means of a lock 
provided with a movable driving rod, adapted to push the bar backward and 
to cause it to retract into the U-section 5 (FIG. 3), while compressing 
the springs 13. Door 1 can then be opened freely. 
In its blocking position I (FIG. 1), the bar 4 is blocked by a locking 
device which prevents it from moving to its releasing position II, in the 
event that a thrusting force is applied directly on the bar itself. This 
locking device comprises an elongated flat rod 35, pivotable about its 
longitudinal edge 35a applied against the bottom 5c of the U-section 5 and 
held in position by the screws heads 36 forming stops, in the angle formed 
by said bottom with the face 5a of the U-section 5 adjacent the door jamb 
2. Under the action of restoring springs 37, the flat rod 35 adopts a 
slanted position (FIG. 1) in which, being placed behind the bar 4, it can 
block said bar by a bracing operation, between its rear face 4c and the 
bottom 5c of U-section 5. 
The locking device further comprises a bent lever made-up of two arms 38a, 
38b, forming substantially a right angle. The first arm 38a traverses the 
bar through orifices 39, 40 formed respectively in the front face 4d and 
in the rear face 4c thereof. The front orifice 39 is barely wider than the 
arm 38a, whereas the rear orifice 40 is noticeably wider and offers a 
horizontal clearance possibility to said arm, so that the bent lever 38 
can pivot about a horizontal axis situated near the orifice 39. As to arm 
38b, this is interposed between the front face 4d of the bar and the 
movable driving rod 16. 
The bent lever 38 is constituted by a strip of sheet metal, thin but rigid 
and bent at right angle. As illustrated in FIG. 4, its arm 38b is wider 
than its arm 38a to which it is connected via a pair of aligned shoulders 
38c situated close to the bending line 38d of the bent lever 38, between 
said line and the end of arm 38a. The two shoulders 38c by which the bent 
lever 38 can rest on the front face 4d of the bar 4, above and under 
orifice 39 (formed by a narrow vertical slot), define the pivoting axis AA 
of the bent lever. 
At its end emerging from the bar 4 through orifice 40, arm 38a is provided 
with a screw 41 which cooperates with flat rod 35, the end of said screw 
being applied against the lateral face of said rod situated opposite the 
springs 37, in a point remote from the edge 35a about which said rod is 
pivotable. 
In order to bring the bar 4 from its blocking position I, where it is 
locked by the flat rod 35 (FIG. 1), to its releasing position II 
permitting the opening of the door 1 (FIG. 3), the driving rod 16 is 
caused to move toward bar 4 by operating the lock. Said driving rod 
encounters the arm 38b of the bent lever 38a and causes it (FIG. 2) to 
pivot about its pivoting axis AA materialized by shoulders 38c. The screw 
41 placed at the end of arm 38a then causes the flat rod 35 to pivot, 
which latter retracts in parallel to the lateral face 5a of the U-section 
5, in the gap 45 created by the studs 17 between said face and face 4a 
opposite the bar 4, while compressing its restoring springs 37, so that it 
stops preventing the bar 4 from moving backward to the bottom 5c of the 
U-section 5. By continuing to move forward, the driving rod 16 drives the 
bar 4 back, via the bent lever 38, as far as its releasing position II 
(FIG. 3) where said bar 4 holds the flat rod 35 in retracted position in 
the gap 45, independently of the lever 38. 
When, after the door is closed again, the bar 4 returns to its blocking 
position II, it releases the flat rod 35 and the latter, under the action 
of springs 37, pivots to resume automatically its active bar-blocking 
position (FIG. 1). 
To prevent anyone with wrong intentions, situated on the inner side 7 of 
the door, from succeeding in unlocking the bar 4 by direct action on the 
bent lever 38, the access to arm 38b of the latter is prevented by a 
fitting 42 fixed to the casing 43 of the lock. The shape of said fitting 
is such that, when the door is closed (FIG. 1), said fitting on the one 
hand covers part of the edge of the lateral face 5b of the U-section 5 
facing toward the inner side 7, and this at least at the lever of the bent 
lever 38, and on the other hand, it conceals the end of arm 38b, so as to 
prevent the introduction of a house-breaking tool as far as the face of 
that arm facing toward the driving rod 16. 
In the illustrated embodiment, the device 35, 38 for locking the bar 4 is 
placed close to the lateral face 4a of said bar which is opposite to the 
inner side 7, arm 38b of bent lever 38 emerging from bar 4 toward the door 
opening direction 34. A symmetrical disposition could also be adopted, if 
necessary, in which the flat rod 35, the arm 38a and the orifices 39, 40 
would be situated close to the other lateral face 4b of bar 4, arm 38b 
being oriented in the direction opposite the door opening direction 34. 
It is also possible to provide, besides the driving rod 16 which is 
operated with a lock, a handle 24 comprising an actuating rod 24a, 
permitting a direct action on the bar 4, independently of the lock, --but 
of course, only on the inner side 7. Actuating rod 24a, similar to rod 16, 
is then placed at another level than rod 16, and arm 38b extends 
sufficiently in vertical direction to be reachable by either one of the 
two rods, as illustrated in FIG. 4.