Safety gate assembly

A safety gate is composed of a U-shaped frame and a door spanning the interior of the frame. One side of the door is pivotally connected to one side of the frame to permit pivotal movement of the door with respect to the frame. The frame's width is adjusted by a ratchet mechanism composed of a spring-loaded pawl having a sloping side and a vertical side so that the width of the frame can be adjusted in one direction only.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is in the field of safety gates.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Safety gates for confining children or pets are known. In some, the gate is composed of two panels which expand to fill a door or hall way and clamp in place against the door jamb or walls by a ratchet or pawl-type mechanism consisting of two poles one of which is provided with a series of regularly spaced slots and the other of which is provided with a hinged member able to sit in the slots. The mechanism is attached to the vertical mid-point of each panel and extends horizontally from one side end of the first panel to the other side end of the second panel. The adjustment to fit the gate is by hand. The hinged member is lifted vertically while the panels are expanded to fit. Then the member is lowered into a slot. Often this adjustment takes two or three or more tries to get right, especially if one person is setting the gate in place.

In other safety gates, the gate is mounted on a hinged U-shaped frame and the frame is adjusted to fill the door or hall way by means of a plurality of screw pads on the frame. Typically there are four screw pads, one each at the top and bottom of one side of the frame and one each at the top and bottom of the other side of the frame, and to properly mount this type of gate each of the screw pads must be unscrewed in a fairly even manner.

It would be advantageous to provide a safety gate that eliminates the above-noted problems with known safety gates. Such a gate is provided by this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The safety gate of the invention includes a U-shaped frame and a gate spanning the interior of the U, one side of which is pivotally connected to one side of the frame to permit pivotal movement of the gate with respect to the frame about a pivot axis. The frame includes two generally vertically extending pillars, each pillar having a substantially perpendicular cross bar attached to it and extending horizontally at the bottom end to form the bottom of the U. At least one of the vertically extending pillars is canted outward 1°-3°, preferably both pillars are canted outward. This is to ensure a pre-load compression on the top portion of the frame to apply pressure on the doorway sides when the gate is positioned. To position the gate assembly, the user pulls inward both the left and right pillar at the top to bend the pillars inward and positions the pillars against the doorway vertical surfaces and releases them. This ensures grip to resist any pushing on the U-frame to dislodge it. Positioned at or near the upper end of each pillar on the outer side of the frame are pads to keep the pillars from marring the door or hall way. Pads are also positioned at or near the lower end of each pillar for the same purpose.

The frame further includes a hollow surround bar that is positioned surrounding the horizontal cross bars so that each horizontal cross bar rests at least partially inside it and is able to move in a telescoping manner within it. The cross bars may be U-shaped in cross section and are attached to the vertically extending pillars so that the bottom of the U is uppermost in an upside down arrangement. At least one of the cross bars is formed with an array of spaced apart catches in one side thereof, preferably the top side thereof. The catches are disposed in the cross bar in regular increments, preferably in increments of between 10 and 15 mm, more preferably in increments of between 12 to 13 mm. The catches may be in the form of hollow slots in the top side of the cross bar or in the form of downwardly extending saw teeth in the top side of the cross bar. The cross bars and surround bar form part of a gross adjustment mechanism by which one of the pillars separates from the other pillar in these regular increments. A door, formed to span the interior of the frame and pivotally connected to an interior side of one of the frame pillars to permit pivotal movement of the door with respect to the frame about a pivot axis is also provided. The door is formed so as to be adjustable in the horizontal direction such that the width of the door can accommodate the varying widths of the frame.

The safety gate of the invention further includes uni-directional locking means for releasably securing the cross bars within the surround bar. In one embodiment, the uni-directional locking means includes a rotating or pivoting lock pawl pivotally mounted in the interior of the surround bar and being formed and positioned to rotate or pivot in one direction when the frame is expanded to engage one of the catches in the cross bar and to lock the frame when rotated in the opposite direction. In an alternate embodiment, the uni-directional locking means includes a linear lock pawl mounted in the interior of the surround bar and being formed and positioned to move linearly in one direction when the frame is expanded to engage one of the catches in the cross bar and to lock the frame when rotated in the opposite direction. The catches may be an array of slots or saw teeth in the top or upper portion of the catched cross bar.

The safety gate also includes a cantilever foot pedal operatively connected to the unslotted cross bar and to the surround bar to pivot between an upward and open, unlocked position and a downward and closed, locked position to telescopingly move the surround bar to the unslotted cross bar and engage the locking means to lock and unlock the frame. When the user steps on the foot pedal to lock the gate frame in place, the foot pedal pivots downward using an over-center geometry and pushes the unslotted cross bar and surround bar outward, expanding the U-frame and gate assembly outward to push the bottom pads, one of which is spring-loaded, against the vertical doorway surfaces. This ensures that the unit resists the bottom of the U-frame from being dislodged when a force is applied to the bottom of the gate or frame. This foot pedal is secured in the downward, locked position by means of two spring-loaded finger locks, one on each side of the pedal to ensure it stays locked and only is released when the user purposefully depressed both locks at the same time, to allow the foot pedal to move in an upward and unlocked position. When the pedal is released and allowed to pivot back upward, the unslotted cross bar and the surround bar retract and remove the load off the bottom pads which allows the user to remove the frame from the doorway.

One of the pads included to prevent marring of the structure in which the gate is mounted is spring-loaded. The pad positioned outside of the pillar at the pillar bottom opposite the foot pedal includes a spring positioned within the slotted cross bar and operatively connected to the pad such that when the foot pedal is depressed the spring is compressed and increases the load on the pad. The spring loaded pad has a spring which deforms under load to take up compliance when the two pillars are expanded by the foot pedal. This spring-loaded pad allows the pad to depress under a load of 30 foot pounds. As the U-frame members expand when the foot pedal is depressed, this pad makes contact with the passageway vertical surface and the spring allows the arm member to continue to expand, compressing the spring, and keeping the pads in contact with the passageway vertical surface. As the spring compresses, the load on the pads increases, which ensures adequate friction between the product and the passageway vertical surfaces.

The safety gate also include a latch assembly composed of upper and lower latches positioned at the opening side of the gate and corresponding upper and lower latch receivers positioned on the frame pillar opposite for receiving the latches to releasably latch the door in a closed planer position in relation to the frame. The form of the latch assembly is not critical; appropriate one for this purpose are known to those skilled in the art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The safety gate of the invention is designed to be a quick, easy setup process for the consumer to install in a doorway or opening from 29.5″ to 42″ widths. It consists of a “U-frame” structural assembly10and an adjustable swinging door20. The “U-frame”10is installed in the doorway and then the swinging adjustable gate is installed onto the “U-frame” by pivot means composed of a pair of hinge brackets19mounted on the interior side of frame and a pair of hinges mount on the door as is well known in the art. Frame10includes two generally vertically extending pillars11, each pillar having a substantially perpendicular cross bar12and13attached to it and extending horizontally at the bottom end of the pillars to form the bottom of the U.

The frame further includes a hollow surround bar14that is positioned surrounding the horizontal cross bars so that each horizontal cross bar rests at least partially inside it and is able to move in a telescoping manner within it. The cross bars12,13may be U-shaped in cross section and are attached to the vertically extending pillars so that the bottom of the U is uppermost, such that the “U” is in an upside down arrangement. In one embodiment, at least one of the cross bars,13, is formed with an array of slots18in one side thereof, preferably the top side thereof. The slots are disposed in the cross bar in regular increments, preferably in increments of between 10 and 15 mm, more preferably in increments of between 12 to 13 mm. The cross bars and surround bar form part of a gross adjustment mechanism by which one of the pillars separates from the other pillar in these regular increments. The door,20, is formed to span the interior of the frame and is pivotally connected to an interior side of one of the frame pillars via hinge brackets19to permit pivotal movement of the door with respect to the frame about a pivot axis as already described. The door is formed so as to be adjustable in the horizontal direction such that the width of the door can accommodate the varying widths of the frame. The frame is also provided with an upper latch receiver16and a lower latch receiver17and the door is provided with upper and lower latches21and22that are correspondingly positioned to mate with the latch receivers when the door is swung to its closed position in planer alignment with the frame.

As best seen inFIG. 2, the bottom of the U-frame has a gross adjustment feature whereby the uncatched cross bar (not shown) is able to separate from the slotted cross bar,13, in increments of 13 mm (½″ of an inch) by use of a ratcheting-like mechanism. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 2, a spring-loaded pawl15having a sloping side and a vertical side is pivotally mounted within surround bar14by means of a U-shaped pawl bracket25to which pawl pivot pin26is attached. Because the pawl has a sloping side and a vertical side, the pawl is allowed to pivot in one direction only. The pawl allows for the movement of surround bar when pivoted in the upward direction but prevents movement in the opposite direction because the pawl springs downward as the surround bar moves so the pawl engages with one of the slots18in the slot array. Torsion spring27is operatively connected to pawl15and pawl bracket25to provide this function and to orient and maintain the pawl vertically within surround bar14.

InFIG. 3, there is shown a second embodiment of the gross adjustment mechanism. In this embodiment, the top of one of the cross bars is formed with depending saw teeth,48, instead of slots. A spring-mounted linear pawl,28, is positioned in the interior of surround bar14and mounted to the sides of the surround bar via pins29. The linear pawl is formed with a pair of 45° angled guide slots,39, through which the pins,29, extend. As the catched cross bar moves linearly to widen the frame (i.e., moves to the right in the Figures), the saw teeth48of the catched cross bar glide over the corresponding saw teeth,38, in the pawl as the pin mounted pawl slides linearly on a 45° angle. In this embodiment, because the pawl has a sloping side and a vertical, the pawl allows for movement of the cross bar in one direction only.

Referring now toFIG. 6andFIG. 6A, the gate of the invention also includes a foot pedal assembly30including foot pedal31and linkage33. Foot pedal31is connected to the sides of uncatched cross bar12by pivot pin32and to linkage33by pivot pin34. Spring loaded finger locks36are provided on each side of the foot pedal. Linkage33is connected to the sides surround bar14by means of pivot pin35thereby forming a cantilever of the assembly. Linkage33is formed with a finger lock slots37disposed on each side of the linkage bar and positioned for receiving the finger locks on the foot pedal. When the foot pedal is depressed, it pivots downward and the uncatched cross bar12and surround bar14move outward, expanding the assembly by up to 18 mm to engage the vertical pillars with the vertical doorway surfaces. When depressed fully, finger locks36engage with finger lock slots37to maintain the foot pedal in it fully depressed position and to lock the frame in place against the doorway surface. When the user purposefully depresses both finger locks and releases, the lock springs open releasing the foot pedal from its fully depressed and locket position. The released foot pedal then pivots upward, which causes uncatched cross bar12and surround bar14to retract, removing the load off the bottom of the pillars which allows the user to remove the assembly from the doorway.

As best seen inFIGS. 4 and 5, pad assemblies are provided to minimize marring the vertical door or hall surfaces between which the safety gate is mounted. The two pillars,11, are formed with upper and lower receiving holes in their outer sides. The pad assembly including pad40mounted on the head of threaded screw41is inserted into the hole in engagement with threaded nut42that is positioned within pillar11in a contiguous position with the receiving hole. This ensures grip to resist any pushing on the U-frame to dislodge it and provides a fine adjustment for gate assembly.

As shown inFIG. 5, one of the lower pad assemblies, specifically the lower pad assembly mounted on the vertical pillar opposite the foot pedal assembly, may be provided with a spring,43, which deforms under load to take up compliance with the uncatched cross bar and the surround bar are expanded by the foot pedal. This spring43, which is held in place within slotted cross bar13by spring perch44and spring stop45allows pad40to depress 24 mm under a load of 30 foot pounds. As the uncatched cross bar and surround bar are expanded by depression of the foot pedal, this pad makes contact with the doorway vertical surface and the spring43allows the bars to continue to expand, compressing the spring and keeping the pads40in contact with the passageway vertical surface. As the spring compresses, the load on the pads increases which ensures adequate friction between the frame of the gate and the doorway vertical surfaces.

Once the frame is secured in the doorway, the door20is installed by placing the hinge pins23,24into the hinge brackets19on the frame and dropping the gate in a downward motion until it is fully seated. Next the width of the door is adjusted so that the door latches can be received in the upper and lower latch receivers of the frame. The door is now able to swing and be of use.