Door-stop for the handicapped

A door-stop for handicapped people and particularly people in wheel chairs which permits the person to push a self-closing door open and lock it in an open position before passing through the doorway. The door-stop is comprised of a pivoted cross bar mounted at a convenient height traverse to the door connected by means of a lever to a door-stop at the corner of the door. The door can thus be pushed open and the cross bar moved downward to lock the door-stop. After the person passes through the door, he can simply lift the cross bar to release the door-stop allowing the door to close.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to door-stops and more particularly 
relates to a door-stop that may be utilized by handicapped persons in 
wheel chairs or other persons who require a convenient method to open, 
stop and release self-closing doors. 
Self-closing doors present a particular problem to some handicapped persons 
and in particular handicapped persons in wheel chairs. They need to push 
open the heavy, spring-loaded doors and while holding the door open 
maneuver their wheel chair through the doorway. Often the assistance of 
another person is needed to hold the door in an open position or to push 
the wheel chair through the doorway. 
One method of solving this problem is to provide sophisticated electronic 
self-opening doors that are actuated by a push-knob, floor sensor or 
remote sensor. These doors, of course, are expensive and not easily 
installed in buildings already constructed. Generally, they must be 
installed at the time of construction. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a easily operated 
door-stop which can be utilized by a handicapped person such as a person 
in a wheel chair. 
The door-stop of the present invention is comprised of a pivoted cross bar 
linked by a lever to a door-stop mounted at a corner of the self-closing 
door. The self-closing door may then be pushed open by a person seated in 
a wheel chair and the door-stop easily locked by releasing the cross bar 
attached to the door at a convenient height. A convenient height would 
generally be chest height of a person sitting in a wheel chair, which is 
approximately one third (1/3) of the way up the door or about 26 inches to 
36 inches from the floor. The linkage or lever connecting the cross bar to 
the door-stop, moves the door-stop into position to stop or lock the door 
in an open position. The wheel chair may then be maneuvered through the 
doorway and the door-stop released by simply raising the cross bar to lock 
the door-stop in an up position. 
It is one object of the present invention to provide a door-stop for 
self-closing doors, which may be easily operated by a person sitting in a 
wheel chair. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door-stop for 
self-closing doors, which will permit a handicapped person to open and 
lock the door and pass through the door without assistance from others. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door-stop for 
self-closing doors that can be easily and economically installed on 
existing structures. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an easily 
operable door-stop, which will permit self-closing doors to be easily 
locked in an open position while various equipment such as push-carts, 
motorized equipment, baggage, etc. can be carried through the opened door. 
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention become 
apparent from the following detailed description when considered in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A door-stop for use by handicapped persons, particularly persons in wheel 
chairs, is illustrated generally in FIG. 1. The door is generally a 
self-closing type door 10, which can be easily pushed open by a person in 
a seated position and then locked by means of the door-stop. The door-stop 
is comprised of a cross bar 12 mounted on the self-closing door 10 at a 
convenient location which is usually in the range of 26 inches to 36 
inches from the floor. The cross bar 12 is attached to the door by means 
of brackets 13 and 14 secured by pivot pins 15 engaging door mount 16, 
which may be fastened to the door by adhesive, screws or any other 
suitable means. 
A door-stop 20 is pivotedly secured to a lower corner of the door by means 
of a pin 25 engaging the mount 24 also fastened the door by any suitable 
means. The cross bar 12 operates the door-stop by means of a linkage or 
lever 18 secured by a swivel pin 17 attached to bracket 13 at one end and 
by a second swivel pin 26 engaging the door-stop 20. The door-stop 20 is 
provided with the usual rubber foot 22 for gripping or frictionally 
engaging the floor to prevent the door from slipping. 
When the self-closing door 10 is not in use the cross bar 12 will be in a 
disengaged or "up" position as illustrated in FIG. 2. This will allow the 
door to swing freely with the door-stop remaining in the up position. 
Preferably the door mount 16 and pivot pins 15 extend sufficiently away 
from the surface of the door 10 to allow the cross bar 12 to swing into a 
"beyond center" position locking the door-stop in an up position. 
Alternatively, snap locks, magnetic latches, or leaf springs could be 
provided to hold the door-stop in the up position. 
To operate the door-stop the self-closing door 10 is pushed open either by 
pushing on the door surface itself or grasping the cross bar 12. The cross 
bar 12 may then be moved downward to an engaged position to allow the 
door-stop rubber foot 22 to securely grip the floor surface. A "beyond 
center" positioning of the linkage pin 17 will permit the cross bar 12 to 
be pushed a sufficient distance downward to lock the door-stop in an 
engaged position. This would be particularly preferable of the very heavy 
spring-operated, self-closing doors. However, the "beyond center" locking 
of the door-stop would be designed to be sufficiently light so that it 
could be easily released from a seated position. Once the door is opened 
and in a locked position, it is a simple matter for the handicapped person 
in a wheel chair to easily maneuver the wheel chair through the doorway. 
As was described previously, the door-stop may now be disengaged by lifting 
upward on the cross bar 12 to pivot the door-stop 20 to an "up" position. 
A novel, unique feature of the invention is that the door-stop 20 can be 
engaged or disengaged from the hinge side or from the open side of the 
door. Hence, a person in a wheel chair can approach the door from either 
direction, open the door and engage the door-stop 20, maneuver through the 
doorway and simply reach back and disengage the door-stop to close the 
door. 
The door-stop 20, of course, can be any type of configuration such as a 
straight arm or an arm with a slight angle. However, preferably, the 
door-stop 20 has a cross section whose moment of enertia in the direction 
parallel to the door is greater than that perpendicular to the door. This 
novel construction allows the curved shaft forming the door-stop 20 to 
deflect more, and therefore store more strain energy, than that of a 
conventional door-stop. The strain energy is utilized as follows. Once the 
self-closing door 10 is pushed open, the door starts to close before the 
cross bar 12 can be moved to lock the door-stop in a "down" position. When 
the door-stop 20 is engaged, the force of the door closing will be 
transferred into the curved shaft of the door-stop 20, which will deflect 
and store elastic strain energy. When the door decelerates to zero, the 
curved shaft of the door-stop starts to spring back to its original shape, 
due to the strain energy being released. The force from the springing of 
the curved shaft forming the door-stop pushes the door open wider. 
An overview of the operation of the door-stop of the invention utilizing 
the curved shaft shown is as follows: 
(a) A self-closing door 10 is pushed open and starts to close. 
(b) The cross bar 12 is "flipped" or pushed down which abruptly stops the 
door. 
(c) The curved shaft deflects causing the door to rebound from the abrupt 
stop which tends to open the door wider. 
(d) The door-stop 20 slides along the floor as the door tends to open wider 
then holds the door in the new open position. 
Preferably the linkage of the cross bar 12 to the door-stop 20 is such that 
to engage the door-stop merely requires the user to flip the cross bar 
rather than having to apply any substantial downward force. Again, the 
linkage and pin construction are such that a slight upward flip of the 
cross bar will release the door. 
Thus, there has been described a door-stop including a unique construction 
which allows a handicapped person, particularly a person in a wheel chair, 
to easily open and lock the self-closing door in the open position. 
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the invention are possible 
in light of the above teaching. It is therefore to be understood that the 
full scope of the invention is not limited to the details disclosed 
herein, but only by the appended claims and may be practiced otherwise 
than as specifically described.