A DEVICE FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A DOOR IN RAILWAY AND BUS CARS

Abstract: For opening and closing a door (5) in a doorway (7) of a structure (9) in a railway and bus car, it is provided a device comprising an upper ejection assembly, a lower ejection assembly and a translation assembly. The upper ejection assembly further comprises a translation slide bar. Said upper and lower ejection assemblies substantially comprise respective rotation arms (1, 11) joined at one side to the fixed structure (9) by means of hinges (13) mounted through curved slots on respective brackets (15), whereas at the other end they are movably joined to a frame which is integral with the door (5). Said frame substantially comprises a pair of slide bars (31), an upper and a lower one, over which slide suitable slide supports (27, 43). A slide bar (37) passes through the doorway (79) and is pivoted at one end to a movable end of the upper arm (1), and at the other end to a fixed bracket (47) on the other side of the doorway (7). After the door (5) has been separated from the doorway (7), the door is translated by means of a suitable rack (61) integral with the door, engaged by a gear wheel (59) which is driven through suitable gears (55, 57) by another rack (53) which in turn is driven by the rod (51) of a fluid actuated cylinder (49). According to the described and illustrated embodiment, the ejection assemblies are driven by at least one fluid pressure cylinder (20) the rod of which is secured to a rack (19) which engages a suitable gear wheel (21) keyed on the rotation shaft (23) of the ejection arms (1, 11) and causes their partial rotation, thus accomplishing the separation or ejection of the door (5) from the doorway (7) of the structure (9). It is foreseen that the upper and lower ejection assemblies are connected together by a suitable torsion bar (24) integral with the shaft (23) and synchronizing the respective rotation movements.

Description: A DEVICE FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A DOOR IN RAILWAY AND BUS CARS The present invention concerns a device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars. It is well known that the operation of doors or leaves in railway and bus cars has been and is still of considerable interest for the manufacturers and the users of such vehicles: the system and the associated device for opening and closing the doors of said cars has to meet both requirements of practicability and efficiency, and safety requirements for ensuring a proper operation of the device and the passengers' safety. The object of the present invention is to provide a safe and practical device for door opening and closing in railway and bus cars, adapted to stand the inner and outer stresses to which the car is generally subjected. With the subject device it is proposed to impart the door an ejection or rotational movement in the opening cycle, followed by a translation movement that places the door in a stable position parallel to the side frame housing the doorway. The closing cycle is obviously the reverse of the above mentioned opening one. The subject device substantially comprises: - an upper ejection (rotation) drive assembly and a translation guide with variable centers; - a door translation drive assembly; - a lower ejection (rotation) drive assembly; the term ejection meaning a partial rotation of the arms secured to the fixed structure and to the door in order to accomplish the initial separation from and the final approach to the doorway of said door; the upper and lower ejection drive assemblies substantially comprising respective ejection drive arms joined at their base end, at the axis of rotation 01 06, to respective fixed hinge members, and at their other free end to suitable supports secured to the door; said hinge members allowing for an angular rotation movement of the arms which is enough to accomplish the ejection of the door; said hinge members being mounted on respective brackets through a curved slot fastening arrangement which allows the change of their angular attitude in such a way as to align the centers of rotation of the hinge members with the axis of rotation 01 06 of said arms, said brackets secured to the structure that carries the doorway forming a first and a third linking points between the device and the structure; the drive means for said upper and lower ejection arms comprising at least a rack driven by a dedicated fluid pressure small cylinder, e.g. a hydraulic or pneumatic one, the rack engaging at least one gear wheel or gearing which is keyed to the shaft of rotation of the above mentioned ejection arms; the upper and lower ejection drive assemblies being connected together by a suitable torsion bar integral with the rotation shafts of said arms in order to synchronize the respective movements of rotation; at their other end or free end said ejection arms being engaged by a clamp carrying a pivoted support with an associated slide bush, with respective upper and lower slide bars, at 02, that are integral with the door; such engagement coupling forming a first and a third back up points for the door; the end portion of the upper ejection arm carrying a support acting as a half hinge at 03, into which an additional support is fitted, a circular cross section slide bar fastened to said additional support being connected bridgewise to a further bush-pivot support, at 05, a sleeve provided with slide bushes being slidably mounted on said circular cross section bar, such sleeve being joined to the door through a pivoting between the relevant movable axis and the relevant bracket, said bracket forming the second back up point of the door; said bush-pivot support formed by a block drilled to accomodate the circular cross section slide bar being pivoted at 05 to a bracket thus realizing the second linking point between the device and the structure carrying the doorway; the door translation drive assembly substantially comprising a pneumatic or fluid pressure cylinder the rod of which is fastened to a rack in turn engaging a gear wheel which in turn meshes with another gear wheel coaxially to which an additional gear wheel is provided that in turn engages a further rack secured to the door to be traslated; this assembly being connected, at the rear portion of the cylinder, to a hinge secured to the structure by one of the above illustrated half hinges; the whole assembly being integral with the upper ejection arm through the keying of the gear wheel to the pin that realizes the pivoting of axis 02. The invention will now be disclosed with particular reference to the attached drawings, given as a non limiting example and illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which: - Fig. 1 is an overall front view of a door applied to a fixed structure, which incorporates the subject device; - Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of Fig. 1 in which it is put in evidence the fastening system of the upper and lower members to the brackets; - Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the slotted system for fastening the members to the brackets; - Fig. 4 is a schematic view of the subject device in the position of closed door; - Fig. 5 is a schematic view, similar to Fig. 4, showing the device in the position where the opening or ejection (rotation) has been started; - Fig. 6 is a schematic view, similar to Fig.s 4 and 5, showing the subject device in the position where the door is opened and traslated; - Fig. 7 is a schematic top view of the device actuaring the ejection arms; - Fig. 8 is a schematic cross sectioned side view of the device of Fig. 7; - Fig. 9 is a schematic view of Fig. 8 as viewed along arrow IX; - Fig. 10 is a schematic top view of the door translation device according to the invention; - Fig. 11 is a schematic view of Fig. 10 as viewed along arrow XI; - Fig. 12 is a schematic cross section along line XII-XII of Fig. 5; - Fig. 13 is a schematic cross section along line XIII- XIII of Fig. 5. As it is evident from the figures, the subject device substantially comprises: - an upper ejection drive assembly and a translation guide with variable centers; - a door translation drive assembly; - a lower ejection drive assembly; where the term ejection means a partial rotation of the arms secured to the fixed structure and to the door in order to accomplish the initial separation from and the final approach to the doorway of said door. The upper drive assembly substantially comprises an ejection drive arm 1 which is joined at its base end in correspondence of the rotation axis 01, to a hinge member 3 allowing for an angular rotation movement, together with the movement of a lower drive assembly having substantially a similar construction, the angular rotaion movement being enough to accomplish the ejection of the door 5, i.e. the separation of said door from the doorway 7 of the fixed structure in which said doorway 7 is provided. Also such lower drive assembly comprises an ejection drive arm 11 which is joined at its base end in correspondence of the rotation axis 06, to a hinge member 13 similar to hinge 3, allowing for a similar angular rotation movement enough to accomplish the ejection of the door 5 as already mentioned. The hinge members 3 and 13 are mounted on corresponding and suitable bracket members 15 by means of a curved slot fastening arrangement 17 allowing for the change of their angular attitudes in respect of the plane parallel to the door surface 5, thus-allowing for the alignement of the rotation centers 01, 06 of the hinge members 3 and 13 with the axis of rotation 01-06 of said arms 1 and 11. Such bracket members 15 secured to the structure 9 carrying the doorway 7 constitute the first and the third linking points between the device and the structure 9. The actuating means of said upper and lower ejection arms 1 and 11 comprises at least a rack 19 driven by a dedicated fluid pressure small cylinder 20, e.g. hydraulic or pneumatic, at least a gear wheel or gearing 21 secured to the rotation shaft 23 of the above mentioned ejection arms 1 and 11 engaging the rack 19; at their other end or free end, through a clamp 25 carrying a support 27 with an associated slide bush 29 pivoted at 02, said ejection arms 1 and 11 engage corresponding upper and lower slide bars 31 integral with the door 5. Such coupling constitutes the first and third support or back up points for the door 5 itself. The upper arm 1 carries at its end portion a support 33 acting like a half hinge into which a further support 35 is fitted, to complete the hinge arrangement at axis 03. A circular cross section slideway or slide bar 37 fastened to the support 35 is connected bridgewise over a further bush- hinge support 39, a sleeve 41 provided with slide bushes being slidably mounted on said circular cross section slide bar 37, the sleeve being connected to the door 5 by means of a hinge arrangement of the respective movable axis 04 and bracket 43. Said bracket constitutes the second back up point of the door 5. Said bush-hinge support 39, formed by a block 45 drilled to accomodate the circular cross section slide bar 37 pivoted at 05 to a bracket 47, realizes the second linking point between the device and the structure 9 carrying the doorway 7. The door translation drive assembly substantially comprises a pneumatic or fluid pressure cylinder 49 the rod 51 of which carries a rack 53 in turn engaging a gear wheel 55 which in turn meshes with another gear wheel 57 coaxially to which an additional gear wheel 59 is provided that in turn engages a further rack 61 secured to the door 5 to be traslated. The above assembly is connected, at the rear portion of the cylinder 49, to a hinge 63 secured to the structure 9 by one of the above illustrated half hinges; the whole assembly being integral with the upper ejection arm 1 through the keying of the gear wheel 59 to the pin that realizes the pivoting of axis 02. This constraint consents to constantely keep engaged the gear wheel 59 and the rack 61 during the ejection (rotation) and translation movements of the door 5. The lower ejection drive assembly is quite similar to the upper ejection drive assembly, so that it is deemed that the former has been sufficientely described by the illustration of the latter . As already indicated, said lower ejection drive assembly comprises an arm 11 which is similar to the arm 1 and is joined to the half hinge 13 by means of the axis 06. Also this half hinge 13 is connected to the bracket 15 by a slotted fastening arrangement 17, quite similar to the slotted fastening arrangement described and shown with reference to the upper ejection drive assembly. Of course the axes 01 and 06 are coincident with aligned supports. The slotted fastening arrangement 17 of both upper and lower brackets 15 allows for the angular adjusting of axes 01 - 06 to achieve the above mentioned alignement. This adjustment renders the device adapted to be applied to doors that close over doorways of curved or otherwise shaped side frames, since it is always possible to obtain the alignement between the axes 01 - 06; which is the essential requirement for carrying out the rotation of the two arms 1 and 11 causing the ejection of the door 5. The arm 1 and the arm 11 are axially connected by a torsion bar 24 substantially coincident with the shaft 23 which takes care of transmitting the angular movement from an arm to the other and vice versa; this way it is further prevented any time difference between the two movements. The torque which is required to cause the rotation of the arms 1 and 11 can of course be applied without difference to either one of the arms, or simultaneously to both of them. Evidentely this is a matter of design choice, depending on the available space or the door weight. In the case that has been illustrated and described, such torque is applied to axes 01 - 06, and is generated by a system able to turn the linear movement of a cylinder rod into a circular motion. It is evident that other systems can be foreseen for the purpose of imparting a suitable torque to said bar for a proper working of the subject system. It is evident that the invention is not limited to the embodiment that has been described and illustrated, but several modifications and additional improvements can be incorporated into the same without coming out of the scope of the invention.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. A device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars, characterized in that said device substantially comprises: - an upper ejection (rotation) drive assembly and a translation guide with variable centers; - a door translation drive assembly; - a lower ejection (rotation) drive assembly; the term ejection meaning a partial rotation of the arms (1, 11) secured to the fixed structure (9) and to the door (5) in order to accomplish the initial separation from and the final approach to the doorway (7) of said door (5) ; the upper and lower ejection drive assemblies substantially comprising respective ejection drive arms (1, 11) joined at their base end, at the axis of rotation (01, 06), to respective fixed hinge members (3, 13), and at their other free end to suitable supports secured to the door (5) ; said hinge members (3, 13) allowing for an angular rotation movement of the arms which is enough to accomplish the ejection of the door (5); said hinge members (3, 13) being mounted on respective brackets (15) through a curved slot fastening arrangement (17) which allows the change of their angular attitude in such a way as to align the centers of rotation of the hinge members (3, 13) with the axis of rotation (01, 06) of said arms (1, 11), said brackets (15) secured to the structure (9) that carries the doorway (7) forming a first and a third linking points between the device and the structure (9) ; the drive means for said upper and lower ejection arms (1, 11) comprising at least a rack (19) driven by a dedicated fluid pressure small cylinder (20), e.g. a hydraulic or pneumatic one, the rack (19) engaging at least one gear wheel or gearing (21) which is keyed to the shaft of rotation (23) of the above mentioned ejection arms (1, 11); the upper and lower ejection drive assemblies being connected together by a suitable torsion bar (24) integral with the shafts (23), the bar synchronizing the movements of rotation of both assemblies; at their other end or free end said ejection arms (1, 11) being engaged by a clamp (25) carrying a pivoted support (27) with an associated slide bush (29), with respective upper and lower slide bars (31), (at 02), that are integral with the door (5) ; such engagement coupling forming a first and a third back up points for the door; the end portion of the upper ejection arm (1) carrying a support (33) acting as a half hinge (at 03), into which an additional support (35) is fitted, a circular cross section slide bar (37) fastened to said additional support (35) being connected bridgewise to a further bush-pivot support (39) (at 05), a sleeve (41) provided with slide bushes being slidably mounted on said circular cross section bar (37), such sleeve being joined to the door (5) through a pivoting between the movable axis (04) and the relevant bracket (43) , said bracket (43) forming the second back up point of the door (5) ; said bush-pivot support (39) formed by a block (45) drilled to accomodate the circular cross section slide bar (37) being pivoted (at 05) to a bracket (47) thus realizing the second linking point between the device and the structure (9) carrying the doorway (7) ; the door translation drive assembly substantially comprising a pneumatic or fluid pressure cylinder (49) the rod (51) of which is fastened to a rack (53) in turn engaging a gear wheel (55) which "in turn meshes with another gear wheel (57) coaxially to which an additional gear wheel (59) is provided that in turn engages a further rack (61) secured to the door 5 to be traslated; this assembly being connected, at the rear portion of the cylinder (49), to a hinge (63) secured to the structure (9) by one (15) of the above illustrated half hinges; the whole assembly being integral with the upper ejection arm (1) through the keying of the gear wheel (59) to the pin that realizes the pivoting of axis (02). 2. A device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the linking points between the device and the structure are three and fixed (15, 15, 47), and in that the back up points for the door (5) are three and movable (27, 27, 43). 3. A device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars as claimed in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the fixed rotation centers of the device are three (01, 06 and 05); also the movable rotation centers of the device being three (02, 03 and 04) . 4. A device for opening and closing a door (5) in railway and bus cars according to a first embodiment thereof, characterized in that the torque imparted to the shafts of rotation (23) of the ejection arms (1, 11) is provided for by at least a rack (19) engaging a gear wheel (21) which is coaxial to the axis of rotation (01, 06) of said arms (1, 11). 5. A device for opening and closing a door (5) in railway and bus cars according to a modified embodiment of the preceding claims, characterized in that said torque to the shafts of rotation (23) of the upper and lower ejection arms (1, 11) is generated in different ways, e.g. by means of an electric motor or a fluid motor. 6. A device for opening and closing a door (5) in railway and bus cars as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive means for the ejection arms (1, 11) are applied to at least one of said arms, the other one being actuated by the drive imparted to one of them. 7. A device for opening and closing a door (5) in railway and bus cars as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper and lower ejection arms (1, 11) are secured to the fixed structure (9) of the car by means of brackets (15) provided with a curved slot fastening arrangement (17) thanks to which it is possible to align the respective axes of rotation (01, 06) thus allowing for a proper application of the device to any kind of car having a greater or smaller curvature. 8. A device for opening and closing a door (5) in railway and bus cars as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that the means driving the door translation is a fluid pressure cylinder (49), said fluid being either a liquid or gaseous fluid. 9. A device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that the movable members on the slide bar (37), such as the sleeve (41) and the block (39), as well as the movable supports (27 and 43) on the bar (31) are equipped with balls recirculation bearings. 10. A device for opening and closing a door in railway and bus cars as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that the bar secured to the door and that translates with respect to the fixed points of the device has a composite cross section,, that is a triangular-circular cross section with the larger portion of the triangular cross section secured to the door wall, and the circular portion fitted in one of said balls recirculation bearings. All as disclosed and illustrated and for the indicated purposes.

Inventors: LOSITO PIETRO, LOSITO, PIETRO
Applicants: OCLAP SRL
Application year: 1990
Main classification: E05F15
IPC codes: B61D19, E05D15, E05F15