APPARATUS FOR THE CLOSING AND THE OPENING OF DOORS, WINDOWS AND THE LIKE

Abstract: An apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such as doors, windows and the like is characterised in that it comprises a frame (1); at least one guide (5) mounted on said frame (1); a plurality of members (2) of a substantially elongated shape and connected in a sliding and/or rotational manner in said at leasst one guide (5) on said frame (1); and means (3) for the movement of said plurality of elongated members (2) in said at least one guide (5).

Description: APPARATUS FOR THE CLOSING AND THE OPENING OF DOORS, WINDOWS AND THE LIKE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such as doors, windows and the like and more precisely to an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways as doors, windows or the like having a plurality of parallel sliding members for realising a blind. Devices for the closing of passageways such as blinds are already known in the art, and usually these devices show a plurality of elongated members each horizontally mounted and connected to the other by means of a hinge connection and mounted. These elongated members are apt to slide in a guide member positioned at the end portion thereof, constituting in this way a movable and flexible wall for the closing/opening of passageways. These kind of blinds are widely deployed for the closing of public passageways where there is the need of an high resisting to burst open closing device. A main disadvantage of the abovementioned closing devices is that of, although being high resisting to a burglar break-through, the same are not suitable for the deploy in civilian habitations as per the closing of windows or doors, due to the fact that such closing devices cannot be positioned in an intermediate condition as requested sometimes in a home, i.e. half open or closed. On the other hand, there exist another kind of devices for the closing of doors, windows or the like in civilian habitations known with the name of "Venetian blind" which are mainly constituted of a plurality of elongated members mounted in front of the opening to be closed, the members being suitable for being positioned at any intermediate condition, i.e. half opened or closed. A disadvantage chat these devices have is that of not being enough resistant to a any kind of breakthrough, since the elongated members are suitable to only offer a shade to the sunlight further to provide an aesthetic appearance. Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to solve the abovementioned disadvantages by providing an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like which has as a main feature the possibility to be high resistant to a burglar break-through and at the same time to be suitable for being positioned at any intermediate condition between the full opened and full closed condition. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like showing very reduced encumbrance and at the same time high mechanical resistance so providing more reliability to break-troughs with respect to similar devices of the state of the art. A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like of a very simplified construction and assembling, suitable for being deployed in any kind of environments, an last but not least, of a low cost. According to the present invention, an apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like is provided, the apparatus being characterised in that it comprises: a frame, a guide member mounted on said frame, a plurality of elongated members and suitable for being rotationally and slidingly connected to said guide member onto said a frame, and means for the moving of said plurality of elongated members in said guide member. The present invention will be hereinafter better disclosed by giving a detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of a non limiting example and with reference to the annexed drawings, wherein : Figures la to Id are schematic perspective views of a door in different conditions and embodying the apparatus of the present invention; Figures 2a to 2d are schematic top plan views of the door of figures la to Id; Figure 3 is a schematic partial cross section view of a drive device for the moving and the rotation of an elongated member of a door, according to the present invention; Figure 4 is a front partial schematic view of the drive device of figure 3 ; Figure 5 is a top plan schematic view partially showing the drive device for the moving and the rotation of an elongated member of a door, according to the present invention; Figure 6 is a schematic front view of the drive transmission device of figure 5; Figure 7 is a detailed partial view of drive device of the door, according to the present invention; Figure 8 is a partial cross section of a guide device of the bottom part of an elongated member of the door, according to the present invention; and Figure 9 is a partial view of a locking device of the elongated members of the door according to the present invention. With reference now to figures la to Id, there is shown in a schematic manner a door having the closing apparatus of the present invention. According to the invention, the door has a main frame 1 suitable to be mounted in a passageway on a wall (not represented) in a already known manner. The door includes a plurality of elongated movable members 2 which are suitable for sliding and rotate in said frame 1. On the top part of the main frame 1, a drive device 3 for the driving of the elongated members 2 is mounted (better shown in the following) . Further, in order to control the drive device 3 a control panel 4 is provided onto said frame 1 at a position where can be easily reached. To the skilled men in the art it will be obvious that, as an alternative embodiment, the control of the drive device 3 can be obtained also by means of a further remote control . The arrangement is such that, when the door is in the condition full closed and after a predetermined action on the control panel 4, the drive device 3 is energised and consequently also the elongated members 2 are energised. At this moment, each of the elongated members 2 starts a turning motion on its own longitudinal axis in a synchronic motion with the others elongated members 2, and successively starts a sliding motion towards a side of the frame 1 until the same abuts the preceding elongated member 2 (better shown in the following) . On the contrary, if the door is in a fully open condition, subsequently to a predetermined action on the control panel 4, the drive device 3 is energised. At this point, the elongated members 2 start a synchronic sliding motion towards the opposite side of the frame 1 until the first member 2 abuts such side of the frame. At this condition, all the elongated members 2 start a turning motion until all are side to side, so constituting a single surface for the closing of the passageway of the frame 1. It has to be noted that the elongated members 2 slide on the frame 1 in respective guide members 5 positioned at the top part and the bottom part thereof (only one guide is shown in the drawings) by means of connecting members 6 for the sliding connection (better shown in the following) . With reference now to figures 2a to 2d, the various steps related to the closing/opening of the door is shown in a top plan view and according to the invention. As it can be better understood, when the door is in the full closed condition, the elongated members 2 are in a side to side condition constituting a continuous closing surface of the passageway of the frame 1. After the energising of the drive device 3, all the elongated members 2 start at first a synchronic turning motion until they reach a front to front condition. At this point, the members 2 start sliding in the guide members 5 toward one side of the frame 1 until reaching an abutted condition on one side and inside the frame 1. With reference to figures 3 and 4 is shown a detailed enlarged view of the drive device for the turning motion of an elongated member 2. According to the invention, the elongated member 2 is apt to be inserted in a sliding manner in the guide member 5 by means of connecting member 6, the latter being integral to the elongated member 2. On the connecting member 6 a bush 7 is provided for the sliding inside the guide 5. At the top end of the connecting member 6 a bevel gear 8 is mounted, the latter is apt to mesh with a second bevel gear 9. The bevel gear 9 is mounted in a sliding manner on a shaft 10, the latter being connected to an electric motor 11 (better shown in the following) . In order to make easier the sliding of the bevel gear 9 onto the shaft 10 the former is mounted onto the latter within a bush 12 made in a material with a very low coefficient of friction, such as Teflon ® . Further, the cross section of the shaft 10 has a "cloverleaf" shape with a four projecting portions in order to realise a sliding guide for the bevel gear 9 along the longitudinal direction of the shaft 10, and at the same time in order to transmit the torque to the gear 9 even while sliding, thanks to the projecting portions. The gear 9 meshes to a third gear 13 at the top part thereof. The gear 13 is rotationally mounted on a shaft 14 fixedly mounted on a housing 15 of the gears 8, 9 13 and the same being apt to slide onto the shaft 10. For the sliding motion of the housing 15 onto the shaft 10, the former has two collared bushes 16, realised in a material with a very low coefficient of friction such as Teflon ® . It has to be pointed out that both the guide 5 and the housing 15 realise the movable top supporting part for the elongated member 2. With reference to figures 5 and 6, the drive device 3 for the moving and the turning of the elongated members 2 is schematically shown in a partial view. According to the present invention, the drive device 3 provides that each member 2 is connected to a respective housing 15 in the manner above described and that the same is capable of slide onto the shaft 10. For such operation, a second electric motor 17 is provided above the first motor 11. The motor 17 is connected to a pulley 18 which meshes with a toothed driving belt 19. The driving belt 19 is connected to a second pulley 20 mounted at the opposite end of the shaft 10. On the driving belt 19 is mounted a connecting member 21 which is connected to the first housing 15 of the first elongated member 2. With this arrangement, for each motion of the belt 19 corresponds the same motion of the related member 21 and housing 15 and therefore of the elongated member 2 connected thereto. The transmission of the motion for each of the remaining elongated members 2 is realised by means of a plurality of connecting bars 22, each of them being mounted in a sliding manner between two contiguous housings 15 of a respective pair of elongated members 2 (better shown in the following) . As can be understood from the figures, at each turning motion of the shaft 10 corresponds a respective synchronic turning motion of the elongated members 2. With reference now to figure 7 the transmission device for the motion of each elongated member is shown. How can be noted, each housing 15 has at the top part thereof a pair of bars 22 connected thereto in a hinged way, and each bar 22 is connected in a hinged manner to a respective bar 22 of the contiguous housing 15. More precisely, the arrangement is such that following to the movement of the first elongated member 2 which is connected to the driving belt 19, the bar 22 connected thereto pulls the contiguous elongated member 2 that, as a consequence will pull the contiguous elongated member 2. When the first elongated member 2 will change his direction of movement, i.e. opposite direction, the bar 22 connected thereto will collapse by making a rotation on the hinge of the housing 15, thereby allowing the housing 15 to abut the contiguous housing 15 and consequently each elongated member 2 to abut the contiguous one until the fully opening of the door. With reference now to figure 8, the guiding device of the bottom part of each elongated member 2 is shown. According to the present invention, each elongated member 2 hat at the bottom part thereof a second connecting member 6 of substantially cylindrical shape suitable for sliding engage the guide 5 provided at the floor level. At the same way as above, there is provided a collared bush 23 realised in a material with a very low coefficient of friction such as Teflon ® , with the aim of make easier the sliding of the connecting member 6 inside the guide 5. With reference to figure 9 the locking device for the elongated members 2 is shown according to the present invention. For the sake of simplicity, only three of the plurality of elongated members 2 are shown in the figure. According to the invention, each elongated member 2 has at an inner part thereof a cylindrical bore 24 which is communicating and housing a sliding pin 25. The pin 25 is connected to a spring 26 by means of a connecting member 27. On the frame 1 an electric actuator 28 provided with a pin 29 connected thereto and apt to slide towards the outer/inner of the frame 1 following to an electric signal. On the other hand, at the opposite side of the frame with respect to the actuator 28, the last elongated member 2 has a cylindrical bore 30 but not communicating. As it is possible to understand, subsequently to the closing of the door each elongated member 2 is in the condition side to side and in a way that the bores 24 axially match to each other and the pins 25 are abutting one to each other. Following to the energising of the actuator 28, the pin 29 connected to the former comes out from the frame 1 and at the same time pushes out the pin 25 form the bore 24 of the first elongated member 2 to which is abutting and against the force of the spring 26. As the pin 25 starts moving in the bore 24, the same abuts the respective pin 25 of the contiguous elongated member 2 pushing out the pin 25 against the force of the spring 26. This action promotes the moving of each contiguous pin 25 of all the elongated members 2 until on the last elongated member 2 the last pin 25 enters the bore 30 and stops, preventing in this manner the rotation of all the elongated members 2. Only after unlocking the pin 29 of the actuator in response of an electric signal, all the pins 25 move back in their bores 24 under the force of the springs 26 rendering the elongated members 2 free to rotate . To the skilled men in the art it will be apparent that the present invention is susceptible on a number of different embodiments without departing from the spirit of the same and from the scope of the annexed claims. For example, can be further provided a second drive device of the elongated members 2 at the bottom thereof by providing that the pulley 20 be connected by means of a shaft to a second pulley positioned at the bottom of the frame 1. With such arrangement, the lower pulley would be connected to a belt and the respective elongated member in the same manner as already disclosed. Analogously, can be further provided a second drive device for the movement and rotation of the elongated members 2 as the one already described at the bottom part of the frame 1. Furthermore, the closing/opening device of the present invention can be applied to different alternative embodiments wherein there is not provided an electric motor and all the elongated members 2 can be moved by a manual operation by providing an hand pull on the first elongated member 2.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like characterised in that it comprises: a frame (1) ; at least one guide (5) mounted on said a frame (1) ; a plurality of members (2) of a substantially elongated shape and connected in a sliding and/or rotational manner in said at least one guide (5) on said frame (1) ; and means (3) for the movement of said plurality of elongated members (2) in said at least one guide (5) . 2. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to claim 2, characterised in that it comprises two guides (5) for slidingly connecting the plurality of elongated members (2) , each of the guides (2) being positioned at the end part of each elongated member (2) . 3. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein each elongated member (2) has a substantially elongated parallelepiped shape and has at each end part thereof connecting means (6,7) for the sliding connection with said guide (5) . 4. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said connecting means comprises : a connecting member (6) integral to the end of a respective elongated member (2) ; and a contacting member (7) mounted on said connecting member (6) apt to slidingly co-operate with said guide (5) . 5. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said contacting member is a collared bush (6) in a low friction coefficient material. 6. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said means (3) for the movement of said plurality of elongated members (2) in said guide (5) comprises: motor means (11,17) for transmitting the power to each elongated member (2); first means (8,9,10) for the transmission of a rotational movement to each elongated member (2) ; and second means (18,19,20,21,22) for the transmission of the movement to each elongated member (29. 7. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said motor means comprises an electric motor (11,17) mounted on said frame (1) and apt to be energised by control switching means (4) . 8. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said control switching means are chosen in the group comprising: a panel (4) having a plurality of functional buttons and mounted on said frame (1) ; a remote cable control device; a remote cordless control 9. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to claims 6-8, wherein said first means for the transmission of the rotational movement comprises: a shaft (10) connected to said motor (11) ; a first gear (8) integrally mounted on said connecting bush(6); a second gear (9) apt to mesh with the first gear (8) an slidingly mounted on said shaft (10); and, optionally a third gear (13) for the meshing of said second gear (9) . 10. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said first and second gears (8,9) are a bevel gear pair and said shaft (10) has a cross section in the shape of substantially a cross. ; 11. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to any of claims 6-10, wherein said second means for the transmission of the movement to the elongated members (2) comprises : 0 turning means (18,20) transmission means (19) first connecting means (21) for the connection to said transmission means (19) ; and second connecting means (22) for the connection of 5 each elongated member (2) . 12. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said turning means are pulley (18,20) where one of them is connected to said 0 motor (17) . 13. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to claim 11 or 12, wherein said transmission means (19) are chosen in the group comprising: 5 V - belt toothed belt chain 14. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to 0 claimsll-13, wherein said first connecting means to the transmission means (19) are a connecting member (21) fixedly mounted onto said transmission means (19) and connected to a housing (15) of said bevel gear pair (8,9) of one respective elongated member (2) . 5 15. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to claims 11-14, wherein said connecting means of each elongated member (2) are a plurality of bars (22) each mounted on a hinged manner one to each other and onto a respective housing (15) of each elongated member (2) . 16. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein each bar (22) is a bar with hinges at each end part thereof . 17 The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that it further comprises locking means (25,26,27,28,29) of each elongated member (2) of said plurality of elongated members (2) at the fully closed condition. 18. The apparatus for the closing and the opening of passageways such doors, windows and the like according to the preceding claim, wherein said locking means comprises : a plurality of pins (25) and resilient members (26) , each being mounted in a sliding manner in a respective bore (24) of an elongated member (2) ; and an actuator (28,29) for co-operating in a sliding manner with a respective pin (25) of said plurality of pins (25) of an elongated member (2) , the arrangement being such that for each linear displacement of the actuator (28,29) corresponds a complementary linear motion of the plurality of pins (25) in the respective bores (24) and that each pin (25) projecting out from the bore (24) abuts the contiguous pin (25) of an adjacent elongated member (2) .

Inventors: VAGNONI MASSIMO, VAGNONI, MASSIMO
Applicants: IACOBELLI DANIELE, VAGNONI MASSIMO, IACOBELLI, DANIELE, VAGNONI, MASSIMO
Application year: 1999
Main classification: E06B3
IPC codes: E06B3, E06B7, E06B9