Abstract:
A door protection device pivoting about an axis and being applied against a wall when in the open position includes a portion added on to outside surface of the door and a portion added on to the wall, so that, in the open position of the door, the portions nest together, the two portions of the device being aligned along the same axis of direction perpendicular to the pivoting axis of the door.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §371 from International Patent Application No. PCT/FR07/00861, filed May 22, 2007 which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/807,937, filed Jul. 21, 2006 and under 35 U.S.C. §119 from French Patent Application No. 06/04563, filed May 22, 2006. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     This invention concerns a device for protection of the door. 
     This invention relates to any type of door, panel that opens and, more generally, to any panel making it possible to close an opening completely or partially. 
     More precisely, this invention concerns pivoting doors against which various types of impacts may be exerted: impacts against the walls toward which the doors swing, impacts with moving objects thrown against the said doors or blocking the path of the door, or others . . . . The intensity of the mechanical and acoustic impact depends on the force with which the door or the object is impelled. Mechanical impact may lead to damage to the materials used for the finishing of the door: bending, scratching or other. Furthermore, acoustic impact may cause discomfort in the individuals in the vicinity of the said door. 
     Moreover, in airplanes, the flight personnel distribute tray meals to the passengers with the aid of meal carts. The carts are kept in compartments arranged in a pantry unit, hereinafter referred to as the unit. The pantry of an airplane (“galley” in English) is the part where food is stored and prepared during the flight. Each compartment of the said unit is closed by a pivoting door. 
     It should be noted that when deterioration is caused by the handling of the doors of the said units or that of the carts (which can weigh up to about a hundred kilos), this damage can be repaired only during a specific time: that of stopover. Repairs therefore are difficult and costly. 
     In addition, the airline companies want a rapid repair for the visual comfort of the passengers. 
     Furthermore, the companies also wish to reduce, or even eliminate, all the noise pollution accompanying a flight. Thus, the acoustic impacts caused with the door of the pantry unit should be minimized. Finally, the esthetic appearance of a cabin is a significant factor: any unsightly damage to the equipment should be eliminated. The outward appearance of the components making up the cabin is part of the selection criteria for airline companies. 
       FIG. 1  depicts an existing type of unit  1  provided in airplane pantries. The doors  2  ( 2 A,  2 B,  2 C) of the compartments  3  ( 3 A,  3 B,  3 C respectively) of the unit commonly are provided with horizontal protection devices  4  ( 4 A,  4 B,  4 C respectively) composed of thermoplastic materials or of rubber. 
     The flight personnel gain access to the carts stored inside the compartments  3  by opening the doors  2  as widely as possible, ideally with an angle of opening of 180°. In order to accomplish this, the protection devices  4 A,  4 B and  4 C arranged respectively on each of the doors of the compartments  3 A,  3 B and  3 C are offset vertically in relation to each other and, more particularly, are arranged at different heights on each of the doors. In this way, the protection devices cannot touch and do not hinder the complete opening of the doors. 
     As  FIG. 1  shows, however, the different protection devices  4  form several discontinuous horizontal lines parallel to all the other continuous horizontal lines making up the unit. The lack of horizontal alignment of the protection devices  4  introduces an unsightly discontinuity. 
     In addition, the rectangular shape of the protection devices  4  presents an angular shape that can slow down the movement of the carts passing close to the pantry unit. 
     Finally, the acoustic intensity of the impact of a device  4  against a metal door  2  is relatively substantial and represents a discomfort on board. 
     One object of this invention is to propose a new device for protection of a door making it possible to retain the advantages of the existing devices while providing a more attractive esthetic contour. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to accomplish this, this invention proposes a device for protection of a door pivoting around an axis and, in opening position, fitting against a wall, characterized in that it comprises a part added onto the outer surface of the door and a part added onto the wall, so that in opening position of the door the two parts fit into one another, the two parts of the device being aligned along the same axis in a direction perpendicular to the axis of pivoting of the door. 
     In this way, the two parts of the device opposite one another do not hinder one another at the time of opening of the door. 
     In addition, their alignment along the same axis improves the esthetics of the whole. 
     Furthermore, such an arrangement facilitates the installation of the device on the door and the wall. 
     The invention thus applies to a whole formed by a door and a wall close to one another. 
     According to a specific form of the invention, the two parts fit into one another so that in completely open position, the distance between the door and the wall is less than the sum of the thicknesses of the said parts. 
     The parts have surfaces comprising correspondingly at least one depression and/or one projection so as to interpenetrate in opening position of the door. 
     According to one characteristic, the said at least one projection comprises a thickness that varies along a direction parallel to the axis of pivoting of the door. 
     According to a particular embodiment, the two parts comprise corresponding undulating surfaces. The symmetry of the forms and the roundness provided by the said parts makes it possible not to block the advance of the carts and to facilitate the sliding thereof along the doors or their rebound on the doors, 
     According to one characteristic, in complete opening position, the two parts are joined together to form a solid component. 
     According to another characteristic, the axis of pivoting of the door is vertical and in particular the device is arranged horizontally, that is, the two parts of the device are aligned along the same horizontal axis. 
     According to another aspect, the invention applies to a device for protection of a door of a compartment, the device being the one briefly explained above, and the wall against which the door fits in opening position is made up of a door and an adjacent compartment. 
     The invention also concerns doors equipped with this type of device as well as the units, for example the pantry units of an aircraft, equipped with such doors. 
     More particularly, the invention applies to a door pivoting around an axis and intended to fit in opening position against a wall, characterized in that the said door comprises a part added onto the outer surface of the door and which is intended to fit into a part added onto the wall in opening position of the said door, the door part extending along an axis in a direction perpendicular to the axis of pivoting of the door. 
     The invention also has as a purpose a unit that comprises a door such as briefly explained above and a wall against which the door fits in opening position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objects, advantages and characteristics of the invention will become apparent upon reading of the description that is going to follow, presented by way of non-limitative example with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a unit provided with protection devices of known type; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of a unit provided with protection devices according to this invention; 
         FIGS. 3 to 5  are views from above schematically illustrating different positions of the doors of a unit equipped with a device according to this invention at the time of opening of one of them,  FIG. 5  depicting the complete opening position of the said door; 
         FIGS. 6 and 7  are respectively a side view and a front view of a part of the protection device according to this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The protection device is presented in the description that follows in the illustrative and non-limitative context of pantry units in airplanes. The protection device may be used in any other application necessitating a mechanical and/or acoustic protection for a door opening against a wall (outer wall, other door or other). 
     As  FIG. 2  shows, the units  10  provided in airplane pantries comprise compartments  30  ( 30 A,  30 B,  30 C) adjacent two by two, of oblong parallelepipedal shape and in which the meal carts are kept. The carts hold tray meals intended for the passengers. The compartments  30  make it possible to maintain the trays at a chosen preservation temperature. The adjacent compartments  30  ( 30 A,  30 B,  30 C) each are closed by a door  20  ( 20 A,  20 B,  20 C respectively) pivoting around a vertical axis. In this description, the vertical direction is considered as the direction perpendicular to that of the floor on which the unit  10  is resting. On  FIG. 2 , the compartment  30 B is closed by a door  20 B pivoting around a vertical axis A. The door  20 B pivots between a closing position, depicted on  FIG. 2  and in which the compartment is closed, and a complete opening position in which the door  20 B is in contact with the door  20 A of the adjacent compartment  30 A ( FIG. 5 ). 
     Protection devices  40 A,  40 B,  40 C according to the invention are added respectively onto the outer surface of the doors  20 A,  20 B and  20 C of compartments  30 A,  30 B and  30 C. The outer surface of a door, of the door  20 B for example, is the surface visible to the flight personnel; it is also the surface intended to fit, in opening position of the compartment involved, against a wall, in this case against the door  20 A. A protection device  40  extends mainly in a general elongated shape and is made up, for example, of a section of slender form. The longitudinal shape of the device  40  is laid out horizontally and parallel to the horizontal upper and lower edges of the door  20 . 
     As shown on  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the device  40  comprises two parts  40 A and  40 B: one part  40 B added onto the outer surface of the door  20 B and one part  40 A added onto the wall  20 A toward which the door  20 B pivots. In opening position of the door  20 B, the parts  40 A and  40 B fit into one another, thus making it possible to open the door  20 B even more. 
     In this embodiment illustrated on  FIG. 2 , the wall is made up of the door  20 A of the unit  1 . As  FIGS. 3 to 5  show, the respective surface  50 A,  50 B of each part  40 A and  40 B of the device  40  respectively joined to the door and to the wall is flat in order to facilitate fastening of the parts  40 A and  40 B respectively onto the doors  20 A and  20 B. This fastening is accomplished by any type of known means (gluing, screwing and/or other). 
     The surface  60 A,  60 B of each part  40 A and  40 B of the device  40 , opposite the surface  50 A,  50 B, is the surface intended to rest, in opening position, respectively against the surface  60 B,  60 A of the corresponding part  40 B,  40 A. The surface  60  of each part  40 A and  40 B of the device  40  comprises at least one depression and/or one projection. In the form illustrated on  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the device  40  comprises, at the surface  60 , a succession of depressions  70  and projections  80 . 
     The depression or depressions and/or the projection or projections respectively of the part  40 A and of the part  40 B have complementary shapes. In complete opening position, the complementary shapes are joined together to form a component with a thickness less than the sum of the thicknesses of the parts  40 A ad  40 B as depicted on  FIG. 5 . The thickness of a part  40 A ( 40 B respectively) is the maximum orthogonal distance existing between the surface  50 A ( 50 B respectively) and the surface  60 A ( 60 B respectively). Thus, in complete opening position, the parts  40 A and  40 B complement one another so that the maximum orthogonal distance between the surface  50 A of the part  40 A and the surface  50 B of the part  40 B is less than the sum of the thicknesses of the parts  40 A and  40 B. In particular this distance is less than the double thickness of devices  4  of known type such as the one shown on  FIG. 1  and which are superposed in the case of a horizontal alignment of these devices  4  on each of the doors  2 A,  2 B and  2 C. As a matter of fact, the devices  4  of known type are solid, homogeneous, oblong parallelepipedal moldings just as the surface  6  opposite the surface  5  added to the door of the said molding is flat. For this reason, in opening position, the moldings situated opposite one another hinder the complete opening of the door. 
     In the embodiment depicted on  FIG. 5 , in opening position, the parts  40 A and  40 B together form a component more or less with the thickness of a single device  4  of existing type (such as depicted on  FIG. 1 ). More precisely, the parts  40 A and  40 B, in opening position of the door  20 B, form a section with thickness practically equivalent to the greatest thickness of a projection of a part  40 A or  40 B. 
     In this way, the parts  40 A and  40 B are arranged on the same axis perpendicular to the axis of pivoting of the door  20 B, in this case horizontal. It therefore is not necessary to offset them along the axis of pivoting, that is, vertically, in order to prevent them from colliding at the time of opening of the door and forming an excess thickness restricting the clearance of the door. The parts of the device with complementary shapes therefore can be added at identical heights on the doors of the unit, which facilitates their positioning. In addition, this invention improves the esthetic appearance of the pantry unit by providing continuous, thus more harmonious, lines. 
     The depressions and projections may have any type of shapes allowing the interpenetration of the two parts  40 A and  40 B of the device  40 . Thus, the projection has, for example, a rectangular shape for a toothed or comb surface, a triangular shape, a semicircular, oval or other shape. The surface  60  also may have a complex shape as soon as it comes into correspondence with the surface against which it fits in opening position and it conforms to the fitting-in characteristics previously described. 
     In the embodiment illustrated on  FIGS. 3 to 7 , the depressions and projections are of rounded shape and thus form an undulating surface  60 . The rounded shape has the advantage of presenting only slight friction during the advance of a cart parallel to the unit. The shape of the surface  60  makes it possible to have the cart slide or rebound on the doors of the unit depending on the angle of approach of the cart in relation to the doors. 
     In the embodiment illustrated on  FIGS. 3 to 5 , each of the projections  80  has a thickness variable vertically and, for example, several thicknesses: a maximum thickness at the center of the projection and thicknesses less than the maximum thickness on the upper and lower edges. This variation in thickness is visible on  FIG. 7 , which is a front view of a part  40  of the device. The depression provided in correspondence with the projection follows the surface of the central portion of maximum thickness of the projection but, in the embodiment illustrated, does not comprise concave portions along the edge in order to follow the contours of the upper and lower portions of lesser thickness of the projection. 
     Thus, any type of surface may be provided with horizontal, vertical or other fitting-in means. 
       FIG. 6  depicts the device  40  seen from the side and shows the semi-oval contour of the projections of the parts  40 A and  40 B. 
     Each of the parts making up the device  40  is composed of a cushioning material such as a thermoplastic material, an elastomer or other. The cushioning material used provides numerous advantages:
         cushioning the impacts between the doors;   cushioning the impacts resulting from meal carts handled in the vicinity of the doors; the devices also make it possible, because of their elasticity, to move the carts away by rebound;   the smooth surface provided by this type of material allows the parts of the device made of this material not to constitute obstacles or generate friction likely to hinder the advance of the carts.       

     Furthermore, the material used is a material for mechanical but also acoustic cushioning. As a matter of fact, the impact between doors takes place precisely between two protection devices and no longer between a protection device and a metal door. The acoustic level of the impact therefore is reduced.