Patent Publication Number: US-11047162-B1

Title: Torsion spring door closing apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to door closers and more particularly pertains to a new door closer for automatically closing doors with minimal hardware. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The prior art relates to door closers. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a torsion spring having a central coiled portion and a pair of arms. The coiled portion is configured to fit around a shaft of a hinge pin of a door hinge. The pair of arms comprises a hook arm and a catch arm each extending from the coiled portion. The pair of arms moves between a closed position and an open position and the torsion spring is biased towards the open position. A hook end of the hook is selectively engageable with a catch end of the catch arm to secure the torsion spring in the closed position. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a torsion spring door closing apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a top plan in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is an isometric exploded in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new door closer embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the torsion spring door closing apparatus  10  generally comprises a torsion spring  12  having a central coiled portion  14  and a pair of arms  16 . The coiled portion  14  is configured to fit around a shaft  18  of a hinge pin  20  of a door hinge  22 . The torsion spring  12  is secured between a head  24  of the hinge pin and a plurality of knuckles  26  of the door hinge. The pair of arms  16  comprises a hook arm  28  and a catch arm  30  each extending from the coiled portion  14 . The hook arm  28  may extend from a top side  32  of the coiled portion and the catch arm  30  may extend from a bottom side  34  of the coiled portion. The pair of arms  16  moves between a closed position  36  and an open position  38 . The hook arm  28  and the catch arm  30  may be perpendicular in the open position  38  and the torsion spring  12  is biased towards the open position  38 . 
     A hook end  40  of the hook arm is selectively engageable with a catch end  42  of the catch arm to secure the torsion spring  12  in the closed position  36 . The hook arm  28  has a first main portion  44  extending from the coiled portion  14 , an extension portion  46  extending perpendicularly from the first main portion  44  and parallel to the catch arm  30 , and a drop portion  48  extending down perpendicularly from the extension portion  46 . A length of the extension portion  46  may be greater than a length of the drop portion  48 . The catch arm  30  has a second main portion  50  extending from the coiled portion  14 , a vertical U-shaped portion  52  extending down and perpendicular to the second main portion  50 , and a horizontal U-shaped portion  54  extending from the vertical U-shaped portion  52 . The horizontal U-shaped portion  54  lies coplanar to the second main portion  50 . The drop portion  48  of the hook arm is selectively engageable within the horizontal U-shaped portion  54  of the catch arm. 
     In use, the apparatus  10  is installed on the door hinge  22  of a door  56 . When the door  56  opens the pair of arms  16  is squeezed between the door  56  and a wall  58  towards the closed position  36 . The torsion spring  12  rebounds to spread the pair of arms  16  back to the open position  38  and forces the door  56  to close again. To disengage the apparatus  10 , the drop portion  48  of the hook arm is engaged within the horizontal U-shaped portion  54  of the catch arm. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.