Improvements in Automatic Closing Devices and Checks for Doors, Flaps, and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 7th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1993
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Closing Devices and Checks for Doors,
Flaps, and the like.
We, WILLIAM WADBROOK PATERSON, of Willand, Collumpton, Devon and
ALFRED WHITE PATERSON, of 53, Rua do Alecrim, Lisbon, in the Kingdom of
Portugal, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in automatic closing devices and checks
for doors, flaps and the like, and the objects of it are to provide for the closing
being effected automatically and also for the prevention of slamming and banging.
In carrying our invention into effect, we provide a cylinder of suitable size in
respect both of length and diameter. This cylinder is or may be open at one end.
The other end is closed, and the closing disc has a small port, regulatable in respect
of size, formed through it. The cylinder is fitted with a piston, the rod of which
works through the open end of the cylinder. The act of opening the door draws
the piston to the open end of the cylinder, and the air which is inspired through
the port during the act of opening, cushions between the closing disc and the
piston during the act of closing, and, by this slow escape through the said port,
compels the door, or flap as the case may be, to close slowly.
When a closing spring is combined with the check, it is fitted inside the cylinder,
and proper arrangements are made for its being compressed by the outward motion
of the piston.
The piston may be fixed to either the door or the frame as may be convenient,
The piston rod end is fixed to the other of them. Proper pivotting devices aro
adopted in connection with both cylinder and piston rod to permit of their moving
with the door through its arc.
The cylinder may be pivotted either by its centre or by its closed end, and the
piston rod may be straight, bent or cranked as may be required.
Dated this 17th day of August 1892.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants,
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Closing Devices and Ohecks for Doors,
Flaps, and the like.
We, WILLIAM WADBROOK PATERSON, of Willand Collumpton, Devon and
ALFRED WHITE PATERSON, of 63 Rua do Alecrim, Lishon, in the Kingdom of
Portugal, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in automatic closing devices and pneumatic
checks for doors flaps and the like, and the objects of it are to provide for the
closing of the latter being effected automatically and for the prevention of slamming
and banging.
In order that the invention and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect may be thoroughly understood, we will now describe it and them in
detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as
part of this Specification and read therewith.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation illustrating the construction of our invention and its
L

page_text: application to a door by fixing the piston of the device to the outside or the door,
and pivotting the cylinder upon the lintel.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2–2 of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan corresponding with Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a plan of a door-check the cylinder of which is pivotted by its end upon
the lintel and the outer end of the piston rod to the door.
The full lines shew the
position which the several parts occupy when the door stands wide open.
Fig. 5 is a front elevation corresponding with the position indicated by the dotted
lines of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a vertical section along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 is a front elevation illustrating the application of the invention to a
counter flap. The full lines shew the flap closed: the dotted lines shew it open. .
Fig. 8 is a plan corresponding with the full lines of Fig. 7.
Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, a is the lintel of the door; and b, the door itself. c is
one of the hinges by which the door is hung to its frame.
e is a cylinder in which a piston f fits air tight but not too tightly to work to
and fro in it. is the piston rod. This is made fast by one end to the piston as
heretofore. The other end projects in the direction of the axis of the door through
the respective cylinder end. This end may be open but we prefer to close it with
a cover through which the rod g can move freely in either direction. The
opposite end of the cylinder, viz., the one furthest from the axis of the door, is
closed by a cover f' in which there is an air port 1. i is a spiral spring inside the
cylinder. It is arranged about the piston rod and bears upon the opposite faces of
the piston and the cover of the cylinder which is next to the axis of the door, viz.:—
the cover. If the latter is dispensed with, the outer end of the spring i must
be made fast to the cylinder end in some suitable way.
The outer end of the piston rod is pivotted upon the door. We do not confine
ourselves to any particular pivotting device. The one illustrated consists of an
upright socket j, and a bent down end g¹ of the piston rod which fits therein with
a working fit.
It is necessary to make provision for the cylinder keeping aligned with the piston
rod as the latter accommodates itself to the motion of the door in either direction,
and this is effected as follows: The cylinder is made fast to a pivot k which stands
at right angles with the cylinder axis. The connection between cylinder and pivot
is by means of a socket which embraces the cylinder, the latter being made fast
therein. is a vertical bearing or socket made fast to the face of the lintel a and
in which the pivot k fits with a working fit. is a holding nut which is screwed
down the threaded end thereof so as to keep the socket k¹ up.
The action of the invention constructed as described above in connection with the
figures referred to is as follows:-
As the door is pushed backwards by and during the act of opening it, the socket j
travels away from the cylinder and pulls the piston along the latter after it.
During the travel of the said socket, the spring i is compressed between the piston f
and the cover f', the cylinder itself rotates upon its pivot k and a volume of air
equivalent to the space through which the piston is moved, flows behind it into the
cylinder through the port h. "The dotted lines of Fig. 3 shew the relative positions
of the several parts mentioned when the door has been thrown back as far as it will
go. As soon as it is released the resilience of the spring bearing upon the cylinder
cover as upon a base of operations, pushes the piston before it, at the same time
expelling the volume of air above mentioned through the port h. The escape of
the air from the cylinder is necessarily delayed by the small size of the port, and
this delay serves as a check upon the return motion of the door, which is completed
noiselessly by the resilience of the spring i which outlasts the resisting power of the
air, within the cylinder.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the construction and operation of a door check
according to the present invention. The cylinder e is pivotted for the same reason
as explained with reference to the one illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. It is shown

page_text: as pivotted by that end of it in which the air port is formed. is a fork which
is combined with and projects from the cylinder end cover f. This fork embraces
the socket while the pivot proper is furnished by a bolt and nut **. As the
device is to serve as a door check only and not as an automatic door closing
device, the spring and the end cover fl of the construction illustrated in
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are both unnecessary. With this exception, the operation of
the door-check just described is the same as described with reference to the previous
figures.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew the invention constructed as a check upon the descent of a
counter flap.
is the counter, and the counter-flap. The latter is hinged to the counter by
hinges in the well known way. m is a leg of the counter to which is made fast
the socket m' in which turns the pivot k. This latter is made fast to the socket k
and held to the socket m' by a holding nut in the same way as illustrated in
Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The pivot to which the outer end of the piston rod is connected
consists of a pivot n which projects from the flap at right angles with the axis of
the cylinder. The end of the rod is an eye or its equivalent adapted to
embrace the pivot n. n is a detaining nut.
The weight of the flap suffices after the latter has been swung past the
perpendicular in the direction of the supporting bar 1, to bring it down upon
the rest.
It will be noticed that the position of the cylinder pivot is such that a straight
piston rod can be used instead of a cranked one. The operation of the check just
described is the same as the one illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6.
That portion of the piston rod which does not enter the cylinder may be either
straight or serpentine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The combination of a cylinder pivotted by its middle to the frame of a door or
by its end to the frame of a door or to other equivalent fixed part, a piston movable
to and fro in the said cylinder, a piston rod fast by one end to the said piston and
pivotted by the other and outer end upon or to the door or to the flap to be checked,
and an air port in that end of the cylinder which is furthest from the pivot of the
piston rod on the door, as set forth.
2. The combination of a cylinder pivotted by its middle to the frame of a door
or by its end to the frame of a door or to other equivalent fixed part, a piston
movable to and fro in the said cylinder, a piston rod fast by one end to the said
piston and pivotted by the other and outer end upon or to the door or to the flap to
be checked, an air port in that end of the cylinder which is furthest from the pivot
of the piston rod on the door and a spring held between the piston and the opposite
end of the cylinder.
Dated thin 7ah dan of Wah 1902
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.