IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR SPRINGS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Turner, of Coventry Street, King
Richard's Road, Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DOOR SPRINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Turner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st June 1872.
I, EDWARD TURNER, of Coventry Street, King Richard's Road,
Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DOOR SPRINGS," to be as follows :-
:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in door springs, and
relates, firstly, to that class of door spring which acts on the back of a
door to retain it in a closed position and prevent it being opened by the
wind or by slight pressure.
For this purpose I construct the door spring with a frame mounted
on an axis of motion carried by lugs or ears attached to a plate fixed to
the door frame.
Passing through these lugs or ears and through other lugs on the
same plate is a wire or rod on which I string one end of one or more

page_text: spiral springs according to the strength required. These springs are at
their other ends strung on a wire or rod carried by the hinged frame.
The outer end of the hinged frame carries a roller as heretofore, but
instead of employing a plain roller running on a flat plate or on the door
I employ a grooved roller and cause it to run on a rib or fin projecting
from a plate fixed to the door. This rib or fin has an incline at the end
nearer the hinge of the door up which the grooved roller rises on com-
mencing to open the door. Thus when the door is closed it will not
readily yield to slight pressure, as on commencing to open the door in
addition to having to overcome the normal strength of the spring or
springs it is also necessary to overcome the extra resistance offered by
the incline to the roller.
The Invention relates secondly to that class of door spring which is
sunk in the floor and acts to retain a swing door in a central or closed
position.
For this purpose I employ coiled springs as in the former arrange-
ment to act upon a sliding frame working freely in suitable guides
formed in the box or case. This slide has a number of coiled springs
connected to the outer end thereof by pins passing through the slide,
whilst the other ends of the coiled springs are fixed to a bar formed or
fixed in the case or box. The inner end of the slide carries a roller
which works against a cam fixed on the axis of the door as usual, but I
form on the cam a flat portion against which the end of the slide, which
I also form flat, works.
I also form the cam with three recesses at right angles to each other
so that the roller carried by the slide may rest in either of the three
recesses, and thereby keep the swing door in a closed position or in
either of two positions at right angles thereto.
In the arrangements of door springs above described the springs
referred to act upon the parts described in a state of tension, but if
desired coiled springs in a state of compression may also be used to act
on the slide.
The last described arrangement of door spring also holds the door
firmly in a closed position against the action of the wind or of slight
pressure.
The box or case is chamfered off around the upper edge to prevent the

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Turner in the Great Scal Patent Office.
on the 21st December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
5 TURNER, of Coventry Street, King Richard's Road, Leicester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of Junc, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Turner, Her special licence that
I, the said Edward Turner, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, tho said Edward Turner, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term thercin
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR SPRINGS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Turner,
) my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
5 after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Turner, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawing (that is to say): -
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the door springs
for which Letters Patent were granted to myself and James Dilkes,
dated June 15th, 1853, and numbered 1453, and has for its object
improvements in door springs which are used for the purpose of closing
doors and retaining them in a closed position so as to prevent them from
being opened by the wind or by other slight pressure, and also in that form
of spring which is used for the purpose of retaining swing doors (opening
in both directions) in a closed position or in a position at right angles in
cither direction to such closed position.

page_text: My Invention consists of improvements in the methods of applying
spiral springs to the purposes above described.
The first part of my Invention relates to improvements in that form
of door spring which acts upon the back of a door to retain it in a
closed position. For this purpose I form upon or attach to the frame
of the door (upon which it is hinged) one or more lugs or ears projecting
a sufficient distance above the plane of the centre upon which the hinge
turns, and I make a plate or frame of sufficient length, having at one
end a suitable joint which turns upon a vertical axis consisting of a pin
or rod which passes through it and through the projecting lugs or ears
already described, and having at or near its other end a horizontal
wheel or roller which runs upon a suitable plate or rail attached to the
door.
Underneath the plate or frame described and between it and the door
I arrange one or more spiral springs of sufficient strength, one end of
which spring (or springs) is attached to the frame of the door or to a
suitable projection fixed upon the frame of the door or to the lugs or
cars already described in a plane between the plane of the hinge of the
door and the plane of the centre or joint upon which the end of the plate
or frame turns as already described. The other end of the spring (or
springs) is attached to the under side of the plate or frame (between it
and the door) at any convenient distance between the joint upon which
the plate or frame turns at one of its ends, and the roller or wheel
described at its other end.
By this arrangement when the plate or frame is caused to move hori-
zontally round the joint upon which it turns (by any pressure created
upon the roller or wheel by opening the door or otherwise) the spring
(or springs) is stretched, and by its subsequent contraction when the
pressure is removed the door is again made to close, and is retained in a
closed position. The roller. or wheel may be grooved upon its circum-
ference, and I prefer to make it run upon a plate, rib, or fin, attached to
the door. This plate, rib, or fin, I make with an incline at its end
nearest to the hinge of the door, up which incline the wheel or roller
rises when the door begins to open. By this arrangement when the door
is closed it will not readily yield to slight pressure, since on commencing
to open the door it is necessary not only to overcome the normal
strength of the spring or springs, but also to overcome the extra
resistance offered to the roller by the incline described.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Figures 1 and 2 are in illustration of
this part of my Invention.
Figure 1 is a plan and Figure 2 a side view of a door spring.
A is the door (in section) and B is the door frame to which it is con-
nected by the hinge C., Lugs D, D, are fixed to the door frame, and
carry the centre E upon which one end of the plate or frame F turns.
The other end of the plate F carries the roller G which runs upon the
clevated rib H attached to the door, and the inner end of which has an
inclined plane I up which the roller G has to be forced before the door
can be opened. K is a spiral spring, one end of which is attached to
the lugs D, D, between the door frame B and the centre E, and the
other end is attached to the plate F at L. When the door is opened
the spring K is stretched, and by its clasticity it closes the door when
desired and keeps it shut.
The second part of my Invention relates to that class of door spring
which is ordinarily used sunk in the floor for the purpose of retaining a
swing door in a central or closed position or in a position at right angles
in either direction to such closed position.
In my Invention I employ a box or case sunk into the floor in the
method ordinarily practised immediately beneath the hinge upon which
the door turns. The lower end of the hinge has a pin which turns in a
suitable bearing formed upon or attached to the bottom of the box
inside. Within the box or case I form a sliding frame or plate working
freely in a horizontal direction upon suitable guides formed upon or
attached to the box. This sliding frame has connected to it one end of
one or more spiral springs, the other ends of which are attached to the
box or to a plate fitted in the box in such a manner that the sliding
plate is constantly pressed by the tension of the springs towards the pin
upon which the lower end of the door turns as already described. The
springs may be arranged so that the sliding plate may be pressed in the
required direction by their compression instead of their tension. The
inner end of the sliding plate carries a horizontal roller which is pressed
against the edge of a horizontal eccentric cam formed upon or fixed
upon the axis of the door or to the pin upon which the door turns, as
already described. This eccentric cam has a part of its circumference
flattened, so that when the door is in its central position the flat part of
the cam is pressed against it by the end of the sliding frame (which I

page_text: also form flat), so that the door is thus held firmly and securely in such
position. When the door is opened in either direction the cam as it
revolves presses the roller and frame back against the pressure of the
springs, which pressure when the door is released bring it again into its
central closed position. I make the spindle above the case work in a
bearing which is screwed or fixed across the top of the box. I form
upon the circumference of the case three recesses at right angles to cach
other (or in any other desired position), so that the roller carried by the
slide may rest in either of the recesses, and thereby keep the swing door
in a closed position against the pressure of the wind or other slight
pressure, or in either of the two positions at right angles to such closed
position.
The box or case may have a cover casily removeable fitted to it, and
may have its upper edge chamfered off to prevent the passage of water
into it.
Sometimes I form or fit a stuffing box upon the bearing in which the
pin attached to the door revolves, so that water is prevented from
entering the box; and sometimes I form a lubricator holding oil which
supplies the bearings, and thus prevents their wear.
The strength of the spiral springs may be increased or diminished to
suit the power required.
In the accompanying Drawing Figures 3 and 4 arc in illustration of
this part of my Invention.
Figure 3 is a plan and Figure 4 a sectional elevation of a door spring
constructed according to this part of my Invention.
A is a box fixed in the ground below the door; B is a spindle, the
upper part of which is attached to the door, and the lower part turns in
the bearing C formed at the bottom of the box A, and acts as the lower
hinge upon which the swing door turns. D is a sliding frame or plate
carrying a roller E which is pressed against the eccentric cam F formed;
upon the spindle B by means of the spiral springs G, G, G, G, which.
are attached at one end to the sliding frame D, and at the other end to
a bar or plate H fitted in the box A.
The upper part of the cam F is flattened at I, and is pressed against
by the flat.end K of the sliding frame D, so that the swing door is held

page_text: When the door is opened in cither direction the frame D is pressed
back, the cam F working against the roller E, and the springs G, G, G, G,
are stretched, and by their clasticity they restore the door to its place
again when required. L is a bearing in which the spindle D works
above the cam F; M, M, M, are recesses formed upon the cam, so that
the roller E may be pressed into them at the positions in which it is
desired that the door should remain fixed.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I claim,―
First. The method of applying spiral springs for the purpose of closing
doors opening in one direction-only, substantially as described and shown
in the Drawing.
Second. The method of applying spiral springs acted upon by a cam,
roller, and sliding plate for the purpose of keeping swing doors opening
in one or both directions closed or open in positions required, sub-
stantially as described and shewn in the Drawing.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Turner, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
my
two.