Improvements in and Appertaining to Automatically-closing Doors, Applicable for Preventing the Spreading of Fire in Mills, Ware- houses, or like Buildings.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 19th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by MARSHALL TILLOTSON, of Lawrence, in the State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Foreman Carpenter.]
Improvements in and Appertaining to Automatically-closing Doors,
Applicable for Preventing the Spreading of Fire in Mills, Ware-
houses, or like Buildings.
I, JAMES SMITH NAYLOR of Brunswick Foundry, Keighley in the County of York
Brassfounder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows, that is
to say:
It consists of improvements in the construction of, and arrangement of
parts forming and in connection with doors, whereby said doors are made
to automatically move and close or cover the openings or doorways of the rooms to
which they are applied whenever the temperature of said room, or any place adjoining
same, is raised to a higher degree than is desirable as by the occurrence of a fire in
any of said rooms or places in this manner, since said doors are constructed as herein-
after described, the spreading of any such fire by same passing through said doorways
or openings, is prevented.
This is attained by making use of the well known class of sliding door which is
mounted with wheels or grooved pulleys to run upon a rail, however according to this
invention this rail or its equivalent is arranged as by being placed at an angle to the
horizontal plane, so that the sliding door will always have a tendency to, and when
left free to move will, slide into position for covering the doorway or opening to which
it is applied. In order to retain or hold the sliding door so that the opening or
doorway may remain uncovered, a counterbalancing weight is attached (by means of
cords passing over guide pulleys), to said door, this arrangement of counterbalancing
affording the additional advantage of facilitating the opening and closing of said door,
as will readily be understood.
At any appropriate part of the above described cord, is inserted a fusible joining
piece or any device suitable for maintaining the counterbalancing weight and yet
capable of being severed by heat above a certain temperature, so that when the heat
of the place is so far increased as to sever said joining piece, the counterbalancing
weight will lose its command of the door which being liberated will close or move to
cover the opening or doorway.
The guide pulleys above described are so arranged that the cord passing around and
over them is made to extend somewhat across the upper part of the doorway, and it
is in this part of the cord that I elect to insert the fusible material above described,
since in this position it is in the best place for for detecting any increase of temperature
as before stated.
The door is constructed of wood and is covered all over with sheet metal the
jointings of which are formed by the edges thereof being folded or clasped together,
and if the framing of the doorway or opening is made of wood this also is covered
with sheet metal.
The rail on which the door pulleys run is bolted to the wall and not plugged with
wood as is usual.
Detal
QOLL
CAT
L. 1000

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Appertaining to Automatically Closing Doors,
Applicable for Preventing the Spreading of Fire in Mills, Ware-
houses, or like Buildings.
I, JAMES SMITH NAYLOR of Brunswick Foundry, Keighley in the County of York,
Brássfounder, (communicated to me by Marshall Tillotson of the United States of
America), 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, that is to say :-
It consists of improvements in the construction of and the arrangement
of parts forming and in connection with doors, whereby said doors are made
to automatically move and close or cover the openings or doorways of the rooms
to which they are applied whenever the temperature of said room or any place
adjoining same, is raised to a higher degree than is desirable as by the occurrence of
a fire in any of said rooms or places in this manner, since said doors are constructed
as hereinafter described, the spreading of any such fire by same passing through said
doorways or openings, is prevented.
Such being the nature and object of my said invention, in order that same may
be more readily understood, I have hereunto appended a sheet of drawings
illustrative thereof, to which by figures and letters reference is made in the following.
description.
Fig. 1 is an elevation showing the application of a door and the parts in connection
therewith in accordance with this invention.
Fig. 2 is a top view of parts shewn by fig. 1.
The object of this invention is attained by making use of the well known class of
sliding door a the same being mounted with wheels or grooved pulleys 6 61 to run
upon a rail c in a common and well known manner, however according to this
invention this rail c or its equivalent (that is a rail or plate fixed in the ground and
the wheels 661 mounted upon the bottom edge of the door to operate on said
plate), is arranged as by being placed at an angle to the horizontal plane, so that the
door a will always have a tendency, by gravity, to, and when left free to move will,
slide into position for covering the doorway or opening d to which it is applied or in
connection with which it is employed.
In order to retain or hold the sliding door a so that the opening d may remain
uncovered, a counterbalancing weight e is attached, by means of the cord passing
over and operating in connection with the guide or grooved pulleys g g¹, to the door a.
This arrangement of counterbalancing the door a affords the advantage of facilitating
its being opened and closed as well as answering the purposes hereinafter described.
At any appropriate part of the cord f is inserted a fusible joining piece or any
device suitable for maintaining the weight e in an ordinary way yet capable of being
severed by heat above a certain temperature, so that when the heat of the place is so
far increased as to sever said joining piece h, the weight e will lose its command over
the door a which being liberated will close or move by gravity and cover the
opening d.
The guide pulleys 9 g₁ are so arranged that the cord f, in passing around and
operating in connection with them for the purpose described, is made to extend some-
what across the upper part of the doorway or opening d and it is in this part of said
cord (or instead of the cord f being employed a metal chain or flexible strap of
metal or leather might be employed as will be seen) that I elect to insert the fusible
material h above described, since in this position it is in the best place for detecting
any increase of temperature in the manner above described.
The joining piece h may be formed somewhat of the shape shewn by detail
drawings figs. 3 and 4 (which are of enlarged scale), and in two parts h and h¹ the
one overlapping the other. These parts h and h¹ are constructed of hard metal such
as iron or brass and are attached together by being soldered with any of the common

page_text: and well known fusible metals which in this case is the part relied upon for being
affected by an increase in temperature.
The door a is preferably constructed of wood, in order that its weight may be as
little as possible, and to protect it from the effects of fire I cover it all over with sheet
metal the jointings of the several pieces of which are formed by the edges thereof
being folded or clasped together in a manner well understood. Again, if the framing
encircling the doorway is of wood, I also in a similar manner cover it with sheet
metal.
The rail c is bolted to the wall which forms its support and is not plugged thereto
with wooden wedges as is usual, by these means the effects of fire cannot be such
as to cause the bearances of the door a to yield and so allow said door a to fall out of
position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination of an automatically closing door a, a counterbalancing weight e
joined to said door by a cord, strap or chain operating over grooved pulleys g g¹, and
a fusible joining piece constructed to be readily severed by heat, substantially
as and for the purposes specified, the same being arranged to operate as set forth.
17.תשי
T
1000
J. S. NAYLOR.
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.