An Improved Door Detainer.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Door Detainer.
We ALBERT UNNA LEWIS of Number 409 Collins Street in the City of Melbourne
and Colony of Victoria Australia Gas Engineer and JOHN DONALDSON of Walpole
Street Kew Victoria aforesaid Manager of a Life Assurance Society do hereby
declare that the nature of our invention for " AN IMPROVED DOOR DETAINER" (to be
called "Lewis' Patent anti door slammer") and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has been devised for the purpose of providing a cheap easy and
reliable means for holding doors and similar constructions at any point of their
opening and supplies a want that has long been felt.
At the present time the slamming closing or blowing open of doors is a source
of great annoyance and from the undesirable draughts consequent thereon the
health of the public is injuriously affected as well as children having their hands
injured by untimely slammings of doors-Whilst in public buildings shops &c. :
the use of this invention will enable doorways to be kept open as desired without
having to make bolt holes in or constructions on the floor which holes it is well
known are continually being filled up with the dirt of the floor and especially so is
this the case with garden gates or doors through which a large amount of traffic has
to pass..
The invention consists of an ornamental shaped are of metal (or other material)
depending from (and rotating on) a working centre which is surrounded by a boss
to which latter the device is affixed-From this boss two arms radiate (and terminate
at different radii) into a curved band or rim such rim being therefore eccentric to
the working centre in the aforesaid boss-By means of this peculiar construction
when a partial rotation is given to the device a rotatory wedging action takes
place against the floor and thus produces a stopper to the further progress of the
door or window &c.
In order that our invention may be easily understood reference may be had to the
accompanying drawings in which
Fig. 1. shows a front elevation of the door detainer as affixed in working position
to a door.
Fig. 2. is a side view of same and
Fig. 3. being cross sections on lines x-x and y-y respectively.
In these figures A is the boss surrounding the centre screw A¹ (which latter is an
ordinary wood-screw screwed into the door frame)-Between the said door frame and
boss A is placed a loose distance washer A2 so as to keep the device from disfiguring
the door. B are the arms extending from the boss A to the curved eccentric rim C
which latter terminates in projections C¹ and C² to enable the necessary pressure to
be exerted on the device-B' is a niche or recess formed in one of the arms B for
receiving the stop pin D on which it rests while not in use-E is the door on which
is affixed the device-F being the floor.
The method of using our invention is as follows
--
Suppose that it is desired to detain the door at any point of its opening (the device
being in its recumbent position on stop pin D as shown in dotted lines Figs. 1 and 2).
The operator places his foot on the projection C2 when the detainer will fall into
position as shown on the drawings. He then with his foot exerts the necessary
pressure on the projection C¹and a rotatory wedging action takes place and con-
sequently the door will be firmly held in the desired position-When it is wished to
release the door the action last described is reversed (that is to say):-The foot
presses on projection C³ so as to cause the device to assume its normal recumbent
671

page_text: position on pin D as shown by the aforesaid dotted lines-By the action herein
described it will be apparent that the detainer by its shape will accommodate itself
to any irregularities of the floor and also to looseness caused by shrinkage of the door
or other cause and thus a constant wedge can be obtained notwithstanding.
We are aware of the existence of several contrivances now in use for holding
doors &c. but they are all objectionable-partly on account of their inefficacy
(especially on uneven floors)-cost of construction-the damage they cause to carpets
linoleums etc. besides disfiguring doors and forming obstructions to free passage
from their faulty design and clumsy modus operandi.
We on the contrary claim that our improved detainer has none of these objections
inasmuch as
1stly. The thorough practical efficiency of its working on even and uneven floors.
2ndly. The exceedingly low cost at which it can be vended and
3rdly. That from the breadth and smoothness of its working surface not the least.
injury can be done to carpets linoleums or the floor whilst in appearance it can be
made to suit the most aesthetic taste.
The detainer is made preferably of metal nickel-plated but can be made of any
other material and coloured to suit the taste of the user.
We do not confine ourselves to the size shape or materials of construction of
this invention nor to the exact detailed mode of its application but that as shown
in the drawings we find in practice to be suitable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is―
1. In door detaining devices. The use of a curved rim of metal (or other material)
working on a centre to which centre its outer periphery is eccentric to produce a
rotatory wedging action substantially for the purposes herein set forth and explained
and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In door detaining devices. The peculiar mechanical construction substantially as
herein described and explained and as illustrated on the accompanying drawings.
3. The application of our detainer for use on doors as herein described and
explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated at Melbourne aforesaid this Twenty-ninth day of November One thousand
eight hundred and eighty ning
ALBERT UNNA LEWIS.
JOHN
DONALDSON.
W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Consulting Engineer
and Patent Agent.