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Mutually counterbalancing upper and lower flap doors of wide doorway

  • US 4,024,671 A
  • Filed: 09/23/1975
  • Issued: 05/24/1977
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/01/1975
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. An improved hollow structure comprising:

  • a vertical wall part formed with an opening;

    a doorway frame bordering the opening and including a lower frame member, two vertical posts rising from opposite ends of the lower frame member, and an upper frame member disposed between the tops of the two posts;

    upper and lower flap doors respectively connected by upper and lower hinges to the upper and lower frame members and adapted to swing about the hinges to close and open upper and lower parts of the opening, the upper and lower flap doors each having inner and outer surfaces and being openable to respective fully-opened positions at which the flap doors are clear of possible paths of objects passing through the opening; and

    a coupling device for intercoupling the upper and lower flap doors in a manner to synchronize the movements thereof between fully-closed positions thereof and said fully-opened positions and to cause the force of gravity acting on the upper and lower flap doors to substantially counterbalance each other, the improvement residing in that said coupling device comprises;

    (a) upper and lower guide wheels rotatably supported on said one of the posts;

    (b) a lever pivotally secured at a proximal end thereof to the inner surface of the upper flap door;

    (c) guide means for guiding and permitting the other distal end of the lever to move only in a substantially vertical and linear path, upward and downward movements of the distal end causing the upper flap door to move in the opening and closing directions; and

    (d) an elongate flexible member anchored at one end thereof to the lever near the distal end thereof, passed over the upper guide wheel in an inverted U-shaped fashion and then over the lower guide wheel, and anchored at the other end thereof to the inner surface of the lower flap door, in a manner such that opening movement of the lower flap door causes the flexible member to be pulled at said other end thereof and to pull up said distal end of the lever thereby to open the upper flap door, and closing movement of the lower flap door permits the flexible member to move in reverse to permit the distal end of the lever to descend thereby to permit the upper flap door to move in the closing direction.

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