Device for operating a pocket door

• US 4,050,189 A
• Filed: 09/04/1975
• Issued: 09/27/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: C Hager & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company
• Original Assignee: C Hager & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company
• Inventors: Peterson, Francis C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Downey, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US05/610,133
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: 49/26-30, 49/360, 49/139, 318/283-285, 318/290
• US Class Current: 49/26
• CPC Class Codes: E05D 15/06 for wings sliding horizontally more or less in their own plane
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/643 operated by flexible elongated pulling elements, e.g. belts, chains or cables by flexible elongated push-pull mechanisms E05F15/635
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/14 Doors disappearing in pockets of a wall, e.g. so-called pocket doors

Abstract

A pocket door is moved between open and closed positions by an electric motor unit mounted on the studs framing the rough opening in which the door is installed. The rotary motion of the motor is translated into linear motion by a cable and pulley arrangement with one of the pulleys being a drive pulley on the shaft of the motor unit and the other being an idler pulley mounted on the track on which the door slides. The cable is attached to the door through a coil-type tension spring. Hence, the door will move when the motor is energized and should the door encounter an impediment upon closing the spring will expand and permit the pulley to slip within the loop of the cable. The motor is controlled by a timer which when activated causes the motor to run for sufficient time to open the door, then hold to enable one to pass through the door opening, and then run in the opposite direction for sufficient time to close the door.

Claims

1. For use with a door mounted on a track and movable parallel to the track between open and closed positions relative to an opening in a wall, an improved apparatus for moving the door between its open and closed positions, said apparatus comprising:

an electric motor mounted in a fixed position relative to the door opening and being connected with a drive pulley which the motor is capable of turning in either direction of rotation;

an idler pulley spaced from the drive pulley;

a cable looped around the drive and idler pulleys and attached to the door such that when the drive pulley is rotated in one direction, the door is urged to its open position, and when the drive pulley is rotated in the opposite direction, the door is urged to its closed position, the drive pulley being capable of slipping relative to the cable; and

timing means which when actuated causes the motor to undergo a single door operating cycle wherein the motor first rotates the drive pulley for a predetermined span of time in the direction which urges the door to its open position and thereafter rotates the drive pulley for a predetermined span of time in the opposite direction which urges the door to its closed position, said predetermined spans of time being sufficient in duration to under normal circumstances completely move the door from one position to the other, said predetermined times being constant and completely independent of the door position, whereby the time the motor rotates the drive pulley in one direction and then in the other will be the same irrespective of the position of the door.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the operating cycle controlled by the timing means further includes a hold condition of predetermined time between completion of drive pulley rotation in the direction which opens the door and the commencement of drive pulley rotation in the direction which closes the door, the drive pulley being idle during the hold condition so as not to urge the door in either direction.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the timing means includes means for adjusting the predetermined spans of time for the operating cycle.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising a spring connected with the cable for maintaining the cable taut about the drive and idler pulleys.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising means for terminating the operating cycle at any time before its normal completion.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising first manually operated means for actuating the timing means so as to initiate the operating cycle and second manually operated means for terminating the operating cycle at any time before its normal completion.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the wall has a pair of upright supporting members between which the track extends;

wherein the electric motor and timing means form part of a drive unit having a supporting bracket which attaches to one of the upright supporting members on the side of that member facing away from the end of the track so that said one member is between the track and the drive unit; and

wherein the cable extends through holes of the upright member.

8. The structure according to claim 7 wherein the cable has two reaches, both of which extend through holes in the bracket which holes align with the holes in said one upright member, and the drive unit does not project laterally beyond the upright members irrespective of the manner in which the holes in the bracket are aligned with the holes in the upright member so that the drive unit may be mounted on said one upright member with the drive pulley presented upwardly or downwardly.

13. An apparatus according to claim 2 and further comprising manually operated means for actuating the timing means so as to initiate the operating cycle;

and wherein the timing means includes a sequential timer circuit having three phases corresponding in duration to and controlling the three phases corresponding in duration to and controlling the three predetermined times of door operating cycle, the first phase being initiated by the manually operated means and controlling the time for operating the motor in the door-operating direction, the second phase being initiated by the first phase and controlling the time of the hold condition, and the third phase being initiated by the second phase and controlling the time for operating the motor in the door-closing direction.

9. An apparatus for automatically operating a pocket door which is mounted on a track in a wall having a pocket therein and an opening adjacent to the pocket, the door being movable on the track between an open position wherein it blocks the opening and a closed position wherein it is within the pocket and does not obstruct the opening, said apparatus comprising:

drive means mounted on the wall beyond the opening therein for rotating a drive pulley in both directions about the axis of the pulley;

an idler pulley spaced from the drive pulley;

a cable looped around the drive and idler pulleys and attached to the door such that when the drive pulley rotates in one direction the door is urged to its open position and when the drive pulley rotates in the opposite direction the door is urged to its closed position;

means for maintaining the cable taut and for further permitting a slight amount of slack to develop in the cable so that if the door encounters an obstruction during movement, the drive pulley will slip relative to the cable; and

timing means for controlling the drive means, the timing means upon being actuated first causing the drive means to rotate the pulley for a first predetermined time in the direction which causes the door to open and then for a second predetermined time in the direction which causes the door to close, said first predetermined time being long enough to normally let the door move from its closed to its open position and said second predetermined time being long enough to normally let the door move from its open to its closed position, said first and second predetermined times being constant, the timing means being independent of the door so that once actuated the timing means will energize the drive means for said first and second predetermined times irrespective of the position of the door.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the means for maintaining the cable taut is a spring.

11. An apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the timing means further de-energizes the motor for an intermediate predetermined time after the first predetermined time and before the second predetermined time.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11 and further comprising a manually operated switching means connected to the timing means such that the timing means is actuated when the switching means is operated and causes the drive means to rotate the pulley in the direction which opens the door;

and wherein the timing means comprises a first, second, and third timers, the first timer being activated by the manually operated switching means and determining the first predetermined time, the second timer being activated by the first timer and determining the intermediate predetermined time, and the third timer being activated by the second timer and determining the second predetermined time.

14. For use with a door mounted on a track and movable parallel to the track between open and closed positions relative to an opening in a wall, an improved apparatus for moving the door between its open and closed positions, said apparatus comprising:

a drive pulley;

an electric motor mounted in a fixed position relative to the door opening and connected to the drive pulley, the motor being capable of turning the drive pulley in either direction of rotation;

an idler pulley spaced from the drive pulley;

a cable looped around the drive and idler pulleys and attached to the door such that when the drive pulley is rotated in one direction, the door is urged to its open position, and when the drive pulley is rotated in the opposite direction, the door is urged to its closed position, the drive pulley being capable of slipping relative to the cable; and

timing means which when actuated causes the motor to undergo a single door operating cycle wherein the motor rotates the drive pulley for at least one uninterrupted span of time in one direction so as to urge the door from one position to the other position, said span of time being constant and of sufficient duration to enable the door under normal circumstances to completely move from the one position to the other position, the timing means further being completely independent of the door position so that the time the motor rotates the drive pulley will be the same irrespective of the position of the door.