Safety auxiliary apparatus for automatic door assembly

• US 5,996,281 A
• Filed: 10/28/1997
• Issued: 12/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Opex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Optex Company Limited (OPTEX GROUP Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Hiroaki, Morishita, Masazumi, Takano, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): REDMAN, JERRY E
• Application Number:
  US08/959,440
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 49/25, 49/26, 49/27, 49/28, 200/61.43
• US Class Current: 49/26
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/43 responsive to disruption of energy beams, e.g. light or sound
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 2015/435 by interruption of the beam
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/14 using reflectors

Abstract

A safety auxiliary apparatus for an automatic door assembly includes a single door or first and second doors slidable along a predetermined track for selectively opening and closing the doorway, first and second mutually confronting closure faces being defined by said first and second doors or said single door in cooperation with a brace. A casing accommodating therein a light emitting element for emitting a beam for detection of an object and a light receiving element for receiving the beam from the light emitting element is mounted in a longitudinal frame member of the doors or said brace that define respectively said closure faces, so that an optical path can be defined between said closure faces so as to extend from the light emitting element to the light receiving element.

Claims

1. A safety auxiliary apparatus for an automatic door assembly, said apparatus comprising:

first and second doors slidable along a predetermined track for selectively opening and closing a doorway, said first and second doors having respective first and second closure faces confronting with each other;

a light emitting element for emitting a beam for detection of an object and a light receiving element for receiving the beam from the light emitting element, both of said light emitting element and said light receiving element being mounted in the first door one above the other;

an optical reflecting element mounted in the second door and including first and second reflecting surfaces positioned one above the other and confronting outwardly from the first closure face of the first door;

wherein the beam emitted by the light emitting element impinges, after having been reflected by the first reflecting surface, upon the second reflecting surface and is again reflected by the second reflecting surface so as to travel towards the light receiving element; and

one of said first and second reflecting surfaces of the optical reflecting element including at least one pair of reflecting facets laid at right angles relative to each other with respect to a dale line that is substantially perpendicular to the other of said first and second reflecting surfaces.

2. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a mounting recess is defined in each of the first and second closure faces of the respective first and second doors, both of said light emitting element and said light receiving element being accommodated within the mounting recess in the first door, and said optical reflecting element being accommodated within the mounting recess in the second door.

3. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said mounting recess is defined in a closure face of a longitudinal frame member in each of the first and second doors that confronts the doorway.

4. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein electric lines leading from the light emitting and receiving elements, respectively, are drawn upwardly through an interior of the longitudinal frame member.

5. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claims 1, wherein electric line leading from the light emitting and receiving elements, respectively, are drawn from the door so as to extend upwardly, and further comprising a transom for supporting an upper portion of the door, said transom including a guide rail, a hanger member fixedly mounted on the upper portion of the door and having at least one roller rotatably mounted thereon, said roller being supported on the guide rail for rolling along the guide rail, said electric lines being supported by said hanger member.

6. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said first and second reflecting surfaces is formed into a single prism.

7. A safety auxiliary apparatus for an automatic door assembly, said apparatus comprising:

a single door slidable along a predetermined track for selectively opening and closing a doorway, said door having a first closure face confronting the doorway;

a stationary brace having a second closure face confronting the doorway;

a light emitting element for emitting a beam for detection of an object and a light receiving element for receiving the beam from the light emitting element, both of said light emitting element and said light receiving element being mounted in one of the stationary brace and the door;

an optical reflecting element mounted in the other of the stationary brace and the door and including first and second reflecting surfaces positioned one above the other and confronting outwardly from the closure face of said one of the stationary brace and the door;

wherein the beam emitted by the light emitting element impinges, after having been reflected by the first reflecting surface, upon the second reflecting surface and is again reflected by the second reflecting surface so as to travel towards the light receiving element; and

one of said first and second reflecting surfaces of the optical reflecting element including at least one pair of reflecting facets laid at right angles relative to each other with respect to a dale line that is substantially perpendicular to the other of said first and second reflecting surfaces.

8. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein a mounting recess is defined in each of the door and the brace, both of said light emitting element and said light receiving element being accommodated within the mounting recess in said one of the stationary brace and the door, and said optical reflecting element being accommodated within the mounting recess in the other of the stationary brace and the door.

9. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said mounting recess is defined in a closure face of a longitudinal frame member of the door that confronts the doorway.

10. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said light emitting element and said light receiving element are accommodated in the mounting recess of the brace and electric lines leading from the light emitting and receiving elements, respectively, are drawn upwardly through an interior of the brace.

11. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claims 7, wherein electric line leading from the light emitting and receiving elements, respectively, are drawn from the door so as to extend upwardly, and further comprising a transom for supporting an upper portion of the door, said transom including a guide rail, a hanger member fixedly mounted on the upper portion of the door and having at least one roller rotatably mounted thereon, said roller being supported on the guide rail for rolling along the guide rail, said electric lines being supported by said hanger member.

12. The safety auxiliary apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of said first and second reflecting surfaces is formed into a single prism.