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Safety cabinet with sequential door-closing system

  • US 9,814,311 B2
  • Filed: 02/08/2013
  • Issued: 11/14/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A safety cabinet comprising:

  • an enclosure defining an opening;

    a first door and a second door, each door being rotatably mounted to the enclosure and moveable over a range of travel between an open position and a closed position, the first and second doors adapted to cover the opening of the enclosure when in the closed position;

    a sequential door-closing system adapted to sequentially close the first and second doors such that when the first and second doors move in respective first and second door closing paths from the open position to the closed position, the first door is in the closed position before the second door, the sequential door-closing system including a stop member, a connecting assembly, a trigger member, and a trigger biasing mechanism, wherein;

    the stop member is rotatably mounted to the enclosure and moveable over a range of travel between a stop position, in which at least a portion of the stop member is disposed in the second door closing path of the second door, and a retracted position, in which the stop member is displaced from the second door closing path, the stop member being biased to the stop position,the connecting assembly is in interconnecting relationship with the stop member and the trigger member, the connecting assembly adapted to contactingly engage the trigger member at a locking interface to selectively retain the stop member in the stop position,the trigger member is rotatably mounted to the enclosure and moveable over a range of travel between a locked position, in which the trigger member and the connecting assembly are in interlocking relationship at the locking interface to prevent rotational movement of the stop member from the stop position and in which at least a portion of the trigger member is disposed in the first door closing path of the first door, and a retracted position, in which the trigger member is displaced from the first door closing path, and the trigger member being biased to the locked position,wherein the connecting assembly includes a cam with a first end and a second end, the cam pivotally mounted to the enclosure, the first end of the cam being engaged with the trigger member when the trigger member is in the locked position so as to prevent the cam from rotating, and a crosslink with a first end and a second end, the first end of the crosslink being pivotally connected to the stop member, and the second end of the crosslink being pivotally connected to the second end of the cam,wherein the first end of the cam and the trigger member define the locking interface therebetween when the trigger member is in the locked position, the locking interface configured to prevent the cam from rotating in a retracting direction, andthe trigger biasing mechanism is adapted to bias the trigger member to the locked position, the trigger biasing mechanism comprising a spring connected at one end to the trigger member and at the other end to both the second end of the cam and the second end of the crosslink; and

    wherein, as the second door moves over the second door closing path from the open position to the closed position, the stop member is adapted to selectively stop the second door at a trailing door position along the second door closing path and to prevent the second door from moving to the closed position;

    wherein the trigger member, when in the locked position, is adapted to contact the first door at a leading door position along the first door closing path, the leading door position being closer to the closed position of the first door than the trailing door position is to the closed position of the second door; and

    wherein, as the first door moves over the first door closing path from the open position to the closed position, the first door contacts the trigger member at the leading door position such that continued movement of the first door to the closed position causes the trigger member to rotate in a release direction away from the locked position to the retracted position to thereby disengage the trigger member from the connecting assembly such that the trigger member is no longer in contacting relationship with the cam at the locking interface, thereby allowing the stop member to rotate away from the stop position to the retracted position to allow the second door to move to the closed position after the first door is in the closed position.

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  • 7 Assignments
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