Biasing device for opening door

Abstract

To provide a means capable of improving various existing doors to be locked at a closed position to a state capable of being automatically opened only by lock release.SOLUTION: A biasing device 12 for opening a door attached to a side frame 3 on which a door body 5 is supported in an open / close manner includes a vertically elongated base plate 16 attached to the inside of the side frame 3, a vertically elongated gas spring 18 suspended with one end attached to the upper end of the base plate, a rotary body 27 supported for rotation around a vertical axial center at the lower end of the base plate 16, a transmission means 31 for converting the vertical projecting / retracting movement of a projecting / retracting movement part 18a projecting from the lower end of the gas spring into the rotation of the rotary body 27, and an arm 13 horizontally extending from the rotary body 27 in a direction away from the side frame 3, in which a tip part of the arm 13 is brought into pressure contact with the inner surface of the door body 5 by the downward biasing force of the projecting / retracting movement part 18a of the gas spring to bias the door body 5 in the opening direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a door opening biasing device that can be utilized as a means for automatically opening openable and closable doors used in various storage furniture, partitions, etc., when the doors are released from the closed position and become openable. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, taking the folding door shown in Patent Document 1 as an example, folding doors are generally provided with a function that automatically engages the inter-door hinge that connects two door bodies so that the folding door is closed in a flat plate-like state to close the opening, and automatically locks the folding door in the flat closed state. Therefore, if a person who wants to open the opening pulls one of the door bodies outward with a certain amount of operating force using a handle provided near the side connected by the inter-door hinge of the two door bodies, the automatic lock mechanism is released, and the folding door can be folded and the opening opened by pulling one of the door bodies with the handle. Although various doors that open and close the opening can be opened by releasing the lock of the door in the closed position, no practical means for automatically opening and closing the door has been considered. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-270308 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] For example, to automatically open an unlocked door, it would be sufficient to combine a biasing means that applies a biasing force in the opening direction to the door, but this biasing means must be interposed between the door body and the surrounding side frames, etc., which would require modification of the door body and side frames, and it would not be easy to retrofit it to an existing door. In addition, there are also anticipated problems such as the biasing means getting into the storage space inside the door, narrowing the original storage space, or interfering with the insertion and removal of stored items. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention proposes a door opening biasing device that can solve the above problems. The door opening biasing device of the present invention is, in order to make it easier to understand the relationship with the embodiments described later, a door opening biasing device (12) that is attached to a side frame (3) that supports a door body (5) so as to be able to be opened and closed, and includes a vertically long base plate (16) that is attached to a position close to the door body (5) inside the side frame (3), a vertically long gas spring (1) that is hung down with one end attached to the upper end of the base plate (16) 8), a rotating body (27) supported on the lower end of the base plate (16) so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis, a transmission means (31) for converting the up-down movement of a retractable part (18a) protruding from the lower end of the gas spring (18) into rotation of the rotating body (27), and an arm (13) extending horizontally from the rotating body (27) in a direction away from the side frame (3), and the downward biasing force of the retractable part (18a) of the gas spring (18) causes the tip of the arm (13) to be pressed against the inner surface of the door body (5), thereby biasing the door body (5) in the opening direction. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the above-mentioned configuration of the present invention, when the locking means that locks the door body in the closed position is opened manually or by other means, the door body is automatically opened by the urging force of the gas spring, since the urging force of the gas spring is always acting on the door body via the arm. If the urging force of the gas spring is configured to continue until the door body reaches the open limit, the door body can be opened reliably and automatically to the open limit without relying on human hands. When closing the open door body, it is sufficient to urge the door body in the closing direction with human force that overcomes the urging force of the gas spring and close it to the closed limit position where it is locked.

[0007] As described above, the door body can be opened automatically and reliably by the biasing force of the gas spring without relying on human hands, and according to the configuration of the present invention, the door opening biasing device of the present invention is installed vertically long inside the side frame that supports the door body to be opened and closed, adjacent to the inside of the door body in the closed position, and the tip of the arm protruding horizontally and oscillatably from the lower end of this door opening biasing device is brought into sliding contact with the inner surface of the door body, so that there is no need to specially process the door body or the side frame, and the door of an existing facility can be easily improved to an automatic opening door. Also, the door opening biasing device of the present invention is a vertically long device equipped with a vertically long gas spring as described above, and even if a high-performance gas spring that becomes longer is used, the vertical length of the door opening biasing device will only be increased, and there is no risk that the door opening biasing device (gas spring) will penetrate deep into the storage space opened and closed by the door improved to automatic opening with this door opening biasing device. Therefore, even if the opening and closing door of an existing storage facility is improved to an automatic opening and closing door by using the door opening biasing device of the present invention, the internal storage space is not significantly narrowed, and the door opening biasing device hardly interferes with the putting in and taking out of storage items.

[0008] Specifically, when the present invention is implemented, the transmission means (31) can be configured to include a vertical bevel gear (22) that rotates integrally with the rotor (27), a horizontal bevel gear (20) that is journaled on the base plate (16) by a horizontal support shaft (21) and engages with the bevel gear (22), and a passive member (24) that rotates integrally with the horizontal bevel gear (20) around the horizontal support shaft (21) and to which the advance / retract movement portion (18a) of the gas spring (18) is journaled at an eccentric position, so that the downward movement of the advance / retract movement portion (18a) of the gas spring (18) is transmitted to the rotor (27) via the horizontal bevel gear (20) and the vertical bevel gear (22). With this configuration, the entire transmission means can be configured simply and in a small space, compared to a case where the transmission means is configured by a link mechanism.

[0009] Also, a plate (15) large enough to cover the sliding area of ​​the tip of the arm (13) can be attached to the inner surface of the door body (5) with which the tip of the arm (13) is pressed, and a sliding member (14) that slides against the plate (15) can be attached to the tip of the arm (13). With this configuration, the biasing force of the gas spring can be smoothly transmitted to the door body to be opened, and not only can the door body be opened smoothly, but also the inner surface of the door body to be opened is not significantly scratched.

[0010] When the above-mentioned configuration is adopted, a through hole (37) is provided at the tip of the arm (13) so as to penetrate the arm (13) in the thickness direction, and the sliding contact member (14) is provided with a recessed portion (38) into which the tip of the arm (13) is inserted, openings (38a, 38b) provided on both sides of the recessed portion (38) so as to be adjacent to both sides in the thickness direction of the arm (13) within the recessed portion (38), and a through hole (37) provided from the periphery of one of the openings (38a) A cantilevered elastic tongue portion (39) and an engagement protrusion (40) at the tip of the elastic tongue portion (39) can be provided so as to automatically fit into the through hole (37) when the tip of the arm (13) is inserted into the recessed portion (38), and the engagement protrusion (40) fitted into the through hole (37) can be pushed out of the through hole (38b) from the other opening (38b against the elasticity of the elastic tongue portion (39). With this configuration, a metal plate is used as the plate to be attached to the door body, and a plastic molded product that slides easily against the metal plate is used as the sliding contact member at the tip of the arm, thereby eliminating the risk of scratching the door body, and when the sliding contact member needs to be replaced due to wear, the sliding contact member can be easily removed from the tip of the arm compared to a configuration in which the sliding contact member is screwed to the tip of the arm. Of course, the operation of attaching the sliding contact member to the arm tip can be performed simply by inserting the sliding contact member so as to cover the arm tip, so that the sliding contact member can be attached to and detached from the arm tip very easily and quickly.

[0011] Furthermore, a cover (17) is provided to cover the gas spring (18), the rotor (27), the transmission means (31) and the base of the arm (13) which are attached to the base plate (16), and the base plate (16) can be provided with a cover support part (16b) on which the upper end of the cover (17) is placed and supported, and a pair of left and right elastic locking projections (34a, 34b) which automatically engage with a pair of left and right engagement holes (33a, 33b) provided in the cover (17). With this configuration, not only are the gas spring, the transmission means, etc. protected by the cover, but there is also no risk of the stored items getting caught on the gas spring or the transmission means when inserting or removing them, which could adversely affect their operation. Furthermore, the cover is simply placed over the board, the upper end of the cover is placed on the cover support part on the board, and the pair of left and right elastic locking protrusions on the board are automatically engaged with the pair of left and right engagement holes on the cover, so that the cover can be attached and removed extremely easily compared to attachment structures that use screws, etc. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating the structure of a typical folding door. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view showing the main parts of a storage facility incorporating a door-opening biasing device according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the main part of the storage facility of FIG. 2 as seen from the inside. [Figure 4] 4A is a cross-sectional plan view showing the main part of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4B is a side view showing a vertical section of only the cover, showing a detailed structure of the door-opening biasing device according to the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a plan view of the main part showing only the cover in FIG. 4 in cross section taken along line XX. [Figure 6] 6 is a front view showing only the cover in FIG. 4 in a cross-sectional view taken along line YY. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional plan view of the main part of FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view of the lower end main portion of FIG. [Figure 9]FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view showing the tip of an arm provided in the door-opening biasing device according to the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing the tip of the arm shown in FIG. 9 and the sliding contact member before attachment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of FIG. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below, but before that, a general configuration of a folding door as an example to which the device of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The folding door 1 shown in Fig. 1 has two door bodies 5, 6 that open and close between side frames 3, 4 arranged on both the left and right sides of an opening for putting in and taking out stored items in a storage space 2. The door bodies 5, 6 are connected to each other at their adjacent inner sides by a center hinge 7 so that they can be folded and unfolded freely, and the outer side of one door body 5 is journaled on the inner surface of the side frame 3 by a side hinge 8 so that it can be opened and closed freely, while the outer side of the other door body 6 is supported by a slide hinge 9. The slide hinge 9 is supported by a slide rail 10 that is horizontally installed between the side frames 3, 4 and curves so that the area on the side frame 3 side moves away from the storage space 2 outward as it approaches the side frame 3.

[0014] The folding door 1 shown in Fig. 1 is a conventionally known type, so a detailed structural description will be omitted, but in a closed position where both door bodies 5, 6 are unfolded into a single flat plate as shown by solid lines, the opening for putting in and taking out stored items of the storage space 2 is fully closed, and in this state, the fully closed position where both door bodies 5, 6 are unfolded into a single flat plate is maintained by an automatic locking mechanism provided in the center hinge 7. When opening the folding door 1, for example, by pulling the handle 11 attached to the outer surface close to the inner edge of the door body 6 toward oneself and moving the door body 5 in the opening direction (away from the side frame 4), the door body 5 opens around the side hinge 8, and the outer edge of the door body 6 moves along the slide rail 10 together with the slide hinge 9, while the inner edge of the door body 6 is folded around the center hinge 7 so as to overlap with the inside of the door body 5, and finally, the folding door 1 changes to a fully open position as shown by imaginary lines in Fig. 1.

[0015] To return the folding door 1 from this fully open position to its original fully closed position, the handle 11 is used to move the door body 6 in the closing direction, and the door body 5 closes around the side hinge 8, and the outer edge of the door body 5 slides along the slide rail 10 together with the slide hinge 9 toward the side where the side frame 4 is located, causing the folding door 1 to return to its original fully closed position. As explained above, the folding door 1 that has returned to its fully closed position is held in that fully closed position by the automatic lock mechanism of the center hinge 7, and there is no risk of it opening unexpectedly.

[0016] For example, an embodiment in which the door opening biasing device of the present invention is incorporated into the folding door 1 shown in Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. In the figures, 12 denotes the door opening biasing device of the present invention, which is vertically long and is attached to the lower end of the inner surface (the side where the storage space 2 is located) of the side frame 3 that supports the door body 5 with the side hinge 8 and adjacent to the inner surface of the door body 5 in the closed position, so that the length direction is vertical. An arm 13 protrudes horizontally from the lower end side of the door opening biasing device 12. This arm 13 is biased to rotate horizontally toward the door body 5 by a mechanism built into the door opening biasing device 12 as described later, and a sliding member 14 is attached to the tip of the arm 13, and a rectangular metal plate 15 long in the horizontal direction and large enough to cover the entire sliding contact area is attached to the area where the sliding member 14 slides on the inner surface of the door body 5 by double-sided adhesive tape or the like.

[0017] The structure and operation of the door-opening biasing device 12 will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 4 to 8. The door-opening biasing device 12 comprises a base plate 16 that is screwed to the inside surface of the side frame 3, and a cover 17 that covers the base plate 16 and the entire device. The base plate 16 is made of a vertically long belt-shaped metal plate that is provided with multiple mounting holes 16a for screwing to the inside surface of the side frame 3, and is provided at its upper end with a cover support portion 16b that is bent outward and connected, and at its lower end with a bearing support portion 16c that is bent horizontally outward and connected. Near the upper end of the base plate 16, the upper end of a gas spring 18 that is long in the vertical direction is suspended by a horizontal support shaft 19, and a horizontal bevel gear 20 is rotatably supported by a horizontal support shaft 21 on the base plate 16 slightly below the lower end of the gas spring 18. Furthermore, a vertical bevel gear 22 of the same diameter that meshes with the horizontal bevel gear 20 is rotatably supported by a vertical support shaft 23 on the bearing support portion 16c of the base plate 16.

[0018] 8, a plate-shaped passive member 24 is fixed to the back surface of the horizontal bevel gear 20 by a plurality of screws 25, and a protruding eccentric portion 24a of this plate-shaped passive member 24, which protrudes obliquely upward outward from the peripheral surface of the horizontal bevel gear 20, is connected to an advancing and retracting moving portion 18a protruding from the lower end of the gas spring 18 by a horizontal support shaft 26 parallel to the horizontal support shaft 21 so as to be relatively rotatable. Also, a plate-shaped rotating body 27 is fixed to the back surface (lower surface) of the vertical bevel gear 22 by a plurality of screws 28, and the arm 13 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is integrally formed with the plate-shaped rotating body 27 so that the arm 13 extends horizontally from the plate-shaped rotating body 27. The small-diameter upper shaft portion of a vertical pin 29 is fitted and fixed to the eccentric position of the plate-shaped rotor 27, and the bearing support portion 16c of the base plate 16 is provided with an arc-shaped guide slit 30 centered on the vertical support shaft 23 at a position through which the lower end portion of the vertical pin 29 passes, as shown in Fig. 7. As a result, the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 and the plate-shaped rotor 27, which rotate together, can rotate only within the range in which the vertical pin 29 can move within the guide slit 30, that is, within the arc-shaped angular range of the guide slit 30 centered on the vertical support shaft 23 (a range a little longer than 90 degrees).

[0019] The horizontal bevel gear 20 and the vertical bevel gear 22 are structured to rotate in conjunction with each other at a rotation ratio of 1:1, so the horizontal bevel gear 20 also rotates forward and backward within a range slightly longer than 90 degrees. For this reason, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, the horizontal bevel gear 20 and the vertical bevel gear 22 are offset to one side (toward the side away from the door body 5) from the center position of the width of the base plate 16, so that the protruding eccentric part 24a of the plate-shaped passive member 24 can rotate up and down within the space secured beside the horizontal bevel gear 20. In this embodiment, the transmission means 31 that converts the upward and downward movement of the retractable portion 18a protruding from the lower end of the gas spring 18 into the rotation of a rotating body (plate-shaped rotating body 27) to which the arm 13 is integrally extended is composed of the plate-shaped passive member 24 to which the retractable portion 18a is connected, the horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 that rotates integrally with the plate-shaped passive member 24, and the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 that rotates integrally with the plate-shaped rotating body 27, but the transmission means 31 is not limited to this configuration. For example, the transmission means 31 can also be composed of a link mechanism without using gears.

[0020] The cover 17 covers the front side of the base plate 16 to which the gas spring 18, the horizontal bevel gear 20, the vertical bevel gear 22, etc. are attached, and is configured such that only the rear side of the base plate 16 is released by the left and right side wall portions 17a, 17b, the front wall portion 17c which connects the left and right side wall portions 17a, 17b and has an arc-shaped cross section, the ceiling wall portion 17d of the cover 17 is placed on the cover support portion 16b at the upper end of the base plate 16, and the bottom wall portion 17e is inserted under the bearing support portion 16c at the lower end of the base plate 16. When the cover 17 is moved horizontally from the front side of the base plate to cover the base plate 16 and the components of the door-opening biasing device 12 on the front side thereof, the ceiling wall portion 17d is placed on and supported by the cover support portion 16b at the upper end of the base plate 16, and a cover locking means 32 is provided to lock the cover 17 to the base plate 16 side in this state.

[0021] The cover locking means 32 is composed of a pair of left and right engagement holes 33a, 33b provided at a position approaching the base plate 16 at the midpoint between the left and right side wall portions 17a, 17b of the cover 17, and a pair of left and right elastic locking projections 34a, 34b attached to the base plate 16. The pair of left and right elastic locking projections 34a, 34b are formed symmetrically to each other on both ends of a horizontal strip-shaped metal plate 35 whose center is riveted to the base plate 16, and as shown in Fig. 5, the dogleg-shaped curved portions of the locking projections 34a, 34b fit into the respective engagement holes 33a, 33b from the inside, providing the cover 17 with resistance to coming off. When the cover 17 is attached to cover the front side of the base plate 16, the arm 13 extending forward from the plate-shaped rotor 27 below the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 penetrates through a horizontal arc-shaped slit 36 ​​that allows the arm 13 to swing horizontally, and is provided from the arc-shaped front wall 17c of the cover 17 to the left and right side walls 17a, 17b. The actual horizontal swing range of the arm 13 is a range of just over 90 degrees from the center of the arc-shaped front wall 17c to the side of the door body that the door opening biasing device 12 is trying to open (in the above embodiment, the door body 5 on the left side when the folding door 1 is viewed from the front), so it is sufficient if the slit has a length that can cover the horizontal swing range of the arm 13. However, the horizontal arc-shaped slit is formed as in the above embodiment so that the same cover 17 can be used for the door opening biasing device 12 when the door body that the door opening biasing device 12 is trying to open is on the right side when viewed from the front.

[0022] A sliding member 14 is attached to the tip of the arm 13. If it is possible to ensure that the sliding member 14 attached to the tip of the arm 17 can be reliably passed through the horizontal arc-shaped slit 36 ​​of the cover 17 when the cover 17 is attached, the cover 17 can be attached with the sliding member 14 attached to the tip of the arm 13, but in the illustrated embodiment, the vertical thickness of the sliding member 14 is slightly wider than the vertical width of the horizontal arc-shaped slit 36. Also, in consideration of the case where the arm 13 together with the sliding member 14 cannot be passed through the horizontal arc-shaped slit 36 ​​without any problem due to the vertical position of the arm 13 being slightly offset in the vertical direction from the center position of the vertical width of the horizontal arc-shaped slit 36, it is preferable to attach the cover 17 to the base plate 16 with the sliding member 14 not attached to the arm 13, and to attach the sliding member 14 to the tip of the arm 17 protruding outward from the horizontal arc-shaped slit 36 ​​of the cover 17. This makes it convenient to configure the sliding contact member 14 at the tip of the arm 13 so that it can be easily attached and detached, so that it can be easily replaced when the sliding contact member becomes worn.

[0023] Taking the above into consideration, the embodiment of the present invention is configured so that the sliding contact member 14 can be easily attached and detached to the tip of the arm 13. The specific structure will be described with reference to Figures 9 to 12. A circular through hole 37 that penetrates in the plate thickness direction (vertical direction) is provided in the area where the sliding contact member 14 is fitted at the tip of the thick plate arm 13, and a recessed portion 38 into which the tip of the arm 14 is inserted is provided from one end in the longitudinal direction of the plastic sliding contact member 14. The upper and lower flat plate portions 14a, 14b of the recessed portion 38, which sandwich the arm 14 inserted into the recessed portion 38 from above and below, have elongated hole-shaped openings 38a, 38b that are long in the length direction of the sliding member 14, formed at the same positions in the vertical direction, and one of the elongated hole-shaped openings 38a is integrally formed with an elastic tongue portion 39 that extends from the tip end of the sliding member 14 of the elongated hole-shaped opening 38a (the end where the recessed portion 38 is closed) toward the opposite end of the elongated hole-shaped opening 38a, and an engagement protrusion 40 that protrudes into the recessed portion 38 is integrally formed on the inner side of the free end of the elastic tongue portion 39. The engagement protrusion 40 is circular so that it can just fit into the circular through hole 37 provided in the arm 13, and a little more than half of the circular end surface on the entrance side of the recessed portion 38 forms an inclined surface 40a that gradually decreases in height until the protruding height of the engagement protrusion 40 becomes zero as it approaches the entrance side of the recessed portion 38.

[0024] According to the sliding contact member 14 configured as above, when the tip end of the arm 13 is inserted into the recessed portion 38 of the sliding contact member 14 so that the upper and lower flat portions 14a, 14b of the recessed portion 38 sandwich both side surfaces where the circular through hole 37 at the tip end of the arm 13 opens, during the insertion process, the arm 13 pushes the engaging protrusion 40 on the sliding contact member 14 side outward from the recessed portion 38 via its inclined surface 40a, and as a result, the elastic tongue portion 39 equipped with the engaging protrusion 40 bends outward against elasticity, allowing the tip end of the arm 13 to enter completely into the recessed portion 38 of the sliding contact member 14. When the tip of the arm 13 is completely inserted into the recess 38 of the sliding contact member 14, the engaging projection 40 reaches a position overlapping with the circular through hole 37 provided at the tip of the arm 13, and the elastic tongue portion 39, which has been bent outward against elasticity, returns to its original position, causing the engaging projection 40 to fit into the circular through hole 37 on the arm 13 side. In this state, even if one tries to remove the sliding contact member 14 from the arm 13, it is impossible to remove the sliding contact member 14, because the cylindrical region of the engaging projection 40 is in contact with the cylindrical circumferential surface of the circular through hole 37 on the arm 13 side.

[0025] When it becomes necessary to replace the sliding contact member 14, since the circular through hole 37 of the arm 13 is located in the elongated opening 38b on the side of the sliding contact member 14 that does not have the elastic tongue piece 39, a force is applied to the flat end face of the engagement projection 40 that fits into the circular through hole 37 of the arm 13 from this elongated opening 38b to the opposite side with a suitable rod-shaped body. As a result, as the elastic tongue piece 39 curves outward against the elasticity, the engagement projection 40 moves so as to come outward from the circular through hole 37 of the arm 13. When the engagement projection 40 comes out of the circular through hole 37 of the arm 13, the sliding contact member 14 can be removed from the arm 13 by pulling the sliding contact member 14 out from the tip end of the arm 13.

[0026] In the configuration according to the above embodiment, the horizontal support shaft 19 for suspending the gas spring and the horizontal support shaft 21 for supporting the horizontal shaft bevel gear, which are attached to the base plate 16, have large-diameter base shaft portions 19a, 21a integral with the horizontal support shafts 19, 21, respectively, as shown in Fig. 4B, and these large-diameter base shaft portions 19a, 21a are welded and fixed to the base plate 16. In this case, it is preferable to integrally form a small-diameter shaft portion at the mounting end of each base shaft portion 19a, 21a so that the welding position of the large-diameter base shaft portions 19a, 21a is determined, and to weld the base shaft portions 19a, 21a to the base plate 16 with this small-diameter shaft portion fitted into a through hole provided in the base plate 16. The vertical support shaft 23 supporting the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 is attached by inserting the small diameter shaft portion 23a at the lower end into a through hole provided in the bearing support portion 16c of the base plate 16 and crimping it, but it is also possible to screw the vertical support shaft 23 from the underside of the bearing support portion 16c instead of crimping.

[0027] Moreover, the cover 17 is a plastic molded product, and the pair of left and right engagement holes 33a, 33b are formed by molding as follows so that subsequent drilling or other processing is not required. That is, as shown in Figures 4B and 5, a horizontal, linear groove 41 is formed from the position of engagement holes 33a, 33b to the arc-shaped front wall portion 17c of cover 17, and bottom plate portion 41a forming this groove 41 extends to a position just before engagement holes 33a, 33b. An outer mold for molding cover 17 is provided with a protrusion for forming groove 41 of a length including engagement holes 33a, 33b, and an inner mold for molding cover 17 is provided with a portion adjacent to the protrusion for forming groove 41 at a position equivalent to engagement holes 33a, 33b, and a recess for forming groove 41. In this manner, the outer mold for molding cover 17 is pulled out to the side where the arc-shaped front wall portion of cover 17 is located, and the inner mold for molding cover 17 is pulled out to the opposite side to the outer mold, thereby enabling cover 17 having engagement holes 33a, 33b to be plastic-molded.

[0028] In the door opening biasing device 12 of the present invention configured as above, the downward biasing force acting on the advance / retract movement part 18a of the gas spring 18 acts on the horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 via the plate-shaped passive member 24, and tries to rotate the horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 around the horizontal support shaft 21. The horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 tries to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 6 because the protruding eccentric part 24a of the plate-shaped passive member 24 integral with the horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 is pushed down counterclockwise in FIG. 6. Therefore, the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 meshing with the horizontal shaft bevel gear 20 receives a clockwise rotation force in FIG. 5, and the arm 13 connected to the plate-shaped rotor 27 integral with the vertical shaft bevel gear 22 receives the same clockwise rotation force as the vertical shaft bevel gear 22. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the sliding member 14 at the tip of the arm 13 is pressed against the surface of the metal plate 15 attached to the inside surface of the door body 5 pivotally supported by the side frame 3. At this time, if both door bodies 5, 6 of the folding door 1 are in a fully closed state unfolded into a single flat plate and locked in this state by the locking mechanism of the center hinge 7, the sliding contact member 14 at the tip of the arm 13 is simply in pressure contact with the surface of the metal plate 15 on the inside surface of the door body 5, and does not open the door body 5. In other words, the biasing force of the gas spring 18 is set so that a large opening force that would release the locking action of the locking mechanism of the center hinge 7 is not applied to the door body 5.

[0029] 4B to 8 show a virtual state in which the arm 13 protrudes at a right angle to the base plate 16. In this virtual state, as shown in Fig. 7, the vertical pin 29 of the plate-shaped rotating body 27 integrated with the arm 13 is located at one end of the arc-shaped guide slit 30, but as shown in Figs. 2 and 4A, in a state in which the door opening biasing device 12 is incorporated into the folding door 1 and the door body 5 to be opened is locked in the closed position, the arm 13, which is about to rotate clockwise by the biasing force of the guide slit 30 as described above, rotates slightly from the virtual state to the side where the door body 5 is located, and the sliding member 14 at the tip of the arm 13 is in pressure contact with the surface of the metal plate 15 on the inner surface of the door body 5.

[0030] When the lock in the fully closed state of the folding door 1 is manually released from the above state and the door is opened as described above, the door body 5 is pushed from the inside by the arm 13 (the sliding contact member 14 at the tip) by the clockwise opening force (the biasing force of the gas spring 18) acting on the arm 13 shown in Fig. 2, and the folding door 1 is opened. When the door body 5 is opened to the opening side limit position where it extends almost perpendicularly in front of the side frame 3 as shown by the imaginary line in Fig. 2, the folding door 1 is in a fully open state with both door bodies 5, 6 folded. The rotation angle of the arm 13 at this time, that is, the rotation angle from the arm 13 when the door body 5 is in the closed position shown by the solid line in Fig. 2 to the arm 13 when the door body 5 is opened to the opening side limit position shown by the imaginary line, is approximately 90 degrees, and is approximately 95 degrees from the imaginary position of the arm 13 in the imaginary state shown in each of Figs. 4B to 8. Therefore, the angular range of the arc-shaped guide slit 30 which restricts the rotation range of the arm 13 via the vertical pin 29 on the arm 13 side shown in Figure 7 is also set to about 100 degrees to allow some margin for the opening angle up to the opening limit position of the door body 5.

[0031] As is clear from the above description, by using the door opening biasing device 12 of the present invention as the means for opening the door body 5, the door body 5 can be automatically opened to the limit position on the opening side by the biasing force of the gas spring 18, as long as the lock at the closed position is released. In the above embodiment, the door opening biasing device 12 of the present invention is used as the means for opening the door body 5 whose outer side is supported by the side hinge 8 on the side frame 3 of the folding door 1, but it can also be used for a folding door in which the door bodies 5, 6 of the folding door 1 are reversed in configuration, and the door body 6 is supported by the side frame 4 by the side hinge 8. In this case, the door opening biasing device 12 is attached to the inside of the side frame 4, and the arm 13 biases the door body 6 in the opening direction. In addition, it can be used not only for folding doors, but also for general single doors that can be opened and closed freely. Regarding the locking mechanism that locks the door in the closed position, in addition to a locking mechanism that is unlocked by simply pulling the door in the direction that forces it open, there is also a locking mechanism that is unlocked by manually pushing on the side opposite the side that is journalled on the door frame (in the case of a folding door, the side with the centre hinge).

[0032] 4B to 8 are not necessary in actual use, but if the arm 13 can be temporarily locked in this virtual state, that is, in the state where the arm 13 protrudes perpendicularly from the base plate 16 in a plan view, the arm 13 can be prevented from rotating in the door body opening direction by the biasing force of the gas spring 18 during the work of assembling the door opening biasing device 12 to the application location, and the assembling work can be easily performed. A simple method of temporarily locking the arm 13 in the virtual state can be used, such as inserting a rod-shaped object such as a bolt or pin between a vertical through hole provided in the arm 13 and a through hole provided in the bearing support part 16c of the base plate 16. [Industrial Applicability]

[0033] The door opening biasing device of the present invention can be utilized as a means of improving various existing doors, in which the sides of the door are supported by hinges on a side frame so that they can be opened and closed freely and are locked in the closed position, so that they can be opened automatically simply by releasing the lock. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 1 Folding door 2. Storage space 3,4 side frame 5,6 Door body 7 Center Hinge 8 Side hinge 9 Sliding hinge 10 Slide rail 11 Handle 12 Door opening actuator 13 Arm 14 Sliding contact member 14a, 14b Upper and lower flat plate parts 15 Metal Plate 16 Substrate 16a Mounting hole 16b Cover support part 16c Bearing support 17 Cover 17a, 17b Left and right side walls 17c Arc-shaped front wall 17d Ceiling wall section 17e Bottom wall 18 Gas spring 18a Entrance / exit movement section 19,21,26 Horizontal support shaft 19a, 21a Large diameter base shaft 20 Horizontal shaft bevel gear 22 Vertical shaft bevel gear 23 Vertical support shaft 23a Small diameter shaft part 24 Plate-shaped passive component 24a Projecting eccentric part 25,28 Screw 27 Plate-shaped rotating body 29 Vertical Pin 30 Guide slit 31 Transmission means 32 Cover locking means 33a, 33b A pair of left and right engagement holes 34a, 34b A pair of elastic locking protrusions on the left and right 35 Metal strip 36 Horizontal arc slit 37 Circular through hole 38 Recessed 38a,38b Long hole opening 39 Elastic tongue 40 Engagement protrusion 40a Slope 41 Concave groove part 41a Bottom plate part

Claims

1. A door opening biasing device attached to a side frame on which a door body is supported so as to be able to be opened and closed freely, the device comprising: a vertically long base plate attached to a position inside the side frame close to the door body; a vertically long gas spring having one end attached to the upper end of the base plate and hanging down; a rotor supported on the lower end of the base plate for rotation around a vertical axis; a transmission means for converting the vertical movement of an extension / retraction moving part protruding from the lower end of the gas spring into rotation of the rotor; and an arm extending horizontally from the rotor in a direction away from the side frame, the device being configured so that the downward moving force of the extension / retraction moving part of the gas spring causes the tip of the arm to press against the inner surface of the door body, biasing the door body in the opening direction.

2. 2. The door-opening biasing device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission means comprises a vertical bevel gear which rotates integrally with the rotating body, a horizontal bevel gear which is journalled on the base plate by a horizontal support shaft and engages with the bevel gear, and a passive member which rotates integrally with the horizontal bevel gear around the horizontal support shaft and to which the advancing and retracting moving part of the gas spring is journalled at an eccentric position, and the downward movement of the advancing and retracting moving part of the gas spring is transmitted to the rotating body via the horizontal bevel gear and the vertical bevel gear.

3. 3. The door opening biasing device according to claim 1, wherein a plate having a size covering the sliding contact area of ​​the tip of the arm is attached to the inner surface of the door body against which the tip of the arm is pressed, and a sliding member that slides against the plate is attached to the tip of the arm.

4. 4. The door opening and closing device according to claim 3, wherein the tip of the arm is provided with a through hole penetrating the arm in the thickness direction, the sliding contact member has a recessed portion into which the tip of the arm is inserted, openings provided on both sides of the recessed portion so as to be adjacent to both sides of the arm in the thickness direction within the recessed portion, a cantilevered elastic tongue portion connected to the periphery of one of the openings, and an engagement protrusion is provided on the tip of the elastic tongue portion so as to automatically fit into the through hole when the tip of the arm is inserted into the recessed portion, and the engagement protrusion engaged in the through hole can be protruded out of the through hole from the other opening against the elasticity of the elastic tongue portion and operated.

5. A door opening biasing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a cover for concealing the gas spring, the rotating body, the transmission means and the base of the arm which are attached to the base plate, and the base plate is provided with a cover support portion on which the upper end of the cover is placed and supported, and a pair of left and right elastic locking protrusions which automatically engage with a pair of left and right engagement holes provided in the cover.

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