GB2166489A - Retractable door stop - Google Patents

Abstract

A door stop, intended in use to hold shut an inward opening door and/or to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent, is also retractable to allow the door to be fully opened and closed without hindrance; and comprises a barrel (11) which, in use, is screwed or otherwise fixed to the floor or the wall reveal adjacent the closing edge of the door and inside the room or other area to which the door gives access; a spigot (12,13) which, when the door (19) is to be held shut, protrudes from the barrel (11) to bear against or adjacent the room- facing surface of the door (19) and which, when the door (19) is to be opened and closed without hindrance, is retractable into the barrel (11) so as not to impede the passage of the door edge; means (12a, 13a, 14, 15) enabling the spigot to be moved alternately into its protruding and its retracted positions by a user's hand or foot; and means tending positively to retain the spigot in its protruding position once the spigot has been moved into that position; the spigot (12, 13) comprising a substantially flat bar, and the means enabling the spigot to be moved into and out of its protruding position including a pivot (14, 15) linking one end of the bar to the barrel (11) so that the bar swings about the pivot into and out of the barrel; the spigot (12, 13) being swung about its pivot out of the barrel, upwards through an arc of more than 90 DEG and then encounters resistance which prevents it from completing 180 DEG swing whereby the spigot is retained in its protruding position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Retractable door stop Field of the Invention The invention relates to a door stop, intended in use to hold shut an inward opening door and/or to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent.

Background to the Invention Door stops with the intention just outlined are known in the form of so called safety chains, but these have drawbacks. They tend to disfigure the door leaf and door frame to which the respective parts of the safety chain have to be secured, and they need not necessarily be wholly effective in preventing unauthorised entry.

Also widely known are many different forms of conventional door lock which have hitherto been standard fitments to hold shut an inward opening door. These however have drawbacks of their own. Like the safety chain, they require positive disfigurement of the door leaf and door frame in order to be fitted. They are also relatively expensive. Whilst they can lock a door shut, they cannot normally hold it in a position in which it is opened to only a limited extent and cannot continue to be opened beyond that position.They can be picked by skilled operatives, they need individual keys which are all too often lost and can be too readily duplicated, and they inevitably wear internally and are subject to the vagaries of the door leaf and door frame between which they interact e.g. the door leaf, in time will drop on its hinges and bring the key-operated locking mechanism out of alignment with its co-operating keep on the door frame.

Door stops have been designed which can be used to hold shut an inwardly opening door and which are retractable to allow the door to be fully opened and closed without hindrance. These comprise a barrel which can be fixed to the floor or wall reveal adjacent the closing edge of the door inside the room into which the door gives access, with a spigot which can protrude from the barrel to bear against the room-facing surface of the door but can be moved to a position within the barrel to allow free movement of the door.

The spigot in one case is a cylindrical spigot which can be pushed by hand or foot into a co-operating cylindrical recess in a barrel.

In a second case the spigot comprised a bar pivotally mounted at one end to a barrel and being pivotable to a position where it protrudes from the barrel and to a second position where it lies flush with the barrel.

In both cases the door stop includes springs to spring bias the spigot into its protruded position out of the barrel.

Summary of the Invention According to the invention in its broadest aspect, a door stop, intended in use to hold shut an inward opening door and/or to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent, is also retractable to allow the door to be fully opened and closed without hindrance; and comprises a barrel which, in use, is screwed or otherwise fixed to the floor or the wall reveal adjacent the closing edge of the door and inside the room or other area to which the door gives access; a spigot which, when the door is to be held shut, protrudes from the barrel to bear against or adjacent the room-facing surface of the door and which, when the door is to be opened and closed without hindrance, is retractable into the barrel so as not to impede the passage of the door edge; means enabling the spigot to be moved alternately into its protruding and its retracted positions by a user's hand or foot; and means tending positively to retain the spigot in its protruding position once the spigot has been moved into that position; the spigot comprising a substantially flat bar, and the means enabling the spigot to be moved into and out of its protruding position including a pivot linking one end of the bar to the barrel so that the bar swings about the pivot into and out of the barrel; the spigot being swung about its pivot out of the barrel, upwards through an arc of more than 90" and then encounters resistance which prevents it from completing 1800 swing whereby the spigot is retained in its protruding position.

The resistance encountered by the spigot may be the interaction between a pin on the spigot and a recess in the door leaf, or vice versa, and in any such case the pin may be spring loaded into the recess and manually disengageable therefrom.

The means enabling the spigot to be moved into and out of position preferably includes a finger-hold at the end of the bar opposite to the pivot.

Preferably the bar includes a tongue pivotally mounted to the rest of the bar at or about its end opposite to the pivot between the bar and the barrel, the tongue hanging freely from its pivot by gravity; movement of the bar from its protruding position towards the barrel causes the tongue to engage in the bar-accommodating recess of the barrel to prevent the bar from swinging fully into the barrel.

Advantageously there are provided two spigots, one set farther into the room than the other, each operable independently of one another, and with the spigot which is set farther into the room functioning as a stop to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent whilst the other spigot holds the door fully shut.

Preferably, in the case just outlined, both spigots are accommodated in a single barrel.

The door leaf may be fitted with a plate, to resist any tendency of the spigot to mark the door when the spigot protrudes and bears against or adjacent the door surface, and the plate may continue around the door edge so as to be visible from the other face of the door and so act as a visual deterrent to any would-be intruder.

Brief Description of the Drawings Three door stops in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows in diagrammatic perspective one door stop embodying the invention; Figure 2 shows the door stop of Figure 1 in side elevation; Figure 3 shows part of the door stop of Figure 1 in perspective again; Figure 4 shows part of a modified door stop in perspective; and, Figure 5 shows a perspective view of a third door stop.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment In Figure 1 a first door stop is shown with its spigot retracted into its barrel so that the door can be opened and closed without hindrance. In Figures 2 and 3 the spigot is shown in its protruding position and holding the door shut.

A barrel 11 is made of brass, steel or any other suitably rigid material and is generally rectangular in plan and in both its elevations.

It is of appreciable depth and it houses two spigots 12, 13 each of which, as Figure 1 shows, normally lies flush with the top of the barrel 11.

Each spigot 12, 13 is in the form of an elongate rectangular bar which at one end is recessed to define a finger grip 12a, 13a respectively whilst the other end is hinged at 14, 15 to the top surface of the barrel 11 to allow each bar 12, 13 to swing in an arc up out of the surface of the barrel.

As Figures 2 and 3 show, each bar 12, 13 can swing through an arc of more than 90" but is positively prevented from swinging beyond about 1200 by interaction between the top surface of the bar and the top surface of the barrel 11.

Also preventing any further movement of each bar 12, 13 beyond that 1200 point is a pin 16 which slides back and forth in a boss 1 6a one of which bosses is fixed to the underside respectively of each bar 12, 13. The pin 16 is spring loaded into the position illustrated in Figure 3 in which it projects beyond the adjacent side of its associated bar 12, 13 and, with the bar in the Figure 2 and Figure 3 position, engages a hole 17 in a plate 18 which is fixed to the door leaf 19.

The spring loaded pin 16 can manually be pulled out of engagement with the hole 17 in order to allow bar 12 or 13 to return to its Figure 1 position.

Figure 1 illustrates the components with the door leaf 19 fully closed into its surrounding frame (not shown). The barrel 11 is fixed to the threshold of the room to which the door leaf 19 gives access by opening inwardly, ie, by swinging about a vertical axis to the extreme left of Figures 1 and 2 and moving over the barrel 11 and its associated components.

The barrel 11 and its components would normally be fitted flush with or slightly below the level of any carpet or other floor covering inside the room to which the opening door 19 gives access.

To hold the door fully shut in the Figure 1 position, the bar 12 is raised from the barrel 11 and moved into the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The edge of the bar 12 nearest the door leaf 19 bears against the plate 18 as the bar swings upward, and when the pin 16 comes into line with the hole 17 then the spring loading means automatically engages the pin with the hole to prevent any further movement of bar 12.

With bar 12 in that position, the door 19 can only be forced open if sufficient force is applied to break the hinge 14 or to so deform bar 12 as to enable the door leaf 19 to be pushed over it. To release the door leaf, the pin 16 is manually disengaged by pulling it in the direction of the arrow of Figure 3 against the spring loading, and bar 12 is then swung back clockwise (when viewed as in the drawings) to retract into barrel 11.

To hold the door in a partly opened position, bar 12 is left in its Figure 1 position and instead bar 13 is swung up into the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. Pin 16 engages hole 17 in the way previously described, but because bar 13 is located farther into the room than bar 12, door leaf 19 can be opened a limited extent before encountering the bar and being unable to be opened any farther.

As indicated in broken line in Figure 3, it is perfectly possible to construct a door stop embodying the invention in which either bar 12 or bar 13 is dispensed with. In other words, the door stop could hold door leaf 19 fully closed, with no provision for holding it partly open; or it could hold the door leaf partly open without necessarily being adapted to hold it fully shut.

Suitable means of fixing barrel 11 to the threshold or to the wall reveal inside the room can be selected by the intended skilled addressee of this specification.

It will be noted. that plate 18 is U-shaped and continues around the bottom edge of door leaf 19 to run up the outside face of the door. It is thus readily visible from outside the room or other area to which the door gives access.

In Figure 4 is shown a second door stop being modified in that the bar 12 has a ton gue 21 pivoted to it. Tongue 21 hangs freely from its pivot 22, under gravity. When bar 12 is in its Figure 4 position, which corresponds to the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, tongue 21 simply hangs without affecting the operation of the door stop. As bar 12 moves back towards its Figure 1 position, however, tongue 21 will continue to hang vertically; will move, in effect, through the cutout 23 which accommodates it; and will eventually prevent bar 12 from swinging fully home into barrel 11, by virtue of the foot 24 of tongue 21 entering the bar-accommodating recess in barrel 11 and "propping" the outer end of bar 11 above the recess.

Tongue 21 can of course readily be moved out of the way by a user to prevent the "propping" action just described. It then folds fully into the recess with bar 12. Where an unauthorised intruder attempts to slide, say, a knife under the door leaf 19 and then move the knife horizontally to swing bar 12 shut from the outside of the door, tongue 21 prevents this happening.

Figure 5 shows a third door stop. This comprises a barrel 25 including two bores 26 through which may be inserted screws (not shown) to fasten the barrel 25 to the floor either adjacent a door leaf, so that the door stop may act to hold the door in a closed position, or spaced from a door leaf to limit the range of opening of the door.

A spigot 27 is a pivotally mounted bar. The pivot 28 is at one end of the bar 27. At the other end of the bar is a finger-hold 29 which is in the form of a recess in the barrel 25.

These enable the bar 27 to be moved out of the barrel, through an angle of 90 to overcentre until the top of the bar 27 engages the top of the barrel 25. This forms enough resistance to prevent the bar 27 from completing a 180 pivot. Thus the bar 27 is held in a protruding position to bear against a surface of the door leaf.

As with the second door leaf the bar 27 includes a tongue 30 pivotally mounted to the rest of the bar. The pivot 31 is in the region of the end of the bar 27 opposite to the pivotal attachment 28 between the bar 27 and the barrel 25.

This tongue 30 acts in the same way as tongue 21 of the second door stop.

Claims (12)

1. A door stop, intended in use to hold shut an inward opening door and/or to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent, is also retractable to allow the door to be fully opened and closed without hindrance; and comprises a barrel which, in use, is screwed or otherwise fixed to the floor or the wall reveal adjacent the closing edge of the door and inside the room or other area to which the door gives access; a spigot which, when the door is to be held shut, protrudes from the barrel to bear against or adjacent the room-facing surface of the door and which, when the door is to be opened and closed without hindrance, is retractable into the barrel so as not to impede the passage of the door edge; means enabling the spigot to be moved alternately into its protruding and its retracted positions by a user' s hand or foot; and means tending positively to retain the spigot in its protruding position once the spigot has been moved into that position; the spigot comprising a substantially flat bar, and the means enabling the spigot to be moved into and out of its protruding position including a pivot linking one end of the bar to the barrel so that the bar swings about the pivot into and out of the barrel; the spigot being swung about its pivot out of the barrel, upwards through an arc of more than 90" and then encounters resistance which prevents it from completing 1800 swing whereby the spigot is retained in its protruding position.

2. A door stop according to Claim 1, in which the resistance encountered by the spigot is the interaction between a pin on the spigot and a recess in the door leaf, or vice versa.

3. A door stop according to Claim 2, in which the pin is spring loaded into the recess and manually disengageable therefrom.

4. A door stop according to any one of Claims 1, 2 or 3, in which the means enabling the spigot to be moved into and out of position also includes a finger-hold at the end of the bar opposite to the pivot.

5. A door stop according to any one of the preceding Claims, in which the bar includes a tongue pivotally mounted to the rest of the bar at or about its end opposite to the pivot between the bar and the barrel, the tongue hanging freely from its pivot by gravity; movement of the bar from its protruding position towards the barrel causes the tongue to engage in the bar-accommodating recess of the barrel to prevent the bar from swinging fully into the barrel.

6. A door stop according to any one of the preceding Claims, which comprises two spigots, one set farther into the room than the other, each operable independently of one another, and with the spigot which is set farther into the room functioning as a stop to allow the door to be opened to only a limited extent whilst the other spigot holds the door fully shut.

7. A door stop according to Claim 6, in which both spigots are accommodated in a single barrel.

8. A door stop according to any one of the preceding Claims, in which the door leaf is fitted with a plate, to resist any tendency of the spigot to mark the door when the spigot protrudes and bears against or adjacent the door surface.

9. A door stop according to Claim 8, in which the plate continues around the door edge so as to be visible from the other face of the door and so act as a visual deterrent to any would-be intruder.

10. A door stop arranged substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A door stop arranged, substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 to 3 when modified in accordance with Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A door stop arranged, substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 to 3 when modified in accordance with Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings.