GB2225380A - Stay for a door or like hingedly mounted member - Google Patents

Abstract

A stay comprises a strut (12) one end of which is pivotally mounted to a bracket (14) attached to a fixed structure, such as a cabinet casing, the other end of the strut being provided with a knuckle (18) which slides in a channel of a runner rail, secured to a door (8), when the door is pivoted about its hinges. To lock the door in a predetermined open position the knuckle is caused to engage a hole (20) of the runner rail such as due to the influence of gravity and/or by suitably disposed resilient means (21). The stay may be employed with an equipment cabinet in particular a sheet metal cabinet for electrical or electronic equipment in which case the runner rail (13) also provides strengthening for the door, into which it may be recessed. A plurality of holes (20) may be provided. <IMAGE>

Description

STAY FOR A DOOR OR LIKE HINGEDLY MOUNTED MEMBER This invention relates to a stay for a door or like hingedly mounted member and in particular not but exclusively to a stay for a door of an equipment cabinet, such as a cabinet used to contain electrical or electronic equipment.

A conventional stay for a door of an equipment cabinet includes an elongate strut with a closed elongate slot machined therein, which strut is pivotally mounted at one of its ends to a mounting attached to the interior of the door at a fixed point. The slot is engaged by a member extending therethrough, which member is attached to the casing of the cabinet. When the door is shut the strut projects into the interior of the cabinet (casing) and thus space must be provided between equipment and cabling within the cabinet to accommodate the strut. When the door is opened the strut pivots about its mounting in the door and is retracted from the interior of the cabinet, being guided by the member attached to the casing and extending through the slot. In order to latch the opened door in a predetermined position the slot may be provided by a suitably shaped latching recess.The conventional stay has various disadvantages, in particular cost, and the requirement for space between equipment and cabling to accommodate the strut when the door is shut and the strut projects into the cabinet casing.

-According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a stay for use with a first member which is hingedly mounted to a structure, the stay comprising a channel member, which in use is associated with the first member, and an elongate strut, one end of which is- in use pivotally mounted to the structure and the other end of which strut is in use held captive in the channel member and slidable therein upon movement of the first member with respect to the structure.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an electrical or electronic equipment cabinet including a casing, a door which is hingedly mounted the casing and a stay for said door, the stay comprising a channel member associated with the door and an elongate strut one end of which is pivotally mounted to the casing and the other end of which is held captive in the channel member and slidable therein upon movement of the door with respect to the casing.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 illustrates somewhat schematically, a typical equipment cabinet with which the stay can be employed, the door of the cabinet being closed; Fig. 2 illustrates the cabinet of Fig. 1 with the door open and the stay visible; Fig. 3 illustrates a plan view of a part of a runner rail for securement to the door; Fig. 4 illustrates the cross-section of the runner rail of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 illustrates the strut with one end pivotally engaged at a bracket attached to the cabinet casing and the other end held captive in the runner rail.

Fig. 7 illustrates the arrangement of Fig. 6 when the door is latched into a predetermined pOSition, and Fig. 8 is a plan view of part of -the cabinet of Figs. 1 and 2 with the door closed and indicating the strut position in dashed lines.

The equipment cabinet illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 may be of a type disclosed in our co-pending Application No. 8808223 (Serial No.............) (K Taylor 1/2). The two sides 1 and back 2 of the cabinet are formed from a single sheet of metal which is folded round into a U-shape.

A top 3 and a bottom 4 are welded to the U-shaped sheet thereby forming a casing of the cabinet. At the front of the cabinet- the sheet is also bent round at 5 and 6 to provide supports for a door of the cabinet. Portion 6 carries hinges and portion 5 carries or provides securing catches (not shown). Vertical girders 7 of suitable cross-section at the back and sides of the cabinet casing interior provide strengthening of the structure as well as means for supporting electrical/electronic equipment (not shown). The door 8 is formed from sheet metal and shaped to provide a recess facing the casing and may include perforated regions 9 for cooling air flow. The top and bottom 3 and 4 may also have perforated regions for air flow.The door is provided with catch members 10, engageable with the catches carried by portion 6, and is strengthened by a vertical girder 11 of suitable cross-section.

The door stay is comprised by a strut 12 one end of which is engaged with a runner rail 13 secured to the interior of the door 8, so that it is slidable with respect to the runner rail 13, and the other end of which is pivotally mounted to a mounting bracket 14 attached to the casing of the cabinet, namely to the top 3 in the illustrated embodiment of cabinet.

The door stay elements are illustrated in greater detail in Figs. 3 to 7. As will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 8, with the door closed the strut 12 is disposed substantially within the door recess and does not project into the interior of the cabinet, however, when the door is opened the end of the strut located in the runner rail is caused to slide in the runner rail towards the hinged side of the door. Stop means may be provided to limit the permitted amount of opening of the door and may also latch the strut and thus the door in the corresponding position.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the runner rail 13 in plan and section. The runner rail 13 extends substantially across the width of the door and has its face 15 secured, welded, for example thereto. The runner rail 13 may be comprised of mild steel, for example ZINTEC which is zinc plated mild steel, bent to a suitable section, such as that illustrated. The strut 12 is comprised by a metal bar, for example, zinc plated mild steel having a hole at each end, the hole at the mounting bracket 14 end being slightly larger in diameter than the other hole. Alternatively, the runner rail 13 may be of extruded plastics material bonded or rivetted to the door. In the case of a metal runner rail, the inside thereof may be protected from rubbing abrasion by adding a nylon-like tape thereto,- or laminating a suitable material therewith.

As illustrated in Fig. 6 the strut 12 is attached to the mounting bracket 14 by a dome-headed self-tapping screw 16 passing freely through the hole in the strut 12 at that end, a washer 17 being disposed between the strut and the bracket 14. The strut 12 is freely pivotable about screw 16. Another dome-headed self-tapping screw 18 is screwed into the hole at the other end, a number of spring/lock washers 19 (three being illustrated) being disposed between the head of screw 18 and strut 12. As is apparent from Fig. 6 the screw 18 and the associated end of strut 12 is held captive in the channel 13a defined in the runner rail 13 which is welded to the door.To insert the screw 18 with washers 19 into the channel and secure the screw 18 to the strut 12 use may be. made of a hole 20 provided in the runner rail 13 and intended to be used as a stop, as will be apparent from the following. The hole is of an appropriate size for passage therethrough of the head of screw 18.

With the door closed the strut 12 occupies the dashed line position indicated in Fig. 8. As the door is opened the end of strut 12 bearing screw 18 slides along the runner rail 13 in the channel 13a by an amount determined by the extent to which the door is opened. The screw 18 acts as a bearing, stop and knuckle. It is shown operating as a bearing in Fig. 6 and as a stop in Fig. 7 when it has encountered the hole 20 and engaged it, fallen into it under gravity in this instance, thus engaging a lock. The door is now fixed in position relative to the casing. In order to ensure that the lock will operate reliably a spring means may be imposed between the strut and the facing runner wall in region 21 as indicated.The use of such a spring means also enables the lock to be operate when the runner is orientated such that the head of screw 18 is no subject to gravity in the required direction to engage hole 20. With the orientation illustrated for the cabinet, the latching is determined by the dimension X (Fig. 6) which is part of the clearance of the strut in the channel 13a. This is adjustable to suit the sensitivity required by appropriate choice of the dimensions of the associated elements. To unlatch the strut in preparation for closing the door the screw head is simply pushed back through the hole 20 and into the channel and the door pivoted about its hinges in the closing direction whereby to misalign the screw 18 and the hole 20. The position of the hole is subject to choice, but typically it may be set to lock the door nominally at a right angle to the casing face.

The adjustment provided by the screwlength allows the clearances of the strut within the channel 13a to satisfy operating requirements. If the fit were too slack (large clearances) the knuckle could move up and down too much and escape from the channel. If the fit were too tight (low clearances) the knuckle could seize in the channel.

In order to allow for the inherent flexibility of the fixed part of the mechanism quite a significant overlap is provided, this allowing for the quite substantial flexure of the door and the casing in the application illustrated; The knuckle must still engage the channel freely with the door twisted, the casing warped and the hinges misaligned and non-centred.

The stay described above in connection with a door of a cabinet can alternatively be employed with other hingedly mounted members whose position is required to be set, such as a window or the top of a desk. Whereas only one lock position is provided for the cabinet door described above, more than one position can be provided, such as for a window, by the provision of a plurality of spaced apart holes 20. For a window it may be preferable to locate the stay at the lower edge of the structure rather than at the upper edge as with the illustrated cabinet.

As will be appreciated the construction of cabinet door stay described above with reference to the drawings is of low cost particularly since expensive slot machining in the strut is not required. Additionally the structure readily accommodates variations in cabinet manufacture, as well as flexure in use, and operates reliably. Furthermore the runner rail acts as a further strengthening member for the door.

Claims (15)

1. A stay for use with a first member which is hingedly mounted to a structure, the stay comprising a channel member, which in use is associated with the first member, and an elongate strut, one end of which strut is in use privotally mounted to the structure and the other end of which strut is in use held captive in the channel member and slidable therein upon movement of the first member with respect to the structure.

2. A stay as claimed in claim 1 wherein the channel member is provided with means for latching the first member in at least one predetermined position relative to the structure.

3. A stay as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the strut is provided with a knuckle at said other end.

4. A stay as claimed in claim 3 as appendant to claim 2 wherein said channel member includes a recess engageable by said knuckle for said latching.

5. An electrical or electronic equipment cabinet including a casing, a door which is hingedly mounted the casing and a stay for said door, the stay comprising a channel member associated with the door and an elongate strut one end of which is pivotally mounted to the casing and other end of which is held captive in the channel member and slidable therein upon movement of the door with respect to the casing.

6. A cabinet as claimed in claim 5 wherein the channel member is provided with means for latching the door in at least one predetermined position relative to the casing.

7. A cabinet as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the strut is provided with a knuckle at said other end.

8. A cabinet as claimed in claim 7 as appendant to claim 6 wherein said channel member includes a recess engageable by said knuckle for said latching.

9. A cabinet as claimed in claim 8 wherein said channel member includes an elongate slot along its length through which the strut passes with clearance, wherein said recess comprises a hole in a wall of the channel member, the clearance being such as to permit the knuckle to engage the hole.

1C. A cabinet as claimed in claim 9 wherein gravity serves to cause engagement of the knuckle with the hole when the door is opened a predetecmined amount.

11. A cabinet as claimed in claim 9 and including resilient means associated with the knuckle which serve at least partially the cause engagement of the knuckle with the hole when the door is opened a predetermined amount.

12. A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 11 wherein the door is has a recess facing towards the casing and when the door is closed the strut is contained substantially within the door recess.

13. A cabinet as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 11 wherein the knuckle is provided by a dome-headed self-tapping screw.

14. A stay for the door of an electrical or electronic equipment cabinet substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 3 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.

15. An electrical or electronic equipment cabinet substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.