US 4,225,163 AGranted

Panic device actuator

AssigneeKawneer Company, Inc.

InventorsS. Eugene Hubbard, Richard A. Meisterheim

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Abstract

A panic device actuator for a door includes apparatus for unlatching a door mounted in a door frame and which includes one or more elements movable for retracting one or more door latches normally engaged with the door frame for positively locking the door. The panic actuator includes a relatively large panel having an enlarged outer face responsive to pressure applied at any area thereon for unlocking the door without a key. A mounting system is provided for supporting the panel on the door for controlled movement in a horizontal direction in continuous parallelism with the face of the door in a direction normal to the door face. A linkage is provided for interconnecting the panel and the door latching element(s) for moving the same to unlock the door latches in response to pressure movement of the panel on the door. The novel panic actuator is designed so that pressure applied at any point on the outer face of the panel results in movement of the panel as a whole in precise parallelism with the door face without wedging or binding and a standard size panel may be used with doors of different widths.

Claims30

Dependent claims

In combination a door with a panic actuator apparatus for unlatching said door mounted in and normally maintained in latched engagement with a door frame, said door including a pair of separate stiles along opposite edges and latch actuating means movable for retracting latch means which is normally providing said latched engagement between the door and the door frame, said apparatus comprising:

housing means for said panic actuator comprising a rail of said door extending between and connected to said stiles at opposite ends between opposite faces of said door, said housing including an enlarged opening on one face of said door,
an actuator panel mounted in said enlarged opening for relative movement on said door in response to external pressure applied at any point against a relatively large outer face of said panel;
means supporting said panel from said housing for movement along a linear axis normal to said one face of the door including a pair of slides mounted for vertical movement adjacent opposite ends of said panel,
means interconnecting said panel and said latch actuating means for unlatching said latch means in response to said movement of said panel on said door, and
said interconnecting means including a lever pivoted by the movement of one of said slides for unlatching said latch means.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.