Circular door operating method and apparatus
AssigneesNippon Air Brake Co., Ltd., Tajima Junzo Seisakusho, Ltd.
InventorsKiyoaki Sugiyama, Keizo Fujii, Shigemitsu Shimoyama
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circular door operating method and apparatus comprising two pairs of arcked door leaves, two pairs of arcked fixed panels arranged so as to form an enclosure defining a cylindrical wind blocking compartment. Each door leaf is hinged at an end and releasably coupled at the other end to a hanger assembly traveling on a circular track by means of a pulley mechanism. When a door leaf is released from the hanger assembly to pivot about upper and lower hinge mechanisms for operation as a hinged door, not only the upper and lower hinge mechanisms firmly support the door leaf in place but also a control unit disables the sliding door operation, thus providing a quick and safe escape from the building in the event of an emergency.
Claims7
A method of operating a circular door assembly, which comprises the steps of:
- providing a closed curved transom and a closed curved floor channel installed at a passage of a building;
- pivotally mounting a pair of center-open, sliding curved doors between said curved transom and floor channel and two pairs of opposing curved fixed panels, each pair provided on opposite sides of each of said doors, so as to form an enclosure defining a wind blocking compartment and on the inside of each of said doors so as to allow each of said doors to pivot toward the outside of said building;
- and
- releasably coupling central part of each door to said transom in such a manner that a passenger may open said door as a hinged door by simply pushing said central part of said door toward the outside, thus allowing rapid evacuation from said building in the case of an emergency.
Apparatus for operating a circular door assembly, which comprises:
- a closed curved transom enclosing a curved track;
- a closed curved floor channel provided at a passage of a building;
- two pairs of door leaves, each pair forming a center-open, sliding curved door provided between said curved transom and said floor channel;
- two pairs of curved fixed panels, each pair provided on opposite sides of each of said curved doors so as to form an enclosure defining a wind blocking compartment and on the inside of each of said curved doors so as to allow said door to pivot toward the outside of said building;
- two pairs of hanger assemblies, one for each door leaf to slidably mount said door leaf on said curved track;
- a pair of pulley mechanisms, one for each door to move a pair of door leaves of said door in opposite directions along said track to thereby open or close said passage;
- upper and lower hinge mechanisms secured to a hinged side of each door leaf to pivotally mount said door leaf on said curved transom and said curved floor channel, respectively;
- and
- releasable coupling means for releasably coupling a free end of each door leaf to each of said hanger assemblies so that a passenger may open said center-open sliding door as a hinged door by simply pushing a central part of said center-open sliding door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.