Opening/closing mechanism for the use in circular-arc shaped sliding doors

An opening/closing mechanism for use in a double-sliding type circular-arc shaped sliding door including a pair of left and right door bodies each having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape, and a transverse door frame having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape including circular-arc guide rails on which the door bodies are mounted for guiding the door bodies in such a way as to generate circular-arc shaped moving loci, respectively, said door bodies being slidably movable under the transverse frame, in opposite directions relative to each other relative to a door abutment line, which passes through a circumferentially central part of the transverse frame and a center of circular-arc of guide rails such that the door can be opened and closed, said mechanism comprising:

• a drive pulley mounted on one circumferential side end of said transverse door frame and a driven pulley on another side end of said transverse door frame, the driven pulley being connected to a means for driving said driven pulley, both said drive pulley and said driven pulley being toothed pulleys,
• an endless belt wound between and around the drive pulley and the driven pulley so that one of inner circular-arc shaped portions of the belt on one side and one of outer circular-arc shaped portions thereof on the other side, which are defined, respectively, relative to the door abutment line, is movable in such a way as to generate circular-arc shaped loci having equal radius to each other and each of the loci being concentric with the center of the moving locus defined by each of said door bodies, said endless belt wound between and around said toothed pulleys being a toothed belt, and the toothed endless belt being mounted twisted by an angle of 180 degrees in a vicinity of turning end portions from which, during the movement of said belt, one of the inner circular-arc shaped portions of said belt on one side thereof is turned into an outer circular-arc shaped portion, while one of outer circular-arc shaped portions thereof on the other side is turned into an inner circular-arc portion so that, over a major part of the outer circular-shaped portions on both sides, an inner surface of the belt having teeth formed thereon adapted to be originally turned inside is turned outside, whilst a smooth outer surface of the belt adapted to be originally turned outside is turned inside, and
• inner and outer guide means arranged in contact with the outer surfaces of the inner circular-arc shaped portions of the endless belt and inner surfaces of the outer circular-arc shaped portions thereof, respectively, said outer guide means being kept in contact with said inwardly turned smooth outer surfaces of the outer circular-arc shaped portions of the belt said inner guide means being kept contact with the inwardly smooth outer surfaces of said inner circular-arc shaped portions of the belt,
• one of said pair of door bodies being connected to one of the inner circular arc shaped portions of said endless belt on one side, another of said door bodies being connected to one of the outer circular-arc shaped portions of said endless belt on the other side.

An opening/closing mechanism for use in a double-sliding type circular-arc shaped sliding door including a pair of left and right door bodies each having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape, and a transverse door frame having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape and including a circular-arc guide rails on which the door bodies are mounted for guiding the door bodies in a way to generate circular-arc shaped loci, respectively, the door bodies being slidably movable under the transverse door frame in opposite directions relative to each other relative to a door abutment line, which passes through a circumferentially central part of the transverse door frame and a center of the circular-arc guide rails such that the door can be opened and closed, said mechanism comprising:

• a drive pulley mounted on one circumferential side end of said transverse door frame and a driven pulley mounted on another side end of said transverse door frame, said driven pulley having a diameter equal to that of said pulley, and a center of the driven pulley being located closer to a center of the circular-arc of the guide rails than a center of the drive pulley relative to that of the guide rails by a distance corresponding to the diameter of the drive pulley so that a radius of the circular-arc shaped moving locus defined by the inner circular-arc shaped portion of an endless belt on one side is substantially equal to that of the circular-arc shaped moving locus defined by the outer circular-arc shaped portion thereof on the other side;
• an endless belt wound between and around the drive pulley and the driven pulley so that one of inner circular-arc shaped portions of the belt on one side and one of outer circular-arc shaped portions thereof on the other side, which are defined, respectively, relative to the door abutment line, is movable in such a way as to generate circular-arc shaped loci having equal radius to each other and each of the loci being concentric with the center of the moving locus defined by each of said door bodies;
• and
• inner and outer guide means arranged so as to be kept in contact with the outer surfaces of the inner circular-arc shaped portions of the endless belt and the inner surfaces of the outer circular-arc shaped portions thereof, respectively, wherein one of said pair of door bodies is connected to one of the inner circular-arc shaped portions of said endless belt on one side, whilst another door body is connected to one of the outer circular-arc shaped portions of said endless belt on the other side.

An opening/closing mechanism for use in a sliding type circular-arc shaped door including a door body having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape, and a transverse door frame having a circular-arc horizontal sectional shape which is mounted on the door body, said door body being slidably movable to open and close the door under the transverse door frame in such a way as to generate a circular-arc shaped moving locus, said mechanism comprising:

• (a) a toothed drive pulley mounted at one circumferential side end of said transverse door frame and a driven pulley connected to a means for driving said driven pulley mounted at another side end of said transverse door frame;
• (b) a toothed endless belt wound between and around said toothed drive pulley and said toothed driven pulley, said toothed endless belt being twisted by an angle of 180 degrees in a vicinity of turning end portions from which, during the movement of said belt by driving of said means for driving, an inner circular-arc shaped portion of said belt is turned into an outer circular-arc shaped portion, while another circular-arc shaped portion of said belt is turned into an inner circular-arc portion so that, over a major part of said outer circular-arc shaped portion, an inner surface of said belt having teeth formed thereon adapted to be originally turned inside is turned outside, while a smooth outer surface thereof adapted to be originally turned outside is turned inside;
• and
• (c) inner and outer guide means for guiding said belt being kept in contact with the outer surface of the inner circular-arc shaped portion of said toothed endless belt and the inner surface of the outer circular-arc shaped portion thereof, respectively;
• wherein said door body is connected to said toothed endless belt.