Door closing mechanism

A door arrangement for a safety cabinet adapted to store paint and similar combustible materials, said cabinet having an opening defined by right and left hand jambs and a top and bottom frame extending therebetween, said arrangement comprising:

• a first door and a second door;
• hinge means at each joint for pivotally connecting said first door to one jamb and said second door to the other one of said jambs and permitting said doors to rotate from a closed position whereat said doors cover said cabinet's opening to an open position whereat said doors pivot adjacent to said jambs to allow access to said cabinet through said opening;
• at least one of said doors has a sealing lip extending from and contiguous with its vertical edge opposite its edge adjacent one of said jambs and adapted to close the opening between said doors when said doors are in a closed position;
• door closure means affixed to each door for biasing each door into its closed position;
• temperature sensing means associated with said door closure means and operable to maintain said doors in their open position against the bias of said closure means until a predetermined temperature is sensed whereat said temperature sensing means permit said door closure means to close said doors;
• door sequencing means operable against the bias of said door closure means to permit one of said doors to close prior to the other door whereby automatic closure of said doors always occurs without interference from said lip;
• said second door having said sealing lip and said door sequencing means permitting said second door to close prior to said first door closing;
• said sequencing means being associated with one of said cabinet frame members and including i) a first lever having a protruded position whereat a contact end of said first lever extends beyond the face of said one frame member for contacting said first door and preventing rotating thereof into a closed position and a retracted position whereat said contact end is substantially coincident with said face of said one frame member when said first door is in a closed position;
• ii) a second lever having a protruded position whereat a contact end of said second lever extends beyond the face of said one frame member for contacting said second door prior to closure thereof and a retracted position whereat said contact end of said second lever is substantially coincident with said face of said one frame member when said second door is in a closed position and iii) actuating link means permitting said first lever to move from its protruded position to its retracted position when said second lever has moved to its retracted position;
• first lever guide means controlling movement direction of said first lever from its protruded position to its retracted position;
• first spring means for biasing said first lever into its protruded position;
• and
• said actuating link means including an actuating link having a pin extending therefrom, said first lever having a notch formed in one side therefore, said pin engaging said notch to prevent movement of said first lever when said second lever is in its protruded position.

A cabinet comprising left and right hand vertically extending jambs and top and bottom frame members extending between said jambs to define an opening therein;

• a door pivotally mounted to one of said jambs for rotating from a closed position whereat at least a portion of said opening is closed to an open position whereat access to said cabinet can be had through said opening;
• self-latching mean for automatically locking said door to said opening when said door is rotated from its open to its closed position, said self-latching means including a door actuating lever, actuating lever guide means permitting said actuating lever to move with respect to said door, stop means associated with said actuating lever for moving said actuating lever from a locked position when said door is opened to an unlocked position when said door is closed, actuating lever spring means biasing said actuating lever to its locked position;
• a positioning lever adjacent to said door actuating lever;
• positioning lever guide means permitting said positioning lever to move with respect to said door;
• positioning lever spring means biasing said positioning lever from a locked position when said door is opened to an unlocked position when said door is closed;
• means associated with said levers for locking said positioning lever to said actuating lever when said door is opened and unlocking said levers when stop means moves said actuating lever upon door rotation to its closed position;
• and door latch means operably connected to said positioning lever for automatically latching said door to at least one of said frame members when said door is in its closed position.

An automatic door closing and latching arrangement for a cabinet storing paint and like combustible materials, said cabinet having an opening defined by left hand and right hand vertically extending jambs and top and bottom frame members extending therebetween, said door arrangement comprising:

• a first door hinged at one jamb and a second door hinged at an opposite jamb so that said doors are rotatable from a closed position generally flush with said cabinet to an open position where access to said opening can be had, said second door has a vertically extending lip protruding beyond its vertical edge opposite said hinge end for closing the space between said doors when said doors are in their closed position;
• door closure means constantly biasing both doors to rotate from their open to their closed position and including temperature sensing means holding said doors in an open position against said bias and automatically releasing said holding when a predetermined temperature is sensed;
• door sequencing means operable to prevent said first door from closing until said second door has closed;
• door self-latching means in said first door operable upon closing of said first door to latch said first door to said top and bottom frame members and to said second door whereby both of said doors are securely latched and said lip prevents any flame originating from the contents of the cabinet to pass through the opening between the doors;
• said door self-latching means includes in said first door, a spring loaded door actuating lever movable with respect to said first door during the closing of said first door by first door contact with said jamb associated with said first door from a locked to an unlocked position;
• a spring loaded positioning lever operably connected to said actuating lever and movable from a locked to an unlocked position when said actuating lever moves from a locked to an unlocked position;
• door latching means in said first door pivotably connected to said positioning lever and including at least one rod, a bell crank connected to said one rod and said positioning lever and rotatable to cause said one rod to move from within said first door to protrude out of said first door for locking both doors against opening when said positioning lever moves from its locked to its unlocked position and;
• means to lock the positioning and actuating levers during the opening of said first door from the closed position and unlocking said levers by movement of said actuating lever when said first door rotates from its open to its closed position.

In a safety cabinet having a fusible link door arrangement in which the doors are hinged at one end and automatically rotate by door closures into a closed position when the fusible link melts and a sequencing mechanism is used to assure that one door closes before the other, the improvement comprising:

• i) a spring biased first lever having a protruded position whereat a contact end of said first lever extends beyond the face of cabinet for contacting one of said doors and preventing rotation thereof into a closed position and a retracted position whereat said contact end is at least coincident with the face of said cabinet when said one of said doors is in a closed position;
• ii) a spring biased second lever having a protruded position whereat a contact end of said second lever extends beyond the face of said cabinet for contacting the other door prior to closure thereof and a retracted position whereat said contact end of said second lever is at least coincident with said face of said cabinet when said other door is in a closed position and iii) actuating link means allowing said first lever to move from its protruded position to its retracted position only when said second lever has moved to its retracted position, said actuating link means including an actuating link extending between said first and second levers, pin-notch connecting means formed between said actuating link and said first lever whereby a pin on one of said link and said first lever is positioned within a slot on the other one of said first lever and said link to prevent movement of said first lever, and a bellcrank, pinned to said second lever and said actuating link and rotatable upon movement of said second lever from its protruded to its retracted position, for moving said actuating link so that said pin moves from said notch to permit said first lever to move to its retracted position.