Door closer

In a hinge for connecting a door to an adjacent structure such that the door pivots about an axis during opening and closing of the same including a pair of leaves for connection to said door and to said structure and a barrel therebetween and spring means in said barrel operatively connected to said leaves for movement about said pivot axis to store energy during opening of said door and to release energy to provide closing power during closing of the door:

• a) rotary friction damper means in said barrel operatively coupled to said spring means and having an axis of rotation disposed substantially parallel to said pivot axis for controlling the door closing speed;
• b) means in said barrel operatively coupled to said damper means for varying the resistance of said damper means to movement of said spring means to produce a uniform closing speed of said door and for reducing the resistance of said damper means to movement of said spring means when said door nears the closed position to allow said spring means to close said door in an unrestricted manner;
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• c) said rotary friction damper means comprising means defining damping surfaces in frictional contact and biasing means for urging said damping surface defining means into frictional contact, and said means operatively coupled to said damper means comprising means for defining a cam surface having a profile shaped to vary the force applied by said biasing means to said damping surfaces, cam element means operatively contacting said cam surface and operatively coupled to said biasing means, and means for causing relative movement between said cam surface and said cam element means in response to movement of said spring means.

In a device for connecting a door to an adjacent structure such that the door pivots about an axis during opening and closing of the same and including spring means operatively connected to said door and to said structure for movement about said pivot axis to store energy during opening of said door and to release energy to provide closing power during closing of the door:

• rotary friction damper means operatively coupled to said spring means and having an axis of rotation disposed substantially parallel to said pivot axis for controlling the door closing speed, said rotary friction damper means comprising means defining damping surfaces in frictional contact and biasing means for urging said damping surface defining means into frictional contact, said damping surface defining means comprising housing means having a longitudinal axis coincident with said axis of rotation of said damper means and supported for rotation by said spring means during closing of said door and shoe means within said housing means and supported for radial outward movement into frictional contact with said housing means, and further including clutch means operatively coupled to said spring means and to said housing means for decoupling said spring means and said housing means during opening of said door to provide free, undamped movement thereof and for coupling said spring means and said housing means during closing of said door to provide damped movement thereof.

In a device for connecting a door to an adjacent structure such that the door pivots about an axis during opening and closing of the same and including spring means operatively connected to said door and to said structure for movement about said pivot axis to store energy during opening of said door and to release energy to provide closing power during closing of the door:

• rotary friction damper means operatively coupled to said spring means and having an axis of rotation disposed substantially parallel to said pivot axis for controlling the door closing speed, said rotary friction damper means comprising means defining damping surfaces in frictional contact and biasing means for urging said damping surface defining means into frictional contact, said damping surface defining means comprising housing means having a longitudinal axis coincident with said axis of rotation of said damper means and supported for rotation by said spring means during closing of said door and shoe means within said housing means and supported for radial outward movement into frictional contact with said housing means, said biasing means comprising disc spring means for applying biasing force in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said damper means, and further including means operatively coupled to said disc spring means and said shoe means for directing the biasing force in a manner causing said radial outward movement of said shoe means.

In a device for connecting a door to an adjacent structure such that the door pivots about an axis during opening and closing of the same and including spring means operatively connected to said door and to said structure for movement about said pivot axis to store energy during opening of said door and to release energy to provide closing power during closing of the door:

• rotary friction damper means operatively coupled to said spring means and having an axis of rotation disposed substantially parallel to said pivot axis for controlling the door closing speed, said rotary friction damper means comprising means defining damping surfaces in frictional contact and biasing means for urging said damping surface defining means into frictional contact, and further including means for reducing the resistance of said damper means to movement of said spring means when said door nears the closed position to allow said spring means to close said door in an unrestricted manner, said means for reducing the resistance of said damper means comprising means for defining a cam surface having a profile shaped to reduce the resistance of said damper means to movement of said spring means when said door nears the closed position to allow said spring means to close said door in an unrestricted manner, cam element means operatively contacting said cam surface and operatively coupled to said biasing means, and means for causing relative movement between said cam surface and said cam element means in response to movement of said spring means.