Locking and reinforcing mechanism for garage door

A locking and reinforcing mechanism for a sectional upward acting door, said door being made up of a plurality of elongated sections which are hinged to each other to provide pivotal movement of said sections when moving said door between open and closed positions, said mechanism comprising:

• a plurality of elongated pin receiving members, comprising continuous square cross section tubes, respectively, said pin receiving members being adapted to be supported on said sections of said door, respectively, and aligned with each other;
• means for securing said pin receiving members to said door;
• a plurality of elongated reinforcing pins, each of said reinforcing pins comprising a square cross section tube operable to be slidably disposed in adjacent ones of said pin receiving members and extendable between adjacent door sections when said pin receiving members are mounted on said sections, respectively, to substantially prevent said sections from moving relative to each other;
• and
• means for retaining said reinforcing pins in respective ones of said pin receiving members in a retracted position out of engagement with said adjacent ones of said pin receiving members to provide for pivotal movement of said door sections relative to each other.

In a sectional upward acting door for covering an opening in a building, said door having a plurality of elongated door sections interconnected by hinge means, respectively, to provide at least limited pivotal movement between adjacent ones of said sections for moving said door between open and closed positions, means for reinforcing said door in a closed position to prevent movement of said sections relative to each other, said means comprising:

• a plurality of elongated tubular pin receiving members disposed on adjacent ones of said sections, respectively, and aligned with each other, vertically, when said door is in a closed position, said means for reinforcing including a locking and reinforcing pin operable to be slidably disposed within a respective pin receiving member in a retracted position to permit movement of said door between an open and closed position with respect to said opening, said reinforcing pins being slidably movable to extend between adjacent door sections, respectively, and engaged with the pin receiving members of said adjacent sections to form a substantially rigid connection between said sections to prevent relative movement therebetween;
• and
• means for retaining said reinforcing pins in said pin receiving members, comprising plural retaining pins disposed in said pin receiving members and engaged with said reinforcing pins for retaining respective ones of said reinforcing pins in retracted positions within said pin receiving members, respectively, said retaining pins being removable from engagement with said reinforcing pins, respectively, to permit said reinforcing pins to move to positions extending between adjacent ones of said pin receiving members.

In a sectional upward acting door for covering an opening in a building, said door having a plurality of elongated sections interconnected by hinge means to provide at least limited pivotal movement between adjacent ones of said sections for moving said door between open and closed positions, means for locking and reinforcing said door in a closed position to prevent unwanted movement of said sections relative to each other, said means comprising:

• a plurality of elongated generaly square cross section tubular receiving members supported on each of said sections and aligned with each other substantially vertically when said door is in a closed position;
• a plurality of elongated generally square cross section tubular reinforcing pins slidably disposed in respective ones of said receiving members and operable to be moved from a nonworking position disposed in each of said receiving members, respectively, to a working position extending between adjacent ones of said receiving members to prevent movement of said sections relative to each other;
• respective retaining pins engageable with said reinforcing pins and said receiving members to retain said reinforcing pins in retracted non-working positions within each of said receiving members, respectively;
• and
• means for supporting said reinforcing pins extending between and within adjacent ones of said receiving members for reinforcing said door against movement of said sections relative to each other.